Introduction
Aarohi Bal Sansar (ABS) has made accessible quality education to the children from marginalized families, making it possible for these families to live in their own region and not migrate to bigger towns or cities for better education for their children.
School Performance
In the academic year 2018-19, 162 children from 11 villages (Chapad, Kafuda, Simayal,Diyari, Kumati, Chataula, Satkhol, Peora, Sund, Satoli, Nigran) were part of ABS out of which 85 were boys and 77 were girls.
The school remained open for 257 days for teachers and 231 days for students. There was 88% student attendance and 77% teachers’ attendance, this year. Teachers’ attendance was low because 11 ABS teachers had enrolled for mandatory D.El.Ed and bridge course this year.
The school has 15 teachers, of these 9 teachers specialise in STEM subjects, 8 in languages and 2 in social sciences. There is one teacher each for Art and Crafts, Music, Sports and Computer respectively. The student-teacher ratio this year has been 1:11. Eleven Aarohi Bal Sansar teachers successfully completed D.El.Ed and bridge course.
Academic Performance of ABS Students
ABS holds half-yearly and annual exams for classes 1 to 8 to assess their academic performance. The exams are both written and oral. Child’s overall performance is assessed through the child’s participation in various co-curricular, extracurricular and sports activities.
Co-Curricular and sports activities
The ‘School Farm Project’ was initiated this year as part of the project ‘Contextualising Rural Education to Agriculture and Ecology’. A greenhouse has been constructed based on a model made by the students of ABS. Two compost pits have been made on school premises. Children collected indigenous varieties of seeds to be propagated in the school nursery with the help of their parents. Preliminary attempts were made to connect language learning with farming. Children learnt Kumaoni, Hindi and English words for farm tools, farm techniques and local vegetables. This allowed the parents to participate in their child’s education since they could connect learning goals with their everyday life of farmers.
Hindustani classical music is being taught at Aarohi Bal Sansar, grooming further the innate talent of the children from the region in singing and dancing. Currently it’s a month-long programme orienting children to music in a more structured way.
A film club introducing students to the best of international cinema, sensitizing them not only to different cultures but also to the art of cinema, was initiated this year. Films such as God’s must be Crazy, Bicycle Thief (Italian film), Songs of Sparrow (Iranian film), The way home (Korean film) were screened through this film club. Swiss Films on Wheels, an initiative by the Swiss Embassy screened ‘Heidi’, a film based on a book by Swiss author Johanna Spyri.
Students of class eight experienced the production of a feature film, to know the science and the art of film making. They interacted with film director, cinematographer, sound designer and art designer of the feature film, 'Limited Story', which was shot in the area. Students could experience the real-life application of what they study in their classrooms.
A day-long visit was organized to the Army Training Center, Ranikhet. Students got a glimpse of rigorous training a soldier from the armed forces goes through. A visit to an all religion site at the training centre with a gurudwara, a mosque, a temple and a church led to a discussion on the concept of secularism and unity in diversity.
A two-day workshop was organized by London based organization 'Timeless Lifeskills’ on creative thinking, logical and analytical thinking. Using the medium of robotics and animation the children were introduced to various approaches to problem-solving.
A model based on mathematical calculations with which one can tell anyone’s age was developed by ABS students during the Mathematics fair. The fair was organized to demystify mathematics and know its application in everyday life. Students exhibited various models based on mathematical calculations.
Mini sports day for the little champs from pre-primary was held on 27th December 2018. Annual sports day for the students from the primary and upper primary was held on 31st December 2018.
Aarohi Bal Sansar students participated in various sports events at Panchayat, block and State level. ABS team won the Kabaddi and Kho-Kho matches at the district level. Chitra, Sakshi and Ishika from class 8 and 7 were selected at the state level. Girish Kumar, a student of the class of ABS won the district level 100-meter race. He represented the block at state level athletics. ABS girl’s Kabaddi team secured second place at the district level and two of them were selected of the state level Kabaddi team.
Teacher’s Training and Exposure
Aarohi Bal Sansar teachers received training in project based learning and contextualized teaching. A two-day workshop was held at Madhuban, in Ramgarh, on project based learning. Through various projects, teachers were oriented to teaching methodology with an emphasis on learning by doing.
