Effective Pedagogic Practices and Capacity Building In Teachers: A

Documenting ProcessPratichi Teachers’ Workshop

Birbhum 2011

Children love playing in the sand – we had noticed this before. So instead of

reinforcing ‘the school’ with slates and pencils, we let the children and teachers

out into the sandpit and let them play – much to their delight. Using fingers on

the sand, we drew fascinating figures. The Bangla numeral for 3 ( ৩ ) became

the base for the Bangla letters, ‘ ’অ , ‘ ’আ , ‘ ’ত . Again, the numeral for 6 ( ৬ ) became the launch-pad for the letters ‘ ’ড , ‘ ’ড় , ‘ ’উ , ‘ ’ঊ . Like this, we

could make almost all Bangla numerals look like letters of the Bangla alphabet.

Such fun!

The above is taken from a written communication from a participant at a Teachers’

Workshop at Birbhum, organised by the Pratichi (India) Trust, with collaborative support

from the District Primary School Centre (DPSC) Birbhum, Sarva Siksha Mission (SSM)

Birbhum, Child Rights and You (CRY), and teachers unions, especially All Bengal

Primary School Teachers’ Association (ABPTA) and West Bengal Primary Teachers’

Association (WBPTA). The workshop series was conceived and planned by Pratichi to

build and enhance capacity amongst a vital conduit of national development: our primary

school teachers. Mahadev was among the 123 teachers who attended the workshops, and

wrote their professional experiences in this particular development sector. This report is

based on the proceedings of the workshops – in the form of written narratives submitted

by attending teachers, and field observations made by our research team. Some of the

examples of the former are included in this report as illustrations, and a particularly

comprehensive submission is appended at the end of it.

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Pratichi Teachers’ Workshops: Why and How?The workshops aimed to build capacity amongst primary-school teachers, who

perform the vital development task of shaping the educational foundations of future

citizens, and to disseminate ideas and solutions to common pedagogic problems. After

all, access to education for all is a primary indicator of functional democracy in a nation-

state.

Why Teachers?

Delivering an integrated child development programme in the most equitable and

comprehensive manner is the first step towards a nation. Primary school education,

enhanced with the Mid Day Meal (MDM) programme, is one of the largest and most far-

reaching platforms for this delivery. Pratichi’s mission is to strengthen this system of

delivery at both grassroots and policy-planning level. The workshops perform the

function of building capacity of grassroots deliverers – in this case, primary school

teachers. Analysis of the data collected in the process enables Pratichi to make policy

recommendations at administrative levels.

Built into the process of documenting teaching experiences is a second, but not

secondary, enterprise. In their daily encounters with lack, many teachers have found

opportunities for pedagogic innovation. Pratichi seeks to share its appreciation for these

dedicated personal initiatives, and give their extra-classroom social roles greater

visibility. At the same time, it is also vital to record narratives of problems encountered

by teachers, in their own words. Collating problems encountered, and disseminating

effective pedagogic practices or innovations would also increase the number of

beneficiaries of the process, as educators facing similar problems in other institutions

adopt successful methods or offer their own solutions. A sufficiently large data set per

successful innovation would also recommend it strongly to policy makers, and might be

adopted into standard pedagogic practice.

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How Does Writing Help?

Although only its mechanical aspect is manifest, writing is a complex cognitive

process. The purpose of providing a space where teachers are encouraged to write about

their experiences, is not merely to harvest an archive. Written communication, unlike

spoken ones, produce a tangible and verifiable text that persists as-is for considerably

longer than the spoke word lingers in audience memory. Hence there is greater personal

motivation for providing logical and factual validations for one’s ideas, when expressing

them in writing.

Factual validation, however, is not immediately available. It requires some research

in the field. It is the experience of all writers that the search for one kind of data leads to

several other related data sets, and inspires reflection on the nature of their reciprocal

relationships. In short, research breeds broader research, and leads to a more

comprehensive understanding of problems which had previously served only to irritate. A

better understanding of problems sometimes even leads to their solutions – an organic

process that has much to recommend itself, especially when most etic intervention fails to

fulfil their projected potential.

