Showing posts with label Our Efforts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Our Efforts. Show all posts

A Teachers' Orientation Programme in Wardha


A teachers' orientation programme was conducted at the Panchayat Samiti Hall in Wardha on 14th of February, 2018. A good turn out of teachers and people related to the field of education attended the orientation programme. It was even covered by a local newspaper.







Teachers' Orientation Programme in Yavatmal

We thank the following organisation for their support to Project English E.Teach and their recent  Teachers' Orientation Programme which was conducted on behalf of our BCPT team at Yavatmal in Maharashtra:
1. Child Rights Alliance
2.Apeksha Homeo Society
3. ISAR, Yavatmal

Date: 15th february, 2018
Venue: Babhulgaon














A Teachers' orientation programme in Warora

An English E.Teach Teachers' Orientation programme was conducted by Vichar Vikas Samajik Sastha, Warora.



Teachers' Orientation Programme at Gadchiroli


We just feel proud to share pictures of how far we are going in terms of #EnglishETeachReach in Maharashtra. A teachers' orientation was conducted by Abhinav Bahuddeshiya Kala Manch at Dhanora, Gadchiroli.




Our efforts were even featured in the local newspaper on the next day!


Teachers' Orientation Programme in Amravati

A teachers' orientation programme was conducted by Satpuda Ekikrut Gramin Vikas Sanstha (Sirdi)  in Chandurbazar Taluka (Amravati) on 9th of February, 2018.





The parents and students who were present there, thoroughly enjoyed the orientation and had a lot to take back home!

Teachers' Orientation Programme in Satara

A teachers' orientation programme was conducted in Dahiwadi Man Taluka (Satara) on 8th of February, 2018.

We saw a very good turn out of a good 208 teachers and a total of 215 English E.Teach DVDs were distributed to them.

The local SEO, Panchayat Samiti member and Deputy Collector also graced the occasion with their presence as the Chief Guest.


    
   


    

End of the Year Updates of 2017

We often hear the quote, “How time flies!” And it is so true. It feels like 2017 just flew by and just the other day, we posted the ‘End of the Year Updates of 2016’ and here we are, discussing the year 2017 now.

2017 has been very eventful. As promised, we have reached deeper into the remote areas of Maharashtra. And the local schools there are enthusiastically using our DVDs now. A host of local newspapers have time and again covered our work and our EET Mission. Our media coverage section has us beaming with pride. We even featured in ‘Mumbai Mirror’, which is one of the most popular daily newspapers in Mumbai.

When we set out with this project, our idea was to promote the vernacular medium schools (because we firmly believe that core subjects are understood better when taught in the mother tongue) and support them with an aide that can ensure that the children learn English as a language, very well. Today’s competitive time calls for a fluent knowledge English as a prerequisite to any job. We can proudly say that in 2017, we have fairly succeeded in making our message heard loud and clear. Institutions and most importantly, parents, have understood this and there have been reports of an increase in the admissions in the vernacular medium schools compared to the English medium schools this year.

We are happy to say that we are proud of the positive changes in the education system this year.

Seeing the overwhelmingly positive support from all corners, we have initiated work on the STD five DVDs and they should hopefully be in schools by the next academic year (June,2018).

On this positive note, we want to welcome the new year 2018 – with high hopes for a brighter future for our GenNext.




The IMPACT ASSESSMENT of the ENGLISH E.TEACH PROJECT

BCPT's English E. Teach is an effective intervention that brings quality English language to vernacular schools from Std. I upwards, using the simple teacher-friendly technology of audio-visual DVDs in the class environment. These DVDs are given absolutely free of cost to schools and are custom-made to teach the prescribed Maharashtra Government syllabus, page by page. It uses the existing school infrastructure and existing teachers that the children are already familiar with.
These audio-visual English lessons make learning interesting and enjoyable for children using short songs, interactive sequences and role-play, to be facilitated by the teacher. English E.Teach helps children overcome their fear of learning a foreign language and instills a confidence and proficiency in English, that stays with them for life.

We undertook an in house Impact Assessment with the main objective of looking at:
1) If there was in actuality an impact on  building competency in use of the English language  in  students of the vernacular schools using English E teach
2)Where these students stand in comparison to students of vernacular schools not using English E. teach, and English medium schools catering to the same socio-economic strata as the children in said vernacular schools
3) Aspects and content of English E. Teach that need to be highlighted when orienting teachers or offering them training.  (This is being  shared with those involved in these processes  and is not  elaborated on in this write up)
HOW WAS THE IMPACT ASSESSMENT CONDUCTED:
1) School Based Assessment (BMC and Private)                                                                                          
This was conducted in schools that use English E.teach DVDs, testing students in classes I to III. Criteria for eligibility was that the school should have been using English E. teach for one full academic year at least, i.e. from academic year 2016-17.
Schools that had the program in use in Stds I-III  were preferred.
The 5 facilitators  (who liaise with schools and teachers, introducing the programme to them, training teachers in its use and offering hands on assistance as and when required) selected 5 schools each, that met our requirements.  The assessment was conducted in a total of 30 schools.
An interactive session was designed for Stds. I - III. The time available to us for actually conducting the sessions in class was limited, hence only a few competencies could be tested.
A pair of facilitators conducted the session in each class, with one facilitator noting the observations on a data collection sheet while the other interacted with the students.
 Data gathered this way is labeled ‘School Based’.

