Dharwad teachers share their lessons with Texas
When Vijayalakshmi Rajesh Shetty, from Udupi, arrived in a Dharwad village eight years ago as a government school teacher, it was a brand new experience for her, starting with the language and dialect.
The situation was worse in school, which had few students. The ones who attended weren’t regular.(TOI Photo)
BANGALORE: When Vijayalakshmi Rajesh Shetty, from Udupi, arrived in a Dharwad village eight years ago as a government school teacher, it was a brand new experience for her, starting with the language and dialect.
The situation was worse in school, which had few students. The ones who attended weren’t regular. “I decided to change it with community involvement. For example, when mothers were reluctant to attend a parent-teacher meeting, I got their children to protest at home until they agreed to come to school. Once they learnt about the importance of education, the children’s attendance naturally went up,” she added.
On Monday, Vijayalakshmi and two other teachers, Keerthivathi Vinayak Rao Nadig and Lingaraj V Ramapur, also from government schools, will board a flight to Austin, Texas.
They’ve been selected for a 20-day tour of the US, as part of an education-exchange programme.
Game-changers
Lingaraj V Ramapur
Government Higher Primary School, Bhairadevarakoppa, Hubli
A decade ago, when Lingaraj joined the school, in a village on the outskirts of Hubli, he was disappointed by the poor attendance and the fact that parents preferred to send their kids to work. Most families were poor and the child labour problem was rampant. Kids as young as eight were sent to tile cutting factories in Hubli.
The challenge was to get the parents to the school's portals, and draw their kids into mainstream education. Lingaraj decided to visit the their workplaces and repeatedly counsel them. He was rewarded when children slowly started filling up the classrooms.
A few years later, he was posted to a girls' school in Haliyal, in Uttara Kannada district. Here, he faced a different problem. The area was dominated by rich families, who had little awareness about educating their daughters. As soon as girls reached class 5 or 7, they were taken out of school and married. Lingaraj went to great lengths to explain the benefits of education and today, many girls from Haliyal have enrolled for engineering and medical courses.
"What I learnt is that as a teacher, you need to tell parents the truth about their kids and their education levels. That helps you take the case forward. As a Science teacher, I'm looking forward to the US tour. I still face problems explaining some science topics to kids. Hope this visit gives us some answers."
Keerthivathi Vinayak Rao Nadig
Government Higher Primary School, Kelageri, Dharwad
Keerthivathi is one of the top resource persons for the education department when it comes to teaching tools and methodology. But she had no clue about interactive teaching until she attended a government training programme at a village called T Gollahalli in Kolar district, a few years ago. However, when she returned to her school in North Karnataka, she found that the methodologies proposed by the government wouldn't suit the children here.
Keerthivathi began working on teaching tools that would help kids understand Science and Mathematics easily. She made use of locally available materials and taught lessons in the form of stories that children of a specific region could connect with easily. She adopted the same formula for lab experiments. Today, she's sought out whenever a teaching problem arises in primary school. She conducts workshops for teachers of different education blocks in the state.
Nazeer Ahmed, headmaster at the Kelageri school, said Keerthivathi had popularized the government's Nali-Kali programme in the region. "Thinking practically and understanding the minds of children is her speciality," he added.
"I'm happy that a workbook on teaching Science, which I put together, is being used as part of the syllabus for the state. I'm very excited about going to the US, as I've only read about the country or seen it on television. It's said teaching is more practical there. There'd be a lot to learn."
Vijayalakshmi R Shetty
Government Higher Primary Kannada Girls' School, Mantur, Hubli taluk
For almost nine years now, Vijayalakshmi has been working hard to build bridges with the local community. When she began her stint at the government school, she realized she needed to reach out to parents, especially those of girl students. Interacting with mothers was a bigger challenge for Vijayalakshmi, who discovered there was zero attendance whenever parents were called for meetings. If parents did come to school, it was only to take their children home so they could work on the fields to support the family.
Vijayalakshmi succeeded in convincing the mothers, and today, the attendance at parent-teacher meetings is over 120. There have been instances of parents forcing kids to come to school even when they are unwell, prompting Vijayalakshmi to intervene.
However, the teacher feels the problems are not over yet. There are many parents who still believe their children don't need an education. According to her, there's a very fine line between livelihood and the need for education among many families in North Karnataka. As a state, we need to act together to address such problems, she feels.
