Wipro Applying Thought in Schools

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Annual Update

Wiro Ayig Thoght i Schoos

A comiatio of the aa ates from varios artershis withi Wiros Ecatio Iitiative

2011-12


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AnnuAl updATE - 2011-12

Wiro Ayig Thoght i Schoos


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Tabe Of Cotets

1INTRODUCTION 6

5 HOLISTIC SCHOOL ENGAGEMENT PROGRAMS 22Shiksha Samarthan Project, Phagi, Digantar 23

Madrasah Quality Improvement Project, Vikramshila 26

2 ECOLOGY & EDUCATION 7SeasonWatch 8

Green Schools Programme II, Centre for Science & Environment 11

6 ORGANIZATION SUPPORT PROGRAMS 28Vidyabhawan 29

Eklavya 31

Education in Dil Se Homes, Centre for Equity Studies 34

Teacher Education & School Interventions, CEVA 37

Courage to Lead, Disha-India 40

Language Learning Resource Centre, Shikshamitra 42

3SOCIAL SCIENCES 13

Integrated Approach to Social Sciences, Vikramshila 14

4SCHOOL ENVIRONMENT & AFFECT IN EDUCATION 16

Learning with Kabir, The Kabir Project 17

Safe and Sensitive Schools (SASS), The Teacher Foundation 19

7EDUCATION MATERIAL & LITERATURE 45

Goodbooks.in: A childrens literature review website, GoodBooks Trust 46

Contemporary Education Dialogue 47

Science Picture Book Series, Tulika Books 49

Graphic Novel on folktales from Assam 51

Book on Philosophy of Education 52

8PUBLIC ADVOCACY 53

Quality Education Study with Educational Initiatives 54


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InTROduCTIOn

Our work in Ecology and Education is inspired by Wipros

commitment to ecological sustainability.It started witha dedicated Partnersorum on Ecology & Education in2009.Our core concerns in this area have been previouslyarticulated in Our Concerns on School education in Indiaas below:

Theearth ismade up ointerconnected systems,cyclesand

processes. Ecological education should aim at ollowingthetrailsand connectingthedots.Ithasto oten be outsidetheclassroom and span multiplesubjects. Thisraises issueswith the40 minute period structure oschoolstoday and

demandsinterdisciplinary skillsrom teachers.

Further thereis a tendency o environmentaleducation to

be bracketed with individual contributions like reducingplasticusage and recyclingetc.Many otheseconceptualizethechild asa consu mer b u tailto b ringou t the aspectsrelated tothechild asauture citizen.A citizenscontributionto society is not only limited to controlling ones ownconsumption but also in participating in a democracyat various levels includingthe locallevel to inuencethe

production-oriented organization osociety itsel.

Wipro Applying Thought in Schools is a social initiative

o Wipros working on building capacities in schooleducation reorm in India.This report is an annual updateo all the projects within this initiative.However beore weget into the details,here is a brie account o our vision,objectives and the ocus areas that come out o this.

Our work in education is driven by the belie that

education is a key enabler o social change. We believein a social vision o democracy where each citizen is notonly capable in an individual sense but also sees the ethico equity,the essentiality o diversity,the ethos o justice,

and is thus driven by social sensitivity.Schools have tobe spaces that nurture these principles, capabilities &values.

This means a dramatically dierent kind o school and asignicantly revamped education system. Schools andeducation systems do not change overnight.We believethat a sustained eort is required and our projects areattempts to bring about a change o this kind.

Towards this we have identifed three key objectives:

l We need organizations capable o bringing aboutquality education by working in dierent parts oIndia and in dierent knowledge areas.

l We need good quality educational material andliterature to aid in this eort.

l We need educationists, parents, government etc tothink in the right way to make this happen.

ECOlOGY & EduCATIOn

Subsequently over the last ew years, we have decided to

work on projects in 3 dierent areas within ecology andeducation:

A project to instill the scientic spirit and connect withnature by going outside the cl assroom and being with trees:SeasonWatch with National Centre or Biological Sciences

A project that makes children aware and ac tive about their

ecological ootprint on land,water,energy etc starting romthe school campus:Green Schools Program with Centre orScience & Environment

We have just started working on a new project that tries tobring localized knowledge created through conservationactivities into school education.This is a project with Nature

Conservation Foundation (since this project is just starting,the update on this will start rom next year onwards)

The idea is to work on dierent but related areas within thistheme and then slowly integrate these into a connectedlearning experience on ecology and education.

These determine our ocus areas as below:

l Organizational capability building and partnerships inthe education space

n To address the scarcity o orgs and peoplein this space

n For sustainable impact n To build a network o orgs that can learn

and collaborate

l Developing Educational material & Literature n To address the scarcity o good material or children

and educatorsl Public Advocacy n To create greater awareness and understanding on

important educational issues

We have also decided to ocus on a ew knowledge areas as

themes:ecology and education,social sciences,language,aective education and the school environment.The reasonor this is that while these areas are integral to the visiono what is good education described above they are otensome o the most neglected areas within education.

These ocus areas and themes increasingly determine

the specic projects that we partner in. Our projects areimplemented through partnerships with educational andknowledge-based organizations across India.In the sectionsbelow we have presented an annual update o our projectsin the year 2011-12.


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SeasoWatch SeasoWatch

Program objectivesSeasonWatch is a national program in which volunteers(citizen scientists) collect inormation on the timing ofowering,ruiting and lea fush or approximately 100

species o common trees.The program has three clearand equally important objectives:l To collect this data in a large scale manner across the

country and make it available reely online so thatpatterns in these changes across geographies or timecan be studied

l To engage with schools using this as a platorm to

bring about more meaningul ecological educationl To increase the interest and awareness levels o the

citizen scientists (individuals or school children) whocollect this data

What has happened over the last yearSeasonWatch has grown primarily through twopartnerships:one with Mathrubhumiin Kerala which was

to pilot the program in Kerala beore we go national.Theother is with The Centre or Science and EnvironmentinNew Delhi to take SeasonWatch to more schools acrossIndia that have taken up CSEs Green Schools Program.

Partnership with the Student Empowerment orEnvironmental Development (SEED) program o

Mathrubhumi,Kerala:l Mathrubhumi is one o the leading dailies in Kerala.

Over the last 3 years they have been running SEED, aprogram that has 8 to 10 environment related themesthat some 5000 schools register or. (http://www.mbiseed.com)

Partnership with the Green Schools Program(GSP) othe Centre or Science and Environment,New Delhi:

l The Centre or Science and Environment (CSE) is apublic interest research and advocacy organisation

based in New Delhi.They have an outreach programor schools called the Green Schools Program (GSP)that reaches out to 15000 schools across India.

l The GSP program coordinators rom CSE directlyreach out to some 300 teachers/trainers in hal dayworkshops held at 8 to 10 centers across the country.

The training is then cascaded to many levels to cover

the GSP schools.This year SeasonWatch was a parto the rst level training and the attendee teachersgot introduced to SeasonWatch and carried awaya handbook on how to start SeasonWatch in theirschools.

l The SeasonWatch-GSP website is ready to launch orthe 2012 academic year.

l A new design or the SeasonWatch-GSP handbookwas created and this version is set to go out to theGSP schools next academic year.A sample i nner pageis shown below

l SeasonWatch is to launch ull scale in the GSP schoolsin the next academic year

Other happenings not covered under the above

headings:We have the ollowing types o possible SeasonWatchers:Children rom: SEED schools, GSP schools, interestedschools not part o SEED or GSPOthers:Individuals (children or adults),Groups (group otree lovers like an NGO Nizhal)

The process o creating a single consolidated website

that can cater to the requirements o all these dierenttypes o users has begun this year.This website will beready by the time the schools reopen ater the summerbreak.The site has a unique visual design and an intuitiveuser experience.

A volunteer is working on creating an Android application

or SeasonWatch. A brochure is being created orSeasonWatch which is specically designed to generateinterest in the reader to want to learn more about theprogram and to sign up.

l The SeasonWatch-SEED partnership is now in itssecond year.

l This year we worked closely with Mathrubhumi andthe SeasonWatch Handbook in Malayalam (created

this year) reached out to ALL the SEED schools acrossKerala.

l Nizar our SeasonWatch program coordinator in Keralamanaged to build strong relationships with the 80 orso Mathrubhumi employees rom across the Statewho volunteer their time as Mathrubhumis SEEDcoordinators.It is air to say that all these Mathrubhumi

SEED volunteers now look at SeasonWatch as anintegral part o SEED.l The Mathrubhumi SEED handbook, which reached

all participating schools, included Biodiversityconservation and SeasonWatch as one o the 8themes under which the schools did activities.

l We visited most o the 120 odd 2010-2011 SEED

award winning schools across Kerala to nd out whatproblems they encountered in starting SeasonWatchin their schools.

l SeasonWatch now has a rm ooting in Kerala with173 schools monitoring 1627 trees adding 10381observations to the online database.There are alsomany schools who are monitoring trees and have as

yet not put the data online.l The success o the program has induced Mathrubhumi

to give us a regular weekly space in their childrenssupplement Vidyawhere we talk about interestingacets o SeasonWatch and try to get more schools tosign up.

