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LEARNING THROUGH

INTERACTIVE RADIO INSTRUCTION (IRI)

Programme Monitoring Report 2009-10

Submitted bySARD


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LEARNING THROUGHINTERACTIVE RADIO INSTRUCTION

(IRI)

Programme In School Support Report 2009-10

Submitted bySARD


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Learning Through IRI

AbbreviAtionsDEO Deputy Education Officer

EDC Education Development Centre

EFA Education for All

HM Head Master

IRI Interactive Radio Instruction

M&E Monitoring and Evaluation

MCD Municipal Corporation of Delhi

MCPS Municipal Corporation Primary School

MOU Memorandom of Understanding

NGO Non-Government Organisation

SARD Society for All Round Development

SSA Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan

TLM Teaching Learning Material

USAID United States Agency for International Development


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ACKnoWLeDGeMentsLearning through IRI has benefited greatly from the help and assistance of a very large

number of people, groups and organisations. We wish to acknowledge the funding of the

project by the Education Development Centre (EDC), through the India Country office,

in association with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), New

Delhi.

Thanks to members of EDC Team, Dr. Victor Paul, Country Director, Ms. Archana Nambiar,

Programme Manager and Ms. Revathi Rugmini, Monitoring & Evaluation Officer of EDC.

Also the EDC Regional Team, without their support and cooperation, it would have beendifficult for Society for All Round Development (SARD) Observers to take forward the intended

activities, therefore special thanks to Ms. Swati Parmar, Ms. Roslyn, Mr. Prabhat and Mr.

Nisar Khan for their day to day coordination and interaction with SARD Team.

The innumerable insights from the Head Office of EDC, Washington were particularly helpful.

We are very grateful to the EDC Team members of the Head Office for their commitment,

time and inputs.

Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) Director, Mrs. Premlata Katariya and School Staff of

the three zones namely, Mr. Jasram Khaim, Deputy Education Officer (DEO) - Civil Lines, Mr.

O.P. Yaduvanshi, DEO - West Zone and Mrs. Krishna Sharma, DEO - Najafgarh providingassistance in very many ways as did the Teachers of the MCD Schools who were not only the

stakeholders but also made important contribution to the implementation of IRI Programme

in their respective schools. We would like to thank the stakeholder groups who gave so

generously of their time, particularly during the schooling hours.

We are deeply indebted to all the principals, teachers and administrative staff in the

schools providing their full cooperation and extended their support in the IRI Programme

implementation.

The final (and biggest) word of thanks goes, of course, to the children of Grade 1 & 2 in

all the MCD Schools who participated in the IRI Programme intently, initially in their schools

and subsequently in their homes. Learning through IRI would not have been possible without

their interest and involvement.

SARD Monitoring Team


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ForeWorDAs SARD Team Leader, it gives me great pleasure to publish Learning through IRI. This report

presents the In School Support processes undertaken by SARD in 150 MCD Schools

during the implementation of a unique programme for improving English Comprehension &

Speaking Skills among Children of grade 1 and 2.

Learning through IRI is one of the significant in school support process undertaken in

three selected zones of MCD, by tracking the development of schools for at least eight (8)

months.

I am confident that this publication from SARD will prove to be of enormous benefit to both

policy makers and practitioners and will play an important role in the ongoing quest to

improve childrens education in government (MCD) schools.

I would like to thank Mrs. Premlata Katariya Ji, Director MCD and Dr. Victor Paul, Country

Director, EDC Banglore for their support during the programme implementation period.

Most importantly, I would like to thank the 150 school children, their principals, teachers

and Zonal Staff who have generously given up their valuable time to participate and enrich

this programme.

Sudhir Bhatnagar

CEO, SARD


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ContentsIntroduction 7

Background & Objectives of Learning Through IRI 8

Interactive Radio Instruction (IRI) 9

The Given Scenario: MCD School Settings 11

Data and Methodology: In School Support Design 12

In School Support Team 1

In School Support Visits 1

Radio Availability 16

Radio in Working Condition 19

Guidebook Availability 20

Reasons For Guidebook Being Not Available 21

Guidebook: Preparations Pre-broadcast) 22

Classroom Observations (During Broadcast) 2

Availability of TLM

Pre-broadcast Preperations (Average Time) 27

Follow-up Activities 28

Using Guidebook 29

Key Issues & Inputs Provided by Observers 0

Summing Up

Dissemination 7

Annexure 1 8

Annexure 2 0

Annexure 1

Glimpses & Voices 5


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This report presents the descriptive analysis of

the findings from the eight months In School

Support data collection in 150 schools, classroom

observations, interactions with the teachers who have

participated in Learning through IRI - the Interactive

Radio Instruction Programme. The data were

collected between July 2009 and February 2010.

This report attempts describing the background

literature, the IRI approach, format used during theprogramme to collect data and the findings of the

Learning through IRI programme.

Learning through IRI tracks the development of

schools, especially 150 In School Support schools

and the classrooms, teachers attitude, behavioral

change and most importantly childrens involvement

in eight months of IRI programme. This report

Municipal Corporation Primary School (MCPS)

Girls Rajnagri Extension-1. If one could observe IRI

program in this school, they would deduce that school

could be called an ideal school for IRI program. What

makes this school ideal is the enthusiastic teachers,

who believe in the IRI Program, equally supportive

principal and students who like to participate in the

radio program and wait for it every morning.

On visit to school, you get to know about Anshu, a girl

student in Class 2. As her class teacher, Mrs. Seema Kumari narrates, Anshu used to run away from

English when she joined the school. She had problem in pronouncing even Hindi words due to her

native (local dialect) language. The radio program attracted her attention and gave an opportunity

to the teacher to work upon. Now, she can comprehend, speak and pronounce basic English words

in a much better way and likes to learn English through radio.

introDUCtion

As you read this report, you would read narrations about many such schools visited by SARDObservers during their in school support visits. This report provides quantitative and qualitative

details of the in school support processes.

focuses on the first objective of Learning through

IRI: to describe the pilot phase of IRI Programme

achievements, issues and challenges in MCD schools

of Delhi. It will provide a comprehensive picture of

how the children and schools are faring across the

main domains of their development and their daily

classroom experience. The findings will be presented

for all 150 schools, interesting differences among

schools, three zones and classroom settings throughdata. This report is descriptive providing the first hand

views of teachers and a wide range of factors that

may impact on the IRI Programme implementation

in MCD schools. Although report will aim to be as

comprehensive as possible it should be borne in

mind that the amount of data collected in Learning

through IRI is considerable and it is amenable to

much more analysis.


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Learning through IRI was commissioned in July

2009. It is funded by the Education Development

Centre (EDC) Bangalore, in association with the

USAID Office, New Delhi. The In Schools Support

is being carried out by a consortium of Observers

led by Society for All Round Development (SARD).

The principal objective of the In Schools Support

of MCD Schools is to describe the status of MCDschools classroom settings, to establish what is

typical and normal as well as what is atypical and

problematic with respect to the IRI Programme

implementation.

The In Schools Support focused on a broad range

of IRI Programme with a view to documenting how

well children in IRI Classroom settings / environment

are doing. The SARD Observers during the In

School Support facilitated the MCD staff especially

the teachers in establishing norms for IRI Programme

Implementation.

A wide range of perspectives have been included in

the Study with information recorded from teachers,

principals and MCD Administrative Staff, and most

importantly of all, the Child himself or herself.

bACKGroUnD & obJeCtives oF

LeArninG tHroUGH iriLearning through IRI has defined objectives which

are as follows:

1. To describe the classroom settings during the IRI

Broadcast Schedule/ Timings in School.

2. To chart the development of school over time, to

examine the progress made by the school.

. To identify the key factors that, independently

of others, most help or hinder IRI s ProgrammeImplementation.

. To establish the effects of IRI experiences and

to map dimensions of variation in classroom s

settings among schools (required if any).

5. To identify the persistent adverse effects that

lead to IRI disadvantages and its effective

implementation.

6. To obtain teacher s views and opinions on IRI

Programme.

7. To provide evidence based data of effective

implementation of IRI Programme.

