Date and Time : 21-05-2020, 10:00 am – 11:00 am
Facilitator: Dr. Sandhya Thakur (ST)
- ST started the meeting with a discussion about what will be the situation after the corona pandemic.
- She mentioned that if we won’t able to keep the children of age 8-9 years in the education stream after the lockdown ends, then there are chances that they can get disconnected from the education forever. And, even a few of them may go on the wrong path.
- As a teacher, it is our responsibility to keep them on the path of education continuously even after lockdown ends. The corona pandemic has not only influenced our health but also affected our education system. In addition, it has raised the question of people’s employment.
- So to keep the continuity in the education of children now everyone is thinking about the option of online education and digital learning.
- However, today’s session is about the education of those students who do not have the option of online education. Like, Students learning in government and municipality schools, Ashram school students. It is not good at all if these students will remain deprived of education or get low-quality education just because they do not have access of smartphones or computers to take digital education.
- ST encouraged all the teachers by saying, “Let’s try to create learning opportunities for these students at their place. We should make efforts such that wherever these students are, they can learn there.”
- She mentioned that 15% of rural households have internet access in India. Also, India has only 69.3 million DTH subscribers. Many rural children, students in Ashram schools do not have internet facilities. So, instead of considering the lack of internet facilities as a disadvantage, it should become a blessing for these students. So, let us try to give student-center education. Let us consider COVID-19, a golden opportunity to come up with creative ways of imparting education to children from rural and lower-income families.
- She requested teachers to give an opportunity to the students to do experiments and activities. They will perform experiments, activities first, and then will learn the concepts.
- Students won’t able to come to schools immediately after lockdown ends. So, till that time we should give them some activities which they can do in their homes.
Following is the list of activities/project ideas suggested by ST for students to do at home:
- Students can be asked to classify the different things in their homes.
- Students can be asked to measure different things in their houses and keep a record of these measurements.
- Students can list down the things bought at home and keep account of monthly expenditure.
- Students can categorize things at home as per the frequency of use-monthly, weekly, daily, annually.
- Students can be asked to observe how their parents prepare meals and which ingredients they used in the food. And they will note down the time required to prepare the food.
- Students can be asked to note down how many times they sweep their house and what does this collected trash contain.
- Students can put some marks on their nails using nail polish and can observe the growth of their nails, the time taken for the growth.
After discussing many such activities, ST had given time to teachers to share their views on this:
- Shashikala madam ( ashram school teacher) said that she wasn’t aware that there are too many things we have in our houses to classify.
- Satyawati ma’am said that students sometimes do not like to write much. So, if we provide them the record books then it will be better. Also, students will not perform all these activities on their own. So, these are family activities. So, parents must encourage their children to discuss these things with them.
- Sharmila ma’am suggested the activity of seed germination. She also mentioned another activity in which students will observe the leaves of different plants and note down the differences in them.
- Sugra ma’am suggested that students can be asked to make things such as rain gauge, clock, etc. Because making different things is entertaining for students.
- One of the YCMOU student teachers suggested that we could try to give education to these students with the help of a radio receiver.
- Purna ma’am shared that we can give students activities based on ‘measurement and capacity’ through what’s app. She told that she had given her students one activity in which students had completed the picture by sticking various types of grams. She also mentioned that few students had sent the information of different medicinal plants available in their surroundings on what’s app. Purna ma’am also told her students to draw a tree diagram of their relatives.
- Mayuri mentioned that ‘There is science everywhere in life.’ So, if we encourage students to observe the things around them carefully and keep notes of them. Then these experiences and observations can later help them to understand the different concepts in science in a better way.
- NDD mentioned that we will make a list of all these activities discussed here and share with all as teachers are sharing good experiences, ideas, and concepts.
- ST mentioned that we must try that the thinking process of these students won’t break.
- Sumangla Khamankar madam said that she is not in contact with village children. But she would like to help to keep these children in the education stream. She also suggested the activity of studying the pitch of the sound by changing the volume of water in the glass.
Report prepared by: Ms. Mayuri Pawar.