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SeasoWatch Gree Schoos programme II,Cetre for Sciece & Eviromet

What is planned or the next year

SeasonWatch SEED program or schools in Kerala:l Use the weekly space that we have got in

Mathrubhumis childrens supplement to reach outmore eectively to our audience

l Identiy the 100 or so schools who did good work this

year and work more closely with them.They couldpotentially become SeasonWatch ambassadors togenerate interest in their spheres o infuence and totake the program to the next level

SeasonWatch-GSP program or schools across therest o India:

l Focus on the partnership and ensure that SeasonWatchstarts o in those schools which have adopted GSPbetter.CSE has a good idea about the list o theseschools and they have good relationships with theseschools.

Other plans:

l Create tools or the website that will allow users to

analyze tree datal Use the new website and the handbooks that we

create to open up SeasonWatch or interestedindividuals and groups

l Work with the Wipro education partners like Eklavyawho have shown interest and introduce SeasonWatchto their networks

Program objectivesl To conduct customised workshop or 20 schools to

enable them identiy environmental practices withinthe schools campus that need to be changed orbetter management o environment.

l To build capacity amongst the group (representativestudents,teacher and management o the school) to

bring about the identied change in practice.l To set a mutually convenient deadline and explain

how to record and document the entire process andshare the learning with the larger school community

(other students, teachers, management members,parent and neighbourhood community)

What has happened over the last year?l August 2011 - The criteria or identication o schools

or the Green Schools Programme II (GSP II) workshopwas that the school must have done the green schoolsaudit at least once and the students,teachers andmanagement o the school should be keen on takingup the task. The 20 schools should represent almost

all types o schools present in India (Government,Aided,Private,Rural,Urban).

l August 2011 - 30 schools were short listed by CSErom approximately 1500 schools who have donethe Green Schools Audit or their school campus atleast once. Telephonic conversation was establishedwith the Principal and Coordinating teacher in each

o these schools to gauge their willingness and abilityto participate in this initiative.

l September 2011 - 20 schools were identied orconducting customised workshops or every schoolwhich will enable the schools to start the GSP IIinitiative.

l February 2012 - All the 20 workshops in schoolsscattered across 10 states and 1 Union Territory oIndia were completed.All the schools have enteredinto an inormal agreement with CSE on completingthe tasks identied by them by the end o July 2012.

l CSE is consistently supporting the schools in the ormo contacts, inormation and expertise required.The

schools were busy with the nal examinations inMarch.We have reminded schools o their mission andthey have resumed their work.We shall be revising thereporting ormat with them by the end o April, 2012.

What is planned or the next year?Green Schools Programme II:

l June 2012:Follow-up with the selected 20 schools ordocumentation and report on progress.Supportingthe schools with documentation o their successstories in terms o data, objective and measuringachievements.

l July - August 2012:20 selected schools will documenttheir reports. CSE will evaluate and measure their

achievements by comparing last years data withpresent report.The success stories will be publishedin a book that will be shared with schools in the GSPnetwork.

l August 2012:20 new partnerships will be developedwith willing schools that have proven ability to bringchange on GSP indicators.The criteria or selecting

these schools will be willingness o the schoolcommunity,the management and they should havedone the GSP audit at least once.

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Gree Schoos programme II,Cetre for Sciece & Eviromet

l September October 2012:Issue identication andcapacity building workshops will be conductedto enable the schools to start the GSP II initiative.Each school will be given a set time rame to bringthe change and document the process in a mannersuggested by us.

l March 2012:Consistently supporting the second batch

o GSP II schools in the orm o contacts,inormationand expertise required.

The GSP schools will also participate i n the Earthianawards programme and SeasonWatch activities.

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This is a new area o work or us,though Social Science hasbeen an important part o many o the earlier projects andwas one o the areas studied within the Quality EducationStudy too.We have articulated our basic concern withinthis theme as ollows:

Unlike Natu ral Sciences, matters here do not ft into

ormulasnor is any onetheory ableto explain acrosstimeand space any signifcantaspect o societies.There is amultiplicity owaysoseeingtheworld and thiscan be veryconusingand needsan attention oa dierentkind.In linewith theNCF 2005social scienceseducation hasto shitout

oeither anationalisingramealoneor asa toolonarrowidentity ormation and accommodatethemultiple wayso

imaginingthe Indian nation.

SOCIAl SCIEnCES

This is o course just one o the more important concerns.However,it is also true that it tends to be a neglected subjectin many schools compared to Mathematics or English. Wealso held a Partners orum on History and education in2010 and it brought out the various aspects o History as adiscipline and how this can be learnt i n schools.

We are beginning work in this area in partnership withVikramshila keeping in the mind the concerns andlimitations mentioned above. This project will helpVikramshila consolidate on what they have done in the pastin Social sciences and also come out with tangible curricular

material which is interdisciplinary and project-based.


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Itegrate Aroach to Socia Scieces, Vikramshia Itegrate Aroach to Socia Scieces, Vikramshia

BackgroundVikramshila Education Resource Society (1989) is a non-prot non-governmental organization working in thearea o education with the mission o making quality

education a reality or all children. Vikramshila (http://www.vikramshila.org/) works in the area o teachertraining, development o curriculum material andteaching learning modules and materials. Vikramshilaalso undertakes pilot projects rom time to time in anaction research mode to try out new ideas and look orpractical solutions to problems in the eld o education.

The West Bengal Government in their syllabusproposal aims to address contemporary issues in aninterdisciplinary way as well.However, there is lack oclarity in the proposed syllabus about implementation osuch a proposal.Vikramshila,through the Social Scienceproject,aims to develop a curriculum or contemporaryissues in Social Science like livelihood, gender etc,

adopting an interdisciplinary & child centric approach.Vikramshila, rom its years o experience in education,is attempting to bridge this gap with the help oorganizations and experts in Social Science education.

The project,started in November 2011,aims to work withschools in West Bengal to develop a resource packagearound contemporary social themes like livelihood,ood

and shelter,etc. adopting an interdisciplinary, projectbased approach or classes 3-8. The package developedusing eld experience and academic inputs rom expertsin the eld o Social Science, is intended as a reerence tobe used with the existing syllabus.

Activities so arl Textbook analysis:Analysis o social science textbooks

o history and geography used in Bengali mediumschools in classes 6 and 7

l Workshop with Pro Hari Vasudevan and Pro ParomitaChakravorti on 12th march,2012 to get a critique othe Proposal or the Social Science Project in terms oits easibility to achieve the end product,exemplarychapter on the topics and chart the road orward

l Workshop with Anjali Noronha rom Ekalavyato develop a ramework or the eld work and

documentation process required to develop theresource packs around contemporary social issueslike livelihood,ood and shelter etc.

l Consolidated the work on the curriculum in BighaSchool in the workshop with Anjali

l Networked with government schools to get themon board to conduct eld o projects in grades 3-8 in

their schools

Objectives o the Projectl Consolidate prior projects on social science done in

Nabadisha and Bigha Schools.

l Understand how social issues like livelihood,ood

and shelter, gender etc are dealt with in SocialScience text books

l Identiy gaps and develop an interdisciplinary andchild-centered approach to Social science learning

l Develop resource package (including classroommaterial and teacher learning materials) aroundcontemporary social themes

l Present the materials and the process o class roominteraction beore SCERT Curriculum Committee orinclusion in the larger system

l Share the learning with the wider community

Approach

l Work with children (grades 3-8) in schools byinvolving them to work on the identied themes.

The process and the outcome o the projects in theschool would orm the crux material in developmento the resource package.Nabadisha,Bigha and someselected government schools have been identied orthe eld trials.Teachers rom these schools will also beinvolved in the process.

