Uttar Pradesh: Notes from a Field visit

                                       Visiting a Summer Camp in Barabanki

                                                           By Reeti Roy

I have been working with Pratham for just over a month and my first field visit was to Uttar Pradesh, a state in northern India known for its food, its hospitality and its fierce monsoons. Unfortunately, like many other Indian states, Uttar Pradesh is also a state that faces severe changes in terms of its primary education.

When I reach Lucknow at 6 a.m, I am greeted by Saurabh Mishra from Pratham Lucknow and after resting for an hour, we leave for Barabanki.

Upon reaching Barabanki, I notice that at Kurmin Purvah High School, three classes are taking place simultaneously. Two classes are being supervised by volunteers and a third one is being conducted by a Block Resource Group (BRG) member Virender. 

There are 25 children in Virender’s class, out of which two children are at word level and all other children are at letter level. Virender has divided the classroom into two groups. The children at word level are made group leaders. Husna Bano leads Group A while Chand Mohammad leads Group B. All of these children are in Classes 3, 4 and 5. 

When I enter the classroom, the children are participating in the mind-mapping exercise. In the mind-mapping exercise, an alphabet is used and children learn to formulate words on the basis of those alphabets.After the mind-mapping exercise, Chand's group appears the clear winner. They have managed to come up with four more words than Group A- Husna's group.

The children are excited. Virender is not amused. “Acche Bacche kaise rehte hai? Shor nahi karte hai na?” he says to them gently. (How do good children behave? They don’t shout, do they?) The children nod their heads vigorously.

Saurabh smiles at Virender and says, “These are just one of his many skills. His chicken curry is famous amongst all the BRGs here!”