Update on the pilot program for the new strategy

- Ravi Aluganti

As a pilot program for the new strategy of having an animator per village to work with local government schools, three villages have been identified. This document describes the update regarding the new program:

Palemkonda Village

Radha belongs to Palemkonda village. She has completed intermediate course. She is working in the neighboring village of Reddiganipalle. During school hours she helps the two teachers in the govt school. Total strength in this school is 40. One govt teacher is a regular absentee, so Radha’s help in the school is very important. After school Radha takes special lessons for classes 3^rd,4^th and 5^th. She helps children with their homework and takes special care of children who are slow in learning certain subjects. She helps children learn concepts using Activity Based Learning (ABL) methods and other innovative teaching material.

I think Radha is a sincere and hard working lady. Her work in the school is very helpful for the children. Both the parents and teachers appreciate Radha’s work. The children like here very much.

Gajulavaripalle Village

Veerabhdra belongs to Gajulavaripalle. He has completed graduation (B Com). He is working in Gajulavaripalle School. The total strength of this school is 167. There are 3 govt teachers. Veerabhadra during school hours takes lessons for classes 2 and 3. After school Veerabhadra takes special lessons for classes 3^rd, 4^th and 5^th. He helps children with their homework and takes special care of children who are slow in learning certain subjects. During this time he gets the children to also read storybooks. He has just started using ABL methods.

Veerabhdra is interested in doing this work. He needs a lot of training in using ABL and other teaching material.

Dayyalavaripalle Village

Lakshmidevi belongs to Dayyalavaripalle. She has completed class ten three years back. This is a remote village there is no school in this village. Children from this village have to go to Mittapalle, which is about 1.5 kms away. Lakshmidevi has recently started organizing evening classes for children of this village. Right now about 20 children come to her house. She helps them with their homework and takes special care of children who are slow in learning certain subjects. From the mobile library she has borrowed some books. She reads out stories to little kids and gets the older ones to read on their own.

Lakshmidevi is an enthusiastic girl and shows keen interest in learning new teaching methods. With some training she will become a good teacher. We are encouraging her to enroll in the Open University to study for a graduation.

All four of us have planned to meet on Saturdays at MRC. Till now we have had only two such meetings. During these meetings I train the animators in using ABL techniques and other innovative teaching methods. We also review what has been taught during the week and plan for the following week. We talk about the progress of each individual child.