By Chetasi Kane | Manager- Documentation and Communication
Center No. of Girls No. of Boys Name of the Teacher
Vasna 17 14 Jayshree
Behrampura 20 10 Urmila
Juhapura 12 18 Firdos
The daily activities at the CFS centers consist of welcoming the children. To motivate and drive children towards academics, the teacher engages them in some playful activity like playing Snakes and Ladders, Cricket,Story telling etc. Once ensured that the students are attentive and actively participating in class, the teacher begins with the daily teaching module. While young children are given activities involving toys and puzzles, the other students are engaged in learning Mathematics, Language and Social Studies as per the day’s schedule. The learning happens through simpler techniques that are easy to comprehend and memorize by the children (like counting is taught by counting fingers, names of flowers are taught with the help of charts or drawing etc). One day of the week is also dedicated to art and craft.
The following events and celebrations took place at our CFS centers in the last three months:
A Note on Nutrition
Children are provided with a variety of nutritious foods and snacks like Sukhdi (Indian Sweet), Parle-G biscuits, peanuts and gram, Egg and other such supplements during the three hours at the CFS. This is another factor that encourages parents to send children to the centre.
Challenges: Convincing parents to send children to school and stopping drop outs have been major challenges throughout. Counseling on a regular basis is required. Breaking notions regarding the requirement of Birth Certificate for admission has been a challenge too.
Lesson Learnt: Children here, come from a background where they are expected to be stoic and unresponsive to adversities. In such a condition, when they are taught with humbly and treated with warmth they tend to gain a lot. Besides, English and Hindi are to be taught to students who wish to move to class 4 or 5.
Read how Sheetal's Life changed after joined the Child Friendly Spaces
Shital lived in her village with her grandparents until she completed 2nd standard. Then, she moved to Ahmedabad with her parents and two siblings. Both her father and 13-year-old brother work at a garage, and her mother is a housewife.
When Sheetal first joined Vasna CFS in December 2010, she was shy and would not answer when quizzed in class. She did not even feel close to the teacher Jayshreeben. In this last 5 months, Shital has made an impressive progress. Not only did she learn how to read and write, but also she started taking responsibilities in class. For example, she is in charge of monitoring the class when Jayshreeben is late or shortly went outside to run an errand. Her teacher says that Shital has become more responsible, and dedicated to her studies. This positive change is also noticed at home. Shital’s mother started giving her new tasks, such as doing the household shopping and other household chores.
At Vasna CFS, many girls make bracelets and sell them through Jayshreeben, who takes the finished bracelets to a nearby shopkeeper. Shital works 2-3 hours daily at home and at school. Through this bracelets activity, Shital has developed a strong sense of independence. Jayshreeben is impressed by how at her short age (10 years old), Shital has taken the lead and now directly deals with the shopkeeper. She picks up the material, makes the bracelets and then gives them back on time. Sometimes, Shital even makes extra bracelets and gives some to her teacher and some to the shopkeeper.
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