It has been our experience that discussions or debates yield a greater degree of

problem-statements and (legitimate) complaints, whereas the written communications

from the same group are more reflective, analytical, and focused on possible solutions.

Table 1 below shows the number of teachers who attended the workshops from

each Gram Panchayat, the corresponding number of schools, and the number of attendees

who submitted their ideas in writing.

Table-1. Number of teachers participated in the workshops

Block Panchayat No. of schools No. of teachers

participate

No. of writings

submittedSuri I & Suri

II

Baurkuna /

Karidhya / Kendua

46 40 36 (90%)

Rampurhat I Barshal / Kusumba 31 34 33 (97%)

Bolpur Ruppur 20 20 14 (70%)

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SriniketanIlambazar Bilati 16 16 16 (100%)

Rajnagar Tantipara 13 13 13 (100%)

All 126 123 112 (91%)

The Place and its People: Birbhum and Selected BlocksAmongst Birbhum’s main workers, 26.5 per cent are cultivators and 30.3 per cent

are agricultural labourers. The SC, ST and Muslim population constitutes 71 per cent of

the total population in this district. Those blocks which reflected this district statistic most

closely were selected as the location for workshops, to emphasise the problems of

delivering primary education to socio-economically disadvantaged groups. This would, in

turn, ensure the development of a more comprehensive and effective delivery model for

the district.

The workshops were planned per Panchayat, to ensure maximum and

comprehensive participation from the largest number of local schools. Amongst these, the

workshops at Suri-I and Suri-II blocks were merged into a single workshop for practical

convenience. The final five workshops were held between January 2011 and March 2011.

Population details of the six selected blocks – including group identities, labour divisions

and literacy patterns – and a brief analysis of the data are provided in Tables 2A and 2B

in the appendix.

Main Trends Highlighted in the Written CommunicationsSeveral positive experiences of teaching were highlighted by the workshop

conversations and oral deliberations of the attending teachers. These experiences deserve

to be discussed in detail and disseminated amongst the teaching peer-group and

policymakers, such that valuable lessons might be more widely learnt.

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Teachers’ Initiative for Wider Participation

The involvement of local people in the delivery of education is now widely and

explicitly discussed in various forums, including academia, government policy-makers,

social and political activists. As heartening as this wider interest is, the discussions are

not necessarily informed by the daily experiences of teaching. This greater public

interest, therefore, does not realise its full potential in understanding or effectiveness.

The focus on public participation in education also serves to obscure its crucial lack

in some areas. It is this lack that needs immediate addressing, because these areas are the

ones where greater local participation is vital in the sustainable delivery of primary

education. Some attending teachers provided narratives of mobilisation, by which they

enabled wider participation from the local community in their school-areas.

Mahadev Ghosh, the head teacher of Ballavpurdanga primary school (Bolpur

Sriniketan block), dealt with a very common problem: the absence of parental

participation (via Village Education Committee – VEC) in various education-related

meetings. Mahadev and his colleagues identified parental labour patterns as the cause of

this absence. Student families – belonging primarily to the SC community – could not

participate in the meetings because they coincided with their daily work schedule. The

teachers conferred with VEC members about their free hours, and started scheduling

meetings during those times. Attendance improved remarkably, thus disproving the

popular perception that social minorities involved in daily labour do not prioritise their

children’s education.

Manick Ratan Bhattacharya, head teacher of Itebhanga Primary School (Bolpur

Sriniketan block), highlights how the active involvement of the community in mobilising

resources for the school benefited local students. The school was established in 1999,

without a school building (or fund thereof) to house the students. The local people

contributed bamboo, hay, ropes and nails to put up a hay-roofed structure next to the

village pond. Classes continued here under the aegis of a single teacher (Manick), while

the local people conferred about the donation of a possible plot for a more permanent

school building. Within six months, a place was decided upon, and soon registered in the

name of the school. Manick then applied to the Sarva Sikhsha Misison to release funds

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for ACR. Upon approval, the local community came forward again, Builders and

construction workers volunteered their time and effort to transform the money into a

classroom.