The tasks entrusted to SARD were to conduct

classroom observations during IRI programs at a

frequency no less than 2 observations per classroom

per month, specifically, in the selected 150 schools,

comprising of IRI experimental schools: 50 schools

per zone in zones. In each school, the following

work was taken up:

Holding discussions with IRI teacher. Observing of IRI program in action. The observer

was present at the school for the full duration of

the IRI program during the day of visit.

Completing the IRI observation format as provided

by EDC during and after the observation.

Communicating urgent issues to the EDC state

coordinator.


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With overcrowded classrooms, chalk and talk

learning techniques, the quality of education in

primary schools across government schools was a

cause for concern. To help tackle this problem, the

Education Development Center (EDC), with funding

from USAID, rolled out a student-centred Interactive

Radio Instruction (IRI) programme.

The identified classes tuned into the English-is-fun-Level-1 programme which was broadcasted

through Gyan-Vani Radio FM Channel 105.6 MHz

for 0-minute lessons every day twice i.e., 8.0

am to 9.00 am and later .0 pm to .00 pm.

MCD Administration instructed school principals

to have radio sets available for each classroom.

The 120 IRI English-is-Fun-Level-1 radio lessons

were broadcasted and listened through radio by

providing students and teachers in primary schools

with interactive activities such as songs and games.

The programme went on air from 1th July 2009.

Interactive Radio Instruction (IRI) is a teaching

methodology in which a radio broadcast guides

a teacher and students through the activities of a

lesson. While listening to the radio, learners actively

participate with involvement in the lesson by singing,

reading, writing, answering questions and solving

problems in ways that ensure active learning. English-

FEATURES OF IRI PROGRAMME Unique interventions that specifically targets dual audience viz. Teachers and students.

Programs are focused on pedagogical principals like child-centered learning, critical thinking and

cognitive & emotional development.

Ensure active learning through well designed program activities and multiple technologies for

Teaching and Learning

Innovative teacher training / learning programmes using media.

Development and adaptation of appropriate teaching learning materials, complementing the lessons

with games, activities etc.

Emphasizing the need for making learning a joyful experience.

Orientation of parents, community and local NGOs on the need for creating a conducive atmospherefor learning.

interACtive rADio instrUCtion (iri)

is-fun-Level-1 is the name of the IRI program. Each

lesson consists of a 0 minute broadcast, along with

activities that the class completes before and after

the broadcast. The activities for each lesson are

described in a booklet called Teacher's guide.

Teacher's guides support the radio lessons for each

day. Teacher s Guides is a resource that links the

teachers to the daily radio broadcast. They assist

teachers in three ways. Firstly, each guide has a

section that explains how to use the programme.

Secondly, the guide provides teachers with the

words of all the songs, instructions for making

simple teaching aids such as paper-ball, using


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Another purpose of the Learning through IRI for MCD

Primary School pilot project is also to train and prepare

Class 1 & 2 teachers to facilitate IRI program effectively

in their classrooms. However, in order to participate

effectively, teachers must be trained in this innovative way

of teaching. Therefore, materials such as teachers guides

were distributed. Teachers conducting IRI in the Class 1

& 2 were oriented to its principles and methodology, as

well as prepared for the type of classroom management

required during IRI broadcasts. During the training, more

than 00 teachers participants from MCD Primary Schools of three zones were trained in IRI techniques

and given teachers guide. During the training days, the Zonal Educational Officer of MCD explained to

the participants the importance of the training and how it can be beneficial to students, particularly in

MCD schools. Trainers and resource persons of EDC explained and demonstrated that IRI is an active

teaching methodology designed to make learning fun. IRI is aimed at Improve educational quality.

ways that ensure their participation actively in the

learning.

Education Development Centre (EDC) and the

Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), under the

memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed in

first week of January 2009 organised the Interactive

Instruction (IRI) programme training for the primary

teachers. The training programme was organized

jointly by the MCD teachers training institute,shaktinagar and EDC on how to use technology

materials and tools, especially radio in their

classrooms in different batches. It trained all primary

teachers of 150 primary schools of the three zones.

classroom settings, and explanations to difficult

concepts. Thirdly, each guide has lesson plans for

each of the 120 lessons including what activities the

learners should do before, during and after the radio

broadcast. Pre-broadcast activities help the learners

to review skill and information from previous lessons

and prepare them for the lesson for the day. Since

air-time is limited, it is essential that teachers follow

up each broadcast with the post broadcast activities

described in the daily lesson plan.

IRI is an active teaching methodology designed

to make learning fun. Children sing, play games,

answer questions, read and solve questions in


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EDC conducted the initial survey of MCD Schools

in the month of Feb/March 2009. The purpose of

the survey was to collect basic data (both qualitative

and quantitative) and to triangulate them on

basic parameters (indicators) for planning and

implementation of the IRI programme effectively;

this included the infrastructure details of the

schools. The preliminary findings of the study

revealed the following salient points regarding MCDschools enabling environment for IRI Programme

implementation planning and administration.

In Delhi, the MCD primary schools are of varied

sizes, there are schools are of small, medium

and large sizes ranging from 105 children, 00-

600 children and about 100-1500 children

respectively.

On an average there are about 2- sections

among boys schools; about three () sections per

school among girls schools and one-each (1) incombined schools. Therefore, while designing

tHe Given sCenArio:

MCD sCHooL settinGsand planning for the IRI programme it is important

to note that if the delivery of the programme is

through Radio, each school (especially boys and

girls) must have 2- radio sets per school so that

all children (sections) could tune and listen to

the programme simultaneously.

The attendance is not an issue in MCD schools,

on an average a good percentage of attendance

(read it as actual head count instead of reported/ recorded numbers in the registers), above

75% was reported in most of the schools visited

during the survey.

Again required number of teachers or teachers

in position is not an issue among MCD schools.

Most of the school irrespective of the size; small,

medium and/or large have teachers in position

and available for the primary grades.

The electricity is quite regular and constantly

available at the school. It is to be noted that

in Delhi, the norm is now pre-paid electricityconnections.


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The sample of 150 schools (50 schools per zone x

three zones) was generated through the list of MCD

primary school of three zones. The representative

sample of 150 schools were primarily based on

three criteria a) proportion of type of schools i.e.,

only Boys, only Girls and Co-educational schools;

b) The type of shift i.e., morning (general) shift and

afternoon shift, generally the morning shifts are

for girls and/or co-educational schools whereasafternoon shifts are exclusively for Boys only; and

c) the size of school i.e., large, medium and small

based on the number of enrollment in Class 1 &

2. Based on the above criterion, the schools were

selected by EDC team and provided to SARD. The

effective period for In School Support the IRI

Programme by SARD Observers was eight months

as stated below:

DAtA AnD MetHoDoLoGY:

in sCHooL sUpport DesiGn

Month

& Year

Number of

Broadcast duringthe Month

Remarks

July 09 15 Broadcast started from 1th July

Aug 09 19

From 6th Aug 09; Broadcast begin from Lesson-1; as the initial broadcastwas to prepare teachers & schools with the broadcast timings; arrangementof adequate radio sets; training of teachers on IRI approaches & techniques.SARD Observers (Team) was oriented and trained on IRI Monitoring Formaton 2-2th Aug 09.

Sep 09 1

It took almost 7-10 days for SARD Team to get stablised with the MinitoringFormat. Soon the Dashera holidays followed and schools were closed.

Also, the finalized list of schools was received from EDC Team after the

views and recommendation of M/s. Vision EIS Team, conducting theBaseline Survey in same 150 schools.

Oct 09 15

Effectively SARD Team had 8 months for In School Support for 150schools, with a norm of 2 visits must for each of the 150 schools. In otherwords, 150 schools were visited during the broadcast days which wereequivalent to over 172 visits.

Nov 09 20

Dec 09 17

Jan 10 18

Feb 10 20

Mar 10 6


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SARD initially began the In School Support

visits with 12 observers who were trained by EDC.

Subsequently, there were observers who left in

between and SARD had to not only recruited the

qualified observers but also trained them. The list

of observers given below is mainly those who served

the maximum and were retained till the end. Thus, in

all SARD deputed 16 Observers to visit 150 schools

with the above caveat. It may be noticed that thenumber of schools provided below in table are

exceeding 150. This happened because of changes

in the list provided earlier and modification taken

up later based on EDCs experience with Vision

EMIS baseline survey. Thus the number of schools

visited represent both the initial list of schools and

the modified list of schools resulting in increase in

number of schools visited during the over all period.