As part of their annual exposure visit, the teachers visited field area of ‘Eklavya’, a Bhopal based NGO doing pioneering work in the area of education. It exposed the teachers of ABS to various approaches to rural education and innovative educational programmes designed by Eklavya.
The principal of Aarohi Bal Sansar attended a workshop organized by Avishkar, an NGO from Himachal Pradesh, on current education policies and its impact of education.
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BACKGROUND
Upholding the vision of holistic personality development in a joyful environment, Aarohi Bal Sansar(ABS), a middle-level school, was started in the year 1994. ABS is a vibrant learning space which is sensitively designed, nurturing children through quality education using the appropriate curriculum, creative teaching methodologies and sufficient infrastructural resources. ABS today is a model school, providing education which is sensitive to the changing aspirations of the people from the rural and remote parts of the Kumaon hills in Uttarakhand, Northern India.
SUMMARY
Starting with the visit by the members of Aarohi Schweiz, in January, the new year at ABS began with a colourful cultural event presented by the children of Aarohi Bal Sansar. Honing their skills in folk dance and music, through this event, the children were also introduced to the folk dance from the Alps.
Rising from one-month long winter hibernation, ABS once again got into action in February, with the beginning of the summer session. Keeping low on co-curricular activities, these months were more about revising and preparing for the annual exams.
Sandeep Marmi, the Principal of ABS resigned from his position as the principal ABS, in April 2018. Brijesh Kumar, a young and an enthusiastic education profession with seven years of intensive work experience with Pratham (a premier NGO spearheading the quality education in India), joined in as the new principal at Aarohi Bal Sansar.
With the aim of making education relevant to the children from the rural mountain communities, we started our efforts to contextualise the national curriculum framework to the rural mountain realities. We initiated the School Farm Project and with the help of a volunteer, Nischal introduced the concept of contextualising of education to the teachers. The aim is to connect the learning goals as defined by the National Curriculum Framework of India to the aspects of farming and ecology. Teachers were also sent for training on ‘project-based learning approach’.
Considering the transition at the senior leadership level, in Aarohi, including the school, it will take some time to bring in that much-needed stability prerequisite for growth. We are slowly moving in the direction, sailing through these times of transition and uncertainty.
PROGRAMME OVERVIEW
This year we have 167 students from 14 villages. Thirty-one new students joined ABS in this term. Of the total students, 85 are girls and 82 are boys.
We continue maintaining a healthy student-teacher ratio of 9:1. There are 18 teachers, with 2 teachers for the pre-primary section and 16 teachers teaching in the primary and the upper primary sections.
ABS has a beautiful combination of academics as well as co-curricular activities. Arts, Crafts, Music, sports are given equal importance along with the academics. Life skill programme further prepares them for the challenges of the modern world.
Academic Performance – Annual Exams
Students in classes 1 to 5 are performing well in languages (English and Hindi. 49% of students from classes 1 to 5 scored above 80% (A Grade) in Hindi, with 43% scoring above 80% in English. In Mathematics 24% of the students scored above 80%. Majority of the students in these classes fall in grades B and C ( between 50% to 79% ), which is average to good performance.
Academic performance of students in classes 6 to 8 in Yearly Exams
On an average, 13% students have scored above 80% in Hindi, English, Mathematics and Science in classes 6 to 8. While the majority of the students fall in B, C and D grades (50% to 79%), the number of those performing below 50% of marks in these classes is also considerably high.
33% of the students have scored less than 50% of marks in English and almost 31% and 29% of the students have scored less than 50% in Maths and Science. The students seem to be performing better in Hindi with only 12% students scoring less than 50% in this subject.
While systematic efforts are being made to reduce the variance between high performing and low performing students, bridging this gap in the higher classes has always remained a constant challenge.
CO-CURRICULAR AND EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES
Maths Workshop/ Fair
Maths Workshop was organized for the students of 6th, 7th and 8th classes from May 30 to June 2, 2118.
In this workshop, students formed groups and prepared Mathematics Models around the concepts referred to in their textbooks. After designing their models, students discussed the concepts in groups and presented their models to the entire group.
On June 2, the students organized a Bal Ganit Mela on ABS campus. The fair was visited by students of classes 3rd, 4th and 5th, all the teachers and the staff of Aarohi. A major learning for everyone from the Mela was that Mathematics is everywhere.