Plans or this yearl Consolidating the work done in Bigha and Nabadisha

centers, especially process documentation oMetiaburz Projector wider dissemination

l Working with children and teachers in classes 3-8o selected Bengali medium government schools inWest Bengal (rural,urban,and semi urban) on projectsto teach the concept o livelihoodor classes 3-8

l Advocacy in schools to get more support or the ideao interdisciplinary and child centric approach toteaching

l Developing/writing the textual materials o theresource package using insights and experiences othe school projects

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Our school education reorm work has signicantlyocused on bringing about changes in the school

environment be it making the environment more saeand riendly or the child, bringing about a sense oresponsibility in the child or the matters at school etc.Our concerns on this span a wide array o issues:

Themost importantissueis thato thereedom thattheschoolsystem providesto allstakeholders.

l Howmuch reetimedoesachild getto play,read or justbe within our education system? How oten does thechild choosewhatshe should learn or do and thepace

olearning?l Howmuch reedom doesthe teacher havein shaping

thecurriculum,teaching approach and assessment?Dodemocratic values likethe children engaging in open

dialogueon some topichappen oten enough in theschool?Isit integraltotheenvironmentotheschool?

SCHOOl EnVIROnMEnT& AFFECT In EduCATIOn

Equally important is the area o aective education.Thiscovers a wide range o elements that are dierent rom thesubjects like science and mathematics: attitudes, belies,

values,eelings,emotions,interpersonal relations etc.Thereare many ways in which such areas can be dealt with andwe are currently working on two dierent approaches.The

Teacher Foundation is taking orward the Sae and SensitiveSchoolsproject by starting work on research project thatwill draw on existing literature and work in this area andattempt at arriving at some kind o learning standards in

this area.In a radically dierent approach there is also workgoing on which draws on the Kabir project and createsresources or teachers and schools to bring the richness othis mystic poet to classes.

We nd school environment and aective education to beclosely tied to each other much more than any other specic

subject.This is the reason to have a combined theme orthese two areas.

learig with Kabir, The Kabir project

Background & ObjectivesIn June 2010,the Kabir Project started the Learning withKabirinitiative with the objective o exploring ways andideas with which to take the power o mystic poetry into

the classroom.

A number o workshops and events were conductedwith schools, colleges and groups o educators on thistheme representing a air diversity o classrooms upper class and under privileged,north and south,urbanand rural, ormal and non-ormal. The work done andmaterials collated were reviewed, with the objective

o selecting the most dynamic ideas or the creation otangible materials and also to put out a bank o share-able ideas and resources through a website or teachersand educators interested in working with mystic poetryand music.One might envision this eort as a strewing oseeds into a eld o education,with the hope that somewould take root in diverse and distant contexts,some

eventually sprouting and growing into very dierentlooking trees.

The Broad Approaches or the MaterialsIn responding to the challenge o not being reductiveo Kabirs poetry or ragmenting the integrated mysticexperience into issues/themes, we came up with the

ollowing approaches.

Boond-Samoond: The evocation o the innite inour small selves is a quintessential mystic or Kabirianexperience.

Ghat-Ghat: The conrontation with death andimpermanence is another core and perhaps only xed

and known reality that mystics urge us to conront.

Ulat-Pulat: Upside-down poetry or nonsense verse ispart o the literature o several mystic poets in dierentparts o India.Through these poems Kabir evokes a truth,an experience that lies beyond the rational and beyond

language itsel.

The MaterialsWeb Space Ideasfor Educators:

These three clusters would be cast in rich detail into avibrant and engaging online repository o resources oreducators,including Songs & Poems,School Workshops,Experiments & Scripts, Classroom Activities, Reading

Excerpts & Other Reerence Materials and also Stories &Lore rom other Traditions.

A Resource Book My Experiments with Kabir in theClassroom:A tighter selection o the above materials would becast into a well-designed,playul, creative,riendly and

experiential resource book or teachers/educators.Teachers with no access to the web could benet roma simple book.

A Story Book TotaaNaama:An in-depth artistic experiment with children o HBPSchool in Bangalore led to the creation o a theatrical

and musical presentation o the Parrot & the Jungle Firetale,accompanied by the unolding o a scroll narrativeo artworks created by the children.The artworks alongwith the narrative are being re-cast to make a simplestory book or children, along with some Kabir poemsand reerences and a brie notes about the workshopprocess.

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learig with Kabir, The Kabir project Safe a Sesitive Schoos (SASS),The Teacher Foatio

A Story Book LaawaarisTopi:This illustrated story book will evocatively juxtaposea ew nonsensepoems o Kabir along with VishakhaChanchanis inspired Hindi poem about the laawaaris

topi, which is inspired by the Kabirian idea o losingones hea d.

A Diary LapataaPatte:This diary would creatively bring together VishakhaChanchanis Hindi poem Laapataa Patte along withartworks and photographs o leaves and nature alongwith a ew couplets o Kabir that evoke the idea o

impermanence through the metaphor o leaves.

A Song CD-Booklet ChalaChali Ka Khela:This idea is in response to the overwhelming desire rommultiple educators who want to take Kabirs poems totheir children essentially and primarily through music.

This would have relatively simple songs,both rom the

point o view o lyrics and the tunes, or listening andsinging along by children at an accessible pitch withsimple no-uss accompanying instruments.

A Poster Series Learning withKabir:This poster series will call outto teachers,by putting orthone careully selected doha per poster,bringing Kabir

or other mystic poet into a challenging,mocking, wittyand provocative dialogue with educators.The selectedpoems juxtaposed with quotations by writers/thinkerssuch or some simple questions,invite the audience tointerrogate some o the undamental assumptions webring to the task o education.

Program Objective:The Teacher Foundation started the Sae and SensitiveSchools (SASS) initiative,a pilot action-research projectsupported by Wipro with the sole objective o making

the selected schools sae and sensitive throughembedding policies,spaces and interactions that arepositive, constructive, nurturing and collaborative orall students and sta alike,using the Whole SchoolQuality Circle Time structure developed by Jenny MosleyConsultancies,UK.

What was done:

The ocus during the 1st year o intervention (2009 2010) was training the teachers in the Whole SchoolQuality Circle Time (QCT) and amiliarizing them withthe structure and approach and the SASS ethos (ogentleness,respect,open honest communication,warmthand positivity),to enable them to conduct QCT sessionswith their students in the right manner.The intervention

during this time largely looked at providing support tothe teachers through QCT demos,QCT lesson planningsessions and observation o teachers conducting QCTand providing eedback.

The 2nd year o the intervention (2010-2011) ocused onhelping the teachers set up processes and systems in the

school that would help instill listening and appreciationas part o the school culture.This was done by conductingsessions with teachers in setting up Listening Systemsand a process or Rewards & Sanctions. The teacherswere engaged in a dialogue as to why these systems arenecessary and how to go about establishing systems thatare both eective and doable.

ChallengesWhile a lot o work happened this year on the research,ideation and collation ront, many things have notprogressed at the expected pace. Some serious

bottlenecks have arisen due to not nding the rightcreative and technical resources to work with.That apart,the Kabir Project team is itsel over stretched due to toomany commitments and claims rom various quarters.

Plan or this yearThe team took the strategic decision to suspend workon the education ront or 3 months to work on other

pending projects, and then resume with resh andocused energy on the education project in July 2012,and work towards a completion by Dec 2012.

It also looked at helping the teachers improvise on thequality o Circle Time meetings by encouraging themto engage their students in topics that were ar moreevolved,in interesting and innovative ways.

Specifc Outcomes:l The non-verbal listening systems helped children

open up and talk. They use the Suggestion/Thinkbox to give suggestions to teachers on teaching-learning process or to suggest themes or Circle Timemeetings.

l Bubble time,a one-on-one listening system has been

widely and eectively used by many o the teachersto discuss problems with students, get to their rootand help resolve them.

l Children are aware o the Schools Golden Rules,ollow them and remind each other when these rulesare fouted.

l A democratic process o ormulating the Whole School

Behaviour Policy,incorporating inputs rom the schoolmanagement,teachers and students,helped bring tosurace some underlying concerns and issues whichin turn have brought about positive changes in theschoolssystems.

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Safe a Sesitive Schoos (SASS),The Teacher Foatio

Safe a Sesitive Schoos (SASS),The Teacher Foatio

Going orward:We now believe its important to broaden the current baseo SASS and move beyond a eel good augmentation othe weekly time-table towards an approach that enables

children to grow socially and emotionally.Along with thelong-term benets o nurturing sel aware,responsible,condent, happy individuals, its important to activelynurture and assess students social and emotionaldevelopment.

A research study is now being undertaken on thetheory and practice o social and emotional learning

in schools in India and other countries,urther leadingto design and develop aective learning standards orIndian schools.These standards will be well-researchedindicative milestones that would span multiple aspectso the aective domain personal communication,teamworking and collaboration, handling o success andailure,critical thinking/dialoging.