However, currently SARD In School Support is

effective in 150 schools as per the latest revised list

.

SARDObserver

Numberof Schools

Allotted toeach Observer

Total SchoolsCovered inthree Zones

Mr. Fahim 105 Observersfor 52 Schoolsin Civil LinesZone

Ms. Rashmi 11

Mr. Shimile 10

Ms. Tulika 10

Ms. Varsha 11

Ms. Bhawana 12

6 Observersfor 66 Schoolsin West Zone

Ms. Himika 10

Ms. Nisha 12

Ms. Priyanka 12

Ms. Madhu 10

Ms. Rajni 10

Mr. Amit 15 Observersfor 59 Schoolsin Najafgarh

Zone

Mr. Himanshu 12

Mr. Navaldeep 12

Ms. Pawan 10Ms. Uma 12

in sCHooL sUpport teAMIt is important to mention here that the team

composition was made keeping the zonal variation

and the geographic spread of the schools. In

Najafgarh zone, the schools were very far and

distances were too much to cover in a day through

public transport. Also, there were very few public

transport buses available for commuting in the zone.

Therefore, it was strategically important to have a

male team member with a vehicle (two-wheeler)which would facilitate in In School Support visits.

It is also important to mention here that the highest

number of attrition of observers was from this zone.

To be precise, in no point of time SARD could get

the full strength of five observers till Oct, 2009, there

were - observers i.e., 1-2 observers short for the

zone. However, from Nov 2009 onwards, the team

stablised. It is remarkable that inspite of that the

shortage of observers, Najafgarh zone reported the

good number of visits (608) in the zone is highest

as compared to the other zones, where the strengthof observers were adequate. In the remaining two

zones namely, West & Civil Lines Zones, most of the

teachers of Class 1 & 2 were female teachers and

thus strategically female observers were entrusted

the responsibility of classroom observation.


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As mentioned in above sections, SARD Observer

started In School Support visits since inception of

the programme i.e., signing of the contract in July

2009. However, the effective period made availablewith SARD Observers for the In School Support

visit was initially for 5 months from October 2009

to February 2010. Thus, the total number of visits

made by SARD Observers was 172 in 177 schools.

However, this should be read with a caveat that the

maximum number of visits could be made only in the

effective period of 5 months.

From the above table it is evident that almost 2

visits per school per month were made by the SARD

Observers which was the norm set for the In SchoolSupport visits. As per EDCs norm it was mandatory

for the SARD Observer to visit 2 visit per school per

month.

in sCHooL sUpport visits

In order to ensure, the observers visited more

schools, instead of routinely visiting same schools,

the number of visits to schools further segregatedby disaggregating the data and analysing, how

many visits were made to each school. The table 2

presents the scenario.

Old Roshan Pura II: Mr. Dineshwar Tyagi, teacher of Class 1 says, this program isvery good initiative, but it has some drawbacks such as: some lessons were above thestandard o Class 1 students but overall it has many things to learn and good exposureor children to be bold enough in classroom and also it enhances listening skill o studentswhen students listen to the instructions o radio characters or the short time and they

concentrate over it.

Najafgarh - 2(G): Ms. Vijay Lakshmi, teacher o Class 2 says, I like this program

because children are taught in the way they like... they like playing, singing, jumping etc.and this program uses such methods to teach children and helps them to learn.

Table 1

Zone Total Number

of Visits made

by SARD

Observers

In Number

of Schools

Average Number of Visits

per School in Effective

period of 5 months by

SARD Observers

Civil Lines 56 (%) 52 (29%) 56/52/5=2.17 (2)

West 560 (2%) 66 (7%) 560/66/5=1.70 (2)

Najafgarh 608 (5%) 59 (%) 608/59/5=2.06 (2)

Total 1,72 (100%) 177 (100%) 2 visits per school per month


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As per the above observation, SARD Observers had

five effective months for their In School Support visit

and according to EDCs norms one visit per school

per month was mandatory. Therefore, a minimum of

five visits by each observer was ensured by assessing

the data using the following criterion. a) for how

many schools were visited less than five times; b)

for how many schools were visited atleast minimum

5times , and lastly c) for how many schools werevisited more than five times by the SARD Observers.

It can be noticed from the table above that for

Madhu Vihar (I) Girls: Ms. Meena Sharma, teacher o Class 1 says, our school hadbroadcast problem that is why we could not run program requently, I observed changesin students, whenever it is conducted students take interest in the program, I want thisprogram should be visual also such as: on T.V., so that more efciently children can takeinterest and can learn with more enjoyment. Over all, program is very good.

Najafgarh (I) G: Ms. Sunita Goswami, teacher says, program is good except that we lackthe radios. Otherwise I could have done better . Ms. Tara another teacher says, programis nice, children have learnt a lot while playing games and in a un way. Poems werelengthy and ew words were o advanced level according to my students . According to Mrs.

Samyukta Rani (teacher), the program is very attractive to children. I visual element isadded then it'll be even more attractive to the students. The guide book and the time tableo broadcast lessons were very helpul. Each and every step was defned in the Guidebook orus to ollow. Children learnt a lot with un .

Table 2

Zone Less than

5 Visits

5 Visits More than 5

Visits

Total

Schools

Civil Lines 8 (15%) 6 (12%) 8 (7%) 52

West 1 (20%) 12 (18%) 1 (62%) 66

Najafgarh 17 (29%) 2 (%) 0 (68%) 59

Total 8 (21%) 20 (11%) 119 (67%) 177

almost 119 schools out of 177 schools, as per the

norms given by EDC, 2 visits were made by SARD

Observers each month. For about 8 schools, the

SARD set norm of 2 visits per school per month

could not be achieved. But as mentioned above,

most of the schools which are under this category

are those which either got changed/deleted from the

original list or there were some constraints such as

accessibility to the school. However, from the data,it was observed optimum coverage as stipulated

were attained by the visits of observers to gauge IRI

program efficiency and effectiveness.


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Having made the visits or in other words, merely

visiting schools by SARD Observers was not the

essential purpose of In School Support, the first

and foremost was to ensure that the radio must be

available in the school for the programme. Therefore,

the pertinent question comes, is radio available in

school?. The answer or response to this question is

not that simple. When we see after the pilot phase

of IRI programme at the end of broadcast, yes there

are good numbers of radio available. But this wasnot the scenario in the beginning. SARD Observers

along with EDC team had to make lot of efforts with

the school administration to ensure the availability

of radio sets. The key effort was made by EDC Team

by getting the Administrative orders from Director

Education that each classroom must have a radio

available for the programme. Getting administrative

order is one thing, but procuring and ensuring the

radio are available in classrooms is another. Thus,

SARD Observers had to make lot of efforts by wayof persuasion and assisting the school teachers and

rADio AvAiLAbiLitY

principal through School Inspectors to ensure that

each school must have a good functional radio

set available for the children. The overall scenario

regarding the availability of radio sets during the

visits made by SARD observers is presented below

in the table.

Table

Visits Is Radio

Available (Yes)

Civil Line 565 99 (88%)

West 559 52 (9%)

Najafgarh 608 58 (96%)

Total 1,72 1,606 (9%)

It may be observed from the table above that overall

in 9% of the visits the radio sets were available.

However this inference must also be read with a

caveat, i.e., in a school a radio set could be available,but was the radio available for all the classrooms

MCPS Boys Rangpuri, Mrs. Anita Sharma, class teacher and

in-charge of the school stated that, The radio program has

benefited her students by creating a strong attraction towards

learning English. The students are attracted by the unique and

fun way of learning through games, activities, songs and music

which certainly appeals a lot to them.

MCPS Boys Sagar Pur West-2, There are total 9 sections of

Class 1 and 2 in the school, but due to scarcity of rooms,

they have to make two sections sit together in a classroom.

During the visits, it was also noticed that there was shortage

of working radios. Observer took up the matter with the

principal, who promised to look into the matter on a priority

basis, and if radios could not be repaired she will buy new

radio sets. She kept her promise and got one radio for eachclassroom of Class 1 and 2.