The models titled as ‘Aao Bazar Lagayen’( lets set up a market), ‘Khelen Jee Bharke’ (Lets play), ‘Ham Aapki Umar Bata Sakate Hain’ (We can tell your age) and ‘Har Mod Par Nayi Kahani Kagaj Ki Jubani’(a new story on every turn) were set up which were received very well by all. .
CAREER COUNSELING SESSION
Aarohi conducted a career counselling session on June 14, for a group of about 115 students in Peoda Inter College. While most of the attendees were the current 12-grade students of the college, there were a few students who graduated from the school last year. The session lasted for about 2 hours.
The session was anchored and delivered by Nischal, Archana, Neha and Brijesh. Nischal started with a presentation on various categories of skills – Language Skills, People Skills, Logic Skills, Design Skills and Body Skills. The focus was on helping students reflect on, understand and explore their own strengths and interests. Various job opportunities available for each of the skills were discussed. Later, Archana dwelled into Entrepreneurship as a possible career option. She exhorted students to consider problems around them as opportunities and explained to them what makes a successful entrepreneur.
In the second half of the session, counsellors took questions from students and dived into the specific career options available for specific interest areas. In the end, students were given numbers to reach out to Aarohi in case they needed any further information.
SCHOOL FARM PROJECT
School Farm Project was initiated in this term with the aim of contextualising education to farming and ecology to make education relevant for the students from the rural areas. The levelling of the land (20 ft x 30 ft) is complete. A compost pit of length 15 ft, breadth 6 ft and depth 1.5 ft has been dug entirely by the students. Compost required for the plants in the greenhouse will be created in this pit. The design of the greenhouse is also complete. Tools for the project were purchased in the middle of the May.
Apart from contributing to the construction work of the greenhouse, students were shown the design of the greenhouse and they built a model replica using it. Through the process, the children learnt about dimensions and measurements. Students were also taught the English names of the tools and their uses. Tools were then labelled in English. They also have been taught about the budget estimation.
6th-grade students did a survey in their villages to figure out which vegetables could be grown in which months and to find out how long would they take to grow. Then students collected seeds and put them in pits filled with compost. The pots were also labelled.
Students have been divided into teams and each team is made responsible for recording various details of the project. They are taught how to use Excel and PPT to enter data and make presentations. By the end of the project, students would be making a presentation.
A VISIT TO ARMY TRAINING CENTER – RANIKHET
On 9th June 2018, 16 students of 8th grade were taken for a visit to the army training centre in Ranikhet. Students were taken through the entire training centre and explained how the soldiers are trained for recruitment in the Army. Students also saw the war memorial, gymnasium, drill, firing, and trap setting. Later, students were taken to a bunker and detailed about the ways in which soldiers fight from them.
They also saw the museum exhibiting the photographs, weapons and uniforms of the deceased soldiers. They then visited the all religion site.
PERSONNEL
We were joined by Brijesh Kumar as the new Principal of ABS on 1st May 2018. He has with him seven years of experience of working with Pratham, a premier organisation revolutionising education in India. Passionate about teaching, Brijesh has interesting ways of teaching Mathematics, which we hope will contribute immensely to the academic performance of our students in Mathematics.
CONCLUSION
Owing to the succession plan, there has been constant change at the senior leadership in the school and at the organisational level. While we are trying our best to cope with this transition, it is difficult to sustain any long-term plan unless we achieve a certain level of stability.
Knowing the growing variance in urban and rural learning we now want to work towards making the curriculum relevant to the rural children from the mountains by contextualising it to their immediate environment and realities.
Investing in teacher resource is extremely important to maintain the quality of education, reduce attrition and motivating teachers. Our teachers are as qualified as any government teacher and far more motivated to teach. Their salaries, however, are less than half of what the government teachers who are mostly absent from duty, draw. Sourcing institutional funding for salaries is getting difficult by the day. This year we would like to encourage individual donors to adopt one ABS teacher as a patron and mentor, at least for a year.
BACKGROUND
Upholding the vision of holistic personality development in a joyful environment, Aarohi Bal Sansar(ABS), a middle-level school, was started in the year 1994. ABS is a vibrant learning space which is sensitively designed, nurturing children through quality education using the appropriate curriculum, creative teaching methodologies and sufficient infrastructural resources. ABS today is a model school, providing education which is sensitive to the changing aspirations of the people from the rural and remote parts of the Kumaon hills in Uttarakhand, Northern India.
