Education

The project rationale springs from a growing realization (over the last several years) that, in order to sustain and improve quality of life of the rural poor, quality education of children holds the key to the future and there are NO shortcuts. The problem of poor performance and high dropout rate amongst children esp. girls from poor household can be attributed to poor learning standards in schools, indifferent teaching, lack of involvement of parents and lack of interest in studies amongst children.

Present education system –based on mugging –teacher always carrying a stick to instill fear -one way communication, strict non participatory method of teaching – time spent on making food for kids- less emphasis on developing confidence and communication skills – no accountability of teachers; high absenteeism.  

Absenteeism is also fairly high in case of scheduled caste children. Marriages, local temple festivals and ‘melas’ (fairs) is a major excuse (reason) for kids skipping school. Students failing in higher classes especially after class 6 in subjects like English and Math can be attributed also to poor teaching standards in primary classes. Some of the teachers present when consulted were of the opinion that the revised syllabus for English and Math  for primary students is very tough and since there are too many kids in these classes it is difficult for the teacher pay attention to all the kids. One teacher laughingly said that there is more focus on the mid day meal than on teaching in primary school.   

The project proposes to introduce interactive learning methods to increase pass percentage of children and arrest dropout rate. To redress the problem of low cognitive learning, extra tuition classes will organised for children from mainly poor, SC households. The tuitions will focus on subjects like English, Math and Science in which most of these children fail regularly especially in higher classes. For effective learning innovative pedagogical and curricular practices would be emphasized. Intensive short training sessions would also be taken for teachers hired for conducting tuition classes using interactive communication methods and visual aids including internet.

Art, theatre and documentary films will form part of the curricula for all round personality development and confidence building. Parent’s involvement in children’s education would be expanded beyond mere financial support to more active and supportive role.

Objectives

• To improve the pass percentage in Math, Science and English for all the school going children from class V to X; (maybe earlier?)
• Arrange teachers training capsules in above subjects;
• To introduce computer literacy among school going kids in a phased manner;
• Inculcate life skills to build confidence and all round personality development.

 

Outreach

The project proposes to outreach 72 children of two villages of Rujak and Dongkri, Lag Valley, Kullu in the first year and subsequently extend to more villages having similar socio-economic profiles.

 

Village wise school children profile

Location	Class
Rujak	I-V	VI-VIII	IX-XII	Total
Girls	8	3	2	13
Boys	4	2	2	8
Sub Total	12	5	4	21
Dongkri
Girls	18	3	4	25
Boys	20	2	4	26
Sub Total	38	5	8	51
Total	50	10	12	72

 

Jagriti is looking for financial or in kind support to carry out this programme.