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and sections of Class 1 & 2? No, it would be wrong

to state so here. As per SARDs Observers Team, it

took almost months, from July to September 2009

to stabilize as they ensured that each classroom and

section had a radio set available.

From the table above one can also observe that in

West and Najafgarh zone, the percentage of radio

sets availability during the visit was satisfactory.

However, the availability of radio sets at Civil Lines

zones was less in comparison. The reason is though

Civil Line zone was the first zone where the IRIprogramme was initiated, a) in the initial stage it

was unclear whether radio sets or CD player or both

combo-pack i.e., radio with CD is to be procured

for the IRI Programme. The Zonal Officer, DEO of

Civil Lines requested teachers to procure CD player

for the school, which later was changed and schools

were requested to procure radio sets with FM

channel. This delayed the process and availability of

radio sets in civil lines zone.

The table below presents the sample scenario before

and after the programme. As mentioned in above

section, at the beginning of programme schools had

none or only 1 radio set, but gradually they boughtthe additional / new radio sets.

MCPS Girls Indira Park-1: Like many MCD

schools, SARD Observer noticed shortage of

radio sets. Due to shortage of radios, the radio

sets are given to eleven sections of Class 1

and 2 on rotation basis. It meant that no class

could attend all the lessons and therefore each

student would miss the subsequent lessons

before their turn comes the next time. It also

meant that the students were finding it difficult

to follow the lessons as the lessons got a little

tougher, building on the topics covered during

previous lessons.

When SARD Observer met the principal to discuss this issue, was assured that more radio sets will be

procured in coming months. Another month went by and Observer went to remind the principal about

her commitment to buy more radio sets. Observer was told that radio sets could not be procured becausethe funds had to be used for more pressing and urgent needs to buy more mats for students to be

used during the winters. Observer could clearly see that students couldn't sit on the cold floor without

the additional mats, therefore radio sets had to wait. But IRI broadcasts won't wait either. So, there was

only one way to change the usage pattern of the available radios. Observer requested the principal to

consider combining two sections at the time of broadcast so that each radio could be shared among at

least two sections. This change would mean that each student would get the opportunity to attend each

and every lesson of the broadcast.

MCPS Punjabi Bagh, One can generally find principal on rounds across the school when the IRI broadcast

begins. The teachers regularly put on the radio and students wait eagerly to participate. It seems that the

principal and teachers of school have taken upon themselves to self-monitor and implement the program

for the benefit of each student and the school in general. School now owns the program, as the teachers

and principal show willingness to overcome hurdles which can be resolved by them. Rather than making

an issue out of unresolved issues, they take challenges and resolve it amicably within the team.


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Table

Name of School Number

of Radio

in July

2009

No. of

Radio in

October

2009

MCPS Burari Boys 1

MCPS Jahangiri Puri E-1 0

MCPS Sangam Park-1 1

MCPS Burari Girls 0

MCPS Jagatpur (Boys) 0 2

MCPS Jharoda Mazra-1 1 6

MCPS Jhanagirpuri H-2 0 2

MCPS Samaypur New-1 1 5

MCPS Nathupur-2 1 2

MCPS Model Town II: Initially the school was taking

IRI program for granted and teachers were of the

opinion that the broadcast clashed with the time of

recess/break in school, which is why students will not

be gathered in the class and if gathered they will not

take interest.

But adjustments were made to the timings of recess

before the broadcast and teachers were requested

to conduct the program. In the beginning, program

was not conducted frequently for the two monthsbut frequent visits by SARD observers made teacher

regular and they began to conduct the program

regularly.

Indra Nagar (I): Ms. Shashi Bala (teacher) says, I ound the program very interesting.Guide book is very helpul, especially because we could use the songs and activities during

games period too. But learning sentences was tough or the students. Words and songswhich were repeated oten were learnt easily by the students . She adds, It will be urtherhelpul i the broadcast time could be revised. The school starts at 8:00 am during winters.

We don't get much time or pre-broadcast activity. We generally do verbal learning aterthe recess because children are tired. I think that timing will blend nicely with the radioprogram .

Qutub Vihar: According to teacher Mr. Neeraj Singh, children have shown great interest

towards radio programme, they start singing and dancing when the good morning songcomes in radio.

From the starting, school was having only one

radio and still there is only one radio, program is

conducted only in Class 2 but teacher has become

very much regular for the program, he gives up all

of his most important works when he had to conduct

the program. Even, when teacher was late, students

by themselves switched on the radio and listened tothe program sincerely.

Program is conducted in principals office, because

their classroom does not have switch board to plug-

in. Mr. Brijpal, teacher of Class 2, is very much

impressed by the program. According to him this

program enhanced attachment between students

and the teacher, program has decreased the gap

between students and teacher, because this program

contains limitless learning with enjoyment. He quoted

a word for the IRI program romantic program for

me. He suggested that this program should be for

atleast one hour.


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Now the obvious next question comes, if the radios

were available during the visit, were they functional

during the visit? From the table below it is clear

and evident that for almost 95% (1,518 out of

1,606) visits where the radios were available, were

functional too.

The above quantitative scenario again needs to be

read with a qualitative illustration. Though the radioswere functional for almost 95% of the visits, SARD

Observers had to motivate school teachers and

principals to make it happen. In the initial stages

i.e., July to September 2009 visits, there were lot of

issues for making the radio sets functionally available

for the programme, the issues were a) the electric

points were not available or were functional in the

classroom; b) The electric (connecting) wires of the

radio procured were not long enough to connect it

to the electric point; c) The available electric point

needs repair, as it does not have proper earthing ,

WorKinG ConDition oF rADiodue to which the radio reception is not proper and

gives humming sound; d) Radio procured does not

have FM channel; e) Radio procured is of local brand

(locally prepared) and not of good quality therefore

the reception of programme is not proper; etc. etc.

SARD Observer(s) hand-holding and persuasion

with the school authorities, teachers and principal to

make the radio set functional paid dividends and thefunctional radio sets were more or less available in

classrooms from October 2009. Some key steps taken-

up during the process to make the radio sets functional

were a) the local radio sets were replaced with good

branded radios; b) the electric points were repaired

and made functional; c) wherever it was not possible

to make electric point functional, dry cell batteries were

procured to made radio functional; d) Extension cord

was procured to make sure that the radio is placed

either at the centre of the classroom and/or where the

reception of the broadcast was proper.

Table 5

Radio

Availability

Radio in

Working

Condition

Reason(s) : Radio not in Working Condition

No battery Has Broken Reception

Problem

Others

Civil Line 99 (88%) 21 (8%) 0 0 1

West Zone 52 (9%) 521 ((99%) 2 0 0 0

Najafgarh 58 (96%) 576 (99%) 0 0 0 1

Total 1,606 (9%) 1,518 (95%) 2 0 1

MCPS Gujranwala Town II: Since, this school is of 2nd shift and school was facing problem with the

broadcast timings, HM rescheduled the recess time. Ms. Meenakshi, who teaches Class 1, was not

trained for IRI programme. SARD observer oriented her IRI programme and gave her feedback on day

to day lessons on regular basis, with regular interactions with her, she overcome her weakness. Now she

feels confident and coordinates all activities with high interest to draw all students attention.

MCPS Nangloi, One can easily see how the children feel and act during the broadcast and the progress

that they have made over the period. There's growing interest among students towards learning English

and it proves once again that the IRI program is a great initiative to make learning English attractive andenjoyable while delivering measurable results.


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The next important component of the programme

was availability of teachers guidebook. Therefore,

the obvious question was it available to the teacher

during the visits. It is to be noted here that EDC

provided the teachers guide prepared for the IRI

Programme English is Fun Level-1 with instructions

in Hindi and distributed to each teacher during the

three day orientation / training programme.

From the table presented below it could be seen that

in almost 70% of the visits made by SARD Observers

the Guidebooks were available.

It would be wrong to presume or assume that for the

remaining visits the guidebooks were not available

as they were not provided / given to the teachers. The

table below presents the reasons for non availability

of the guidebooks during the visits.