The direction of aid is not unidimensional. Teachers have sometimes participated in

local efforts to improve the community as a whole (in accordance with the opinion of the

community). Joydev Ghosh of Dakshin Harirampur Primary School (Bolpur Sriniketan

block), cited an incident where the teachers, with the help of the local Mother Teacher

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Image 1. Portion of a Write-Up

Association (MTA) and Self-Help Group (SHG), forced an unauthorised liquor shop to

shut shop. Apart from the illegality of its existence and moral disapproval of liquor

consumption, this shop – situated next to the school – was perceived to be a serious

obstruction to the atmosphere required for delivering education.

Other narratives document the creation of flower gardens to make the school more

attractive to children, and kitchen gardens to supplement MDM allowances, both with the

active help of local people. MTA meetings have discussed the possibility of enhancing

taste and nutrition of MDM while keeping within the current MDM allowance (Rs. 3.02

per child). The actual implementation of the MDM has also been a space for wider

cooperation with schools, with local SHGs executing them in some areas, allowing

teachers to focus on classroom-delivery.

Teachers’ Personal Commitment

Wider local participation, while immensely helpful, cannot sustain a school by

itself. A number of narratives documented the kind of commitment from teachers that is

well beyond their job description. If they gave up the struggle against an array of odds

and merely performed the parameters of their jobs, they could certainly not be blamed.

However, they went beyond their call of duty in some instances, and helped resolve old

complaints and new problems.

Manick Ratan Bhattacharya’s narrative shows how the persistent problem of

insufficient (or absent) infrastructure can be successfully addressed. Here, Prakash

Mandal of Chakaipur Primary School (Rampurhat I block) provides the solution to a

common problem: the perceived inability of primary school teachers to perform non-

teaching duties (census work, voter list compilation etc.). Traditionally, the teaching

community has opined that these duties prevent them from functioning as educators.

Prakash, however, proves otherwise:

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We have benefited greatly from our (friendly) relationship with the local people. With their help, we finish our non-teaching duties very quickly, either early in the morning before school starts, or after school is over for the day. This leaves teachers free to perform their duties as educators, and teach their students.

The apparently exclusive duties of a teacher were thus simultaneously fulfilled,

without non-teaching duties in any way affecting the classroom-delivery or MDM-related

function of the teachers.

Another persistent problem in the delivery of primary education is the insufficiency

of teachers. Vacancies are often not filled in time, resulting in one-teacher-schools: an

unsustainable institution that is bound to collapse, especially if there is even a relatively

small number of students in each of the four classes, necessitating quadra-tasking for the

single teacher. Tapas Kumar Pal, assistant teacher of Gopalpur Primary School (Suri II

block) faced precisely this problem. Tapas was the sole teacher in charge of nearly 280

children, in four classes. Teaching four classes was possible, after a fashion, with much

Image 2. Portions of Write-Up

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adroit juggling. However, marking the written work of four classes was impossible for

one person. As an emergency solution, Tapas designed an innovative and very effective

model of marking. In his words:

There is a great paucity of teachers in some schools – it makes paying individual attention to each class impossible. So writing-evaluation is done by the students. Class III marks Class I’s work, Class IV marks Class II’s, and the teacher marks Class IV’s work. In this way, all classes can be engaged in both reading and writing, and the problem of vacancies can be (temporarily) addressed.

Although strictly an emergency measure, Tapas’ way of distributing marking

responsibility also ensures that older children stay in touch with the basics of their

education via marking the homework of junior classes.

