I visited Suvidya in early September and met with Dr.Gananath.  He is the think tank behind the Math kits and also showed me some of the Place Value Kit items that they had already developed. Summary of our discussions on Suvidya is attached below.

 

Summary of discussions

Details of projects done in the past

1. Maths Lab: This was done with the Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium, Bangalore.  This was originally conceived as a joint venture between Suvidya and the planetarium with the maths lab being operated as part of the planetarium by Suvidya.  This was later discontinued due to staff limitations and the objective to have an independent identity.  Now, the lab is being operated by the planetarium. This was fully funded by the planetarium.

2. Maths corner at the Belgaum Science Center: Suvidya developed this for the center and was fully funded by the Karnataka Rajya Vigyan Parishad.

3 and 5. Maths Lab in School Science Centers: These were a total of 114  maths labs developed under KRVP for high school children.  The first phase was 17 labs (Project No.3) and the second phase was 97 labs (Project No.5).  There has been no formal feedback on how much these labs are being used.  Based on informal interactions with the teachers in other forums, Suvidya believes that about 30% of these are being used.  When KRVP wanted a third phase with another 220 labs, Suvidya declined to do the project for want of feedback.  Both these phases were fully funded by the Government of karnataka (KRVP).

4. Establishment of maths, science and kannada labs in 42 government schools: This was part of a Plan Intermational project, done through the Samuha group.  The Math kits had 100 items each, the Kannada kits had 45 items and the Science kits had 41 items each.  Of these 42 schools, 3 schools do not use the kits.  Suvidya believes that the other schools use these kits.  These are in the nature of trainer’s kits; the teachers in the schools make most of the items in the kit from locally available materials.  In case of the Math kit, Dr.Gananath mentioned that 98 items could be made from locally available materials.  This project was fully funded by Plan International. 

6. Maths lab in science centers: These were similar projects like those in Belgaum Science Center and fully funded by KRVP and Sir Dorabji Tata Trust.

7. Establishment of Math Centers: This was a project funded by DPEP for establishment of math centers in the rural centers in Belgaum, Raichur, Mandya and Kolar. There was 380 centres in these districts that hat covered on an average of 40 schools.  This project was carried out from 1989-99 and Suvidya estimates that usage of these math centers has been 30-40%.

8. Production and trial of Self-learning low cost Geometry kits (high school): This project was developed for NCST, GOI for obtaining feedback on the geometry kits.  800 geometry kits were developed and the feedback has been good.

9 and 10. Training of teachers: Two training programs were conducted, one by the National Education  Group (South Zone) for teachers in Karnataka and the other by Plan Internartional with Urmul Trust in Rajasthan.

Response to Suvidya’s training workshops

Due to Suvidya’s record in developing math and science labs, there has been a good response to Suvidya’s training workshops.  In fact, schools ask Suvidya to conduct training workshops.  In some cases, especially in the 117 math labs, sponsored by KRVP, Suvidya had to spoonfeed teachers, i.e., relate the teaching aids to specific chapters in the book. However, this is not something that Suvidya would like to continue.  The workshops comprise teachers and trainers.  Each workshop is expected to have a participation of around 40-50 teachers and trainers.

When teachers/ trainers attend the workshops, the kits are given away to them for use.

Selling to government schools under the Rs 500/- teaching aid scheme. Selling to private schools

It is difficult to sell to the government schools under the Rs 500/- scheme.  The bureaucratic machinery is difficult to get by.

Sometimes, it is more difficult to sell to private schools because they tend to negotiate and bargain.  Suvidya has been able to sell geometry kits at Rs 50/- to private schools.

Reusability of the kits

Most of the items in the kit can be produced by locally available materials and can be made by the teachers.  The kit that will be developed by Suvidya will be made from expensive durable materials. The items in the kit can be duplicated using locally available inexpensive materials. 

Consultancy fee

The consultancy fee is for work on the accompanying manual, translation, etc.  There will be no subject modifications made by the consultant to the kit itself. 

Other projects with Suvidya

·        With Plan International to extend the math lab to other schools in a Raichur and adjacent districts

·        Development of a teachers’ network with AIF grant

 

Sriranjani Ranganathan

Asha-DE/ Princeton

September 2001