GUiDebooK AvAiLAbiLitY

MCPS Aruna Nagar II: Teachers of the school were

skeptical about the programme, initially they used

to listen program themselves instead of running in

the classroom. SARD Observers had to resist many

complaints that students do not come to the class,

radio is out of order etc. Now, the teacher starts the

program regularly in his class, students of his class

draw his attention when the broadcast starts, they

themselves answer the questions asked by the radiocharacters. Whenever SARD Observers now visits

the school, teacher asks whether the program will be

broadcasted today.

Table 6

Visits Guidebook

Available (Yes)

Civil Line 565 2 (76%)

West Zone 559 0 ((61%)

Najafgarh Zone 608 8 (7%)

Total 1,72 1,220 (70%)

MCPS Karampura, teacher of Class 2 says, Besides some drawbacks in the program, like inaudible

songs, short activity time, reception of lessons against schedule plan etc., IRI radio program is good. Even

after school hours, I suggest children to listen to repeat broadcast of the lesson. I have observed that our

students are improving. She appreciated one more aspect of the program that it includes instructionssuch as: to ask questions from back bencher students, it is very good to encourage students.


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The data sheet as compiled and submitted to EDC

reflects that till Feb 2010, all schools have received

the guidebook. However, the above table should be

read in conjunction that from the initial months i.e.,

from July 2009 and till Feb 2010, the guidebooks

were not available as the guidebooks were

distributed and provided to the teachers in a phased

manner while conducting the two day orientation of

IRI programme for the teachers of grade 1 & 2.

The major reason observed by the SARD Observers

during their visits was guidebook not received ,

i.e., for almost 7% of the visits (126 out of 1,72)

the guidebook was not available. The inference

from the above table should not be drawn that the

teachers guidebook were not given / provided to

the teachers. As stated in the above section, EDC

provided teachers guide to each and every teacher

who participated in the IRI programmes threeday orientation / training programme. Due to the

administrative decisions of the school authority, the

teachers are transferred to other schools and/or

zones, and they have taken the teachers guidebook

along with them instead of submitting / leaving it

with the previous school authorities / teachers.

reAsons For GUiDebooK beinG

not AvAiLAbLeThe above scenario was pointed out and reported

by SARD to EDC Team during the monthly review

meetings in few cases as compiled above.

Three options were considered to resolve the non-

availability of the teachers guidebook; a) provide

additional copy of the guidebook wherever not

available with the teacher; b) request the transferred

teachers to provide the copy of the teachers guide

to the school or teacher from where she/he is

transferred; and c) the school, another teacher who

has the guidebook shares it with the other teacher.

During the monthly review meeting with EDC team,

the merits and demerits of the three options were

considered. Providing additional copies each time

to each teacher was not cost effective and feasible

as there were limited numbers of copies printed

/ available with EDC based on the norm of one

copy for each Class 1 & 2. Asking the transferredteacher and tracking them was not practical within

the purview of the pilot phase and for the SARD

Observer. Therefore, the last best option of sharing

the teachers guidebook within the school by the

teachers was worked out in most of the schools

where complaints were received and that went well.

Table 8

Visits Reason(s): Guidebook Not Available

NotReceived

Availablewith HM

Taken bySomeone else

Other(s)

Civil Line 565 21 (%) 2 8 9

West Zone 559 65 (12%) 1 0 27

Najafgarh 608 0 (7%) 28 16

Total 1,72 126 (7%) 19 76 52

MCPS Janakpuri Boys School, Ms. Akanksha, teacher of Class 1 says, When the radio broadcast

started, I thought this is another usual pressure over teachers of MCD schools. But as I started to conduct

the program, the interest began, my students learned a lot. I could not expect my students that they wouldlearn so much English words. She also suggested increasing the timings of the program.


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Similar to radio, availability of teachers guidebook

is one thing, but using and referring to it is another.

The table below presents the usage pattern of theteacher s guidebook by referring to the correct page

of the guidebook. For almost 81% of the visits

teacher guidebook was referred correctly by the

teachers during the preparation i.e., pre-broadcast.

Referring to guidebook by almost 81% itself provides

a positive scenario i.e., Teacher prepare themselves

for the programme. The pre-requisite items, TLMs,

content are familiarized by the teachers prior to

the broadcast. This assists and helps them in better

GUiDebooK:

prepArAtions pre-broADCAst

delivery and coordination of the classroom during

the programme.

Table 9

Guidebook

Available

(Yes)

Referred

Correct Page


West Zone 0 07 (90%)

Najafgarh Zone 8 55 (79%)

Total 1,220 988 (81%)

MCPS Boys Sagar Pur Old-2, SARD Observer during

his visit asked principal about the IRI program, she

sounded apprehensive and listed issues regarding the

program. The main complaint was that the students

could not understand the new songs being introduced in

the radio program from time-to-time. Observer figured

out that this issue could be solved by providing the IRI

guidebooks to each teacher individually. On subsequentvisits, the guidebooks were given to each teacher after

an orientation, which seems to have solved many issues.

It also helped the teacher in conducting revision of the

lessons learnt on a particular day. One of the teachers said that too many topics in a day were confusing

for the children to comprehend. Now with the availability of guidebook, there is commitment and co-

operation of the school staff making IRI program a success here too.

MCPS Jahangirpuri B I : School is organised and teachers are also concerned about their students.

Initially, when program started it was for Class 2 because radios were short in numbers. Later on request,

HM arranged more radios and program started in Class 1 also. Class teacher of Grade 1, Ms.Usha

Mishra explained other teachers to take interest in the program, she decorated her class with TLMs,

and helped other teachers if they were facing problem in conducting the program. She herself conducts

activities of previous lessons and repeat activities for children using Teachers guide, such as songs

and poems of IRI program. Mrs. Usha Mishra, says, this program has introduced a new way to teach

children apart from traditional teaching. I have improved my teaching skills with the help of this program

and I have come to understand that what children demand to learn. I have seen many changes in many

students in my class since this program started. I use TLMs most frequently to teach children and this is

because of this program. My students have songs on their tips and in the place of movie songs they singsongs of your radio program in casual setting also .


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Most important aspect of the In School Support

visit was classroom observations during the

broadcast of IRI programme. SARD Observers

based on the classroom observations used to notice

technical issues which used to be discussed after

the broadcast. The practice was so conducive and

in such an atmosphere that the teachers do not

hesitate to share their apprehensions, limitations,

mistakes which they themselves used to share with

the observers.

The table below presents the overall scenario and

summarized for the classroom observations during

the In School Support visits:

Teachers used to refer atleast once (1) the

teacher guidebook during the IRI programme.

CLAssrooM observAtions

(DUrinG broADCAst) As there are various questions asked by the

various characters during the programme on

day-today lessons of the programme, on an

average it is about eight times the teachers used

to pose question to students. There are certain

variations within the zones, such as the number

of questions posed in Civil Lines zones were five

as compared to Najafgarh i.e., double (10),

ten questions being posed by them during the

programme.

It is encouraging to note that, on an average

about 8% times, the children used to respond

to the questions posed by the teachers. In other

words, it could be inferred from the empirical

data that children primarily used to respond

most of the questions during the programme.

Table 10

During Broadcast Civil Line WestZone NajafgarhZone Total

Total Visits (a) 565 559 608 1,72

Teacher refers to the Guidebook (in total visits) (b) 716 (1) 995 (2) 820 (1) 2,51 (1)

Teacher poses a question to students (out of total

visits) (c)

2,81 (5) ,06 (8) 6,08 (10) 1,1 (8)

Students respond to a question posed by teacher

(out of Teacher poses question to Students) (d)

2,179

(77%)

,70

(79%)

5,67

(90%)

11,116

(8%)

Students respond to a question posed by the radio

characters (out of Total Visits) (e)

1,7 () ,608 (6) ,905 (6) 9,257 (5)

Teacher exercises discipline on the students (Out

of Total Visits) (f)

1,10 (2) 1,6 () ,05 (5) 5,772 ()

Teacher encourages students to participate in the

activities (Out of Total Visits) (g)

1,2 (2) 2,55 (5) ,77 (6) 7,256 ()

Note: Figures in Paranthesis denotes the ratio (average per visit) and/or percentages (as mentioned) which are based onfollowing analysis(b = b/a) i.e., example 716 / 565 = 1.26; in other words, teacher referred to guidebook 1 time (once) during the visit inCivil Lines zone.Similarly, (c = c/a) i.e., 281 / 565 = 5.02; in other words, teacher poses questions atleast 5 times to students during thevisit in Civil Lines.For (d= d/c) i.e., 2179/281= 77%; in other words, 77% times students respondended to questions posed by the teacherduring the visit in Civil Lines.For (e= e/a) i.e., 17/565 = .08; in other words, almost three times students responded to the question posed by the

radio characters during the visit in Civl Lines Zone. It may be noted here that in each lesson, there are different number ofquestions posed by the radio characters.For (f= f/a) i.e., 110/565 = 1.95; in other words, teachers exercises discipline twice on students during the visit in CivilLines zone.For (g= g/a) i.e., 12/565 = 2.18; in other words, teachers encouraged students twice during the visit to participate inthe activities in Civil Lines zone.