Tapas has also had considerable success in maintaining classroom discipline. His

awareness that children are not naturally inclined to rigid classroom discipline helps him

identify method by which they can be encouraged to maintain a certain standard of

behaviour while at school. Instead of scolding or punishing – traditional measures against

lack of discipline – Tapas awards the best-behaved student with a sweet each day (which

he pays for himself). He is careful to pick a different student each day, to help propagate

the feeling that every child has the possibility to win, and thus encourage classroom

discipline in greater numbers of students.

The social distance manifested via language is another major problem in many

schools, especially in this district. In several local schools, tribal children constitute the

majority of enrolled students. These students do not speak Bangla at home and are

largely unfamiliar with the language, but the schools they attend all deliver education

through Bangla, the state language. The absence of teachers who speak their mother-

tongue makes it very difficult for these children to learn, and discourages attendance. As

a way around it, some teachers have identified students with a flair for languages, and

have used a two-fold teaching process: the teachers teach these bilingual students, and the

bilingual students then teach the other local students. Other teachers have worked to

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become passably fluent in the local languages, so that they can interact directly with their

students and their families.

It should be noted here that these instances of personal commitment are voluntary.

They should certainly be recognised, appreciated and encouraged, but not imposed upon

teachers as an expected norm.

Building a Social Consciousness

Mihir Saha, a teacher of Seura Shibdaspur primary school (Rampurhat I block),

presented a good example to show how a school can be started. He explained in his

narrative that the teachers, along with the children, clean the classrooms and the school

premise first thing in the morning. Through it, they have tried to develop a sense of

discipline and the necessity for keeping the school clean. Thereafter there is a morning

assembly, after which information about the health of the children are collected. Most

striking, however, is the custom of asking the children about the incidences that happened

since the closure of the school the previous day. This exercise helps children develop a

consciousness about their locality, as well as the country.

Azizul Mallick of Islampur Primary School (Bolpur Sriniketan block), described

how arranging traditional folk songs in the school created greater interest in children

about coming to school. Rehena Khatun, assistant teacher of Nachansaha Primary School

(Ilambazar block), described how, by encouraging students to perform the rhymes, songs

and dances they learn at home, school can be made into a joyful space where children

want to come of their own accord.

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Image 3. Portion of Write-Up

Schooling: Persistent Problems

But the attendance is not the same every month. Poverty and economic needs forces most parents to leave the village and find work in brick factories elsewhere. As a result, young children stay away from school for long periods. Their standard of education drops. To establish boarding schools in these areas, dominated by Dalit and Muslim populations, would help improve the standard of education amongst the local children.

This suggestion, made by Mukta Kumar Kundu of Khairadih Rashbehari Primary,

is supported by other teachers posted at schools with similar demographies. Some other

common problems have also been raised by several teachers. For example, the age of

admission (5+). Most teachers think 5+ is too young for a child to be in school, and for a

healthier overall development they suggest changing admission rules to accept children

only 6+ years old, and above. Some teachers also complain that children even younger

than 5+ are put into school by their parents, arguably so they can access the benefits of

the MDM programme. Another problem that came up several times was the absence of

boundary walls to protect them from outside interference (including the dangers of

traffic). A few teachers said that they had built consensus amongst local people to build a

boundary wall, at least on one side, to reduce risk to students.

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Problems, however, did not dominate the atmosphere of the workshops. Innovative

solutions and appreciation for them did. And some credit for this goes to the SSM, for

sustaining some of the positive efforts that yielded good results.

Impact of WorkshopsThe presentation of these experiences of success and failures of the teachers was

planned to be made in the written form to enhance the capacity of teachers. Some

teachers expressed their views and experiences very well, identifying problems, analysing

causes, outlining solutions, and attempting to help shape constructive future plans. Others

did not measure up to their peers in some of these aspects.

