SILENT REVOLUTION IN GOVT PRIMARY SCHOOLS IN DEGANGA BLOCK

Swanirvar’s intervension  in SSK schools in Deganga Block:  

In 2004, Swanirvar gave major drive to improve the quality teaching in Govt Primary schools.Our initial objective was to identify the innovative teachers and giving trainings to them so that after that there would be a network of innovative teachers. These teachers would impart trainings in future. With our consistent efforts some of the teachers became very efficient and started doing many experiments in their schools.

In August, 2011 some of the innovative teachers who got regular inputs from us and 3 SSK supervisors met with our staff trainer – Prosanto and Gopal. They requested them for training cum workshop on English teaching. They also added that all the teachers met together four times on a month in their monthly meetings, most of the time they attended that meeting and there had administrative discussions but there was no discussion on teachers training and quality improvement of schools. These teachers also persuaded their union-leaders to draw the attentions of the higher officials. On September, 2011 Gopal and Prosnato sit with the – BDO, Deganga, Shiksha Karmadhakya (people’s representative in charge of Education), Samity Education Officer, 3 SSK Super visors, Teacher’s- Union leaders and it was decided that all the SSK teachers would get trainings from us and also Swanirvar would do regular follow up and monitoring in those schools. That English Training was given to the 60 SSK Teachers on 15^th September, 2011 and 28^th September, 2011 for the classes I &II.

After these trainings our trainers Julkalam , Gopal and others went for follow up visits. Their main intension was to observe the changes in Classroom management, trainings, pedagogy etc after the trainings.

We found that there were some problems:
  1..In the training session 60 participants were attending from the 60 SSK schools but this huge no of trainees were unable to do any – groups works (due to lack of space in the training hall), we also gave trainings in a participatory mode with 20-30 teachers but here we failed to do it in participatory mode. Gradually the session becoming lecture based which was against our objective.
2.All the 60 schools had on an average 4 teachers per schools and it was decided that one teacher from each school would take training and the trained teacher would gave trainings to his colleagues. But most teachers demanded for training from Swanirvar trainers rather than their colleagues.
3.There was a Teaching Learning Materials (TLMs) making session in the training and the trainees made a few TLMs which were became very popular in their schools. Other teachers who did not attended the training programme demanded for TLMs from their SSK supervisors.
4. Deganga is one of the backward blocks and consists of 13 Gram Panchayats. SSK teachers also demanded for area wise trainings so that they get more time in the session.  
5.  Some of them also asked for a strong follow ups and TLM workshops. 

6. After that there was a review meeting was held in the month of October, 12. In that meeting, some resolutions were taken jointly by the Education Nodal officials, SSK supervisors, SSK teacher’s Union Leaders and Swanirvar Training team. These were as follows:
A.Training would be zone wise and the block was divided into 9 zones.
B. All the SSK teachers would take part in the trainings.  
C. There would be subject wise trainings- 1Subject/day and 6 hrs per day.
D. Training would held on either Sunday or Govt. holiday.  
E. Training cost – Food and Transport would bourn by the teachers. They could request local Panchayat to arrange their meal.
F. Along with 3 SSK supervisors, Julkalam Ali of Swanirvar would do the necessary follow ups.
G.  As per the demand from the schools: there would be TLM making workshops in each zone.
H.Some of the best SSK schools would follow Swanirvar models and they will introduce – Parents meeting, Parents workshop, children committee, Art and Craft, Rakhi and Special day’s celebrations in their schools.

Training given to SSK teachers

From November, 2012 to till date, 14 trainings had been organized by Swanirvar in which 187 teachers from 48 schools has participated. They had been given hand-held trainings on Mathematics and Bengali for class-I and II. These would help more than 3000 students. Beside these subjective trainings, TLM workshops were organized with the 95 teachers of 24 SSK schools.  

