Ravi Aluganti
Fellowship - Site Visit Report
- Srinivas
Akula
Introduction
Ravi Aluganti is
an Asha fellow
being supported by Asha Seattle since 2001.
Main
objectives of his fellowship are:
1.
Improve the
quality of education in government schools in Madanapalle
mandal of Chittoor district
in Andhra Pradesh. He is currently working with 15 government schools. He uses
innovative teaching aids and focuses to improve the multi-grade teaching in
government schools by training motivated teachers.
2.
He initiated
the Mobile library project in 2003 to
inculcate reading habits among children. It currently has close to 2500 books
(mostly in Telugu) and is a very popular program among the children.
3.
Research/develop
learning material in various areas of primary education and develop a resource
center for teacher training. He conducts teacher workshops and training
sessions by visiting other organizations who are interested in his teaching techniques.
The
main focus of my visit (November 22-23, 2004) was to get familiarized with Ravi's
work, his teaching methods and to also discuss the future direction of our
partnership. The following report presents the details of my trip and the
discussions I had with Ravi.
Visit to Primary School at Mittapalli (Nov 22, Evening)
This
is a primary school with two teachers and two classrooms. One of the teachers
and many students were absent that day as it was a local holiday. I noticed the
happiness on the faces of the children at the sight of the mobile library van.
By the time we had helped unload the trunk full of books from the van, the
children had already eagerly started making arrangements.
Ravi
started the session by collecting the books that had been loaned out to the
children during the previous visit (Rudra,
library resource person, generally does this while Ravi is working with kids in parallel but he
was busy making some teaching aids for the upcoming “learning net” conference
and hence was not able to accompany us this time). We then started taking out
books so that children can select the books they would like to take home. It
was just too hard to control the over-eager bunch of kids from doing that in an
organized way but we somehow managed to do that. Ravi maintains a register to track the book
lending records and only the children who have returned the previously-issued
books get the new books. He sometimes asks the children to share the story they
have just read with other children which helps him gauge if the child has
actually read the book and also encourages other children. But this does not
happen consistently due to shortage of time.
It
was now time for some fun activity that Ravi had planned for children of classes IV
and V (though no one actually wanted to leave). Ravi showed them how to do string painting
where the children (who sat around him) were watching carefully and waiting for
their turn to do the same. We handed a sheet of paper to everyone and asked
them to do the painting using the string. While the kids were enjoying the
shapes they were generating so easily, Ravi
was trying to introduce the concept of symmetry using the paintings. Once
everyone was done with the paintings, they started putting them on the walls of
the classroom (all the activities that kids do will go on the walls of their
classroom).
Visit to Upper Primary School
at Gajulavaripalli (Nov 23, Morning)
In
the morning, we visited an upper primary school at Gajulavaripalli.
We were accompanied by Captain Gopinath
to help us with mobile library work.
The
school functions from classes I to VII and is housed in two rooms. It has a lot
of open space and Ravi
chose to conduct his session in the open (below a tree) as it was a nice sunny
day. While Mr. Gopinath and I were working on
collecting/issuing books, Ravi
was getting ready to start his session with class VII children. He had planned
for a couple of activity based learning sessions to teach the importance of the
food chain and the life cycle of a butterfly.
I
have always heard about Ravi's teaching skills and couldn't have missed this chance of
seeing it in real. Leaving Gopinath alone to deal
with library work, I shifted my attention to the teaching session. Ravi makes most of his lessons
very interesting by associating it with a practical activity and this was no
exception. Ravi
started by giving a brief lecture about the various stages in the lifecycle of
a butterfly, associated physical forms and also regarding the food chain (can’t
understand the relationship between these two very different issues). Then he
handed out a specially cut paper that either had different stages of the lifecycle
drawn on them or the food chain. The children were asked to paint the different
figures. Then Ravi
made a toy out of the paper cutting that the children could rotate with their
fingers. They can than see different stages of the lifecycle or a particular
stage in a food chain. I found these learning aids very fascinating and was
tempted to keep a copy for myself.
All
that was used in this activity was a sheet of paper and few sketch pens but the
teaching method was way more effective then the traditional one. Children took
home the models they have created along with the knowledge.
We
had to rush from the place as we had to visit another school in the afternoon
and we were also planning to make a stop at Kasiraopeta Primary School for collecting/issuing
books.
Visit to Primary School at Chilakavaripalli (Nov 23, Evening)
After
we finished our lunch (Raagi muddha which is a local favorite), we headed towards
Chilakavaripalli
Primary School.
This
school operates in two rooms and functions from class I to class V. This school
has couple of teachers (including Head Master). We started with library work as
in other schools but the children were not that open as they were controlled
(in a harsh way) by the Head Master, in the name of discipline.
Once
we were done with the library work, we started the activity of Spray painting. Again all that was
needed for this activity is a toothbrush, few colors, a paper and a pair of
scissors. Although every kid wanted to do this in their own way, they were
again being directed the way Head Master thought was right. Nonetheless, the
children enjoyed it, as it was a great relief from their actual routine.
We
then placed our paintings in the classroom and gathered students for a group
photograph using Ravi's digital camera (his new toy) and the fact that you can
see the photograph instantly amused them even further. It was nearly time for
them to leave and we ended our day too.
Observations during my visit
- Activities that Ravi had done with children during his
visits were on display in class rooms in every school I have visited
during my trip. This gives a sense of pride and achievement to the kids which is quite obvious from the speed they rush to
display what they do after each session.
- All the teaching aids and fun activities that
Ravi uses/does
are very cost-effective. So children can take the models (like the food
chain toy) they make.
