Help 100,000 Children in Rural India Learn Better

Learning should be an activity which nourishes the child’s intellectual, social and behavioural growth. We at Educate Girls (EG) believe in helping children to receive quality education apart from improving Enrolment and Retention of marginalised children in the educationally backward districts of India. In order to help children learn well and achieve higher learning outcomes, Educate Girls has partnered with a pedagogy and child psychology expert – Sol’s ARC to develop a curriculum which is an activity based pedagogy. The curriculum is implemented through learning kits called as Gyan ka Pitara (GKP) which translates to ‘Repository of Knowledge’. The GKP kit focuses on building micro competencies in English, Hindi and Mathematics for children in grade 3, 4 and 5. These kits are child friendly, context specific and sensitive to the needs of the most marginalised children and under-served children of India. The kit complements the conventional school curriculum and have helped to make the classroom stress free where children learn the basics of literacy and numeracy while having fun through games and group activities.  

For the past twelve years, Mr. Manohar has been teaching at a school in Udaipur district of Rajasthan. As a teacher, he used to notice that the dropout rates were quite high and the children’s interest in learning activities were quite low. He mentioned that the childrens performance was poor in English and Math and eventually the attendance was hitting the lowest mark. Manohar was introduced to Educate Girls when the organisation started their program in the district. With the introduction of EG and its GKP curriculum in the school, he has noticed a tremendous increase in the level of interest towards learning among the children and this has ultimately improved the attendance and retention level of children in the school. Manohar has proven to be a great support to the cause. He actively participates in Educate Girls’ other programmatic activities which are conducted in his village.

Manohar remarks, “I have seen a massive change in the learning levels of the children in my school. Educate Girls’ Gyan Ka Pitara has many interactive tools and activities that help children learn more effectively. The best part about the GKP kit is that it’s very easy to incorporate in the regular curriculum, hence making my job much easier. The kit also contains worksheets that help me trackevery child’s learning level. More than 25 children have scored an A Grade in Hindi and Maths. Earlier, they used to face difficulties in learning English and thus lost interest in the subject. But now they are eager to learn new words every day! This has really helped to maintain regular attendance of children in school and I’d like to thank Educate Girls for their support.”

Like Manohar, many teachers in schools where Educate Girls operate have appreciated the benefits of GKP kits and supported their implementation for better learning outcomes.

The quality of education and low levels of learning continue to remain a major challenge in India. A study showed that although children are enrolled in school, they aren’t necessarily learning well.

Priyal* is an 11 year old girl from a village in Rajasthan. Both her parents are engaged in agricultural activities to earn and feed the family of 7. Being the eldest, Priyal was managing her studies along with the household chores. Gradually, the household work increased and Priyal became irregular in school which led to lower attendance and inferior learning outcomes and finally her name was listed as a “drop out”.

Educate Girls’ field staff identified Priyal as a school drop-out. Educate Girls’ Team Balika, Reena (Community Volunteer) visited her family to understand the situation better and it was observed that while Priyal’s father was quite rigid about his views on gender-role, her mother had a different concern. She said, “To sustain our family my children either have to look after the house or find odd jobs in the village. I am aware about the benefits of education and how my family can overcome poverty if my children are well educated. Priyal used to go to school but even in all these years she hasn’t learnt much. She is over 11 years old but cannot read or write. I don’t think she can study.”

After much persuasion, Priyal was re-enrolled in grade 2. It was a great opportunity for Reena to introduce Priyal with Educate Girls’ learning curriculum kits called as “Gyan Ka Pitara” (GKP)** which translates to “Repository of Knowledge”. These GKP kits are designed keeping in mind the needs of most rural and under-served children in rural India and they focus on building micro-competencies in English, Hindi & Mathematics. With the help of the GKP curriculum, Reena assisted Priyal in improving her basic concepts of numeracy and literacy.

Today, Priyal is enrolled in Grade 2 and is thrilled to be back in school with her friends! Priyal thoroughly enjoys learning the GKP activities in her class and is learning well!

*Name changed to protect identity of the minor

**Gyan Ka Pitara (GKP): Educate Girls partnered with Sol’s Assessment and Remedial Centre (Sol’s ARC), a pedagogy and child psychology expert, to develop the GKP curriculum. Curriculum is designed for 5 levels of learning (pre-literacy &levels 1-4) for children in grades 3, 4 and 5. Focus is on building micro-competencies in English, Hindi and Math