Reported by,

Primary Training Team, Swanirvar

28th Feb, 2013

MAKING HOMES FOR THE BIRDS – AWARENESS ON BIRD CONSERVATION:

Nests making in EVS classes

         Our staff regularly took Environmental Studies (EVS) classes in different High schools. We always gave hand held trainings to the students rather than bookish memorization. The syllabus of EVS in Class VI gave emphasis on the life cycle of local avian species, its food habits, roosting lands, different nest making techniques, physical characteristics and colours, etc. In the month of September, 2012, two of our staff, Dhiman Mondal and Kankar Gayen who took classes in Maheshpur High school and Media high school respectively made a field survey on the birds and its different characteristics with the students of class –VI. The collected data from the surveys revealed that the numbers of birds were gradually reducing. When the students met the old people in the villages they came to know about some of the bird species like – sparrow, Bank Myna, vulture, Barn Owl, bulbul, common Snipe, little egrets, Swin ho Snipe, warbler, reed, Pipit and all kind of swampy land birds were going to extinct.

They also came to know the following reasons for the extinctions:

 Indiscriminate use of pesticides.

 Lace of space for their living.

 Most of the villages had no big tress and the birds living on the holes of the big trees were unable to survive.

 People were hunting them for flesh.

 Most of the swampy lands were being illegally occupied by the local land mafias and they were transferring them into ponds. The water became stagnant and unsuitable for the survivals of the swampy land birds, etc.



Nest installing in the trees

          They expressed their finding in charts and posters and also shared with the senior students. They decided to install some artificial nests for the birds in the tress adjacent to the schools. Whenever they proposed their ideas to the Class Teachers and Principal they immediately gave them the permission for the same. They collected unused earthen pots, wooden boxes and some utensils for making small houses for the birds. They made a number of small nests in their EVS classes and installed them on the trees. They made groups and started observing. Initially the birds were avoiding the nests but gradually they started living on it. In December, two volunteer from AID, USA visited Swanirvar and they also came to know from the students about their project. They visited the places where the small nests were installed and found that the birds were living happily. Now we are planning to spread this successful model in different villages.

Installing Nests on Tress

          Another aspect was that this work done by the small children also influenced their parents and they also took interest in bird conservation. In some villages, the villagers resisted the bird hunters/ Catchers and taken them to local Panchayats. Our youth groups also did  mass campaigns on the bird conservation in different villages.

Reported by,

Souren Sen,

KKB Team

Street Corners on Right to Education Act-2009

 

Meeting on RtE act-09 in Kolsur



          13 Dec, 2012:  A street corner meeting was held on Right To Education ( RtE) Act, 2009 at the adjacent area of Kolsur Gram Panchayat. The resource persons were two local teachers as well as the Berachampa Circle High School RtE Act-09 and the Barachampa Circle Primary School RtE Act-09, respectively, The Secretary, Kolsur High School, Local Shiksha Bandhu, Librarian, Ex- teacher and the recipient of National award, Amarendra Nath Das and many other retired teachers and educationist were also present in that meeting. On behalf of The West Bengal Education Network (WBEN), Susmita Chanda and staff of Swanirvar were also present. The meeting was started at 3pm with a group performance (stick dance) of the students of Swanirvar Primary school, Chandalati. Then the speakers expressed their opinions and different aspects of the RtE act, 2009 passed by the Indian Parliament. They also expressed the pros and cons and also told the audience how the common people would be benefited through it. They also expressed the roles and duties of the schools/ teachers / CBOs mentioned in the act. The meeting was ended at 7pm. Two similar meetings were also held on the same topics on 16^th Dec, 12 at Beliakhali and Chandalati villages.

Reported By:

Souren Sen

KKB Team, Swanirvar

PROMOTION OF 'SAHITYA SABHA' BY SWANIRVAR



SAHITYA SABHA IN FATULLAPUR SCHOOL

             Swanirvar started its Primary Education Department with a vision - "Evolve a more effective model for primary education (class I to IV, 5-10yrs age group)". Beside the bookish text memorize, we always encourage our students in different extra-curricular activities, like singing, dance, drama, recitation etc. From the time of inception, there were some cultural activities in our centres. On the other hand, we also send our teachers in different trainings/ workshops / symposiums and exposures to learn new techniques and methodologies and also to get new ideas from there.
In January, 1998 our teachers and supervisor went to Patha Bhavan, Shantiniketan School (founded by Rabindra Nath Tagore) located at Bolpur in Birbhum District of West Bengal. There they attended a cultural fest organized by the students. They also came to know that this was started by Rabindranath Tagore and the objectives of this programme were as follows:
a. To enhance the creativity and expansion of imaginations of the children.
b. Develop writing skills and promotion of self-expression.
c. Promotion of creative skills of the pupils.
d. Planning-Management-Review-lesson learnt;
e. Leadership development, etc
            Tagore also termed that programme as ‘SAHITYA SABHA’. We also came to know from the teachers of the Patha Bhavan that some the students who are not so good in the academic session but performing excellent in the Sahitya Sabha, also learnt that these programmes helped them to develop communication skills.
            Returning from Patha Bhavan, Shantiniketan the supervisor of Primary Education Dept. submitted a detailed report of the visit and also expressed the willingness to introduce Sahitya Sabha in our schools as well as local Govt Schools.
            First such sahitya sabha started in March, 2000 in Chandalati Swanirvar Primary School. In 2001, two more schools, Fatullapur and Andharmanik Primary schools organized two Sahitya Sabha. In, 2002 some local Govt Schools participated with us, a joint sathitya sabha was being held in which 12 Govt institutions participated. Gradually, Sahitya Sabha became very popular event in the academic calendar of an institution. On 20th August, 2005, Swanirvar Primary schools and 30 local Govt Primary Schools jointly organized a Sahitya Sabha and a symposium on recent trends in Bengali literatures. This was held in the premises of Katiahat F.P. School. Eminent poet, Krishnalal Maity and many local educationists participated in that seminar. They also praised us for introducing such action based skill development programme in curriculum. In 2006 all the schools organized small sahitya sabhas in their own institutions. 3 large scale joint sahitya sabha were held in 3 different schools in which many Govt institutions participated.

SAHITYA SABHA IN GOVT SCHOOL

             On 14th November, 2006 a big cultural programme, Sahitya Sabha was organized under the joint collaboration of Swanirvar and 2 Govt. Primary Teachers Associations. Students from Swanirvar schools and from 55 Govt institutions participated along with their parents. It was held in the community hall of Baduria Municipality. Minister of state SHG development, Mrs. Rekha Goswami, Md. Selim Gain, MLA Baduria, The Block Development officers of Baduria and Deganga, Local Gram Panchayat Pradhans, Many eminent writers, poets and educationists, Sailen Ghosh, Bhavaniprasad Mazumder, Shyamal Kanti Das, Avik Basu, Dr. Niranjan Banerjee, Deep Mukherjee etc joined in that programme. The entire programme was planned, managed, performed and directed by the different committees of students. Gradually sahitya Sabha became one of the popular events of the rural people. Whenever a school or a group of schools organized Sahitya Sabha, along with the parents the local villagers participated in those functions and sometimes gave some financial assistance.
             At present it has became a must for every rural institution in our project areas: Below there were a table of the sahitya sabha s organized in the schools from 2007 onwords...
Year                        No of Sahitya Sabha             Students        Teachers

2007 – 2008              10                                          589                 65
2008 – 2009              12                                          645                 80
2009 – 2010              11                                          632                 73
2010 – 2011              22                                          861                 149
2011 – 2012              36                                          1416               174
2012 – 2013             (till NOV) 26                            826                 122
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total                       117                                          4969               663


Reported By,
Sri Prosanto Mondal
Supervisor, Primary Education Dept, Swanirvar
9732829202(M)

PROMOTING EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES IN GOVT. HIGH SCHOOLS

Head Master of Piyara T H.S. performing with the students

       Swanirvar staff are now taking environment classes in 10 Govt High Schools and they also give various input in more than 30 Govt. High Schools. We also run innovative teachers NETWORKs with Mathematic, English and Work Education teachers. Beside the hand holding experiments in science and EVS we also encourage students on extracurricular activities like singing, dances, drama, amusing games, quiz, recitation, debates, extempore, etc. Most of the schools did not have any session/class on extracurricular activities. There are some innovative and enthusiastic teachers who had some skills but did not get any scope to introduce these in the class. One of our staff- musicians, Mr. Sakatulya Mondal selected 5 Govt schools - Pearah Tegharia High School, Kumudini Girls’high School, Maheshpur High School, Mandra High School and Keotsha High School and started music classes in the above institutions after the school hour. Presently, 859 students from 5 Govt High schools are now learning music (singing and playing Harmonium) from him. Some of the students who are not so good in their studies but doing excellent in the music classes. Moreover, they got the opportunities to perform in the school functions, sports day and also on special day’s celebration. Teachers who are interested in music and those who could sing or play musical instruments joining in these classes. They also are performing along with students in school programmes.