A Few Challenges:l Teachers nd it dicult to change their demeanour,

trust their students and go with the fow.

l Some teachers ail to see the connectedness o values

education,lie skills and SASSl The SASS ethos in some schools is limited to the

Quality Circle Time Sessions alonel Some teachers are still not ully equipped to handle

sensitive issues that come up during QCT,nor are theyable to use other listening systems one-to-one andnon-verbal.

l In a ew cases, theres lingering resistance rommanagement and teachers to make SASS componentsan integral part o school curriculum

l Lack o realisation on the part o management andteachers that the onus o making schools sae andsensitive and QCT an eective group listening process,lies with ALL stakeholders

Key Learnings:l Involvement and Sustained Interest o key people in

the school necessary or a project o this nature toshow any kind o change.

l A project o such nature needs more than a year andhal to show any substantive impact or change in theschool culture.However a 1 yearsi ntervention will

help provide the catalyst or deeper,more sustainedchanges in the schools culture.

The SASS Action ResearchA pre-intervention study was carried out with teachers andstudents in 3 schools to assess 3 key aspects o the schoolenvironment:nurturing,constructive and collaborative.A

qualitative study was carried out to delve deep in to the

Plan or this yearl Conduct a detailed literature review o how other

countries and organisations within India areaddressing the aective domain.

l Gather and study primary data on experiments andwork already done by a wide range o organizationslike Udaan,Digantar, Rishi Valley School, Centre orLearning,Kabir Project etc.

l Conduct ocus group discussions across the countryto both understand the perspectives o heads oschools, teachers, students, teacher educators and

NGOson the issue as well as raise awareness o theneed or standards.

l Develop standards and assessment tools or Social &Emotional Development or Grade 1-12.

These will be peer reviewed and piloted in a ew schoolsduring the ollowing year

student and teacher responses that emerged rom thequantitative study. Post the intervention,a quantitativestudy was carried out on the same sample to assess theimpact and changes o the SASS program.

Post study fndings:l Teachers in all 3 schools said that they now praise

children or behaviors other than academic.l Students across said that their teachers now notice

them and are open to being approached

l The above was corroborated by the teachersresponses indicating an increase in approachability

between teachers and studentsl In aspects o Discipline, teachers in all 3 schools

realized that there are positive ways o dealing withstudent behaviors and hence incorporate that in theirinteractions with them

Conclusion

Some o the signicant changes that have emerged arel Teacher interactions with students have increased in

a positive mannerl Teachersperception with regard to discipline has

considerably improved

l Teachers recognition & praise is not restricted toacademic achievement

l The overall impact is seen across dierent acets oteacher-student relation

l The collaborative aspect has signicantly increasedacross the schools.

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We started working on Holistic School engagementprograms to build capacities and understand schoolreorm work better.6-7 years back it was a move awayrom high-scale teacher workshops to engaging withall stakeholders in a school and at a lower scale,whichmeant deep engagement with a ew schools. Most o

those projects have concluded and these two are the lastin that series.

One o them is with 100 government schools in Phagiblock in Rajasthan and the other with the West BengalMadrasah Board schools.In the ormer,we have worked

or 6 years on various ronts:helping the teacher becomemore eective by demonstrating alternate pedagogic

practices, helping children learn better and becomemore responsible,the community more engaged withthe school and the teacher support personnel to providemore relevant and better quality training and inputsto the teacher.In sum total this project is about betterunctioning o the government school system. In theMadrasah project, intensive work was done with 10

schools to improve the quality o education and withthe Board by helping them in planning and policy and inreviewing and developing curricular material.

HOlISTIC SCHOOlEnGAGEMEnT pROGRAMS

Shiksha Samartha project, phagi,digatar

Special Objective:Exploring the possibility to develop 5 Nodal centre

schools according to the original intent o RTE and worktowards achieving this goal.

Work areaDirect work with 550 children and 20 teachers o 5 Nodalcentre schools in 5 village panchayats o the block andprovide academic support to 40 schools associated to

these nodal centres.

Nature o work

Nodal coordinator will visit the nodal centres every dayand will support the nodal-in-charge in developing theschools according to the original intent o RTE.

Focus points or support

l Build dialogue with the teachers about relevant subjectmatters and motivate them towards developing theircapabilities.I required,provide demonstrations.

l Work to increase participation o school managementcommittees in nodal centre schools.

l Organise meetings at nodal centres to understandRTE,CCE and Child centric education.Motivate nodal-

in-charge and support them in building their capacityin this direction.

l Providing academic support to the 40 schoolsassociated with the nodal centres. Identiy issuesto be included in terms o RTE norms,planning andworking towards this direction.

Main activities and their eect

l Baselinestudy

A baseline study was conducted during April-May 2011to understand the circumstances in these 5 nodal schools.Ater The level o understanding in 4 subject areas o 250children in standard I to V were assessed.Interviews wereconducted to know the understanding and view o thenodal-in-charge,teachers and SMCs.

l Meetingsat nodal schoolsInitially, the nodal centre in charge used to be busywith gathering inormation,now has started organising

monthly meetings with the teachers at their schools.They have started preparing monthly work targets andstarted understanding the status o the academic workgoing on in schools. Seven meetings per nodal has been

organised on an average.

l Work withteachersInitially nodal-in-charge, principals and teachers usedto take RTE as an ocial order only. Teachers usedto consider RTE as a hindrance to their convenienceas well. Ater continuous interactions and dialogues,

3 o the nodal principals and some teachers startedunderstanding the original intent o RTE and the idea oschools in appropriation to it. They have started askingor help and support in implementing it, or example,constituting SMCs, planning or CCE with the help onodal coordinator and implementing it.

5.1


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l Environmentof nodal schoolsMeaningul and positive changes can be seen in three othe nodal schools. Almost 50% o the teachers in theseschools have well written plan in hand beore entering the

classrooms. Context based teaching learning materialscan be ound in the classrooms.One o the nodal schoolshas started working with children in sub groups.

l Learning of thechildrenThe learning status o the children in nodal centreschools has improved.Though this cannot be consideredsatisactory,regular teaching learning activities are being

done with children in standard I and II,who used to sitidle in the classrooms or go home ater lunch.Thesechildren have started reading and writing.Now, almost75% children in standard III and IV can read and write,incomparison to 15-20% in past.Similar situation i s seenregarding maths too,in which similar number o childrencan comortably use number system and perorm basic

operations like additions,subtractions etc.

l WithSMCSMCs were ormed in all 5 nodal schools in compliancewith the original intent o RTE. Quarterly meetingswere regularly conducted. In these meetings,decisionsregarding the schools were taken and implemented,i.e.

providing water acility,building construction,organisingprogrammes (admission ceremony, Independence &Republic day celebrations etc.) in schools.SMCs took theresponsibility o organising these programs systematically.

Workshopsl Withnodal-in-chargesA three day workshop was organised with all 5 nodal-in-charges. In this workshop,it was attempted to help

them understand RTE and work to make the schools RTEcompliant.

l WithteamCapacity building workshops were organised at 4dierent occasions.In these workshops,preparation towork with nodal centres,preparation or base li ne studywere done,attempts were made to understand to RTE

and work done on language teaching.

l DocumentationworkReport writing was done or various meetings andmonthly and annual progress as well. Baseline studyreport and progress report o the nodal schools waswritten. Apart rom this, support was provided or

documentation on Shiksha Samarthan Project (rombeginning o the project 6 years).

VisitsDuring this period,Vandana,Kamala (CFL), Nisha (TARU)and Prakash (WIPRO) have visited the program to know,understand and document the program.

Members o the committee were interested in knowingthe learning status o the children as well.

l Withother schoolsassociated ton odal centresNodal centres have moved one step ahead in developing

academic support structure to support schools associatedto them.The role o nodal-in-charge,earlier restricted toinormation exchange,has now changed.He has startedvisiting the schools along with the nodal coordinator tounderstand the school situation (classrooms, learningo the children,environment, other arrangements andsystems in the school etc.). Nodal-in-charge has visited

other schools at least once a month. They have startedplaying active role in motivating teachers and providingsupport to them,i required,to improve the status o theschool.

l Monthly academic meetingsat nodal levelNodal centre has been transormed into a centre where

monthly meetings are being conducted regularly. 29such meetings have been held in 4 o the 5 nodal centres.In these meetings,the status o the schools, academicissues etc were discussed and urther planning doneto improve the situation. The role o nodal-in-chargeis becoming more and more visible in making thesemeetings more meaningul.His belie in regularity and

making them more academic in nature has increased.

Critical consolidationWorking with nodal in charge, teacher and communityand regular communication has helped the nodal centreto develop as a capable centre to provide academic

help.

The teachers have developed trust in the nodal centresbecause o the regular monthly academic meetings.

Teachers have started having conversation with nodal-in-charge regarding status o the school,teaching planetc.

Nodal-in-charge has played an active role in improvingthe status o these schools. They have started makingattempts towards changing the situation in the school.

The project has been concluded in its stipulated time byMarch 2012.Hope this short term intervention with thenodal centres will sustain and will keep on helping the

nodal in charges to improve the schools status in utureas well.

