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| Urban Programs– Half yearly Report- April –Sep 09 |
| Urban Learning Centers: |
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| Background: |
Urban Programs were implemented in Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam cities during the reporting period of April to September. The concept of Learning Center with the objectives of achieving higher learning levels among children was discussed with the team prior to launching of centers. Several meetings were conducted with Trainer Monitors and city coordinators at both the locations (Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam) to discuss on how to run fee based classes on a sustainable model. |
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| Objectives |
- To Implement APAL methods in Language, Maths and English
Objectives of APAL:
Language:
- Popularizing the methods among children.
- Children to observe, listen, read and write with concentration.
- Every child in Std 1 & 2 should identify the letters, words and read a simple
sentence.
- Every child in STD 3-5 should read paragraphs and story fluently.
- Every child should speak fluently and write correctly.
Maths:
- I & II STD child should identify up to 100 numbers with place value.
- STD 3-5 children should Identify numbers till 100000 (lakh) with expansion and Place values.
- STD 3-5 child should do four fundamental operations and fractions in Mathematics.
English:
- Letter recognition with sounds
- To learn mixed and blend letters
- To converse in simple sentences
- To sustain the center
- To have linkages with the neighboring schools in improving learning levels of children
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| Coverage |
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Hyderabad |
Visakhapatnam |
Cities Covered |
1 |
1 |
No of ULCs |
29 |
25 |
No.of NRBCs |
21 |
0 |
Communities reached |
143 |
70 |
Classes reached |
47 |
37 |
Children reached |
7307 |
5177 |
Teachers mobilized |
68 |
37 |
No of Libraries |
67 |
56 |
April and May months were focused on capacity building of the team and piloting the classes. In the existing bastis household survey has been carried out to assess the learning levels of children and to know the fee paying capacity of the parents. Based on the data, program has been designed. Teachers started identifying the place for setting up of ULCs.They also conducted summer camps and melas to enroll children.
During this period, City Coordinators attended training programs at Naidad and Pune on Language and Maths based on APAL methods. In the month of June the Master Trainers trained ULC teachers and promoters for 10 days. Subsequently the teachers started running the center.
By end September ULC centers were rolled out to all the identified areas and 29 centers were established. |
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| Activities conducted during summer (May- June) |
Hyderabad district SSA Project Officer approached Pratham to support to run Summer Camps in Government primary schools. One day orientation on program was given to the Pratham teachers by SSA officials. Running a camp in the school helped our teachers to mobilize children subsequently to the ULCs. 300 teachers were participated in the summer program. |
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| Activities conducted in the class: |
- Small children – School readiness activities
- Learning Activities (up to std 5) – Maths, Reading, Writing and Comprehension, English, Science experiments, History
- Hobby Activities – Competitions,
- Library
- Weekend Tests – GK, Maths, English, Social Science, Drawing, singing, storytelling, role play,
- Skill Enhancement – flower making, spray painting, thumb painting, mehandi, embroidery, craft, Music, Dance, Yoga etc
- Parents meetings
The second quarter (July, Aug and Sep) was focused mainly on setting up and implementation of the programs in the centers.
In an ULC the following classes were run.
- Pre-schools and Balvachan
- Subject based coaching up to standard 5th
- Homework support
- Library
- Open Test for all subject/standard
- Vocational courses (Tailoring and Mehandi)
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| Partnerships: |
Pratham has developed a strong partnership with Loksatta organization in Hyderabad city in setting up of ULCs. The centers identified by Loksatta are located in the areas where children come from very poor economic conditions. Pratham – in Hyderabad has maintained a steady partnership with district SSA and with their support started 21 Non Residential Bridge Classes and one Residential Bridge camp for Dropout children. Submitted a proposal on English skill enhancement program in 150 schools in Hyderabad city and has been sanctioned, however waiting to enter into a formal MOU. |
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| Team |
The team includes a state head who is supported by Urban Program Coordinator. In each city there are city coordinators. This team is responsible for all coordination with the government, creation of materials, logistics, accounts, and monitoring.
