My work at Madanapalle started in August 2001. I have been working with fifteen primary schools in the villages around Madanapalle (table 1.1). During these six months I have been able to interact 12 times with each one of these schools and have done more than 18 different activities with the children. On every working day I go to two schools and spend half a day at each school. I have been able to understand the children and work with them. I have built a working rapport with all the teachers.

I am grateful to Asha For Education, Seattle for supporting me in this work by offering me a fellowship grant. I am also thankful to Movement for Rural Emancipation (MORE), an organisation based in Madanapalle for giving me the base support to work in these villages and also for helping me get permission from the authorities.

This programme is named as ‘Akshara’. The word Akshara means alphabet/ education/ learning and it also means ‘without an end’ in Telugu, signifying that there is no end to learning.

The mission statement of Akshara is:

" To provide educational experiences that are truly joyful and realise the potential of every child, even while equipping them with skills to face tomorrow".

Learning needs to be a more child centered activity rather than a teacher directed one. We try to get the children work with their hands, make them talk and discuss and most important make them think for themselves.

We also believe that when learning is made meaningful to the child and the parents it ensures regular attendance and continuation of their education.

At the same time we understand the importance of following the curriculum prescribed by the government. Keeping the above considerations in mind we have been developing activities for children of classes 1 to 5 so that, they enjoy learning.

The activities that are being developed are in the following areas, but we try to integrate the subjects wherever possible.

(a) Art and Craft

(b) Language Learning

(c) Mathematics

(d) Environmental studies

In art and craft we got the children to explore with different media; drawing was done with pencil, charcoal and colour crayons. Painting with poster colours was introduced, we even experimented with natural dyes using leaves and flowers. We had several sessions on paper folding (origami) and cutting. Greeting cards were made using pressed flowers.

This is for the first time that art and craft is being done in these schools. Children love this particular session. It is very satisfying to see joy and happiness in children when their work is displayed in the classroom or when they take it home to show to their parents.

As mentioned earlier Art and Craft was integrated with Mathematics, Environmental Studies and Language Learning wherever it was possible. This was very successful because children love doing art and craft, when their academic subjects are done through this medium they enjoy what they learn.

In mathematics the topic being taught in the regular classes during Aug/Sep was ‘Fractions’. To be in coordination with what is being taught in the regular classes and keeping in mind the curriculum, we devised a hands-on activity on the same topic.

The children made ‘Fraction sets’ with card. They made several discs cut into various fractional parts. They had to cut each part accurately and colour the pieces carefully. This involves a lot of art and craft skills.

The lower classes used this set to understand the concept of whole, part of and division, while class 3 used it to understand the basic concepts of fraction terms such as numerator, denominator, proper and improper fractions. Class 4 and 5 used the set to understand the concept of addition, subtraction and comparison of fractions.

Children were able to understand the concept of fractions more clearly using this set because it is concrete, they can see and feel with their hands. They can put together actual parts to add up or take away parts to subtract and to compare all they do is, put one piece on top of another. Only when a concept is understood clearly one can move on to abstract thinking. It was interesting to see teachers using this set to solve problems from the textbook.

The next activity was on ‘geometry’. This topic was more like an art and craft activity rather than doing mathematics. The lower classes learnt to identify and name the basic shapes. Children made collages using coloured paper shapes drew pictures and patterns using shapes. They made paper hats and used coloured paper shapes to decorate it. While doing these activities the children get to know the names of shapes.

Children of classes 3, 4 and 5 did the topic ‘Solid Shapes’. They learnt to identify, name and relate solid shapes to surrounding objects. The children were given various screen-printed networks. When these are cut, folded and pasted they form into different solid shapes. Using these solid shapes they learnt the properties of solid shapes such as surface, edge and vertex. Here again a 3D model was important to understand this notion and when the children actually make it, there is a lot more difference to the way they learn.

Origami was also used as an activity to teach geometry. Without using scissors or glue we made a cube with paper. This cube can be dismantled and put together like a puzzle. It was fascinating to see teachers struggling to put it together while the kids were able to do it in seconds!

We got the children to play different number games, which helped them in building mental computation and strategy skills. The younger children played another game with dice and seeds, which gives practice in building ones into tens. It was used to develop the concept of place value.

Unfortunately many children and teachers have an aversion towards learning mathematics. To make children enjoy maths the teaching needs to be interactive and hands on. This way of teaching will help in understanding the basic concepts, once the basic concepts are clear one only needs practice for achieving perfection in computation skills.

In a typical EVS class the teacher would read a lesson aloud and may be explain it. Then the children would be expected to learn (by rote) answers to questions which follow the lesson. The children would also have to fill up blanks in statements from the lesson or will have to mark ‘true’ or ‘false’ to statements from the lesson. In this process there is absolutely no scope for scientific thinking nor will it interest the children.