SUMMARY
Until late June, the mountain children are busy collecting mountain berries and many fruits. They can be seen hanging precariously upon the tree branches, competing with monkeys for fruits. With the beginning of monsoon in July time is better spent indoors, listening to the pitter - patter of the never-ending rain.
At Aarohi Bal Sansar this is a time for serious studying. It’s the beginning of the new academic session. The smell of new books and notebooks fills the air. The Kumaoni festival of Harela, marking the sowing period, is celebrated in the school.
Sandeep Marmi joined us in this term as the new Principal of Aarohi Bal Sansar. Being from the region, Sandeep understands the realities of children living in these remote and inaccessible mountain slopes. His prior experience in running a school in his own village, together with his determination to bring quality education to the rural mountain population, will take ABS to new heights.
It is our constant effort at ABS to make learning more experiential. Children not only participate in various activities at ABS but also help in organising and managing them. This year we planted 100 trees, indigenous to this region, in the ABS premises. ABS students, teachers and the staff of Aarohi, spent a day together learning about different local species of trees, the best time for plantation, watering and nurturing the young saplings. This year we would like to make systematic efforts to initiate our ‘School Farm Project’ and create a sort of a repository of local flora.
A ‘bal haat’ - a market by the children, was set up on the occasion of Children’s day, where children managed all financial transactions for the day. They bought and sold goods like books, stationery, handicrafts and food items.
Steps were taken in the direction of increasing community and parent’s participation in Education. Parent – Teacher committee was formed to manage the two school taxis. A workshop was conducted on parenting and a parent support group was formed to help parents with the challenges of parenting.
PROGRAMME OVERVIEW
This year we have 167 students from 14 villages. Thirty-one new students joined ABS in this term. Of the total students, 85 are girls and 82 are boys.
We continue maintaining a healthy student teacher ratio of 9:1. There are 18 teachers, with 2 teachers for the pre-primary section and 16 teachers teaching in the primary and the upper primary sections.
ABS has a beautiful combination of academics as well as co-curricular activities. Arts, Crafts, Music, sports are given equal importance along with the academics. Life skill programme further prepares them for the challenges of the modern world.
SCHOOL PERFORMANCE
Total working days – 208 days
The average attendance of staff 189 Days
Average attendance (%) of students - Girls 86.80%, Boys 92.66%
ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE
Academic Performance of students in classes 1 to 5 in Half Yearly Assessment
Students in classes 1 to 5 are performing well in languages (English and Hindi), however, the performance in mathematics is not very encouraging. 52% of students from classes 3 to 5 scored above 80% (A Grade) in Hindi, with 46% scoring above 80% in English. In mathematics, however, only 30% of the students scored above 80%. Majority of the students in these classes fall in grades B and C ( between 50% to 79% ), which is average to good performance.
Academic performance of students in classes 6 to 8 in Half Yearly Exams
On an average, 15% students have scored above 80% in Hindi, English, Mathematics or Science in classes 6 to 8. While the majority of the students fall in B and C grades (50% to 79%), the number of those performing below 50% of marks in these classes is also considerably high.
43% of the students have scored less than 50% of marks in English and almost 35% of the students have scored less than 50% in Maths and Science. The students seem to be performing better in Hindi with only 8% students scoring less than 50% in this subject. English is the subject where students in these classes are performing poorly, followed by Mathematics.
While systematic efforts are being made to reduce the variance between high performing and low performing students, bridging this gap in the higher classes has always remained a constant challenge. The final exam results will help us know how far we have been successful in bridging this gap.
CO-CURRICULAR AND EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES
Bal Haat – A new beginning
Making learning experiential and skill based, ‘Bal Haat’, or a ‘market by the children’ was organised on ‘Children’s Day’ on November 14, 2017.The aim was to introduce students to the concepts of trading, marketing and financial transactions thereby enhancing their numeracy, analytical and communication skills. The children set up stalls, selling stationery, handmade greeting cards, toys and homemade food. Various fun games were also organised by the children. All accounts and other transactions for the day were independently managed by the children, with the teachers to guide as and where required.