In addition to this team, there are promoters and teachers in both the cities. |
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| Materials |
A kit provided to a teacher includes 58 story cards, number charts, barakhari chart, currency notes, straws and rubber bands for Maths and manuals. A Dictionary, Speaking practice book and Reading practice manuals are the part of English material. A Camel CD is also being provided to all the teachers to review the activities in the class. The materials developed by PRATHAM Resource Center are appreciated by all the stake holders at all levels as they are very good quality. Materials were distributed to the centers. |
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| Monitoring |
| National, State and city teams monitored classes at regular intervals. The city coordinators and Trainer Monitors plan their schedule at the beginning of each month and based on this plan visit the different centers. During visits they observe the teaching method, usage of teaching learning material, children’s participation in the learning process, etc. They also assess the reading levels of a few children in each class |
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| Training: |
| Two phases of training was conducted to urban teachers on Language,Maths ,English & Library training based on APAL.In NRBC we one phase of training was conducted on L2R methods. |
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| Assessment: |
| Baseline data has been collected from the ULCs at both the locations has to upload in MIS. On volunteer bases three students had did a research n ULC classes in the month of July, one of volunteers feed back is: |
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| Background |
| I visited seven urban learning centers with Sandhya who was my guide over the course of one day. I didn’t know Telugu and neither did I know the locations of the urban learning centers and thus I needed a guide. My aim was to visit twenty-five ULCs and to figure out if the parents of the children were willing to pay a twenty rupee fee, a ten rupee increase from the current fee. At the same time, my aim was to observe for five to ten minutes, a lesson taught by a Pratham volunteer. During this time, I noted down the level of quality in the teacher-student interaction. I also noted down the general appearance of each classroom at the ULCs. |
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| General Observations |
| There were designated areas for classrooms and teachers were all friendly. The students were all eager to learn. Overall, what struck me was that there was an air of formality in the centers that I visited and the belief that there was a reason behind their standing. In other words, although these classes were not regular school classes, the students were motivated to further improve and to add to their respective knowledge bases and thus attended them. |
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| Table of Observations |
Observation |
Average |
Excellent |
Overall Children’s outlook towards learning and education |
0% |
100% |
Overall Teachers’ outlook towards learning and education |
0% |
100% |
Overall physical appearance of classroom as a place of learning |
57% |
43% |
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| Explanation of Table of Results |
The results show that the children from all the centers that were visited are enthusiastic about learning, which was shown by their eagerness to recite poems and read out aloud written exercises from their books. Furthermore, their eagerness towards learning was shown by their promptness in answering questions. The speed and quality of response also highlighted the positive level of interaction between teachers and students. Also, their eagerness towards learning was shown by the fact that the students came with the appropriate school material like exercise books, textbooks and pens. Similarly, the results also show that the Pratham volunteers are enthusiastic about their duties as being teachers. Pratham volunteers was not afraid to use unique teaching practices that would improve a child’s performance in his or her regular school such as copying sentences to improve hand-writing or assigning homework so that student’s time management skills could improve. Each of the classrooms had a roof over their head so classes wouldn’t get disrupted in the rain. However, many of the classrooms were not separate to the living quarters of the Pratham volunteer and of her family’s. I was happy to note that out of three out of seven ULCs (Urban Leaning Centers), had a mini library in the classroom. In most of the ULCs, there were mats on the floor on which students could sit. Furthermore, there was ample light in all the ULCs for studying purposes, be it in the form of artificial light or natural sunlight. |
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| Conclusion |
From all Urban Learning Centers, one point was clear, the Pratham volunteers that were chosen are eager to teach and equally, the children were eager to learn. Also, each classroom was equipped to hold at least twenty children. All classrooms had mats. Each classroom was adequately ventilated, either by a fan or an open door or both. The fact that each child had at least some form of physical material to help them study: book, bag, pen shows that they understand the purpose of these extra classes conducted by Pratham. It also shows their commitment and enthusiasm towards these classes. Furthermore, having the right stationary reflects that their financial background is adequate enough. In other words, introducing a ten rupee hike on the current fee that is needed to paid for these extra tuition classes can be quite easily collected. I was unable to ask the students’ parents directly if they were willing to afford a ten rupee hike as I only interacted with Pratham volunteers and students. Thus I was unable to include a statistic that would state the number of people willing to pay ten rupees extra.
Recommendations for future
One can have class-specific tuition classes, where all class six students can get extra help together. Furthermore, each tuition session can be divided into subject blocks as it is 3 hours long. In other words, in the first hour, all students will study English, in the second hour; all students will study Math and so on. Maybe, one session each week can be devoted to a question-answer session, where students pose any questions or doubts they may have to the teacher. |
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