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Many a times instead of teacher asking or posing

questions, radio characters Chanda, Raju and/

or Mithu (parrot) ask questions directly to the

children. In other words, teacher do not explain

the question to children but ask directly, in such

cases, again it is encouraging to note that almost

on an average about 5 times in a lesson children

used to respond to these questions directly. It is only about 2- times children had to be

disciplined / cautioned to keep quite in order to

listen or perform correctly during the programme.

In other words, it could be inferred from the data

that children get so interested and engrossed in

the programme that only for few cases / times

they had to be disciplined.

MCPS Ludlow Castle: School staff was aware about the program, they started the program in both Classes

1 & 2 but also in Class , as teachers realizes the importance and effects of lessons. Soon they observedthat students of all three Grades began to use English vocabulary and also teachers encouraged students

to listen evening broadcast in the afternoon at home. Students take keen interest in program and discuss

their parents about day s learning of radio program.

Timarpur (I): Ms. Komal (teacher) states, I assume this is just the beginning. Thesestudents will be ar better when they would be promoted to Class 2 as compared to thecurrent Class 2. We try our best in the school but students don't get a proper learningenvironment at home . Another teacher and Principal o school, Mrs. Santara Rathee says,the radio program has certainly benefted the students because earlier students o same

class were limited to big and small alphabets only. But now, these students have learnt tospeak words which are used in daily lie .

Ghumanhera (Boys): Ms. Kanta, teacher, says, Students' interest towards English hasgrown. Earlier they used to treat learning English like a burden. They didn't want toread their textbooks but now its un or them. Vocabulary o students has improved.Pronunciation has improved too. Earlier the students used to hesitate but now they speaka ew English words among themselves. Inect there's a visible shit in parents' attitude as

well. Parents have started to support their children at home even more. Those who can'thelp in their children's homework have started to send them to tuitions. I think they won'teven need to go to tuitions ater a while .

On an average about -5 times teacher had

to encourage Class 1 & 2 young children to

participate in the activities as instructed and/or

posed by the characters during the lesson.

MCPS Janakpuri C2, teacher of Class 2

says, This program is really very nice, it is

helping students to learn English through

playing, singing, doing activities etc. Through

participation, I also enjoy with children. This

is a good initiative for MCD primary schools,

where children come from educationally

backward backgrounds and such innovative

program are available for Class 1 and 2.


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Every school is provided a good number of Teacher

Learning Material (TLM) for the primary classes

especially, for Class 1 & 2 such as Alphabet, counting,

chart papers etc. which are normally displayed in the

classrooms.

Table 11

Visits TLM Present, Readyto use


West Zone 559 5 (81%)

Najafgarh 608 529 (87%)

Total 1,72 1,26 (71%)

From the table above, in almost 71% cases i.e.,

during the In School Support vists, the TLMs found

to be available, present in the classrooms. Though

AvAiLAbiLitY oF tLMthere are large variations in the zones, especially in

Civil Lines the availability of TLMs for the children

during the visits were only about 5% as compared

to other two zones where in for almost 81-87% visits

the TLMs were available among the teachers.

MCPS Indra Vihar: When school was informed about

the radio program, they made arrangement for students

so that teacher does not face any difficulty to conduct

the program. Teacher uses TLMs regularly and specially

encourages all the students to participate. All school

teachers sit around the students. Students wait for their

turn and even fight to answer first. Mrs. Sadhna, teacher

of Class says, because of this program we have come

to know the benefit of the TLMs other wise we had TLMs

in our school but did not use them frequently, but thisprogram brought frequency of usage of TLMs in our class

for children. I appreciate this program and want this program to continue in the next session also.

My students are very excited for this program and they ask for the reason when sometimes program/

broadcast is off .

Gopal Nagar: As per Ms. Sharda Goel (teacher), Program is really useul. Very eectiveor Class 2. Students' response is very good. I fnd the pause time during the lessonstoo short. Children can't ollow the activities during that period. Songs are too lengthy

or Class 1. I believe this program should continue. I also like the guidebook. I use theguidebook nicely and reer to it to defne our syllabus too. It has proved to be very useulor teaching English in Class 1 and 2... very useul .


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Preparations for the IRI programme, prior to the

broadcast are one of the most important tasks for

the teacher. A good preparation of the programme

is like half battle won. If the teacher is able to read

about the lessons to be broadcasted from the

guidebook and make available requisite TLM before

broadcast, much time could be saved to look for

requisite TLM during the broad cast and miss some

of important portion of the lessons taught. Similarly,

reading the poem, rhyme or song which is going to

be broadcasted during the lesson is very important,

so that the teacher could pronounce and get

prepared in advance for the same.

On an average it is found that teachers spend about

5 minutes time for such preparations. It is important

to note here that the IRI broadcast in the morning

pre-broADCAst preperAtions

(AverAGe tiMe)is at 8.0 am. It is also the time when the school

begins with the morning assembly, attendance and

other school arrangements. Thus, the teacher hardly

used to get, spend time in organizing the classroom.

Neverthless, from the SARD Observers note sheets,

it could be ascertained that teachers used to visit the

classrooms prior to the programme to set the radio

frequency, so that the programme is not missed.

Table 12

Visits Average Time Spent

by Teacher on pre-

broadcast activities

Civil Line 565 5.0 minutes

West Zone 559 5.0 minutes

Najafgarh 608 5.5 minutes

Total 172 5.0 minutes

MCPS Boys RajNagari Ext-2: is one of those

schools where you find many factors in place to

roll-out an innovative idea successfully and learn

one from them in turn. An innovative approach,

like the IRI Program, needs support of several

vital factors for its success. The principal of this

school believes in positive changes. The teachers

respect the principal and enthusiastically follow

under his able leadership. The students are

attracted to the IRI program. This sounds like adream beginning for IRI program. And as they

say Well begun is half done .


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Follow up activities after the broadcast is equally

important as it is before and during the programme

broadcast, especially to ensure that all children

who if in case due to paucity of time and/or space

constraints / limitations could not participate in the

activities. Also, many a times it is difficult to notice

and observe each child practically whether he/she is

participating in singing the songs/rhymes/poems or

words which are taught during the programme.

From the table below it is evident and clear that with

respect to follow-up activities there are variations

among the three zones. Though in Najafgarh,

almost 87% visits it is found out that teachers do

FoLLoW-Up ACtivitiesconduct follow-up activities as instructed and listed

in the guidebook, whereas in case of the other two

zones it is 66% and 5% for West and Civil Lines

Zones respectively.

Table 1

Visits Teacher Conduct any

Follow-up Activity afterBroadcast (Yes)


West 559 67 (66%)

Najafgarh 608 527 (87%)

Total 1,72 1,199 (69%)

MCPS Amberhai: According to Mrs. Ved

Dabas, teacher, Starting lessons were very

good. Children learnt a lot. But over theperiod of time the lessons became little too

tough. Its a good program but little tough

for the students. Including rhyming words

would make it even better . It may be a small

school in size. There's only one section of

Class 1 and two of Class 2. On interaction

with the teachers, SARD Observer came to

know that the teachers generally liked the

program but they also had a few issues and

opinions. SARD Observer gladly listened

to their concerns every time she visited theschool as its better to have somebody with an opinion rather than somebody with no opinion at all.