Children efficiently conducted various games which included hitting the glass, Chocolate Wheel and pinning the donkey’s tail. From deciding the goods to be displayed in the stalls to fixing the selling price, children managed almost all aspects of with little support from their teachers as and where required.
It was a day full of fun and frolic for students and teachers of ABS; parents and the staff of Aarohi. Local residents from the area also participated in the ‘funfair’ by supporting children in cooking and baking.
International Children’s Film Festival, Hyderabad
Five of our ABS students attended the International Children’s Film Festival, organized by the Children’s Film Society of India (CFSI), in Hyderabad, from November 5th to 16th. This provided a unique opportunity to the students of ABS to watch some of the finest films from across the world. They had the opportunity to meet and interact with film directors, actors and many other children from different parts of India. Harshita Sunal from class VII of ABS was part of the prestigious child jury, judging the films for awards.
This was for the first time that the students travelled by train, moving through different states to reach their destination. They described how the colour of soil changed from state to state, appreciating the diversity of our country. In Hyderabad, they visited the Salarjung Museum, Char Minar and other places of historical significance. An enriching experience, this visit exposed children to the art that cinema is.
Tree Plantation Drive
A hundred saplings of indigenous varieties of trees were planted this monsoon on the school premises. The children, teachers and the staff of Aarohi participated enthusiastically in the drive. This is the beginning of school forestry initiative and the school farm project.
Mini Sports Day
Mini sports day is organised specially for the tiny tots of ABS - for students in kindergarten up to class 2. This year the teachers were highly creative with their choices of games. Connected with learning goals, the games displayed the cognitive and motor skills acquired by the children in these classes. The games challenged children to colour coordinate, count, mix & match and fine balance.
Annual Sports Day
Aarohi Bal Sansar celebrated its 8th Annual Sports day on 29th December. The fantastic turnout of the parents, people from the village and the beautiful winter day boosted the morale of our students.
The students were in the complete spirit of the occasion as they administered the oath of the day. The event began with an impressive march past followed by a series of races, Kho-Kho and Kabbadi.
Once the races began, the air was filled with cheering and encouragement for the young athletes. The event ended with a game of tug of war between ex-students of Aarohi Bal Sansar and teachers.
Days of training and efforts by the students and teachers made this Sports day a delightful one!
PARENTS AND COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION
Workshop on parenting
On the request of parents, half a day workshop was conducted on parenting issues. The workshop allowed parents and teachers to understand the concerns they have in raising a child. Parents shared their many fears, dilemmas and confusions they confront each day raising their children. It was agreed by all to set up a parents support group which would meet once every month to share their concerns and find solutions together with other parents. A professional counsellor, Vandita Dubey, has offered to counsel parents through the process of parenting.
Formation of school bus management committee
A school bus management committee was formed in this term to manage the two school taxies. The aim was to increase parent’s participation in managing some of the core non-academic functions of the school. The parents have taken great interest, taking over all aspects of managing the school taxis.
PERSONNEL
In this term, we had to bid farewell to three of our great teachers.
Monica Drego resigned from her position of Education Director in August 2017, after making an immense contribution towards the teaching and learning methods at ABS.
Pradeep Rastogi, our dynamic and much-loved vice principal who also taught Mathematics, left in August 2017, and so did Hema, Science teacher.
We were joined by Sandeep Marmi, as Principal – ABS, in October 2017.
Dipti joined in as Maths and Science teacher for classes 6 to 8. She is from a village nearby and has already become one of the favourite teachers of the children at ABS.
CONCLUSION
While continuous inputs go into innovating teaching and learning methodologies to bridge the learning and comprehension gaps specific to children from the region, it is still a challenge to make learning outcomes an explicit goal of primary education, adjusting the vast variation in learning levels and providing additional instructional resources in early schooling years.
We do not have enough teachers to teach the core maths and science subjects and that shows in poor student performance in these subjects.
Commuting to school is yet another concern. Students walk for half an hour to one hour to reach ABS. This is physically draining, affecting their performance in school. While we have tried to arrange for private taxis, managed by the parent’s committee, a school bus as per the Right to Education norms will go a long way in making education at ABS more accessible to children from further off villages.
