Guru Purnima, also known as Teacher’s Day, is the time when we thank our teachers, mentors and anyone who has taught us important life lessons. Lately, many youngsters have taken the responsibility to teach underprivileged kids through various organizations. My City’s Nasana Bajracharya talked to people working in some of the many projects where youths are working in favor of children and giving a new direction to the conventional teaching-learning style.
Changing Stories Nepal
For young Nepalis to go to rural areas and teach is a fairly new concept. Meanwhile, Danish national René Jøhnke’s idea to run an educational project in rural areas of Nepal came like a shock to many. Much like TFN, Changing Stories Nepal (CSN) also targets the learning gap among students, but with a different teaching-learning course. Under the name ‘Project Biswas’, CSN has been working in partnership with ISAP since early 2017.
When René first came to Nepal three years ago, he came face-to-face with the fact that Nepali students in rural areas had trouble understanding even the basics of reading and writing. These students were hence less focused in class, and eventually had lower chances of completing their school education.
Realizing this, CSN started conducting a pilot project in the outskirts of Hetauda, where they conducted lit-num (literacy-number) test on students from grade I to V. The test required students to read letters, words, paragraphs and stories to check their fluency and comprehension level. This repetitive process is carried out throughout the 72-hour course plan.
With ‘Project Biswas’, CSN is now conducting remedial classes in five different schools of Hetauda with the population of 15 students each. All CSN fellows are local residents, which makes it easy for both students and teachers to connect with each other.
A fellow assigned is required to have a daily study plan, conduct evaluation at the beginning and ending of the class and mark students’ progress. The classes are interactive and demand compulsory participation in group activities. CSN fellows tend to every student and make sure they are in the same page in terms of literacy level and understanding course materials.
CSN project coordinator Sabina Maharjan, recalling her experience, said personal attention by CSN fellows had made a positive impact on students’ lives.
Talking about experience
Teach For Nepal
Fellows of Teach For Nepal (TFN) have been working as change-bringers for students in Dhanusha, Lalitpur and Sindhupalchok since 2013. About 87 youngsters under TFN are currently involved in making an impact on 6,000 lives across 34 public schools in these districts.
According to Founder of TFN Shisir Khanal, he started TFN after realizing that the dropout rate in public schools goes up as students reach higher grades. Also, Grade X results in public schools were poor as compared to private schools.
The focus is primarily given to Mathematics, Science and English as most students lack understanding in these subjects. TFN fellows enhance students’ learning process with interactive classes and multimedia contents, which are more student-centric and requires less mugging-up. They engage students in extra-curricular activities and focus on making them a good human being.
Sneha Bajracharya, a TFN alumni, shared, “Once, I taught my students about the benefits of clean environment and use of dustbins. The next day, I saw a student collecting chewing-gum wrappers at the school premises to throw them in the dustbin. That’s the response kids give to an interactive education system.”
TFN fellows, who have completed their bachelors, serve for two years as full-time teachers in local schools. They also go through a pre-service training of six to seven weeks and multiple evaluation sessions that enhance their teaching style.
One of the many challenges the TFN fellows faced during their initial days was the gap between the required literacy level among students and their actual understanding. The number of girls and children from Dalit community is still high in public schools, which Shishir believes is a result of social inequity.
Bee Creative
As school education is important for students to excel in life, it is also necessary for them to understand more than what the course books offer. Bee Creative is a year-long co-curriculum course designed to make students think practically.
Bee Creative is one of the two programs that are conducted under Karkhana, an educational organization. Under both the programs, students are encouraged in areas like critical thinking, creativity, collaboration and communication—the 4Cs—that Karkhana believes are essential for any student’s overall development.
As many as 17 schools have already collaborated with Bee Creative in the Kathmandu Valley. The institution provides a specific curriculum that is on par with and beyond what is taught in schools. Karkhana’s CEO Pavitra Gautam said, “Through the program, students get a hands-on experience on theories of Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics.”
The program offers a study plan of six to eight weeks. Students/schools are free to choose among the clusters and rearrange if needs be. Pavitra says the most important thing in learning is to unlearn what we’ve already learnt, and adapt to new information.
The classes are conducted once a week. Before every class, the Bee Creative teachers are given a lesson plan and supplies for the day, which they use to make students think, create, learn and question.
Bee Creative teachers Aakriti Thapa and Suresh Ghimire recalled moments where students came up with new/add-on projects or requested the duo to have specific classes for the next time because they were interested in Bee Creative’s teaching-learning process. For instance, Aakriti said once a student had requested her a session on how to make fidget spinners.
HAMSA
HAMSA (Hamro Sawal Hamro Sahabhagita) is a project conceptualized by UNICEF Nepal in cooperation with the Ministry of Education in 2013 for holistic development of children and adolescents alike. Although the project was first developed targeting victims of drugs and physical abuse, it has been working with students between the ages of 11-19 years.
HAMSA has introduced a package named ‘Rupantaran’ to instill moral and social values among children. So far, 21 groups of two teachers have been working in coordination with Recovering Nepal.
The session altogether has 15 specially designed books for about 25 children of varied age groups. A manual handbook for the teachers has been drafted, according to which the students are taught. However, as per Lumu Shrestha and Bishal Rajbhandari, who conduct classes at Basantapur, relying strictly upon the manual is not possible and there is still room for revisions.
HAMSA grooms its students to make rational and thought-through life decisions. The project extensively covers topics like good habits, how to differentiate between wants and needs, how to save money and keep track of income and expenses, how to make sanitary pads, how to identify trusted persons and whom to talk about the students’ bodily changes.
These interactive classes are taught in the form of games, group projects, presentations and extra-curricular activities.
HAMSA teachers are trained in a same platform before they are assigned to schools/communities. Rather than having to pay for these classes, students are given Rs 100 for their attendance and Rs 150 for lunch. HAMSA also ensures 80 percent involvement of girl students in its classes.
