STEPPING STONES…ENHANCING THE QUALITY OF PRIMARY EDUCATION

Himavanth Oorugonda.

Mylapaka Kiran Vamshi.

Menta Venkata Pushpak Teja.

Sai Krishna.

Bankupalli Bharadwaj.

“Education is the manifestation of perfection already in man”

-SWAMI VIVEKANANDA

MONITORING/SUPERVISION :

As dictated by Newton’s First law of motion, every body has inertia. We humans are no exception to that.

We work only when we have an external force. Supervising or Monitoring is an excellent mechanism if well organized to meet the requirement of overcoming inherent inertia which is pulling us and the society back.

LEARNING THROUGH EXPERIENCE :

Science, Social, Languages, Mathematics, whatever could be the subject is not merely an outcome of

human imagination. There were always inputs, to be more exact necessary inputs from nature. People have experienced certain phenomenon, analyzed using certain tools either real or virtual, natural or man made and formed the theories, or expressed their experience in an aesthetically pleasing way what we call poetry that we learn in books. This input if missing creates a gap unfillable by any artificial means.

Identifying the Devil : The Problem Statement

HUMAN RESOURCE

One Teacher Per Class

According to RTE act, 2009 there should be a teacher for every 30-35 students. They also gave a provision that a school can have extra teachers depending on certain criteria.

But, there are schools with only a population of 100 or so with 8 classes. So, according to the rule, they get 3 teachers and an extra teacher which mean 4 teachers to manage 8 classes.

Most of the Government schools face this problem now of lack of enough human resource. Due to this, burden on teacher increases and he/she can’t teach effectively leading to a number of problems.

So, every class containing <30 students must have one teacher. Considering reforms for previous slides, this is not a tough task.

CURRICULUM: Languages are neglected. As languages are the only source of inspiration and morality, we get a mass of unmotivated and immoral citizens out of our system. There used to be a subject named Moral Sciences illustrating ideals like Truth, Honesty, Justice etc. and Virtues like Charity, Helping nature etc. Now-a-days we rarely find any school having Moral Science as a part of curriculum. Character of the Students is left up to time and other factors. Schools are meant for that.

Especially, Primary Education is not for making them learn life time lessons, but to introduce them to School environment. Flower attracts honey bee first with it’s bright color and then once the honey bee taste nectar it won’t leave the flower. Children are habituated to play and have fun. So, unlike now, there should be toys proportional to number of kids. Then they too shall be attracted.

One more aspect of primary education that needs a reform is that we don’t have lessons that inculcate patriotism towards our country. Whatever are there are too less. Probably because of vast syllabus that is to be covered, it might not be possible to have a few in secondary schooling, but primary schools are free from this . We ought to have more of these.

The Antidote : The Proposed Solution

MONITORING :

The problem now is whoever has to monitor or supervise the condition and functioning of

the school is not doing that. This results in carelessness and negligence of functioning bodies. An independent body consisting of young interested enthusiasts would serve the purpose. The idea is similar to NCC, NSS. We can let them supervise instead of those who are not able to. In return as an encouragement, certificates can be given to people who do good at work.

INDEPENDENT STUDENT MONITORING BODY:

WHAT AND HOW

• There will be a student body for every district which is composed of representatives from each class of each school in the district.

• They collect feedback (regularity, teaching, creativity, examples, interest etc.,) about every teacher from the class.

• Incase of very bad feedback, that teacher will be given a period of two months to correct their mistakes. If the teacher continues to be like that, he/she is to be removed from his/her job.

• Teachers who receive very good feedback will have a hike in their salary.

• Hike in the salary of removal of the faculty will be decided by the school authority and Educational Officer of the village on the advice of this student body

This body is elected through elections in the school and not through any recommendations of the teachers.

This body meets once in a month to discuss about the needs of each school and propose to the authorities to improve the conditions of the schools of the village

School authorities will plan the budget of every yearin consultation with this body.

They need to research on various innovative methods incorporated to teach by NGO’s and suggest them to teachers.