Investing in teacher resource is extremely important to maintain the quality of education, reduce attrition and motivating teachers. Our teachers are as qualified as any government teacher and far more motivated to teach. Their salaries, however, are less than half of what the government teachers who are mostly absent from duty, draw. Sourcing institutional funding for salaries is getting difficult by the day. This year we would like to encourage individual donors to adopt one ABS teacher as a patron and mentor, at least for a year.
BACKGROUND
In 1994 when Aarohi began contemplating its interventions in the field of education, the challenges were many. From inaccessibility, considering a limited number of government schools to which children trekked through mountains covering long distances, to poor enrollment in schools especially of girls, high rate of school dropouts, corporal punishment and the dismal state of infrastructure, the sector abounded with difficulties. What one witnessed amongst the students from these mountain villages was a lack of confidence and poor self-esteem.
In that year’s management committee meeting, it was decided to initiate the education programme with the objective to demonstrate improving the educational environment in rural remote areas of Nainital district through Aarohi facilitated education programme in Ramgarh block.
The aim was to set up a model school that demonstrated the smooth transition from pre-primary to primary education. The challenge was to demonstrate a workable model to reach out to special need children and dropouts in the area and reintegrate them in the mainstream system. The project was conceived after four years of grassroots experience of working in the area. Through an interaction with over 40 villages, then, Aarohi had learned about the needs and aspirations of people.
The dream was to create a space where the children could learn in an environment which would be, as Oona, one of the founders of Aarohi, had scribbled in her diary, “free from fear, fostering curiosity”.
Aarohi Bal Sansar (ABS) is that dream.
Working towards rural development, Aarohi views education as a social equaliser, bringing dignity to human life. Access to quality education, for Aarohi, is a means to attain sustainable development and creating an inclusive, diverse and a compassionate society. The education programme is an extension of Aarohi’s larger vision of creating a more equitable society, by creating development opportunities for Himalayan communities through integrated development.
Aarohi’s Education Programme strives to provide ‘holistic development of personality in a joyful environment’, ensuring every child is nurtured in an environment, which is safe, free, inclusive, empathetic and dynamic. This year we initiated the Education Outreach Programme, to provide crucial mentorship and guidance to Anganwadis (Early Childhood Education Centres) and the local community schools in the state. Through this programme we hope to replicate further, the teaching methodologies evolved from 23 years of our experience of running a school in these parts of the mountains.
SUMMARY
This year, Aarohi Bal Sansar(ABS), a middle-level school, managed by Aarohi, a not-for –profit organisation working towards integrated development in the rural Kumaon hills in the Central Himalayan Region of Uttarakhand, India, completes 23 years of its presence in the region.
January to June is the period leading to the end of the academic session. The entire month of January is a winter vacation, during which children wait in anticipation of snowfall and celebrate with their families the important festival “Ghugutiya”, a festival marking the beginning of the summer solstice.
From February, with the onset of the spring, school begins, the final session of the academic year. It is the time for rigorous studies; preparing for the final exams.
Teacher’s Appraisals are also done in the same period.
This March, ‘Sir’ Taradutta Masa, retired as the principal, ABS, after serving the school for 17 years. The students organised a beautiful farewell programme for him. He nurtured the school for almost two decades.
Monica Shah Drego, joined us as the Education Director from 1st February 2017 and we are all looking forward to some wonderful interventions in the field of education. With thirty long years of experience in the field of Education, Monica Shah, will certainly take ABS to new heights.
We believe, the children learn from their everyday interactions with their environment. Their long walk from home to Aarohi and back also contributes to their education. While most of the students still walk to ‘their school’ ABS, the two taxis we introduced this year has made ABS more accessible to students from many remote villages.
This year we had 25 new admissions from 5 villages, taking the total number of students to 163. We have recruited one new nursery teacher, Renu Kabadwal, who recently completed her nursery teacher’s training programme.
Aarohi Bal Sansar (ABS)
Upholding the vision of holistic personality development in a joyful environment, Aarohi Bal Sansar (ABS), a middle-level school, was started in the year 1994. ABS is a vibrant learning space which is sensitively designed, nurturing children through quality education using the appropriate curriculum, creative teaching methodologies and sufficient infrastructural resources. ABS today is a model public school, providing education which is sensitive to the changing aspirations of the people from these parts.
A strong cadre of competent, empathetic and inspired teachers spearhead the innovative and creative learning process. ABS has 163 students and 22 teachers, learning and growing together.