5.1 5.1


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Marasah Qaity Imrovemet project,Vikramshia

Marasah Qaity Imrovemet project,Vikramshia

The Sachar Committee had recommended that Muslimsshould be ensured equity and equality o opportunity ineducational as well as work spaces.The inverse relationshipbetween the proportion o Muslim population and

availability o proper educational inrastructure is amatter o concern.There are 600 govt. aided Madrasahsin West Bengal that have been granted equivalenceon paper.They ollow more or less same curriculum asthe Secondary Board and have their teachers recruitedthrough centralized testing and yet ace discriminationin the larger social sphere.Keeping this context in mind,

Vikramshila started a project to build and enhance theacademic quality and ensure the overall development othese Madrasahs by working intensively with a ew o them.Vikramshila collaborated with Wipro Applying Thoughtin Schools, West Bengal Board o Madrasah Education(WBBME) and Department o Minorities Development& Welare o Madrasah Education on Madrasah Quality

Improvement Project. The project started in July 2007,with an aim to transorm the 14 existing High Madrasahsinto model centers whose good practices could be takenorward to other Madrasahs o the state.

Objectives o the project:The main aim o the project was to build and enhance theacademic quality and overall development o Madrasah

system.For this,14 l ab Madrasah had been selected withthe aim to convert these into model centres with a viewto disseminate this learning in the system.

Activitieshad focused in thefollowing areas:At the Madrasah level

l School culture and environment

l School management

Coverage

Highlights o April 2011 September 2011This was the last phase o the project where VERS mainlyocused to consolidate the activities and learning o the

past 4 years.Along with regular classroom activities atMadrasah level,VERS laid ocus on two componentsl Consolidation o the lesson plans provided or Classes

V- VI on 6 subjects (Bengali, English, Mathematics,History, Geography, and Science) in the orm oresource books.Here,the experiences rom the workwith the students at the cl assroom level and teachers

view were taken into consideration. The resourcebook addressed the dierent levels o the students,the teaching learning material and the exercises.

l The eld level experiences along with thetransormation in the Madrasahs were documented.A documentary lm was prepared which highlightedthe changes that took place in the Madrasahs in due

course o time.A report was prepared to capture thejourney o the project in each o the Madrasahs andthe work at various levels.This report was handedover to the individual Madrasahs where work wasdone as well as the Madrasah Board.A project closuremeeting was organized by Vikramshila with the Boardrepresentatives and 14 Madrasahs.A representative

rom Wipro was also present.This meeting gave anopportunity or all the participants to share theirexperiences,learning,eelings about the project in acommon platorm.

No.o Madrasahs No.o Teachers passed No.o Teachers supported No. o children benefttedthrough training

14 72 210 8500

l Teacher developmentl Strategic planning within the school

At the Student level

l Academic improvement

l Co scholastic development

At the Systemic levell Planning and policy

l Reviewing and developing curricular materials

About the project

The ocus o the project was to transorm the wholeschool by working with all stakeholders children,teachers,managing committee members and the Board.At the Madrasah level, VERS worked on certain coreareas or transorming school environment by makingit more open and participatory through Head Mastersworkshop,school level micro planning and also changing

the physical environment o the school by decorating thepremises.At the classroom level,ocus was on providingremedial support to children through regular remedialclasses and camps.Studentscabinet,sot skill camp andChildrens estival were organized to increase studentsownership and spontaneity and build their condence.Tostrengthen the system,various orientation programmes

were organized. A central assessment system wasdeveloped to track the progress o students on the samescale.Record keeping and data analysis were some o thekey parameters to make the systemic level inormed.

5.2 5.2

The project that had started in 2007 came to an end inSeptember 2011.Process documentation was done tocapture the high and low points o the journey.In duecourse,the work with the Madrasahs had gained depth at times,it was successul in overcoming the challenges,and at times,it was not. Several issues were raised and

some could be resolved.Five years is a long time or aproject,but very short compared to the kind o shits thatare needed.Some changes are visible and at the suracewhereas others take place at a subterranean level,andit is these that will determine whether the changes thatwere initiated during the project,will sustain.The closuremeeting made it obvious that a lasting impressionhad been created in the minds o the stake holders at

various levels.They were now able to think criti cally andthe group had developed a common understanding oquality education.


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Wipro Applying Thought in Schools has supported anetwork o organizations engaged in school educationreorm.In the case o established organizations this hashelped them gain new experiences in working withschools or improve the competencies within a team.Wehave also supported newer organizations doing workaligned to our strategy in establishing themselves in the

initial years and gaining eld experience.

ORGAnIZATIOn SuppORT pROGRAMS Viyabhawa

The work in the year 2010-2011 took place in two phases.Work in the initial six months continued in the direction othe school transormation project that had been chartedout in the previous years.The period rom October to

March was spent in refection on the achievements o theproject and planning or the next years with a ocus onrebuilding the work in VB schools and i mplementing thelearning rom this work in other schools.

Objectives:

l To revisit the leadership and management processes

l Help the schools in becoming partially sel-sustainableand nancially more viable

l Use VB schools as learning labs or developing ideasor wider implementation:

l Documentation and material development - Tocompile the material or primary school languageand maths that has been developed so ar, ordissemination in more schools

Key Activities:l Principals orum as in the past years, the principals

rom the our VB schools continued to meet orsharing and planning. Senior teachers rom VB Sr.Secondary school were also involved in this processand it is planned that more teachers will eventually be

involved in the leadership process.l As part o the move towards sel-sustainability,a vision

building exercise was carried out and the schools(principals and teachers) have developed a ve yearplan as well an annual plan. Teachers rom the Basicschool worked on developing a possible nancialmodel or their school in the new circumstances and

are moving towards introduction o class XI and XII.

6.1

l VB Public School has expanded to include classes 3-5.

l Class library the concept o childrens portolios isbeing piloted in the Basic school

l Six month planning or Support classes and Activity

classes was carried out. Activity classes have beenintroduced in VB Basic School and in Jhamarkotraas well.The idea was to help the primary class mathteacher in planning or the class through use oactivities and an ERC member worked along withthe teacher in planning and implementing.The extraperson also proved useul in carrying out group work

with children.l

Capacity Building,be it o the ERC team,the schoolleadership or the school teachers,is a major objectiveo the intervention in all VB schools.As a part o this,

l VBERC undertook the training o private schoolteachers rom the schools in the urban slums o Udaipur.In-house resource team underwent preparation, did

workshop design,material development etc.e n It was decided that VB school teachers would

be asked to help in trainings conducted by ERC.This would give them a chance to test theirunderstanding o education developed so arthrough their work and interactions with thecentre.

l VB collaborated with SSA in conducting their annualin-service trainings.From May 11 - 15,members romVBERC and other VB institutions took part in a mastertraining ater which they conducted Science,SocialScience, math, and language trainings or Upperprimary teachers rom the Govt.Schools o Udaipur.


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Viyabhawa

l A second round o trainings or primary schoolteachers in collab oration with SSA was conductedrom 11-16 June and 19-24 June. School teachersrom VB Sr.Sec school as well as Basic school acted as

resource persons in these trainings.l Many experienced teachers in VB schools who were

on govt.grants let as they were absorbed by the govt.system.Thereore,all mechanisms that have been setup in the past years or sharing,capacity building etc.had to be revisited and a plan ormulated where alarge number o new VB entries would be oriented

towards VB philosophy and vision.l

Work was done towards documentation o(Continuous and Comprehensive assessment) CCAexperience and developing a shareable note.

6.1

Outcomes:

l VB schools have served as learning labs or work inthe govt.and pvt. schools in the bastis (urban slums)o Udaipur.The concept o classroom library has been

extended to about 15 basti schools.Books and othermaterial has been provided by VB and plans are on tohold a workshop on library usage with the teacherso this school. Teachers rom VB will share theirexperiences in these workshops.

l Several teachers attended the SSA training orresource persons and conducted primary school in-

service teachers training or SSAl

Activity classes in the VB schools resulted inmodications in activities and worksheets designedby VBERC.Worksheets on topics such as patterns,placevalue were modied on the basis o the eedback andthen used in basti schools.

l Orientation workshop or new teachers in August and

periodic ollow up interaction meetings and sessionswith teachers

Ekavya

This year we continued the work o supporting thegovernment schools and networking with otherorganizations working in education in Bhopal.This workwas supported by both Wipro Applying Thought inSchools and Sir Dorabjee Tata Trust.The ollowing werethe main components o the work this year.

l Supporting Schools and organizations;

l Setting up resource centres;l Workshops & Courses;l Studies;l Networking and meetings.

l Supporting Schools and organizations:As part o this

aspect o the program,we have been working with22 primary and middle schools o the governmentschool system in developing a library based languageand school support program.We have also beenworking intensively with an organization called Oasisthat works in mainstreaming and supporting out oschool children through holding classes in groupsin dierent museum settings.A brie review o boththese aspects is given below:n Supporting government schools: In the 22

primary and elementary schools,we have beendeveloping a library based language educationand school support program.