The teachers seemed eager to use the guidebook when they gave them the books. Infact this was one

of the schools where the teachers demanded support in the form of guidebooks and training, which is

a very positive indicator of growth. Like any new program, the teachers had some issues regarding the

IRI program too which was quite natural. At times, they found the lessons too advanced to suit their

students. SARD Observer suggested them to teach the keywords if they thought their students couldn't

learn a whole new sentence.


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From the two tables it is encouraging to note that teacher refers to the IRI Guidebook during and after

the broadcast of the radio programme. The overall percentage is about 0% and 0% when the teacher

refers guidebook atleast 1-2 times during and after the broadcast respectively. In addition to the quantitative

information, it is further significant to note that various teachers provided various comments not only about

the usefulness and user-friendly design of the guidebook, but also suggested few ideas to improvise it, such

as providing pictures in the guidebook, etc. as can be read in various case studies mentioned in the report.

Thus, it can be inferred that teacher go use guidebook effectively during and after the broadcast of the IRI

programme.

(DRUING BROADCAST)

Zone Names Visits Guidebook referred by Teacher during Broadcast?

Never 1-2 Times - Times 5-8

Times

More than

8 Times

Not

Applicable

Civil Line 565 171 (0%) 118 (21%) (8%) 5 2 18

West 559 19 (5%) 165 (0%) 1 (7%) 1 1 98

Najafgarh 608 211 (5%) 219 (6%) 65 (11%) 9 1 69

Total 1,72 575 (%) 502 (0%) 19 (9%) 15 185

(AFTER BROADCAST)

Teachers Refer

Guidebook

After Broadcast

Reason(s) for Referring to Handbook after Broadcast

1-2 Times 3-4 Times 5-8

Times

More than

8 Times

Not Applicable

or None

Civil Line 05 1 (%) 6 (21%) 2 0 109 (6%)

West 67 121 (%) 17 (7%) 28 7 69 (19%)

Najafgarh 527 221 (2%) 15 (29%) 8 5 86 (16%)

Total 1,199 76 (0%) 5 (29%) 78 12 26 (22%)

UsinG GUiDebooK

MCPS Jawala Puri, there were challenges in conducting pre-broadcast activities during winters as many

children couldn't reach school on time due to distance and chill factor. SARD Observer decided to

provide more emphasis over the post-broadcast activity. As school implemented post-broadcast activity

using guidebook, they found that the interest of students started to grow towards the radio program and

as started listening with more interest. The growing interest of children had direct positive impact on the

teachers too. Now, it is a nice feeling to visit school during morning hours when radio is on and children

are enjoying along with teachers - learning English is fun.


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The summary of issues which were faced by SARD Observer during the In School Support visits are listed

below. Also the inputs provided by them to resolve and/or mitigate the issues, the methodology followed are

presented below.

Key Issues faced by Teachers in Managing IRI

Programme

Inputs provided by SARD Observer to Resolve

Those Issues

How to manage with the pauses, and explaining

activities

Demonstration provided by the Observers explaining

the management of pauses after the broadcast inclassroom settings using the broadcast CD.

Radio gets locked with HM, and when HM is not in

school teacher does not get radio.

Resolved amicably by talking to the HM, handing over

the radio to the concerned teacher.

Programme is conducted in Principal's office,

because the class does not have switch board.

Requested HM and School Administration (School

Inspector) to assist for the repair and installation

of switch board in the class. In the meanwhile, an

extension cord was arranged on a temporary basis to

conduct the programme in the classroom itself.

Problem in broadcast reception in one radio set. Location of the radio was changed which helped to

receive the broadcast clearly. Also noticed that theradio was of local brand, requested teacher to replace

the set with a good branded quality radio.

Problem in animal song, pauses are short, difficult

for students to understand names.

Referred to guidebook to understand tough songs,

demo given to explain the management of pauses,

requested teacher to conduct activities described

in the lesson (using guide book) in post broadcast

activities helping students to learn the tough contents

as mentioned by them.

Teachers of Class 1 & 2 shifted (transferred) to other

classes, now they face problem of unfamiliarity withstudents.

Discussed with the School Principal to let the teacher

conduct programme in same sections, as they aremore comfortable and confident of handling these

classes for the IRI programme (only for one hour

during the day). Teacher still continue with the new

sections assigned to get familiarized with the new

children

KeY issUes & inpUts proviDeD bY

observers

MCPS Tajpur: Ms. Prem Lata (teacher) narrates, It s a very good initiative to teachprimary school students. Confdence level o my students has really increased. Now theyuse as many small English words in the class as possible. Inact, children miss the program

on Saturdays. I really want such a program to be extended and continued rom Class 1till Class 5.


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Programme


Those Issues

Non availability of Radio Sets for all classes. School

has three () working radios, requirement is of five

(5) radios, 2 class is without radio and difficult tomanage the classes.

Using the instructions given by Director, Zonal Officers

and School Inspectors support, the school was allowed

to buy additional radios. Till the new radio sets werepurchased, two sections were combined and the two

teachers together managed the classes.

Most of the times radio does not tune to the

channel due to poor reception of signals while

other channels are proper.

Placement of the radio set was checked, the electric

point had problem of earth, instead of electricity, dry

cell battery used. The broadcast reception received

properly and demonstrated to the teacher. Tuning

the radio to the frequency 105.6 Mhz position was

demonstrated to the teacher.

Teacher complained that programme is on wrong

time, children are not supposed to be in class as

it is mid-day meal time.

Had discussion with the HM and Teacher, requested

to slightly shift the timing of the mid-day meal (prior)

to the broadcast. Amicably resolved and programme

is being conducted regularly.

No teacher in the school is trained, trained teacher

got transferred, the existing teacher faces difficulty

in conducting the programme activities.

Regular visits were made to the school and

demonstration class conducted for the teacher to

understand how to conduct the programme.

Children are too naughty; teacher could not

concentrate on instruction to be followed.

It was noticed that the sound of the radio was weak;

children were not able to hear the programme properly.

Changed the radio set, once the children heard the

programme, they themselves started following the

instructions. Teacher actively participated along with

the teacher.

Only one room is having electric point, thats why

two classes are merged.

The practice was changed by using the dry cell battery

for the other available radio set.

Jahangirpuri - E (II): Mr. Amit (teacher) says, Students have learnt a lot. They especiallylike and pick the simple songs such as Good Morning song. There's an issue with thebroadcast timing. Children get distracted by the other students plying in the feld whilethey come back to the class right ater lunch. It'd be better i broadcast time is revised.

Also, tenses and sentences are too advanced or Class 1 students. Sometimes, the pause

interval given or activities is too less. Another teacher, Mrs. Ritu Sharma says, Thisis a wonderul program which allows teachers to make students learn dierent conceptsthrough activities. It also provides an opportunity to each and every student to expresshimsel in his own way .

Renu Gupta, Teacher o Class 2, MCPS Adarsh Nagar-I says, Along with children, I dolike the Body part song and one little fnger song, not only my students, I too egarly wait

or the IRI Programme each day .


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1



Programme


Those Issues

Reception not proper due to heavy electric cable

on upper side of the classroom.

Requested to change the classroom which is slightly

away from the main electric cable. Also, instead of

electric connection, dry cell batteries used for better

reception.

School is under construction and classroom

availability is a problem.

Changed the School (replaced) with another school

for the purpose of IRI intensive In School Supportpilot programme.

Program not received due to electricity failure and

radios battery part is broken.

Arranged another radio set (with proper dry cell

battery part).

Program started little late because the teacher was

late.

Till the teacher came SARD Observer took the initiative

and coordinated the class, as soon the teacher arrived,

she took over conducting the program.

Program is not managed because the teacher busy

in some official work.

For the day, SARD Observer conducted the class. Later,

the matter was discussed with Principal and teacher in

a trust building environment to provide one hour of

teachers time for the programme and later she couldattend to her official tasks.

Program was not conducted due to some official

work and less strength of students.

SARD Observer with the permission of the School

authorities conducted the class.

Program was not managed by the teacher as she

was busy with some office work and less strength

of students.

Because of pre-occupation of the teacher SARD

Observer conducted the program.

Program started at 8:50 am since it was winter,

school assembly going on till 8:50 am

Talked to the teacher and School Principal, requested if

the timings of the assembly could be organized in such

a way that the children do not miss the programme.

