primary school teachers the twists and turns of everyday practice

Version 20 Oct 08, edited final
(two such groups); partially teacher supported; fully peer supported; partially peer
supported and; self-supported. We learnt that the fully teacher supported groups exist
for the first 2-3 months after schools reopen; after this, only four groups remain.
Impressed by what it saw, the group returned to Chennai and went about the task of setting
up similar ventures in their schools. Thirteen schools were chosen for the piloting of the
programme. Four sub-groups were formed to prepare the ladder materials. They took three
months to prepare materials for Grades 1 and 2, based on the competencies for these grades.
Work in the classes and schools began a month following the RV visit Each school had two
teachers from the group that visited RV. The 13 schools were chosen in such a way so as to
ensure that the teacher-child ratio was not more than 1:30. Parents were also apprised of
these developments. They even had a ritual of sorts to begin ABL in school—there was the
lighting of candles and prayers were recited for the success of the new method!
SN recalls that storage of materials was an issue to begin with. None of the 13 schools chosen
had facilities to store TLM in such a way as to enable children to access them easily. Over
time, storage facilities had to be created. More than anything else, it was the change in
attitude of fellow teachers that SN recalls: ‘Gradually, other teachers in our school stopped
talking with me and V (who was also part of the group that visited RV). They were afraid of
associating with us, as they knew that what we were doing would eventually need to be done
by them as well. Nobody was prepared for this hard work! Some even tried to discourage us!’
SN and V started their work in Grades 1 and 2. They created two mixed groups of 20 children
each, from both the grades. As soon as they began, they faced a problem—over 70 per cent of
the children in Class 2 were at Class 1 (or below) learning levels. So, the groups had to be
reorganised, as only 6-7 children could be retained in the Class 2 group. After one week, both
the teachers found it very tiring. ‘There were too many children who were stretching us in as
many directions,’ SN remembers. ‘They were not working on their own with the
cards…therefore the six groups had to be dissolved.’ For about two months, they reverted to
the original mono-grade arrangement.
‘We wanted to take medical leave to escape this problem!’ he says. But as they went on, they
found solutions. ‘Other teachers in the group, who had faced the same problems, had
managed to find solutions,’ says SN. ‘These solutions helped us, and peer sharing was very
useful. We went back motivated. We came out more confident and self-assured. Our doubts
and despair were much less.’ After three months, both SN and V found that children had
started learning through this method. By the end of the year, many children moved back to
their Grade 2 levels.
For the next academic year, the materials for Class 3 had to be prepared. Both the teachers
had to also manage with children who were coming into Class 3 from classes that had not
seen this approach the previous year. SN felt encouraged when one of the Class 3 teachers
told him, ‘The 20 students who came into my class from your Class 2, are far better than those
who have come from other sections (…) at least they know the basics.’ This was like a shot in
the arm for SN and V.
(Interviews with SN and V, May 2008).
There are many instances where a strong social movement that involved teachers
like the MV Foundation campaign to end child labour in Andhra Pradesh or the
promotion of scientific temper in Kerala by KSSP or science education in Madhya
Pradesh changed not only the self-perception of teachers but also the way they look
at their work. In Andhra Pradesh, for example, the teachers believed that they
should end child labour and get all children into school; this conviction was evident
in areas where the MV Foundation had worked with teachers. During the tenure of a
proactive State Programme Director and Secretary of Education, eradication of child
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