The Telangana government’s decision to promote all X std students has evoked mixed reactions, even among a section of government school students. The reason: They had worked hard even during the lockdown and are peeved at being denied a chance to prove themselves through an examination. Helping them on thsi endeavour was NGO India Literacy Project (ILP) — Hyderabad chapter which has been facilitating e-learning and opening a virtual learning window for many government school students during the lockdown .
Virtual interventions
Connecting teachers and students through WhatsApp, ILP paved a new way of education for these disadvantaged students, working on multiple mandals like Nampally, Khairatabad, Asif Nagar, Shankarpally and Rajendranagar, across Hyderabad and Secunderabad. Says ILP Hyderabad’s chapter lead Preeti Iyengar, , “We cover government schools around 216 mandals and have been doing various interventions virtually.”
A student doing a Science experiment at home | Photo Credit: By arrangement
ILP with other partner NGOs works with School Management Committees (SMCs ) in these mandals to run a career counselling programme. It was easy to reach out as they have personal details of students including their parents’ phone numbers. “It took us three days to realise the lockdown was not going to short term; with each field officer handling five schools, micro-management became easy.” Soon WhatsApp groups were formed by them with 150 government teachers and principals as members. “We also have support from deputy district education officers who are aware of our project,” she says.
The focus was not only to guide the students of IX std but also X std, whose board exams were stopped midway due to COVID-1 . Concepts of remote learning were still new for parents but since they were at home due to lockdown, their mobile phones were easily accessible, making it easy to reach out to them. With Telangana State books available online, ILP shared links for revision. “We never taught anything new to these students. We shared the PDFs and once a topic was clicked, it took them to the webpage with details of chapters. We basically provided references for them to recap everything they had studied. Most if them are first generation learners and do not have the support of parents who are educated enough to teach them.”
This virtual exercise had around 150 teachers making a shift to online mode of education and the WhatsApp groups helped reach out to around 70 % of students. “Now with Unlock 1.0, most parents have gone back to work and are not at home. As a result, many of these students do not have access to smart phones, only 15 percent of them have access.” While some teenagers join these classes as preparation for the polytechnic entrance examination, ILP engaged lower class students with competitions in art, rangoli and handwriting.
Engaging with Science
Screenshot of students during a virtual session | Photo Credit: By arrangement
ILP’s list of Try-at-Home science experiments that are published online and shared with parents and teachers, also kept students engaged during the summer months of lockdown. Shares Preeti, “Karnataka government has requested its teachers to download and use our digital content to support their students through these times. Over 500+ teachers are using this facility.”
With most of its projects on hold, ILP is recording stories with moral lessons as part of its library programme. “Learning different subjects is not the only education; Students can learn personality development, empathy, hone their communication skills, and understand how the situations are. We are also looking forward to create written material so that these students do not lose touch with their physical classes; regular virtual classes are impossible for the government school children in the long term.”