EDUCATION
The new building for CARE India’s education programme – UDAAN, in Mewat district’s Nuh Block is all set to welcome 100 girls from the local Meo Muslim community. This excellent initiative in Haryana has materialized with the help of Tapkan Village’s local community dedicated towards strengthening education infrastructure in the area.
All the staff and teachers are on-board, post an intensive six-day residential training program by CARE India. Since Udaan aims to bridge the basic primary level competencies of school adolescent girls (10-14 yrs) from most marginalized communities, the teachers were initially trained in the campus itself. This further aided the teachers to connect with the local community.
The teachers shared their experience on the training module and how it helped them in effective skill and capacity building.
“For the first time ever we encountered a trainer as a facilitator who explained the essence of activity based learning. We read about it, heard about it in previous trainings but it was only this time that we also learnt how to action it. Our training was dynamic, interactive and not at all tiresome. We learnt how a teacher can make learning joyful for children. We learnt about the two decade old Udaan project in Hardoi and also had the opportunity to interact with two of its most experienced teachers, who shared crucial experiences on teaching –learning processes in classrooms. The approach and pedagogy for teaching Hindi which I learnt in this training program was completely different from my previous understanding and approach. I learnt how to make children learn about identification of letters through varied contexts, using stories, poems, Sandharbha Padati rather than through Varna mala system,” said Talmeena.
“Whatever we leant in this training program was completely different from our previous experiences, it was completely new learning for us. Previously, we had only been trained through conventional teaching methods which are quite monotonous. Teaching through conventional tools would yield only temporary grasp on concepts, but in this training we dwelled deeper to understand the process of how children learn. We now understand that the psycho-social support cannot be negated while dealing with children especially in residential situations,” said Beenameena.
Amina never got good marks in Maths and believes it to be the most difficult subject of all.
“I am amazed to learn that Maths can be taught through play-way methods so easily. For the very first time, I witnessed a fresh perspective on the subject and learnt how we can interestingly clarify concepts like number system and addition, subtraction for students, using sticks, stones and other locally available material. I am excited to learn more, along with other children now,” said Amina.
Tarrannum, a camp coordinator of Udaan said, “Till now, I was teaching Maths and Environmental sciences but now I will be playing a very crucial role as a camp coordinator. Through this training I learnt how to prepare ourselves better before we formally start up a camp, how to organize the induction camp for girls, maintain all necessary records and data, all operational arrangements during the course of camp, coordination and rapport building with community, and most importantly mentoring teachers in transacting the special curriculum. The training also helped me understand my responsibilities post camp and establishing a connect with Udaan ex-students in the community.”
“I was someone who always raised questions on how to teach a diverse group of girls from different age groups and learning levels. Though most teachers have a strong teaching experience, I had never been into such a diverse role before. My experience in this training has been very different, infact I never attended such a meaningful training where one gets to learn and understand so many things with depth and clarity. I was appreciated and motivated to ask more questions, resource persons were always ready to clarify my queries. I am hopeful that this entire process will be very empowering and it will be a transformative journey for all of us,” shared Meena Kumari.