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CURRICULUM :

To make books rich of Morals, Ideals, Virtues and to introduce Indian Heritage, Culture, the Diversity of our nation as well as the threads that unify us, we need to have small stories from lives of great people, if possible with small modifications to add flavor to them to make them interesting. This shall help the child to have patriotism towards country. With these virtues and morals as the guiding lines he shall definitely be loyal to the nation. It is unwise to not plant a tree because we can’t taste the fruits. Though a change might not be seen in the immediate future, in the long run change is inevitable.

Every child likes to play. A slide would attract many dozens of children. A few toys would attract many more. Just the way sometimes small things make people happy, small things if taken care shall produce results unimagined.

Strategy :

To control all the undesired consequences that are happening due to improper monitoring, we call for people who are interested in doing such activity from all parts of the community, ranging from Students to Citizens, the only criteria being enthusiasm and the vision of doing good. They go supervise and submit the report to an incharge preferably some sort of an officer who has analysis of these reports as his main responsibility. The help of NGOs can also be taken. If needed Students and others who are participating could be awarded a certificate for service.

The best way to make them experience the beauty of nature and learn the lessons of life from hers manifestations is to point out beauties around us in our locality. It is locality specific. Some school may have a Beautiful; lake nearby, Some may have fields that are always green. If nothing can be thought of there shall be occasional raining at least. Any such natural phenomenon can be described and let them experience. This shall inculcate the spirit of Science, which is observing nature and decoding it. It may invoke the sleeping poet. The point is not to introduce this. It is already there. But is almost treated as insignificant. This attitude is to be changed.

We do have many lessons about freedom fighters, Scientists etc. But the seriousness with which they are taught is not up to the requirement. Those points which are to stressed are not stressed. Like in case of Gandhiji, the important aspects that are to be highlighted are not his date of birth and place of birth but rather his ideals, those ideals to which he adhered throughout his life.

Often we find our kids not very sure whether our nation is great or not. This comes because of lack of exposure to Indian Heritage, Culture, History and Past glory. For this the best way is to narrate stories depicting the great incidences from various great people’s life stories.

Conclusion

Needed Being Provided

Mid Day Meal

• To ensure the food and nutrition of children coming to school.

•Acts as an incentive for children to come to school. Enrollment rate will increase.

Free Text Books

• Providing the minimal requirement for kids to study. There are few other provisions that encourage children to come to school.

Right to Education

•No child Labor

•Making free and compulsory education a right for children of age till 14 years

Infra-Structural Facilities

• Primary: Benches, fans, lights, electricity, water, Boards, Toilets, etc.,

• Secondary: Labs, Computers, Play-Grounds, Library, Inventory etc.,

Human Resource and Monitoring Body

•There should be sufficient teaching and maintenance staff

•To ensure the proper functioning of the human resource, there must be a monitoring body

Teaching Pedagogy

• Creative Pedagogies to be used for children. Books may lose creativity among them

• Moral Values must be included in the teaching curriculum

What happens with all these changes???

India had never been poor at Intellectuals and Brain worker. What she lacks is not Knowledge. It is Wisdom that is forgotten. The Virtues are never spoken of. They have almost become as acceptable as Mythologies. Many believe none of the virtues are practical. Perhaps a little later Gandhi would also become a God who is claimed to have emerged as a product of human imagination!!!!

A tree can not be bent. But a plant can be bent easily. Wet clay can be molded. Burnt pot can only be broken but not shaped. Hence it is wise to take the fall in virtues and ethics of generations into account and act at primary level to initiate a change.

Nature has nurtured a large number of Scientists, Mathematicians, Philosophers etc. for over centuries. What proof can be given more than the historic evidences to tell firmly that Nature can teach. Experiencing is inevitable. Resources? It can’t be a potential problem. Because we experience it. We are not consuming her while experiencing. It doesn’t cost too. We need original thinkers. The seed for all round development lies at primary stage, just as the trees future is in the seed itself. This phase is generally neglected which results in complexions later on.

Many changes doesn’t bear fruits immediately. That doesn’t mean we don’t seed them.

REFERENCE

ASER. (2012). Annual Status of Education Report, 2012. Retrieved from

http://www.pratham.org/file/ASER- 2012report.pdf

Financial Express. (2012, May 12). Education’s Primary Problems.

Retrieved from http://www.financialexpress.com/news/education-s-

primary-problems/948273/2