The ollowing are the main eatures o the program:

l Provision o about 400 selected childrens books toeach school.The books have been selected careullykeeping in mind their critical, creative and literaryquality and association with the perspective andpsychology o the child at dierent ages.We have notstrictly graded these books,but allow them to circulateamong classes 3 to 8.There is,however,a broad divisionbetween primary and middle school books.

6.2

l A weekly period or library reading and activities oreach class, in which a group o resource students,teachers and Eklavya resource persons conductsessions and issue books.

l A periodic wall newspaper in which each child o theclass participates.

l A teacher and resource student orientation andperiodic review meeting so that leadership abilities ostudents are also developed.

l Periodic interaction with teachers and with parentsto discuss issues related to the library work and someother issues o language education.

Supporting Oasis museum school:l The Oasis museum school attempts to address children

who are out o school and bring them into schooland also support them outside o schools.Instead orunning centres in congested environs o the slums,they bring the children to museums o the city,groupthem according to their abilities and teach them.Theyalso use the museum exhibits as a resource.Eklavyahas been supporting them in language and maths or the early level groups the 5 to 10 year olds.Weare attempting to consolidate this work in a gradedcurriculum and materials and a rubric o teaching ormaths and language.

Setting up Resource centres:

l Last year,we set up a main resource centre and oneextension resource centre at a cluster level.This yearwe continued our activities at the main resourcecentre and set up two more centres at two clusters(Jan Shiksha Kendras).We held meetings on literatureand flms with interested persons.We also discussedaspects o RtE compliance and the issue o SMCs,libraries in schools and age appropriate classes with


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Ekavya

other NGOs at the main resource centre.Five writers inhindi literature read their stories and poems and haddiscussions with the audience.

The idea is to develop some collaborative programs andstudies on education in Bhopal in the coming years.Oneo the issues which three organizations have agreed towork on together is bilingual education in the elementaryclasses.This program will begin in 2012-13.

This year we set up two more resource centres at twoJan Shiksha Kendras. We provided education books orteachers,brought out the books they already had in theschool and organized them, provided resource materialsor Maths and Science. We held childrens and teachersworkshops in these resource centres and also parentsget-togethers on education.These Jan Shiksha Kendras also actas hubs or nodal centres or the school based programs.

Workshops and courses: s.l Workshops:This year we did two workshops on science,

and one on art. The science workshops were attendedby around 25 teachers and members o organizationsworking in education. They were ocused on usingsmall kits on dierent concepts which are used todo experiments and arrive at an experiment basedconceptual understanding.The concepts worked onwere the microbial world,light and nutrition.

The drama workshop was a smaller one with about 15participants. It attempted to get people rid o theirinhibitions and acquainted with the basics o drama.

The participants were mostly people rom NGOs. Theart workshop got us and members o dierent NGOs tointeract with good national artists Atanu Roy and NareshSaxena and understand the nuances o dierent art orms creative literature,visual arts, drama,music.

6.2

l Courses: We are trying to develop a course orgovernment primary school teachers to learn Englishand improve it so that they can teach children Englishin more participative ways. About 30 teachers inthree dierent batches undertook 50 to 80 hours oclasses at the very basic beginners level. Throughthese experiences we are trying to develop a drato an 80 hour course or absolute beginners this isimplemented in dierent ormats viz an hour a day,three days a week or 6 to 8 months / or an hour aday three days a week or 3-4 months and a ten dayworkshop o 5 hours a day. Those who have someability in English are given 50 hours and those that

begin rom scratch go through 80 hours.

Studies:l National study on Inclusion and exclusion in schools:

The urban resource network team participated in anationwide study on exploring and understandingsocial inclusion and exclusion in rural schools.Wewere responsible or the study in Madhya Pradesh.Having participated in this study in the rural schools,the team has developed capability to do such a studyin urban areas as well and we plan to do a similarstudy in Bhopal next year.

l Pilot study on working children in one school:Whileworking in the government schools o Bhopal,weound that there are schools in a particular area wherea large proportion o school going children work andcome to school. These children attend school ora much shorter period in the day.In order to keepthe children in school, the headmaster and teachersnegotiate this time with them.This issue provoked usto do a small study and understand why children aregoing to work and what they eel about work.It is adescriptive study whose ndings will be shared.

Ecatio i di Se Homes,Cetre for Eqity Sties

BackgroundThere are three Dil Se homes in Delhi operating out obuildings provided by the Delhi government Ummeedin the Qutb area houses about 105 boys ranging rom

age 3 to age 18,Kilkari in the Kashmere Gate area is hometo about 110 girls under 14 years old except two girlswho are older and pursuing vocational courses,Khushiin the Okhla area has about 100 girls all under 14 yearsold. The homes are run on democratic principles withthe voice o the children dominating the discussions.Regular bal sabhas, review and planning meetings,

provide opportunities or refection and eedback,

and ensure that childrens needs, opinions, desires areheard and acted upon.All major changes are tabledand negotiated with the children beore decisions aretaken.The approach empowers them,builds condence,raises sel-esteem and establishes a sense o ownershipo the home and its processes.A ourth home has been

added in the last month or older boys as it was a legalrequirement to keep separate home arrangements orolder and younger children.

Education Planning & ManagementThe education programme or the children is structuredto provide:

l Preparation and readiness or school (Bridge Courses

and Pre-School) n Bridge Courses

n Pre-Schooll Admission into mainstream schools

l School Support and Remedial

l English Conversation

l Computer Literacy

l Lie skills Education

6.3

l Education or children with special needs

l Enrichment Programmes (Non-academic activities)

l Transition Preparation - Programme or Lie Beyondthe Home (ensuring employability,higher education,

career planning,vocational skills)

The implementation is achieved through:l A group o coordinators

l Curriculum Development & Educational Research

l A group o ull time and part time teachers

l Teacher Training,Development and Support

l Panel o individual artistes or organisations providingexpertise or extracurricular activities

l Dedicated Volunteers ull time, part time and longterm residential

There is a system o monitoring & supervision,eedbackand planning through regular observation schedules,

meetings and reviews. Childrens learning is trackedregularly.Education Progress Reports are prepared threetimes in the year or every child.

Current StatusBridgeCourses have been developed in our subjects Hindi,Math, Social Studies and Science.Each subjectcomprises o a) baseline assessment tools, b) a our-

level course which the child goes through c) materialor use in classroom such as worksheets/songs/poems/games d) assessment tools.All development has takenplace with the active participation o the teachers whoimplemented the course in the homes.

A 10 or 11 year old child who should be in class 5 but has

never been to school,would take between 6 months to 2years to complete the course and be ready or class 5. In


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cases where the child has accelerated understanding,he/she may begin ormal schooling earlier.

Teacher Training is an integral component o the

curriculum development process. The teachers havegone throughl relevant and ocused residential trainings twice in the

1st year,annually in the next 2 yearsl ortnightly reviews and trainings to take care o

gaps in subject knowledge and concept clarity andclassroom management techniques or specic topics

to be taught in the next 2 weeksl weekly planning sessions o lessons and material

development

In addition, they are also provided class room supportthrough observation and eedback,demo lessons andassistance in class room processes. Teachers prepare3-month long term plan, weekly plans and daily plans

with exact teaching units and material details or eachday.4 hours every week has been set aside or them toprepare the weekly plans.

Since we do not take trained teachers, this pattern oteacher training and intensive handholding is essentialto develop them into eective,sensitive and creative

teachers.

English Language:In order to jump-start a diverse groupo children o approximately the same level but withmany dierent needs, an in-house English Languageprogram has been developed that imparts the samematerial in various manners in order to accommodate

and relate to the variations in all three major learning andcognitive development contexts.To achieve these goals,

6.3

the English language program has many more activityoptions and teacher-support systems than most otherEnglish language programs,which are normally gearedto one major learner-group.

A child having passed through the course,regardlesso their age and cognitive development level,shouldbe able to slip into an NCERT-based English class otheir age appropriate grade-level. Depending on astudents age and education status, the program canbe used either as an English Bridge course or as an at-

level learning program.As with the Bridge program,theEnglish language programs expected time-rame is 12-18 months,as per student learning speed.

