The previous academic year has seen BCPT
make a big foray into the non-Mumbai territory. As we try our best to reach out
to more schools and students, we were fortunate to connect with the Municipal
Corporation of the city of Pune. Thanks to the non-profit organisation,
CSRforPMC, BCPT was able to present English E.Teach to the Pune Shikshan Mandal
following which 13 schools under Assistant Education Officer, Mrs. Shilpakala
Randhawe, were chosen as pilot schools to introduce EET.
As the initiative began towards the end of
the academic year, the teachers and students got a only brief peek into our
DVDs but it was enough to get both stakeholders excited about the road ahead in
June. After an orientation session with teachers of Std I & II in February,
BCPT conducted a review visit of the pilot schools on 23rd March. It
was heartening to see how quickly the children and teachers have adapted to our
content and integrated it into their schedule. Several schools were affected by
heavy repairs in theirs school building and computer lab, but the teachers have
conscientiously safe kept the EET DVDs. In June, once their new computers and
LCD screens are up and running, students will be introduced to their
e-classmates Ruchi, Nikhil, Jenny and Ahmed.
During our visit, it was eye opening to
learn how many parents choose an English medium over Marathi medium for their
children. In some cases, where a family has to school their son and daughter,
the son is usually sent to English medium and the daughter to Marathi medium. There
have been many instances of children being unable to cope with the level in
English medium schools. By Std III, children either move back unsuccessfully to
Marathi medium or completely drop out of school.
We were pleasantly surprised to see the English
session taken by teachers in Maharshi Annasaheb Shinde Primary School (No. 25G).
Both the Std I and Std II teachers (Mrs. Surekha Narke and Mrs. Vijaya Jainanu)
were excellent at conducting the class using EET. They followed all the
techniques recommended by BCPT like pause/play, explaining of the content and
repeated viewing of the video. The students’ pronunciation was very good and
they were quick in responding to the teacher’s questions. The staff have been doing
a great job even taking help from the lab in-charge to save all the DVD files
to the PC hard disk so teachers can access it anytime with no worry of the DVD getting
scratched or spoilt. Mrs. Narke gave us encouraging feedback that within 3 days
of using EET DVDs, the children’s English had improved and so had her
confidence in teaching the subject.
Another little gem was Anandi Bai Karve
Kanya School (No. 24G). As soon as the school began its interior renovation
work, the principal Mrs. Snehal Deshmukh had shifted the e-learning equipment to
the school’s Science Lab thereby ensuring that the children did not break their
cycle of English learning. While they earlier used other e-material for
English, they have switched over to exclusively using English E.Teach for Stds
I & II. They were excited to hear that grade III & IV DVDs are
available. Both teachers, Std I Vidya Damdaare and Std II Rohini Bharade, took
teaching sessions for us. Their students were extremely bright and confident
and thrilled to bits to have our DVD turned on. Their pronunciation was
exceptional too considering each standard watches the DVD on alternate days of
the week.
Later in April, right after the exams, BCPT
conducted a review cum orientation session with the same pilot school teachers but
this time from Std I right up to Std IV. We will continue to be in close touch
with this group enabling them to make the best use of English E.Teach through
the new academic year.
BCPT would like to thank Mrs. Surekha Mali
from CSRforPMC, an initiative of Shyamchi Aai Foundation & the Pune
Municipal Corporation (PMC), Mrs. Randhawe, the Assistant Education Officer in PMC
and all the teachers and students who have shown a positive interest in English
E.Teach.
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| with Std I teacher, Sbhobha Sawant at Dharamveer Sambhaji Primary School No 17B brushing up on teaching with Engish E.Teach |
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| At Maharshi Annasaheb Shinde Primary School No. 25G watching the English class take place with Std I and Std II teachers, Mrs. Surekha Narke and Mrs. Vijaya Jainanu |
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Students of Anandi
Bai Karve Kanya No. 24G enjoying the EET DVDs in their Science Lab turned
e-learning room with teachers from Std I Mrs Vidya Damdaare and Std II Mrs
Rohini Charade
- Divya Talwar
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