- Lack of library resource person who can
interact with kids. Hence with the current program we are not able to
conduct some activities (like reading stories to kids, discussing the
books that children have read) consistently to gauge the effectiveness of
this program.
- Though Ravi’s visit
does bring the change to the mundane schedule of the children, it is not
enough to bring any long-term change because of lack of continuity and
follow-up. Ravi
can visit at the most two schools per day and most of the time is spent on
commute. He just gets time to do one activity and is not able to provide
individual attention to these children. Since his visit spans for an hour
or two, he spends all the time with the children and thus not able to
effectively train the teachers. This is worsened with the inherent problem
of the government teachers not being motivated. Also since he is working
with 15 schools, he is not able to visit more than once each week.
Notable accomplishments of the
fellowship over the past three years
- It has definitely improved the interest and
enthusiasm among the children towards education due to his innovative
teaching methods and arts/crafts sessions that he organizes with children.
This is quite evident in the excitement that each of Ravi’s visits
generate in these children. Mobile library is a great addition to this
program (Details below).
- He has worked with close to 20 teachers
during this time and few teachers had shown interest in his methods and
are still using it. Some are totally indifferent and others are interested
in his way of teaching but don't put any effort to pursue them.
- An important point that should be mentioned
here is that there are some teachers who have moved out of Ravi's
working area but are still using activity-based teaching methods.
- Manjulamma
(Transferred to Vayalpadu mandal)
- Bharati
(Transferred to Reddivaripalli UP school in
the same mandal - Madanapalle)
- Abrahim
(Transferred to Basinikonda UP school in the
same mandal - Madanapalle)
- Teachers who are still in Ravi's working
area and actively follow up on his teaching methods are :
- Gurrappa (Kasiraopeta)
- Guru Murti (Chinnayana Cheruvupalli).
- There is 100% enrolment of kids from the
neighboring three villages and till date, barring the migrated families,
no drop-outs have been reported.
Update on Mobile
library project
This
project was a great success and has created a lot of enthusiasm amongst the
children. Some of the key achievements in 2004 (first year):
·
It caters to
20 government schools (5 schools other than 15 that Ravi is working with). Ravi has also identified private schools in
this area that might benefit from this project. He has already started working
with one of these private schools (CTM high school).
- Mobile library covers two schools a day.
Library person (driver as well) collects the previously loaned out books
and issues new books to the students while Ravi carries on with his planned
activities.
- 400+ titles added to the library so far (most
of the books are in Telugu but there are few books in Urdu to cater to
some Urdu medium schools and few books in English).
·
He has added
microscope to the library to do some small experiments (looking at an insect
etc).
Feedback given to Ravi during my visit
- It is difficult for Rudra
to communicate with children as he doesn't know Telugu. We need to look for
a local person who can interact with children. Also this person needs to
monitor the effectiveness of the program, encourage children and not just
issue/collect books.
- Discussed regarding the alternative strategy
due the problems associated with current strategy.
Discussion with Ravi on our future direction
Challenges
with the current strategy
- Lack of sufficient interactions with
children:
- Usually there is 10-15 day gap before Ravi can re-visit any
given school since he can visit at the most two schools a day (He totally
covers 15 schools in this area and multiple classes within each school).
- There is no easy way to interact with
children during holidays (summer holidays and other long vacations during
an active term).
- Teacher transfers:
- In the current framework, there are regular
transfers of the government teachers (either the teachers themselves want
to shift to a better place or the government itself transfers at regular
intervals as it thinks that teachers become lax if they stay in a place for
too long).
- It takes time to build rapport with teachers
and this becomes difficult due to the frequent transfers.
- When they get transferred, some teachers
take away the teaching material that was given for the school.
- Teacher Motivation:
- Especially some old teachers are very
indifferent to the new ideas (because of job security and teacher
unions).
- Few teachers realize the value in
activity-based learning but do not put any effort to do it themselves. Hence
there is no guarantee that teachers will continue the activities that I
introduced to children. Few lessons are learnt through activity but most
of the lessons are still taught the routine way.
- Problems associated with current
infrastructure:
- Ravi’s visit has to be aligned with restrictive
school hours. Also, it sometimes clashes with regular school activities
(like exams).
- Change of governments/policies.
How
will the new proposed program help solve the problems identified above?
- Ravi will identify and train local youth (one in
each village) who will work with the government school in their respective
villages. They will be called Animators and their role will be to:
- Teach children for half a day (post-lunch)
using innovative teaching methods.
- After school the animators will engage
children with various activities.
- First hour will be for games and play.
- Second hour will be for doing some
activities based on their lessons.
- Last hour will be for doing home works
and/or reading library books.
- Advantages of this approach:
- Animators are less likely to move out of
village.
- They can work with children after school
hours and even during holidays.
- Since each animator will deal only with one
school, they will have daily interaction with children.
- Ravi will still continue to visit 1-2 schools per
day (to monitor the progress and do any onsite training) and will also
have training sessions with all the animators on Saturdays.
- Going forward, Ravi is planning to start a school as
well. This will also serve as a resource center for the 15 satellite
schools that we are currently working with.
Asha’s fellowship
program supports individuals of the highest quality and unquestionable
dedication. Support is given to those whose work in time will have a large
positive impact by creating an institution or a methodology. Fellowships are
reviewed after the potential fellow has been nominated by a nominator actively
working in India.
The area of support is typically of current importance with potential to make
large social impact to reduce poverty and injustice in the life of the
underprivileged of India.
The area of support includes (but not limited to) education, income generation,
women's empowerment, integrated rural or slum development, addressing dominant
social concerns like child labor, bonded labor and other areas.