Computer Literacy: We are using the MicrosotUnlimited Potential Curriculum which we ound to be amethodical and straightorward curriculum imparting

basic computer skills set which covers word processingundamentals,spreadsheet undamentals,presentationundamentals,using the Internet and the World WideWeb,as an introduction to using digital media.Whenadapting the modules to our needs into the e-Mastiprogram,we essentially

l cut down the modules into shorter segments o more

bite sized knowledge chunksl reduced or cut out the detailed theory partl replaced the corporate examples with those rom the

childrens lives and background

The teaching methods and transaction inputs werelargely developed in-house.It gave the teacher reedomto assemble and develop class activities based on the

curriculum and the lesson at hand and the age,cognitivedevelopment,and basic interests o the students.


TheLifeSkillsEducationProgramhas been a challenge.We seek to achieve behavioural changes in liethereore it demands a multi-aceted approach o input,reinorcement and practice to be eective and requires a

mature,sensitive approach to designing and developingthe components o the course. Linking the Lie SkillsEducation Program with other aspects o managing thehome is also essential or maximizing impact.

Design, development and planning is not just deningthe components that will be included, but also how

much at particular age levels and nding the rightimplementing partner who will collaboratively designand implement the interventions.The coordinator orthe lie skills curriculum has to ensure that the complexcombination o people,organisations and processes areorganically integrated and reach the child in a mannerthat he/she can engage with it.The lie skills programmeis still in the process o design and development.

Mainstreaming Children: This year, all 315 childrenin the three homes o Dil se have been mainstreamedinto regular schools both private and government.It is amomentous achievement and Dil se is proud o this.

6.3

Extracurricular Activities & Achievements: Duringsummer,the older children went or a trip to Kashmir.

The younger group went or overnight stay and picnic.Five children participated in a ten-day art/crat estival

at the Sanskriti Kendra. The boys have composed lyricsand perormed their song on stage.Children o all threehomes participated in the Delhi Youth Festival andpresented dances and group songs.The boys participatedin a martial arts competition and won gold, silver andbronze medals.Besides,there are regular celebrations obirthdays,estivals and other national days.The combined

sports day was organised in January.

NextSteps: In the orthcoming year,we need to - set upa strong and consistent school support system; developthe transition preparation programme,ensure a robustvolunteer support, increase the use o CAL systems,enhance the personal development o each child.


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Teacher Ecatio & Schoo Itervetios,CEVA

Centre or Education and Voluntary Action (CEVA) startedworking in the education space in the year 2000 withthe objective o exploring and bringing into practiceand advocating, alternative approaches or educating

children. The main ocus o CEVAs work is to initiate,acilitate and sustain dialogue and change. CEVA worksthrough deep engagement with schools and colleges inChandigarh and Punjab.

l Changing Tracksat Rayat and Bahra College oEducation (RBCE),Sahauran,Punjab

Closely ollowing the recommendations o the NCFTE(National Curriculum Framework or Teacher Education,2010),CEVA worked with the college to bring in a changedperspective by enabling the teachers to transact a part othe B.Ed curriculum in an interactive manner.3 years back,CEVA had started a once a week add-oncourse in HigherOrder Thinking Skills or B.Ed students in RBCE.Changing

Tracks(http://changingtracksrbce.blogspot.com/) is an

experiment,resulting rom this engagement,to discoverwhat it takes to bring in a culture o higher order thinkingand participatory classrooms in an education institution.

Theinitial planning phase. (May 2011)The Principal and teachers at RBCE participated invisualising and planning the project.The teachers drew

up the basic outlines o the process during a 2-dayparticipatory workshop.

Thesecond phase.(July 2011)A 20 day Workshop with the teachers, or sharingideas about interactive teaching-learning processes;designing learning situations or the B.Ed students;

negotiating the curriculum in a way that would allowthe students the maximum opportunity to construct

6.4

their own understanding,acquire the skills necessary tocreate a Higher Order Thinking Culture in an interactiveclassroom.Accordingly,a ew lesson plans in each subjectwas developed by the teachers during this workshop

Thethird phase(August September)For the new B.Ed batch that joined this year,teaching-learning was carried out according to the lesson plansdeveloped in 2nd phase.Classes were conducted in aworkshop mode, with extensive student participationand use o higher order thinking in activities. The lm

Changing Trackshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_QI8S5uqZY captures the experience o these 6 weeksthrough the eyes o the teachers and students.

Thefourth (Dec &January 2011)Workshops to conduct a ormal evaluation with teachersas well as students. The teachers as well as students

participated in day long workshops to express theirevaluation o the program in a particular ormat.:

l Science program - Mindtree School,AmbalaScience Clubs These happened twice a week, withchildren o class III & IV through July to October, 2011.

The modules were designed to enhance science processskills.16 children worked with one acilitator,so there was

space or conversations around the childrens hands-onexperiences with science concepts.The Science Clubshave initiated a long-term relationship with the school.

Sharing ideaswith teachers: We have started a Year-long Science program in the school with a 12 day Science

Teachers Training Workshop (March 19th to 31st 2012) on

Teaching Science through Inquiry based methodology.


A learning spiral: The teachers came to a decision tostrengthen the process o inquiry based science teachingin the school.A process was charted out, during thisworkshop, in which the teachers would prepare their

lesson plans,with help rom CEVA team; try out theirideas in the classroom; plan the next phase based ontheir learnings in the earlier phase and so on.

l Maths Program The British School,Panchkula (TBS)

The maths program at TBS has been initiated with some

sessions with the students during 2011.An initial 10 dayworkshop with the Math teachers is on the cards in May,2012.

l Language Development through Theatre Activities Mindtree school,Ambala & TBS

In each o these schools, we have initiated the programwith story-telling sessions.We have drawn up the plans

to work with the children o Class IV through the year2012 -2013.

l Sri Guru Harkrishan School Senior SecondarySchool,Chandigarh

We worked with the children o the school rom July toOctober 2011.We had prepared a learning spiral or the

students o Classes 3,4 and 5,or Mathematics,Languageand Science with an underlying intention o ocusing onlie skills.

The initial opening up phase was ollowed up with a6 days story-making and storytelling workshop. Thestudents worked in our groups and had a chance to

engage with dierent orms o storytelling puppets,the Rajasthani Phar, Kamishibai (with picture cards)

6.4

and theatre improvisations.As the stories were beingwoven,drawn and perormed,the accent was also on co-operative learning,talking about emotions and engagingwith values.Phase 3,impact evaluation,has not happened

yet.However,we eel the school sta needs more time torefect on the implications o the work done and be moreopen to bringing in a deep change.

l In Public LibrariesCEVA has been conducting several workshops orchildren in 3 public libraries o Chandigarh, a popular

bookshop,as well as a private Toy Library.We have donestory perormances,story-telling with Shadow Puppets,community theatre,Science process skills,Math Fun andcreative writing.This is part o our eort (apart rom streetmelas) to engage with children and amilies.

l Future Action

At Rayat & Bahra College o Education - On the basiso our experiences and the eedback rom the teachersand students,we have planned the program or the year2012 2013.An active Resource Centre,participatoryresearch projects conducted by the M Ed teachersand the teachers o the college, a commitment on thepart o the college as well as CEVA,to create a learning

community consisting o other teacher training collegesand some schools,workshops by acilitators rom dierentorganisations engaged in innovative work and ocusingon school subjects as well as several kinds o dialoguesabout education,have been planned.

Attheschools We are evolving the Science,Mathematicsand Language programs in schools according to the

needs o a change process.On one hand,a dialogue withthe managing and academic sta has been initiated.


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On the other,a process is drawn up where the teachershave opportunities to try out the ideas thrown up duringour workshops and participate in a ormal process orefection,ater which they test out their own responses

to what needs to be done.

A change space CEVA believes that organizationalchange emerges when there is acceptance, authorityand ability to allow and catalyze ongoing as well asepisodic adjustments.Such a change spaceis requiredto ensure contextual readiness or change and to oster

progression through dierent stages o the process.We intend to keep this in mind as we dialogue with the

school community,show them the possibilities that arewithin our reach and suggest action on the ground level.

The idea o creating a Resource Centre at each o theschools has been accepted by the respective institutions.We are in the process o nding and creating resources.

6.4Corage to lea,disha-Iia

The Purpose and the Program OverviewThe purpose o the program is to re-dene learning andeducation or school leaders through a challenging andengaging experience.I we can change the way children

learn and interact in classrooms the structure o thewhole schools will change.To make this happen in schools,the school leaders and educators need to experience itat the personal level.The idea is to initiate thinking anddialogue on how can we make learning more engagingand exciting or our childrenand what it takes to create aculture o learning,excellence and care in schools.

The program objective is to develop the leadership

capacity in schools or bringing the desired change andin the process build a network o schools or collectivelearning and sharing. It is a 10-day residential programconsisting o two expeditions spread over 3 months withpre and post project work.