Past Experiences, Current Processes and Future Programmes in the Progress of Primary

Education :

(A) Past Problems =>

1. Low rates of attendance amongst students.2. Low literacy rates in minority-dominated areas influenced parents to prioritise

their labouring and earning capacity over their education.3. The absence of Mid-Day Meal meant children who had not eaten all day. Hunger

came in the way of their engagement with classroom activities.4. In the observed period, the number of school drop-outs increased, for various

area specific reasons.5. The school was right next to a pucca road, but there were no boundary walls

separating the school compound and the road. This increased the risk of accidents amongst students, and added to the anxiety of the teachers.

6. On some occasions, teachers were unable to understand the language spoken by the students, and vice versa.

Box 1: Translated excerpt of Write-Up

It must also be kept in mind, however, that ample time for writing a good report

could not be realistically provided. It is hoped that the positive examples of their

colleagues and peers will be inspiring, and that these workshops can play a pivotal role in

the enhancement of the capacity of our teachers, and therefore of society at large.

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Changes NeededThough initially estimated at 20 participant schools per workshop, and one

representative per school, it was felt that a more inclusive and productive modus operandi

would be to be flexible about numbers. At one instance, two workshops were merged into

one for practical advantage. This flexibility had some positive aspects: it appeared more

welcoming to greater numbers of teachers, and motivated them to attend. But this

flexibility has some negative impacts too. For workshops where attending schools far

exceed 20, verbal interactive sessions are often repetitious, with several teachers bringing

up same or similar issues individually. Some speakers were even curtailed by peers when

they showed signs of repeating previously discussed issues, which soured the atmosphere

of collegiality, because every attendee was keen on sharing her or his narrative. A reverse

of this problem was when teachers did not take much interest in the workshops. Hence

they presented very casual views regarding their teaching experience. Consequently, the

workshop could not benefit fully from their experiences.

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Box 2: Translated excerpt from Write-Up

Past Experiences, Current Processes and Future Programmes in the Progress of Primary

Education :

(B) Current Processes =>

1. Sincere efforts by teachers has resulted in a very satisfactory increase in attendance. This was achieved by visiting the houses of absentee students, and convincing guardians about the importance of education.

2. The most important thing for a child is to be sent to school – guardians have now been convinced of this (although not all guardians, yet). This results in guardians help us in ensuring their children come to school regularly.

3. Involving all teachers in the preparation of the Mid-Day Meal prevents helps save time. And Mid-Day Meals have helped increased attendance, even if to a small degree.

4. Apart from teaching in classrooms, we also chat and spend time with our students, which helps build a social and emotional connection with them. This connection helps us be better teachers to them in the classroom.

5. To remove linguistic handicaps, we try to use languages they know in the classroom, although in some cases this problem persists.

Another serious problem was found in all the workshops: many attending teachers

preferred to emphasise extant problems, rather than share solutions. This approach was an

obstruction to getting positive, constructive experiences, but at the same mind, we did not

wish to dictate the flow of conversation. In one case where one organiser tried to gently

steer the conversation towards positive experiences that could prove exemplary to others,

some teachers protested vociferously. For them the workshop was, at least initially, a

cathartic space for voicing their dissatisfactions. In writing, however, they engaged more

with the causes of these problems and their solutions, ultimately proving Pratichi’s thesis

about writing correct.

At the end of the day, however, problems are the first step towards a learning

experience. In future, the workshops will work to pre-empt the discontent and problems

that we have encountered so far, to ensure more productive interactions.

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ConclusionFrom the above discussion it is clear that:

The workshops were very effective to bring out the innovative practices of

teachers.

They may be instrumental in encouraging others to take the same approaches to

combat similar problems.

Simultaneously, it also encouraged and motivated those teachers who had tried

their best to deliver primary education in the face of adversity.

The documentation of positive experiences proved successful in engendering a

more thoughtful approach to the problems faced by he teachers.

Besides enhancing teacher-capacity, they will also contribute substantially to

discussions at the policy level.