Student Performance
Considering the students studying at ABS belong to the first generation learners, the major goal of assessment and evaluation is to enable team members to use data to create a profile of a student's strengths and needs.
Children are accessed for cognitive development - the ability to learn new information, speech, understanding of written material; emotional and social development; scientific approach and curiosity and physical development.
A combination of oral and written assessments are done to gauge the child’s improvement on language and comprehension skills. Various co-curricular activities like science workshops; art and crafts workshops; elocution performances are organised to enhance and also to gauge child’s emotional and cognitive development.
Sports and extracurricular activities are systematically organised to instil a sense of teamwork, cooperation and camaraderie. Participation and performance of children in these activities reflect upon their social skills apart from physical development.
We also conduct annual and half yearly written and oral exams to access academic performance.
This year 15 students passed out from ABS, completing primary education up to class 8. This year’s evaluation of academic performance shows high performance of our students from classes 1 to 5 in the subjects Hindi, English and Maths. In classes 6 to 8 however, the struggle continues to improve the academic performance.
With age, the workload of the children at home increases, making it difficult for them concentrate on studies. Considerable students, in these classes, join ABS after finishing their pre-primary schooling in the government schools, which are closer home. With a weak foundation, it becomes difficult for them to cope up with the syllabus in the higher classes.
The major challenges include the gaps in comprehension and correlation. Considerable inputs have gone into innovating teaching and learning methodologies to bridge the learning and comprehension gaps, specific to the children from the region, but there are miles go before we can say we have bridged the gap.
Workshops for Children
Butterfly Workshop, which was conducted by Bheemtaal Foundation, in April, was attended by all the students from grade I to VIII. A short film, explaining the metamorphosis was screened. The children learnt to make butterflies using origami techniques. Cardboard workshop was held in May for students from grade 6 to 8. They were taught to make different articles using cardboard. Akka- Bakka group conducted an art workshop in May. Students were introduced to colours and their creative application.
‘Timeless Life skills’, workshops to expose students to different modes of thinking, were conducted by Atul Pant. Students learnt to construct scientific experiments, varying only one factor at a time to ascertain causation and not just correlation. In ‘Thinking Like an Engineer’ workshops, students were challenged to construct bridges using craft sticks, which were then tested for their load-bearing capacity, introducing to them to the concept of hydraulics.
Teacher’s Training and Capacity Building
As part of annual exposure visit, our teacher visited St.Stephen’s School, Ajmer. They attended one-on-one workshops; sharing their teaching experience with the teachers from St.Stephen’s school. This was an excellent opportunity for them to observe the teaching methodologies followed at St.Stephen’s School. They saw the dessert, which many of them had not seen before. Being from the highlands of Himalayas, this was an enriching exposure for our teachers.
Maths workshop was conducted for the Maths teachers at ABS. They learnt creative and innovative teaching methodologies to teach a difficult subject like Maths, to children from rural areas.
Chandrkala Bisht, our teacher teaching life skills was invited by Astitva Trust in Mumbai, to conduct a workshop on Kumaoni folk dance and music. This boosted her confidence and enhanced her capacity in conducting workshops for large groups.
Sports and Co- Curricular Activities
ABS playground is the pride of its students. Children are provided ample opportunities to groom their talents in sports. Children in the mountains exude an innate ability in sport and the outdoor, hence it has been a continuous endeavour of the school to nurture this potential and groom them for Block and State-level competitions. ABS has a full-time sports teacher who trains students in various games like Kabaddi, Kho Kho and athletics. Volunteers also join in to teach football, volleyball and cycling.
This year ABS students participated in a Kabaddi, Kho Kho and Athletics competition held at the block level. They secured first place at the primary and Junior level. At the Block level, students participated in Kabaddi and Kho kho, standing first in all the games. At the district level, Paras Dauthar and Harshit Bisht and Vivek Kumar of class 5, were selected for Kho Kho. Preeti Thapa stood first in long jump and second in 400 meter race. She has been selected for the State-level competition. Ishika Rani and Preeti Thapa were also selected for Kabaddi at the State level. Neha Negi of class 7, and Shobha Arya and Kalpana Bisht of class 8 were selected for State level. Sakshi Arya of class 6 was selected for Kho Kho. At Junior level, boys stood second in Kabaddi, where Abhishek Bisht and Yogesh Bisht were selected for the State level competition.