We do one Courage to Leadprogram in a year.

The work done so ar and the impact.l Three programs done so ar 75 principals, vice-

principals and program coordinators have participatedin three programs.

l Around 15 schools have been really impacted by the

program.And the impact has been in terms on Building the critical mass o positive change agents

in the schools. More than two members o theleadership team have participated in the programrom these schools.This has helped in building theshared vision and understanding on learning andthe desired change in the schools.

6.5

n Initiating the work o curriculum design andclassroom implementation o project basedlearning.

n Making o the school improvement plan and how

to implement the plan n Teacherscapacity development or project based

learning.l Building a team o 9 aculty members or the program

rom dierent disciplines and organizations.

l Last year we did our rst Courage to Lead site seminarwhere school leaders and educators who have

been part o our earlier programs came and shared

their experiences o implementing the experientiallearning inside the classrooms. Around 15 schoolheads and educators rom 7 to 8 schools shared theirwork.The objectives o the seminar were:

n School head/educator to share their journey soar i.e.what all they have been able to implement

in the area o experiential learning in theirclassrooms and school, how they went about,their challenges,success stories,etc

n What has worked or them? What are some o thechallenges they are acing?

n The middle program educators rom the HeritageSchool,where Disha India has been working or last

4 years on how to use projects and expeditions aspedagogy o teaching and learning,shared theirexperiences and work, key projects, their fow,the end products,etc with al l the school heads.Children who have been part o the projects alsoshared their learnings and experience.

n Disha India shared the expedition design

ramework and process with all the participants.


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Corage to lea,disha-Iia

n There was also a session on how to bring changein schools.

l Disha India has designed KHOJ a learning expedition

or children through which we model how to useexperience as a source o teaching and learningand how to design and acili tate specic projects orchildren.Last year, we implemented it in the middleprogram o the Heritage school.This year we will bedoing it in three other Courage to leadschools - DPS,Surat,Akanksha Foundation, Mumbai and Al-ameen

Mission, Kolkata.This is really working out to be aneective strategy.

l Disha India has initiated a research project on creatinga theory o experiential learning or K-12 educationwith Experience Based Learning System (EBLS).EBLSis a research organization ounded by Dr Kolb.Theobjectives o the research is to :

n Re-design and adapt experiential learning cycleand processes to the K-12 school educationdomain.

n To work on the Educators role prole (ERP)or school educators i.e. what is the role o aneducator in acilitating the experiential learningcycle inside the classrooms.

n To work on creating the classroom learning cyclebased on the theory o experiential learning.

l Last year we also nished the second Courage toTeachprogram or school educators.So ar 50 schooleducators have been part o the program.It is a 15-day residential program.

6.5

l Disha India is also designing a school wide rameworkor re-inventing the school.It will be or school heads.It came out as one o our learnings rom the seminar.

l This year we will be launching the Courage to Leadand Courage to Teachprograms in partnership withExperience based Learning Systems,USA.

Action-plan or next three years .

l To redesign the program based on the experience olast 4 years.To build the shared understanding among

the aculty members on the purpose,objectives anddesign o the program

l To urther strengthen the network o schools thosehave been part o Courage to Lead programs byhaving annual Courage to Lead Seminar or sharingo their success stories, planning and challenges.

This year we are having the seminar in the month o

September.l To work on program documentation i.e.documenting

the experiences, questions, challenges, dialogues,case-studies, project work, action-plan, readingmaterial and assignments.

l To build the scholarship und or the deservingparticipants/schools.

l To have 20 to 25 percent participation romgovernment public schools

l To continue our exploration o the possibilities o jointcertication or our programs with an establishededucational university/organization.

lagage learig Resorce Cetre,Shikshamitra

Overall objective o the Project:l To evolve eective curricula, methodology, materials to teach Bangla and English, especially under dicult

circumstances

l By working in government high schools o North 24 Parganas where Swanirvar has intervened and others NGOS

Language Learning Training and Dissemination:English

Govt schools/orgs 7 Government High Schools (HS),1 MSK & 1 tuition center in N 24 Parganas,West Bengal alongwith Swanirvar intervention

Duration;or Nov,2009 Aug,2011 or classes V-VI

Objective To help children in class V

To overcome ear o English

To pick up the basic skills in EnglishRecognition o the alphabet,Making words,Making sentences,Reading,Writing,Speaking

within the rst 4-5 months

Extended to class VI

Numbers 12 teachers oriented by 9 workshops & 5 visits,beneting 881 children

Outcomes l 4 teachers rom the old batch took class VI level training

l Some teachers eel that they have been given enough input up to class VIII

Special Outcomes l There was an exhibition and presentation by Rumi Ganguli (Media HS) and Rumpa Das (Mandra

HS) at Swanirvar where they displayed their own material and shared their experiences.Thismeeting was attended by 20 HMs and secretaries o local high schools.

With Jabala (NGO) Mukti (NGO)

Duration;or Jul Dec,2011 or classes V-VIII Jan 2012 present or classes V-VI

Objective To pick up strategies o teaching Basic English To pick up the oundation course and more

Number 10 teachers in 5 centers benetting 17 teachers in 8 centers benetting ~200~250 children children

Outcomes Both teachers and children took to learning Teachers got very enthused by the inputEnglish with enthusiasm,joy and condence.[See below *]

With Nibedita Seba Mandir (NGO) Shamil (alt.school)

Duration;or Apr May,2011 or 10-15 yr old children or teachers in an alternative schoolSep 2011

6.6


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Language Learning Training and Dissemination:Bangla

6.6

Objective To gain condence in writing English To quickly acquire reading and writingindependently skills in English

Numbers 14 children beneted by 5 weekly 4 teachers attending a 2-day workshop

1-hour classes

Outcomes Children could express themselves in English The discussion with practicing teacherswithout struggle. naturally spilled over to various aspects

o children.

With Hazer Ali Smriti Bidyapith (HS) Jabala (NGO)

Duration;or Mar May,2011 or class V Nov,2010 Dec 2011 or classes V-VIII

Objective To teach basic Bangla reading & writing skills ollowed by other language exercisesNumbers 80 children beneting rom 2 classes per week 10 teachers beneting ~250 children

Outcomes The children picked up the basic reading, Apr ollow up showed clear signs owriting and word orm at ion in Bangla . imp rove me nts.

But later training was not applied [See below *]

Special When under and non-achieving children *The program got terminated by theirOutcomes ound themselves learning,they brought in unding agency or other reasons.

other children with similar learning levels

With Marat (NGO)

Duration;or Jun,2010 Sep 2011 or gi rls & women (in 14-30 yr age group) involved in bidi-making

Objective Accelerated Reading Writing Program

Numbers 6 teachers,6 supervisor & 1 coordinator trained by 3 workshops & 3 visits,beneting 47 children

Outcomes Starting rom scratch girls in all centers picked reading and writing in Bangla

Special l New initiative with classes III-IV started to improve Bangla and math with the same teachersOutcomes lEven new teachers got used to the language teaching method thanks to others in the organization

lThe ocus o the organization has shited rom health to education thanks to the aboveintervention


Curriculum & material:l A set o graded story cards with illustrations by

children and sel-guided activities getting nalizedwith printers

l A basic curriculum designed or 10-16 yr olds spanning2-4 yrs drated and the initial phases designed

6.6

Plans or the next year:

l Training help & orient groups working with hard-to-reach children & youth, especially in languagelearning,math and seldevelopment

l Developing & publishing materials,texts or students& teachers

l Complete the basic curriculum mentioned above


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Quality education literature helps create an environmentconducive to thinking about good education and theability to weave better activities in schools around

childrens books and thus take education beyondjust the textbook. Our initiatives in this area are verydiverse like supporting development o a new childrensbook by Tulika containing mythological stories on thetheme o water rom around the world or supportingthe Good Books Trust to review and publicize goodchildrens books.We are also supporting the educational

journal Contemporary Educational Dialogue. We hadearlier supported publishing o a book that draws

rom contemporary literature on child psychology andpresents this to practitioners.Work is also on to translatethe book into two other languages.

A graphic novel based on olk stories rom Assam, aseries o richly visual books introducing basic concepts in

science and a book on Philosophy o Education are someo the books in the making.

EduCATIOn MATERIAl & lITERATuRE Goobooks.i: A chires iteratre review website,GooBooks Trst

BackgroundThe Goodbooks Trust has, in the past,worked towardsincreasing the availability o childrens books producedin India. Together, Wipro and The Goodbooks Trust are

creating a website that will serve as a database or goodchildrens literature by using the archives procured rom

The Book Review (TBR).TBR is a literary journal that hassince the 1970s,published reviews o chil

Documents

Wipro Applying Thought in Schools