Child-Centred Education for 400 Children in India

Dear friends,

The past few months have changed all of our lives. The pandemic has made all of us rethink and redefine our daily routines. The Covid-19 lockdown has also affected our schooling system where the schools have been shut down until further notice. The disaster has affected more or less the entire humankind and the most affected are the marginalized and vulnerable communities living in both urban and rural areas.

In such trying times, we are working to find out and experiment with various alternatives to ensure education for all the children. We are also reaching out and providing humanitarian aid to the marginalized de-notified and nomadic communities in Sawai Madhopur who are struggling during the lockdown. During these trying times, having the schools closed down and the education process coming to a standstill, we are concerned about its long- term effect on the children, especially on girls.

Kindly read on to know more about our outreach and experiences of teachers during these days.

Best wishes and stay safe

Gramin Shiksha Kendra,

Virtual Connect and Capacity building

“Never stop learning, because life never stops teaching.”

With the introduction of the computer programme, the teachers and students regularly worked on learning the use of the technology available to them. This learning has helped especially during the lockdown. The teachers have kept in touch with each other and the community with the help of messages and other virtual platforms. They have used various online video conferencing apps to continue their workshops and capacity building, subject wise and project wise through discussions, interactions, readings etc. Our teachers are also spending time in understanding the philosophy of Education and thinking of the ways to implement it in today’s context.

The teachers have also participated in various webinars by other organizations and specialists on various topics to improve their understanding of the current scenario under the lens of Gender, Education, and Development.

Education during the pandemic

Visits to communities

After an easement of the lockdown, teachers visited communities to understand the current condition of the students and families. Apart from the struggles of the community in regards to unemployment and lack of food security one common worry that the community rightfully voiced was the halt in their children’s education and therefore an uncertainty to their future. Parents demanded or questioned the teachers on when the schools would reopen.

Online platforms and its limitation in rural areas

As the lockdown was extended we decided to start reaching out to students with lesson plans and TLM’s through online platforms. However, with practice, we realized that only 15 % of the students had access to smartphones. With the online education having its own pedagogical limitations supported by the lack of IT infrastructure with the community, we decided to explore and experiment the alternative ways of imparting education to the children.

Change of Approach

With the realization on the requirement of beginning learning activities with the students, we decided to provide education at their doorstep. Our teachers have created a safe space for the children where they can play, learn, enjoy, socialize and receive an education while ensuring their safety by providing education at their doorstep. Learning sessions are conducted in outdoor spaces at the village, with a group of not more than 10 students while taking all the safety precautions necessary.

Learning sessions are conducted for 2-3 hours a day through activity-based learning methods, where work is done on the main subjects including Math, Languages, Science and Social studies. We are also planning to implement project work with the students in collaboration with other organizations to promote self-learning.

Children are also given the opportunity to express their emotions and thoughts during the pandemic through creative writing and art. These stories, poems, drawings are published in our bi-monthly magazine- Morange.

We are also raising awareness on COVID within the communities by disseminating verified information and debunking myths.

As the children do not have access to school libraries, we have initiated libraries within the village community. These libraries are maintained by the children volunteers.

Pre-primary Education

Preschool students are approached at home and learning continues with the help of parents and older siblings. Teachers have also been discussing the importance of health, hygiene, sanitation and nutritional health with parents, especially mothers and adolescent girls.

Roop (Breaking barriers)

One of our teachers from Uday Community School Fariya met Roop, a 21-year-old girl from the Bhopa community who was deprived of education and married off at a young age without her knowledge and has two children (Girls of 8 months and 4 years old). He noticed her in the village as she sat with her young one to teach her alphabets and numbers. She wants to break away from the shackles of her community that believe that there is no reason for girls to study and wants to create a better future for her girls and other girls in the community to look forward to. She lives with her father who plays the Sarangi in villages for a livelihood after some issues at her in-laws. Her dream is to start reading and our teachers and other girls from the community are helping her.

Humanitarian aid (COVID relief)

Sawai Madhopur is home to some highly vulnerable and marginalized communities including De- notified and nomadic communities who are rag pickers, blacksmiths, folk performers, cattle traders, labourers and prostitution etc. The pandemic has worsened their state and some of the households from these communities were left with no source of income leading to food insecurity. We supported these identified communities by providing the dry-ration kits to 1748 households in the district.

Through one of our recent studies, we found that even after the relaxation of the lockdown 93.4% of community members have no source of income.

We are also planning to design a suitable intervention for the De-notified communities of Sawai Madhopur.

Some stories of community members affected by the lockdown: 

Health is on a standstill

Jogish is from the Bhopa community from Raikheda. His labour work has come to a stop and has affected his and his son’s life drastically.

"Once the Lockdown began work stopped I have not gotten any wages for a while now. My son has been suffering from a health issue for a few months now. When I took him to the doctor last time they said that they could not determine what it was. Therefore I will have to take him to Jaipur for a checkup but with restrictions on movement and my empty pockets, I have no way of taking him to the doctor. "

As a father, he worries for the condition of his son and the impending difficulties that their family will face if he does not get his job back.

No way other than walking

Lal is from the Pawandi village in Khandar Sawai Madhopur and used to work as a labourer in Jaipur.

"Once the lockdown began work stopped and I had to come home. As there was no other way, I walked home and used all my money on coming back. Once I got here I realized that there was no work I could get here either. We do not have food and we do not have a job. We are cornered from all 4 sides. We haven't gotten help from any other source other than the ration kits we got from GSK and we are thankful for the help. We will be able to manage food for the next month at least."

With the committed efforts by the teachers and parents to ensure education for the children, we are hopeful for a better tomorrow.

We wish you good health during these worrying times.

Warm Regards

Team

Gramin Shiksha Kendra

Note: All the names of individuals have been changed to protect the individual's privacy. 

Links:

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