The success of our working model and their execution encourages us to organise further

workshops for other districts of the state, enabling us to build a publicly accessible

database documenting, in the voices and words of those permanently deployed ‘in the

field’, the commonalities and individualisms in the delivery of primary education at every

sub-district level of the state.

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Appendix I

District Population Data and AnalysisFollowing are the group identity demographies, labour divisions, and literacy pattern per block in the district of Birbhum, according to the Census of 2001.

Table–2a. Identity and Class composition in the selected blocks and panchayats.

Block Panchayat% of

SC

% of

ST

% of

Muslim

% of

Cultivators

% of Agricultral

Labour

Suri IBaurkuna 37.3 14.2 32.2 19.9KaridhyaBlock Total 36.3 8.5 25.3 15.4 28

Suri II Kendua 28.5 5.2 22.2 21.8Block Total 33.0 12.7 30.2 27.7 40.3

Rampurhat IBarshal 31.0 1.9 23.7 28.7Kusumba 37.4 23.0 25.1 17.7Block Total 31.4 13.2 29.0 25.9 38.4

Bolpur

Sriniketan

Ruppur 24.9 19.2 11.0 23.6Block Total 29.8 17.9 24.4 21.0 43.9

Ilambazar Bilati 16.5 15.0 29.5 56.1Block Total 23.9 8.7 45.9 27.2 44.2

Rajnagar Tantipara 37.0 6.7 24.5 9.0Block Total 33.8 15.1 13.3 22.8 34.0District Total 29.5 6.7 35.0 26.5 30.3

Table–2b. Literacy pattern of the selected blocks and panchayats.

Block Panchayat% of

Literates

% of Female

Literates

Suri IBaurkuna 59.5 48.0KaridhyaBlock Total 62.5 52.0

Suri II Kendua 73.5 63.7Block Total 63.8 53.7Rampurhat

I

Barshal 69.9 60.7Kusumba 59.6 48.2Block Total 61.9 51.9

Bolpur

Sriniketan

Ruppur 65.0 56.6Block Total 60.0 50.0

Ilambazar Bilati 58.1 49.2Block Total 63.0 53.0

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Rajnagar Tantipara 62.9 52.1Block Total 58.3 45.7District Total 61.5 51.6

All the 6 blocks except Ilambazar has the SC population higher than the district average

(29.5) while Suri-I has the highest SC population in the entire district. All these blocks

have the ST population higher than the district average (6.7) where Bolpur Sriniketan is

the second highest ST dominated (17.9) block in the district. In regard with Muslims

though only one block among the selected blocks, Ilambazar, is higher (45.9) than the

district average (35) of Muslim population but except Rajnagar, Muslim population in

other blocks are nearly 25 per cent (the state average) or more. As a whole SC, ST and

Muslims altogether constitute 70 per cent or more of the total population in any of these

blocks except Rajnagar.

Amongst main workers, cultivators in all others blocks are above 25 per cent (district

average is 26.5) except Suri-I (18.8). Agricultural labourers in all blocks is 20 per cent or

more (district average is 30.3), except Suri-I (16.6).

In terms of literacy none of these block except Rajnagar (58.3) has a literacy rate below

60 per cent, but at the same time none have crossed the 64 per cent mark yet (Suri-II is

the highest among these 6 blocks, 63.8, little above the district average 61.5). For female

literacy too, none of these blocks except Rajnagar (45.7) has the female literacy below 50

per cent, but at the same time none of these block has the female literacy rate more than

54 per cent (Suri-II is the highest among these 6 blocks, 53.7, little above the district

average 51.6). Two things are clear from this data: while most blocks show some

advancement, none of them have exceeded the 64 per cent mark in literacy rate, which is

not a particularly high benchmark. Rajnagar, in fact, is remarkably below the other

selected blocks in all literacy statistics.

Text from Mohammad Tohidul Hasan Mandal & Nabarun Chandra Das, assistant

teachers of Goltikuri Primary School (Ilambazar Block), detailing current situations and

future solutions in delivering primary education in the state.

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