Scan of Photos in News paper report.

       Recently an open stage was built in the campus of Pearah Tegharia High School. One retired teacher, Mr. Subal Chandra Biswas donated money to make that stage. Mr. Biswas who was famous for his patronization in folk culture in the villages dies in a road accident. The stage was named as "Subal Biswas Smriti Mancha" and was inaugurated on 5th October, 2012. The student of Pearah Tegharia School who learnt music from Mr. Sakatulya performed  on that occasion. This report was published in no. 1 Bengali News Paper on 6th Oct, 2012 along with their photograph.

Reported by,

KKB Team, Swanirvar  

WEEKLY WEATHER BULLETIN IN GOVT HIGH SCHOOL

Using Rain Gauge

        Swanirvar staff was taking environmental science class in Jakir Hossain High School from 2003. Beside the regular bookish text we also introduced many hand held activities like- dustbin making and using dustbin in the classroom, segregation of waste, different surveys and data collection and data analysis, making different science models etc. With the help of our donor, AID BAY AREA, United State we gave maximum and minimum thermometer to the Govt schools and Jakir Hossain School also got one such thermometer. We also gave the students an orientation to note down the maximum and minimum temperature and also learnt them to keep the record on daily basis. The students of class VI were given the responsibility to keep the record and they did this with great enthusiasm.

Weather Information Board

        The enthusiasm of the students also moved the Geography teacher of the school. Mrs. Manashi Pramanik, Geography teacher purchased a hygrometer  and presented that hygrometer to the students of class VII. Last year, Swanirvar also donated a rain gauge to the school with the financial assistance from AID Bay Area, US. Then the students of VI, VII and IX were given responsibilities to measure daily temperature, humidity and rainfall respectively. To more teachers, Goutam Nath and Asit Mondal along with Mrs. Pramanik had made a small team of students and gave them practical orientations on – to collect the data, calculating minimum and maximum temperature, making charts and graphs and also taught them how to make charts and graphs from the collected database. With that extended large database they also were finding out the impact of climate change and its direct link upon the production of local crops and vegetables. They publishing their findings on the notice boards and also putting weekly weather forecast bulletin in the notice board.

Reported by:

KKB team, Swanirvar

Training (phase-I) given to the teachers of Narayantala Mass communication Society:

Interactive word making session

Narayantala Mass Communication Society (NMCS) is a Kolkata based Non-profit organization. NMCS’s mandate is to ensure the overall development of the downtrodden underprivileged section of our society in the area of - Reproductive Child health, Sexual Health, Women Empowerment, Basic Education, Child welfare and sustainable agriculture development. Narayantala Mass Communication Society (NMCS) has been working for quite some time with the migrant laborers in the brick kilns of North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal. Save the Children has been supporting their efforts to improve the status of the Children, and ensuring their basic Rights for Education working in 30 Brick Kilns.


They had already sent their teachers for two trainings from two different NGOs. Recently they met another organization, Right Track who is doing similar kind of interventions with the down trodden children of slum areas. Right Track had taken trainings from us and now doing excellent works. They had found our training are more specific and object oriented. They got our contact from them. After brief communication, we send our staff on 11th September, 12 for a pre-training visit to their centre at Boyalghata, North 24 Parganas. We found that there were children from different places of West Bengal, Jharkhand, Bihar and some are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. Most of them were dropouts (>95%) and parents were not interested to send their kids to schools. They did not have any permanent classroom or such place; they sit in a temporary tent in the corner of the brick kilns. These centres had no Teaching Learning Materials (TLMs) to use in the classroom. But we found that the teachers were enthusiastic and had enough empathy for these underprivileged. Returning from the project area, we made a need based curriculum for them.

The three days Phase-I( for class-I & II) training was given from 21st Sept to 23rd Sept, 12. One supervisor, one assistant coordinator, coordinator, and 27 teachers (all women) participated in that training session. They were given hand help trainings on TLMs making and also was taught how to use the TLMs. They were given trainings on Bengali, Mathematics, Environmental science, Arts & Crafts. They were given ideas on student management and time based segregation of curriculum. There was session on games and action rhymes, music so that the students become more active in the classes.

Soon we will send our staff for a follow up visit and he will also observe how they are actually implementing techniques in the classroom.

Reported by, Prosanto Mondal, 9732829202