The study of EVS is about understanding how nature works and ones relationship to the objects and other living things around us. This has to be done by collecting information through observation and experimentation. Recording their observations and analysing it will make the children scientific in their approach towards learning. Naturally they tend to enjoy this kind of learning which is activity based.

In EVS we did three lessons with hands on activities. When the lesson ‘Life Cycle’ was being taught, we got each child to make a 3-D model with card. This is a beautiful model to demonstrate various life cycles. A lot of art and craft skills are involved in making this model. When children make something with their hands they feel a sense of ownership and confidence on their work. Children also get immense pleasure in showing others what they have made.

While doing the lesson ‘Human Body’ we did an activity were the children draw their body maps on old newspapers with paint, later they plot the various parts onto this map and label them. This is followed by a discussion to understand the functions of these body parts. After this they complete a worksheet to reinforce what they have learnt.

The lesson on ‘Plant Life’ was more like an art session, rather than a science class. The objective of the lesson was to identify and classify leaves according to their groups. We got the children to collect different leaves from around the school. We helped them to trace the leaves onto paper with crayons, very interesting shapes and patterns emerged. While doing this activity the children very carefully observed the different leaves, learnt to identify and classify them.

The four basic skills of language learning are Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing. These four competencies have to be established in any effective learning context.

We had story-telling sessions and encouraged both teachers and children to tell stories. Sometimes the stories were illustrated and displayed in the class. We made alphabet sets (Telugu and English), using these sets younger children learnt to identify letters. The older children played word games such as word building with the alphabet sets. We also made worksheets, which were activity based to assess children’s level of learning.

Outdoor education is an important aspect in the learning process. On Jan 10 we organised a large scale outing for eight schools. We took 330 children from theses schools to the town for a circus show. This was a good occasion to break the monotony for the children. It was also an opportunity for children to meet fellow kids from other schools.

We are planning to organise at least one outdoor education programme per term. So, we need to organise three different programmes in a year.

The first one can be a jolly trip such as a picnic or an outing. The second one needs to be a more directed one, we can take the children to town to show them how various public institutions work. It could be to a post office. The children will write post cards to their parents and friends. A visit to the bank, administrative office or a police station will be interesting.

The third outing we feel needs to be a tough one where the children can rough it out. It could be a trek to one of the hills around the village or a nature walk to the closest woods.

Movement for Rural Emancipation (MORE) is an NGO committed to rural development and issues concerning poverty, one of their thrust areas is disability rehabilitation. Since persons with disability are oppressed, marginalised and stigmatised the organisational interventions seek to counter such ostracism from social exchanges, policies and rights. MORE stresses upon the latent potentials of persons with disability by acknowledging each one of them only to be a differently able person (DAP) rather than emphasising upon certain incapacity. MORE works on Community Based Rehabilitation for DAP.

I did a workshop with MORE social workers on Activity Based Learning for Inclusive Education. The objective of the workshop is to understand the methodology of Activity Based Learning consequently the social workers will be able to help special needs children in their learning. The basic idea of inclusive education is to integrate the children with disabilities in the regular school so as to enable all to participate together in the society from the very beginning. Provision of such form of education inculcates a feeling of confidence in the minds of the disabled children and provides them an access to the formal system of education.

WINSPACE is an NGO based in Tirupati and working with HIV affected persons. They have requested me to conduct an Activity Based Learning camp for children in their shelter home. I will be doing a camp for them in the last week of February.

Bala-Tejassu is an organisation which rehabilitates and home places street children and it is based in Hyderabad. They had invited me for their review meeting on 28th and 29th January and sought our help in giving educational inputs to these children. I have promised to conduct three ABL camps and have also agreed to help them in devising a curriculum based on the Minimum Needs of Learning.

The following are the major concerns;

a) Inadequate number of interactions

b) Not all classes were covered in a visit

c) Children’s work was not preserved for record

a) I have had 12 interactions with each school till now. On an average, I was able to go to each school 2 times in a month (the number of working days in govt schools is not more than 21 days in a month). I feel the number of interactions should increase to at least 4 times in a month, so that the children get to do four different activities, one each in Art and craft, Mathematics, Language learning and EVS. Right now I am spending half a day at each school which cannot be reduced. One possible solution is to identify a volunteer who can team up with me to do this work. We may need to pay an honorarium to such a volunteer. If Asha can depute a volunteer it will be great.

b) Sometimes, not all classes were able to do the activity, only two or three classes were able to do it. I have noticed that, children who miss the activity feel very sad. May be we should think of shortening the activity time a little, so that all classes get an opportunity to participate.

c) Till now, whatever work the children have done has been given back to them, except for some which has been displayed in the classroom. May be it is a good idea to preserve children’s work till the end of the academic year, and then given back to the respective children at the end of the year.