Class 4,5, 6, 7 and 8 students participated in a State level drawing competition held by the Education Department.The topic was ‘Energy Conservation’. To promote greater awareness of their cultural heritage, an ‘Aipan’ drawing competition was held at ABS for the students of class 6 and 8. Children were explained the art form, its motifs and significance of each of the motif. A drawing competition on the topics energy conservation, save environment and clean India, was held on the occasion of Children’s Day, at ABS.
With the end of monsoons in July, the work in Aarohi takes a different dimension. The school gears up for its winter session. With the days getting shorter and the winters setting in, students enjoy their outdoor classes, basking in the warm mountain sunshine. Most of the staff is seen sitting with their laptops in the open with hot cups of chai. Despite the biting cold, shorter days and cold office premises, Aarohi is a buzz of activities, keeping the spirit of the mountains alive. July to December is a time for Annual Himalayan Haat, School sports day, Annual sports events, regular medical camps and many festivals.
Aarohi BalSansar (ABS) is a Hindi medium school from Kindergarten till Class 8. It is part of the development effort of Aarohi, a Society for rural development based in the village of Satoli in Nainital District of Uttarakhand. Started in 1994, ABS was an expression of community need.
We presently have 157 students (78 girls and 79 boys). The school has come a long way over the past 2 decades and we try our best to strike the right balance between academics, sports, cultural and co-curricular activities leading to the 'holistic development of children in a joyful learning environment'!
1.1Academic Performance in the Half Yearly Examinations
The school conducts semi-annual examinations. This analysis is for the school’s half yearly examinations for the subjects Hindi, English, and Mathematics.
2.2. Scholarship Update
The Bal Sansar Scholarship Program was started in 2008-09 with just ten students. The scholarship program covers the tuition fees, books, school uniform, and stationery expenses for students. We now have 59 students supported under this program. All these 59 students are currently supported by AarohiSchweiz.There are presently 20 students from class 8 till intermediate who are supported through Aarohi’sAlmora scholarship program – tuition fees of up to 50% are covered for education in a residential school in the nearby town of Almora.
2.3. Science Workshops
It was an engaging experience for the school children when the Pratham Science team came over to conduct workshops at ABS. The Alliance for Science (AFS) program team from Pratham works extensively with children across rural India on direct experience-based science learning. They design multiple resources activities to deepen the learning impact for children and the community. The workshops were held in August for classes 6, 7 and 8. The topics covered were the Skeletal System, Human Anatomy and Internal Organs, and Astronomy. The children had a lot of fun learning about the skeletal system and the organs of the body.The inquisitive and curious nature of the students and careful arrangements made the event a huge success!
2.4. Sports
In October, 46 of our students participated in the village games and were selected to play at the Block and District level. At the district level, the girls’ team won the 1st prize for Kabaddi, and boys’ team won the 2nd prize for Kho-Kho. Of these 10 students were selected to play at the State level games.
2.3. Education Outreach Program
October 1, 2016, Aarohi launched its education outreach initiative with an aim to consolidate our effort of holistic education of children of marginalized mountain communities. Aarohi has partnered with 4 private schools and 9 Government kindergarten schools in the districts of Nainital, Almora and Bageshwar. This projects aims to provide better preparation of children for primary school education by providing them with a fruitful pre-school education. Aarohi will provide these schools with learning-teaching aids and invest in capacity building workshops for the teachers to help bring learning levels to acceptable standards. The aim of the project is to build interest, capability and confidence in subjects like Mathematics, Languages and Life-skills through regular teaching activities and subject specific camps for accelerated learning.
2.3. Case Study
MukeshBisht, alumnus from ABS, was the first batch of the Almora Scholarship
Program. He graduated in 2015 from Koormanchal Academy, Almora. The transition from a Hindi medium to an English medium school was a difficult journey, but Mukesh shared that the exposure helped him to think creatively. Mukesh has always had a desire to live with a higher purpose and goal, and so we at Aarohi, were really very excited when we heard that he cleared the defense services exams, and was selected to join the Indian Navy. On August 15 last year, India’s Independence day, Mukesh started his training as a sailor with the ship INS Chilka in Vizag. It was indeed a proud moment for Aarohi!
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