3 Positive Impressions from my visit to a Govt. Primary School in Jharkhand
[1/4]This article is first in a series of four articles from the author’s diary detailing his experiences and interactions in the field of Education.
My initial days of being an education entrepreneur took me to the hinterland of North and East of India. A wintry November morning in Ranchi would be my first exposure to a Government Primary School in the suburbs of the city.
Here are 3 pleasant experiences I carried back with myself after spending a day with students and teachers:
1. Mr. Jha – A student favourite.
While I walked down the corridor, my attention was drawn towards a classroom that had students sitting in clusters(despite the class having a typical desk and bench setup). Out of curiosity, I entered the classroom and sat with one of the clusters and simply inquired about the reason of such a setup.
To my surprise, over the next 5 minutes, students would demonstrate their fondness for Mr. Jha’s style of teaching and effectiveness of ‘Peer Learning, Experiential Learning, Demonstration and Discussions’ in their own simple ways. Mr. Jha had a smile when I mentioned these terms and he simply exclaimed:
” सर ,ये हाई फाई टर्म्स तो नहीं जानते हम, लेकिन ऐसे ही बच्चे ज्यादा बढ़िया सीखते हैं सब कुछ | “[Sir, we do not know these complex terms, but students tend to learn effectively using these practices.]
I realized that contrary to the stereotype of a typical govt. school teacher, quite a lot of them actually seem to care and make that extra effort to become better. The episode also made me wonder that sometimes jargon and overuse of terminologies in our field make learning process seem more complex.
2. Girl Power – Boys are the new minority here.
While we grapple with the issues of gender imbalance and female foeticide as a country, this development came as a breath of fresh air. 60% of the learners in the school were girls and that was amazing to see. It might be a common phenomenon in many schools, but this was the first time I had come across such a scenario.
The most amazing aspect was that every girl student I talked to were very clear on their goals and had role models whom they wanted to emulate. Grade 5 student, Meena says excitedly:
“अनुप्रिया दीदी जैसे पायलट बनना है | ” [I want to be a pilot like Anupriya.]
Read the article about Anupriya here
The fact that girls are aspirational and aware of achievements by women is heartening. Keeping in mind that most of these girls are First Generation Learners makes it all the more special.
3. Swachh School – Mantra of Cleanliness.
Students of primary grades were extremely particular about cleanliness to the extent that pencil shavings were being carefully collected to put into the bins. Adults would do well to learn from them.
Sunny, student of third grade goes on to say:
“हमारा स्कूल हमें ही साफ़ रखना है” [Maintaining cleanliness of school is our responsibility]
The sense of responsibility reflects in their actions. Such practices have a cascading effect, wherein these children would take back these habits to their homes and ultimately, the society will benefit.
Do let us know of any similar experiences you had in the comments section below. Let’s spread the positivity and appreciate the good in our system too.
