Saraswati Sahu - the changemaker from Odisha's Mahule village

"The mind-mapping activity is my favourite." Make no mistake, this sentence is not from a student, but from a school principal! Her name is Saraswati Sahu, and school is at Mahule village in Odisha's Sonepur district. She is implementing Pratham's methods in the school despite facing challenges on multiple fronts.

A large population in Mahule consists of unskilled landless labourers, whereas a section of them work as small-scale farmers and agricultural labourers. Some of these parents, when they go out to work, expect their children to do the household work. That, for Saraswati, is one of the biggest challenges as it directly affects the attendance of children. In addition to this, she also encounters a problem that is beyond her control. "Some families migrate to places like Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra to work in the brick-making units. It is a seasonal migration and children also migrate with their families", she says. "And there is a problem of monkeys in this village. They disrupt the fields and hence, parents ask their children to go there and shoo away the monkeys", she says suppressing her smile.

Saraswati came to know of the methodology of 'Teaching at the Right Level' from a representative of Pratham who came to her school. She was aware that despite enrollment, the learning levels of children in her school were low, and after witnessing a demonstration of the method and the activities, she gladly accepted the intervention in her school. She also found that this methodology was very close to the work she was already doing in the village in her own capacity. "Since the past ten years, I am trying to teach children through Barnabodha. I used to teach the syllabus in the morning and then teach them letters and words. But with this method, children are learning faster." She stresses that she likes the way children sit in groups, interact with themselves and solve problems together and admits that for her, this is very innovative! "The weak learners benefit from group learning, whereas worksheets and activities help to harness the talent within them", she says.

Saraswati is also happy that children are learning through tablets and she mentions that their attendance has improved because of the curiosity and excitement associated with it. She gives an example of Mantu, who struggled to read until he came across the tablet. "He enjoys reading, and I am sure he will soon be a fluent reader. It is all because of the tablet."

Today, Saraswati visits almost every household in the village to make parents aware about the importance of education. She claims that it has resulted in fewer children dropping out of school. "The tablets have added to it and made my work simpler. Children attend school because of the tablet", she says. Her next goal is to be a volunteer for Pratham's library program. She is happy that representatives of Pratham gather feedback from every parent involved in the library program and this is the biggest reason for her choosing to be a volunteer for the program. We are sure Saraswati will continue the wonderful work she is doing and will generate a positive impact in her village.