Amicably resolved.

Teacher just listening the radio program and writing

in her diary.

Talked to HM and teacher, made them to understand

that no need to write down as everything is provided

in the teachers guide. She started using guide book

on a regular basis.

New Roshanpura (I): Ms. Rajni (Teacher) shares her views that, It s very good or thechildren. They're learning English. But these children don't have a base in English, that san issue. I we build a base frst and then do this kind o program then the impact will be

greater . Another teacher o the school, Mrs. Sushma says, Children take interest. They'velearnt quite a lot too. They have learnt any new words. Inact children have learnt a ew

things which probably we wouldn't have been able to teach at this point o time becausethey don't have much base in English .

Swaroop Nagar (I): Ms. Indu (Teacher) says, Children are very active now. Childrenknow and can speak in English about animal names, body parts, sing poems, etc. Oneday there was a Inspection Team visit to our school, Children o Class 1 & 2 sang Good

Morning Song , everybody was surprises and happy to see children singing English Poem.Thanks to the IRI Programme .


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2


Jahangirpuri - E (II) : According to teacher, Mr. Rajiv, There's overall improvement in thestudents. Earlier the students were apprehensive and hesitant to speak English. But nowthey've started using some English words used in daily lie, rather than Hindi words . Mr.

Jitender Kumar (teacher) says, It was a very nice experience to conduct the IRI program.Time o the broadcast should be re-scheduled around 2-2:30pm pr 4:30-5:00pm.

Currently, students happen to be still in the mood to play while the program starts.

MCPS Sabzi Mandi (Boys) narrates, Programme should be or all classes, why only or

Grade 1 & 2, so all the students get equal opportunity o learning English .


Programme


Those Issues

Too many topics are covered in a lesson. Students

hardly understand a topic and the next topic starts

right away. Sentence making too advanced for

these students.

Prepared the teacher of the classroom in advance

using the guidebook. Advice given to them to teach

keywords instead of complete sentences.

Students were not able to understand sentences

broadcasted in the radio directly to the students

Observer explained that iss why a teacher's role

is important along with the radio, so as to explainthe content where students could not understand

something.

Pause time was not often enough for explaining

lesson to the children. Long sentences get students

to lose interest.

Read guidebook before broadcast so that pauses can

be optimally utilized

When radio characters talk in English, the students

don't understand anything and can't answer their

questions. Pause interval is less.

Explain questions posed by radio characters in local

language, keeping the pause timing in mind. Preparing

in advance using the guide book was insisted to help

in optimizing pause time.

Songs Not understood by students. GuidebookNot available. Guidebook provided on next visit and songswere suggested to be taught using the teachers

guidebook.

Students have come after vacations and forgotten

what we taught them before vacations so we need

to revise again.

The teachers were suggested to lay stress on pre and

post-broadcast activity for effective revision

Students find it difficult to pick a new song listening

the radio.

Teacher were guided to teach songs in regular class

using guide book.

Teacher doesn't follow properly radio instructions

of radio, she used to slow down the radio volume

in between the program that's why she skips thecommand.

Suggested her to listen carefully the instruction of radio

& do not slow down the volume of radio every time

except pauses time, otherwise various commands willskip.

No proper sitting arrangement for children, noise

of children playing outside.

Requested them to change lunch hours and

arrangement of the desks before program starts

ensured.


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This is the first substantive report from the empirical

data based on 1,72 visits made by SARD Observers

in five months of effective school visits. SARD Team

during their visit to schools, not only observed the

classroom, but made in-roads with the teachers

and build bonding with the teachers, principals and

children in these months. The value of the Learning

through IRI study lies in its ability to consider how

child outcomes are influenced over time by factors

operating across multiple levels and embracing

individual and school factors as well as characteristics

of the teachers and school administration. These

factors have succinctly been captured and quantified

in above observation report, however, the qualitative

aspects are the highlights of this report with quotes

from nearly most of the schools and other key

stakeholders involved.

The report of Learning through IRI reflects a dynamic

perspective on understanding IRI classroom, which

allows researchers to understand the complexquestion of how to improve quality of education in

our schools . The database provided by SARD is a

strong evidence base supporting the potential of IRI

Programme in reaching and improving the standard

and quality of English among MCD school children

of Grade 1 & 2.

There were issues and opinions regarding the

program among all the stakeholders, be it teachers,

principals, school inspectors as this was the pilot

phase and first initiative of EDC in Delhi MCDschools. For SARD, IRI observer team, it was job

not only to record the observations they had an

additional role of resolving the problems unknown,

which the did successfully and so to say tactfully

without jeopardizing relationship.

Several teachers had issues with the content of the

lessons, saying that the lessons were advanced

for the students. Some had issues with the timing

of broadcast and still some others had an issue

of shortage of radio sets in the school. But some

issues much deep rooted than those. For example,

sUMMinG Up the teachers had to double up for administrativework such as, fund distribution for school uniforms,

maintaining accounts, or simply completing official

documentation. They found it hard to conduct the

program when there is a queue of parents standing

outside the classroom for collecting the money, or

there is a deadline to submit a report or document.

There are infrastructure challenges in some of

the schools such as, broken floors in classrooms,

whereas in some of the schools children have to sit

on the mats, or there is simply shortage of rooms.

These challenges posed making children following

strict discipline while listening to broadcast in radio

and related physical expressions/activities.In initial

months (days) there were shortage of radio sets

in a school then the different sections have to be

combined in a single classroom wherever possible.

This was time consuming and had adverse effect on

conducting any pre-broadcast activity. It also leads

to discipline challenges. One could also observethat in some of the double shift schools, TLMs were

not displayed in the classrooms. They are rather

locked-up in the cup-boards and the teacher can be

seen sometimes struggling to find out the right TLM

to use while the broadcast is going on. The reason

for locking them up in the cup-board rather than

displaying on the classroom walls is that teachers

from on shift are afraid that their TLMs might be lost

or destroyed by the students in the other shift.

The salient achievements other than intendedoutcome were:

In addition to regular features like enabling

simultaneous roll-out and classroom

observations, the program also resulted in

bringing out a synergy through multi-agency

participation and convergence of existing

infrastructure from All India Radio.

SARD s overall ability to roll out the efforts

smoothly needs a special mention and also its

value addition in developing supplementary

material for the children to improve their all


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round skills

Improved English comprehension and speaking

skills among children fairly ensured in a cost-

effective manner at primary school levels.

Educational access with quality has been

simplified with use of Information Technology. Teachers skill set has remained enhanced

towards result oriented teaching.

Similarly the way forward should ideally have the

following aspects:

Observation needs to attempt to capture the

improvements this program has been able

to achieve in terms of the content taught, its

understanding, retention and the levels of its

application/utility in their day-to-day life withdue consideration of their life-style and its

improvements in the long-term.

There has to be an attempt to consolidate current

learning

Possibilities to refine and enhance the current

methodology to keep it more interactive and

inter-responsive through involvement of visual

medium could be considered taking advantage

of recent technological advancement like video

conferencing enable through satellite facilities.

Scaling up and Replication in other zones to ensure

its dissemination and also ensuring access

The broad cast content should bear somerecognition from major institutions like NUPEA,

NCERT, CIE and needs to be mainstreamed

across all schools through an order

Institutionalize the models and approaches with

more value additions

Exploring new digital devices to introduce

various skills and knowledge

Exploring Partnership with govt., bilateral

and multilateral agencies, including leading

corporations/ business forum, etc., to take it

forward nation-wide with inclusion of varioussubjects.

Many principals and teachers were extremely

appreciative of the benefits of the radio program.

Infact few of them admitted that their students have

learnt more through the IRI program than what

theywould have probably taught them, thinking that

these students don t' have a base in English. Many

There are some suggestions regarding the lesson content as echoed by teachers, it is upto EDC team to

consider them or not: There can be separate lessons for Class 1 and 2. MCD Class 1 students have no base at all in

English. Current content seems to be suited for Class 1 student who has already a base in English.

One word Q&A can be designed for Class 1.

Too many new topics confuse the children and at the end of the day, they cannot retain much of it.

Therefore cut the lesson to half, keep the duration to 0 minutes, and repeat the same topics for the

next days through dif

Documents

IRI Report F