2)Community Based Assessment of Individual Children
This type of assessment was Conducted in communities by the facilitators to  compare performance of vernacular school  students of classes I to III  attending schools where English E teach is in use, with the performance of         1) students of vernacular school  that do not use EET and 
2) students of English medium schools that cater to the children of a similar socio-economic strata as the vernacular schools mentioned above. 
This was done in communities serviced by NGOs connected with BCPT. The NGOs helped with the logistics of identifying the children & bringing them together at a venue where the assessment could be conducted.
The proposed sample size for the community based assessment was 60 students of  Std. I - III each.  (We fell short by 5 in the actual collection of data.)
In the communities, we followed a one on one pattern, with one facilitator testing one child at a time, using formats designed for the purpose. The core questions remained the same as those in the school based assessment.
Data gathered thus is labeled ‘Community Based’.

WHAT ARE THE FINDINGS?

Please click on the link to find the PDF File attached here. 


Event Update: Basti Rally in Bhandup, Mumbai.

On the 9th of September 2017, few of the facilitators of the English E.Teach Program, in association with the Khushi Foundation, organized a ‘Basti Rally’ in the Bhandup (West) slum area of Mumbai. The main message of the rally was to create awareness amongst the parents in the basti about the importance of sending their children to Vernacular medium schools and how the English E.Teach program will ensure that they will never miss out on proper English lessons.

The English E.Teach schools, whose teachers and students, participated in it were:
1.Durgamata Vidya Mandir
2. Ahilya Vidyalaya
3. Yashwant Chandji Sawant Vidya Mandir

The students and teachers held up colourful posters and banners showing their prowess in English– which were all designed and made by them.


At regular intervals in the rally, the students performed mini-skits and recited some English poems they learnt at school using our DVDs.



When the locals saw these young children talk and perform in English, they were pleasantly surprised and mighty impressed. They were even taking videos of the students on their cell phones to show their families.

On the whole, it was a fun event, even for the children who participated, as they felt important and proud of themselves. Their hard work & English skills were acknowledged by their entire basti!


Our hope is that this event, and others like it, will spread the word about our FREE project and the impact English E.Teach can make in the lives of every student, no matter how underprivileged.



PROGRESS-O-METER: June 2017


So the rains are here finally - this time a little later than always. A new monsoon season always reminds one of their new academic year in school. Everything new (more often than not) - new standard, new classroom, new class teacher, new textbooks, a new life so to say. It applies to us as well. After a month long May vacation, we also come together in June to gear up for our next year ahead. We also have new aims and to-do lists to conquer.


In May, when we did our final tally before heading on our individual vacations - this is where we stood.

So many 4,801 schools have been reached so far, touching the lives of 2,81,745 children.


This is where we stand now. But what lies ahead?

Are we just looking at increasing numbers or creating quality as well?

We are looking at both really!!

Of course, we want to increase numbers - not just to please our eyes when we see it on paper - but to please our hearts with the feeling of having done something worthwhile and positively touched the lives of so many children. These children are our tomorrow. And if we need to make this place better, we need to make their lives better. And education is the single most powerful tool to bring about this change.

But what else is it that we want to do, that we haven’t been doing so far?

We want to create a self sustaining educational change - so that the schools and teachers function more efficiently and creatively on their own, without us having to be in the picture to monitor them as such. And monitoring is not our role. Our sole role is to provide a solution, which we have in the form of these DVDs/pendrives. But how to use this content more and more effectively, we want to leave to the teachers. This will ensure that we can use our existing man-force to reach further, remote areas of Maharashtra. The entire state is facing a crisis where the vernacular education system is losing its hold. And we need to act faster at this point.

Keeping all this in mind - to begin with - we have started our online help centre. Everyone, even in the most remote areas, are now equipped to use the internet. Maybe the language is the barrier, but internet they are aware of. To overcome the language barrier, we have a parallel communication setup with everything in Marathi(Give the link) as well.

RESOURCES FOR THE TEACHERS - We will work on this more extensively this year so as to provide one click solution for all the queries and problems. It will also act like a community where all teachers and schools can come together to share ideas and come up with new solutions for the existing problems.

Other than the online support, we want to make our chain of facilitators and NGOs stronger. We will organise more focused trainings in the remote areas and ensure everyone is well aware and equipped to follow the changing trends. In case you are a group of teachers somewhere, and want us to arrange a training for you, please feel free to contact us. We are more than happy to help.

A specialised team is also working to create more content. Currently we are working on creating DVDs for Standard 5 of the Maharashtra Board.


I end this post with the hope that next year, around the same time, when I write about the progress-o-meter, I have all these pointers ticked plus a lot more to share.