20th century India has seen a promising trend in primary school enrolment owing to efforts of governments and non-profits. However, despite the apparent positive data on government-run public school registers, a bitter reality confronts us in a staggering volume of millions of children dropping out of school. The reason for this situation is that we chased the numbers and neglected the core – the quality of education.
Udaan's School Support Programme is an initiative to strengthen the aim and efforts of the government to proceed from quantity to quality. In 2012, Udaan partnered with two Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai schools to provide a strong educational foundation to children by establishing an Udaan Kindergarten and providing remedial support to primary sections in an after-school programme.
A baseline assessment of language and math competency enabled the Udaan teachers to understand the academic needs of the students. Adopting appropriate teaching strategies and aids to bridge the learning gaps of the students, children slowly mastered the conventions of languages, concepts of math and fascinating facts of general knowledge. Going beyond academic focus, Udaan also brought about attitudinal and behavioral changes in the students by integrating value education into day-to-day student–teacher interactions. The progress of the students was continuously monitored through teacher observations and oral and written examinations. Meetings with the school teachers and parents reinforced our impact. At the end of the year, the performance graph of these students was like a rising star.
A successful first year of collaboration built trust and confidence, and the Udaan School Support programme has now expanded to include a government-aided school. Besides providing after-school remedial teaching, Udaan also took up the responsibility of creating an environment conducive to learning by changing the face of the school with pleasant, soothing newly painted walls, solid desks, black boards and vibrant notice boards. The aims of the school support have evolved and hence today the school support has gone beyond the remedial classes, to provide a library programme, aid computer literacy and introduce co-scholastic experiences. All efforts are directed towards delivering quality learning experiences to ignite and maintain the interest of the children in education.
Children who could have been potential dropouts are now willing to come to the Udaan Support Programme before school and stay after school sometimes coaxed by their parents and other times egged on by their friend. They enjoy sitting in a classroom for 2 hours to learn phonetics, grammar, vocabulary, division, subtraction and much more - all that children usually want to escape from even during regular school hours. Now, as this child has progressed from not knowing the sounds of the alphabets to being able to read the stories of ‘The Clever Crow’, he has experienced the power of learning and so, even if it means sometimes to be forced to treat a corner of an assembly hall as a class, both teacher and students are lost in their world of learning. For the teacher it is the satisfaction of making a difference, for the student it is simply the joy of learning.
At a Glance
After school support in government run and government supported schools
Bridge learning gaps
Reduce number of dropouts
Regular monitoring and evaluation
Progress from quantity to quality education