"As a teacher, there's more scope for learning in government schools. Each child is a lesson and each school is a syllabus by itself. I'm definitely looking forward to sharing my success story with teachers in the US. I also want to know how America succeeded in inculcating a scientific temper in its children."
The situation was worse in school, which had few students. The ones who attended weren’t regular. “I decided to change it with community involvement. For example, when mothers were reluctant to attend a parent-teacher meeting, I got their children to protest at home until they agreed to come to school. Once they learnt about the importance of education, the children’s attendance naturally went up,” she added.
On Monday, Vijayalakshmi and two other teachers, Keerthivathi Vinayak Rao Nadig and Lingaraj V Ramapur, also from government schools, will board a flight to Austin, Texas.
They’ve been selected for a 20-day tour of the US, as part of an education-exchange programme.
Game-changers
Lingaraj V Ramapur
Government Higher Primary School, Bhairadevarakoppa, Hubli
A decade ago, when Lingaraj joined the school, in a village on the outskirts of Hubli, he was disappointed by the poor attendance and the fact that parents preferred to send their kids to work. Most families were poor and the child labour problem was rampant. Kids as young as eight were sent to tile cutting factories in Hubli.
The challenge was to get the parents to the school's portals, and draw their kids into mainstream education. Lingaraj decided to visit the their workplaces and repeatedly counsel them. He was rewarded when children slowly started filling up the classrooms.
A few years later, he was posted to a girls' school in Haliyal, in Uttara Kannada district. Here, he faced a different problem. The area was dominated by rich families, who had little awareness about educating their daughters. As soon as girls reached class 5 or 7, they were taken out of school and married. Lingaraj went to great lengths to explain the benefits of education and today, many girls from Haliyal have enrolled for engineering and medical courses.
"What I learnt is that as a teacher, you need to tell parents the truth about their kids and their education levels. That helps you take the case forward. As a Science teacher, I'm looking forward to the US tour. I still face problems explaining some science topics to kids. Hope this visit gives us some answers."
Keerthivathi Vinayak Rao Nadig
Government Higher Primary School, Kelageri, Dharwad
Keerthivathi is one of the top resource persons for the education department when it comes to teaching tools and methodology. But she had no clue about interactive teaching until she attended a government training programme at a village called T Gollahalli in Kolar district, a few years ago. However, when she returned to her school in North Karnataka, she found that the methodologies proposed by the government wouldn't suit the children here.
Keerthivathi began working on teaching tools that would help kids understand Science and Mathematics easily. She made use of locally available materials and taught lessons in the form of stories that children of a specific region could connect with easily. She adopted the same formula for lab experiments. Today, she's sought out whenever a teaching problem arises in primary school. She conducts workshops for teachers of different education blocks in the state.
Nazeer Ahmed, headmaster at the Kelageri school, said Keerthivathi had popularized the government's Nali-Kali programme in the region. "Thinking practically and understanding the minds of children is her speciality," he added.
"I'm happy that a workbook on teaching Science, which I put together, is being used as part of the syllabus for the state. I'm very excited about going to the US, as I've only read about the country or seen it on television. It's said teaching is more practical there. There'd be a lot to learn."
Vijayalakshmi R Shetty
Government Higher Primary Kannada Girls' School, Mantur, Hubli taluk
For almost nine years now, Vijayalakshmi has been working hard to build bridges with the local community. When she began her stint at the government school, she realized she needed to reach out to parents, especially those of girl students. Interacting with mothers was a bigger challenge for Vijayalakshmi, who discovered there was zero attendance whenever parents were called for meetings. If parents did come to school, it was only to take their children home so they could work on the fields to support the family.
Vijayalakshmi succeeded in convincing the mothers, and today, the attendance at parent-teacher meetings is over 120. There have been instances of parents forcing kids to come to school even when they are unwell, prompting Vijayalakshmi to intervene.
However, the teacher feels the problems are not over yet. There are many parents who still believe their children don't need an education. According to her, there's a very fine line between livelihood and the need for education among many families in North Karnataka. As a state, we need to act together to address such problems, she feels.
"As a teacher, there's more scope for learning in government schools. Each child is a lesson and each school is a syllabus by itself. I'm definitely looking forward to sharing my success story with teachers in the US. I also want to know how America succeeded in inculcating a scientific temper in its children."
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