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Published by CEQUE 5A, Nav Meghdoot CHS Ltd. 535/36, Linking Road, Khar (W) Mumbai, Maharashtra, 400052

Written by

ASHISH KELSHIKAR

CHATURA RAO

DEEPA DEOSTHALEE

HARSHAVARDHAN DANGE

RACHNA BISHT RAWAT

Edited by ANKITA SHAH Illustrations by ANANYA BROKER PAREKH Book Design by SOUMYA JAIN

Copyright © 2021, Centre for Equity and Quality in Universal Education All rights reserved.

Centre for Equity and Quality in Universal Education (CEQUE) is a nonprofit that works with teachers in government and low income private schools to improve learning for all children. CEQUE believes every child deserves a great teacher. It develops teachers to teach better in order to enable quality learning for every child. www.ceque.org “Teachers are a beacon of every society. Staying true to this adage, the teachers of the Zilla Parishad and private schools supported by CEQUE went beyond the call of duty to educate underprivileged children during the pandemic. I commend them for their grit and determination to re-engineer their teaching modules and skill sets to keep children in the fold of learning in tough times. This book is a fine testament to their commitment to society at large.”

KAKU NAKHATE President & India Country Head, Bank of America

Published with the support of “Teachers such as those showcased in the book are a beacon of hope in these challenging times of the pandemic. I congratulate CEQUE for highlighting their efforts and contributing to Maharashtra government’s initiative, ‘Shala Band pan Shikshan Chalu’.”

DINKAR TEMKAR Director, SCERT, Maharashtra

“In these unsettling and anxious times, there are a few teachers who remained unruffled by the challenges and forged a link between the students and education during the state-wide closure of schools. I have a deep respect for the teacher innovators showcased in these stories that themselves bear a stamp of excellence. No doubt, they will serve as a guide star for others to explore various ways to reach learners.”

DR. NEHA BELSARE Director, MIEPA, Aurangabad

“The stories of teachers making a difference to the lives of their students during these hard Covid ridden days are truly inspiring. These stories have convinced me, that even though academics may spend hours discussing and debating educational policies and their implementation, the master key to real grassroot level education lies with devoted and motivated teachers. Especially the underprivileged ones who have limited digital means.”

VEENA NARAVANE Educator and President, Army Wives Welfare Association

“These are incredible stories of grit and determination demonstrated by these inspiring teachers. It takes the readers through a journey of doubt and adversity to accomplishment and achievement experienced by the teachers. The essence of this project is empowering young learners with opportunities to learn through engaging and meaningful experiences.”

PALLAVI NAIK Principal, Dr. Kalmadi Shamarao High School, Pune. TO ALL TEACHERS who went beyond their call of duty, so children could continue to learn

CONTENTS

FOREWORD INTRODUCTION MEET THE TEACHERS

1. A Ray of Hope ...... 6 2. Building Bridges ...... 10 3. The Makeshift Classroom ...... 14 4. Building Schoolrooms from Hope ...... 19 5. Blackboards on Walls ...... 22 6. I Have a Dream ...... 26 7. The Hero of Malegaon ...... 29 8. Man with a Plan ...... 32 9. A Different Kind of Warrior ...... 36 10. In Her Own Voice ...... 39 11. The Teacher Who Wished to Be an Actor ...... 42 12. If I Could, They Can Too ...... 46 13. Building a Virtual Classroom ...... 50 14. The Magic of the Profile Picture ...... 54 15. The Coolest Bike Rider ...... 58

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

FOREWORD

The pandemic came unexpectedly, with a force that thrust us in the midst of compelling challenges. Children’s education was suddenly disrupted, and we faced the risk of students dropping out and facing an incalculable loss in learning. In the face of this crisis, there was no precedence or blueprint for a solution. Despite this, the Government of Maharashtra put together a cogent plan of action which recognized teachers as the backbone of its system. Supporting and educating teachers to adopt new modalities of teaching and making resources available to them became the cornerstone of our strategy. And the teachers have shone! As story after story in this book reveals, they have gone beyond the call of duty. Their challenges as teachers were exacerbated because they worked with communities that lived in poverty or with minimal resources. However, they did not allow the circumstances to paralyze them. On the contrary, they demonstrated that no mountain is insurmountable if one has the will, the commitment, and the capacity to care. Many teachers sought creative solutions to their children’s absences, the lack of technology available to them or to help maintain their focus on the small screen of a smartphone, in spaces with multiple distractions. They motivated parents and mobilized communities at their local levels and engaged them in contributing to solutions. It gives me great pleasure to congratulate these teachers and teachers like them. I also commend CEQUE for their work with these teachers and shining the spotlight on how they kept the flame of learning alive for their students. In this current crisis, our teachers join the ranks of frontline workers. The teachers in this book recognized their critical role in the fabric of the education system to ensure learning for all their students. As we celebrate their achievements, it is my sincere hope that their stories will motivate and inspire others and serve as a call to action for all. With all best wishes,

SHRI VISHAL SOLANKI, IAS Commissioner, School Education and Sports Department Government of Maharashtra 1 INTRODUCTION

Shankar Mali taught in a Zilla Parishad school, in a small tribal hamlet nestled deep in Palghar district. Making the train journey from Mumbai, we rode pillion with the school’s second teacher and a volunteer villager to the school. A tall, frail man, edging close to retirement, Mali sir was a legend in the area. He had been working in this hamlet school for the past 17 years. Mali sir had originally been assigned to a larger school in the vicinity; however, he noticed that children from this hamlet were not attending school. Distance was not an issue, culture was. And so, he set about petitioning for a ‘satellite school’ for the children in the hamlet, figuring that if the children had a school to call their own, they would study. His petition was approved, and he supervised building of the hamlet’s school to which the community contributed free labour. As it’s first teacher, he created a pathway to making education relevant to the children. He learnt their language, incorporated local arts and crafts as part of the curriculum, and figured out ways of making the syllabus interesting for his children. He shared with pride that all the children from his first cohort had cleared their 12th grade exams and one had secured admission in engineering college. Mali sir’s story is inspirational. But it is by no means one of a kind. At CEQUE, through the course of our work with teachers, we come across very many who make an unprecedented difference to their children’s lives—through their caring and creativity. This has been true more so during the pandemic. Through the pandemic, the more we interacted with our teachers, the more we felt that their stories needed to be told. Take for example, Rohini Dandge from Kasara, who took to teaching her students at night since that was the only time they had access to their parents’ smartphones. Or, Pramod Khandekar, from Gadchiroli, who mobilized the painting of the outside walls of nine village homes that served as blackboards for his unique experiment of creating open classrooms. Or, Pinesh Jadhav from Musarne who reached children in remote tribal hamlets through the speakerphone of a parent’s simple mobile phone. We did not set out to make heroes out of these teachers through the stories documented in this book. But in 2 shining the spotlight on their work, we wanted to recognize their everyday acts of heroism, of courage, of caring that makes education possible in a real way for the most underprivileged children of our country. In this, we acknowledge the work of the District Education Departments (DIETs) and CEQUE’s team whose efforts, side by side with the teachers’, kept motivation levels high and the search for solutions during the pandemic, an ongoing endeavour. A huge thank you to Bank of America whose support has made this book possible. Thank you to our team of writers – Rachna, Deepa, Chatura, Ashish, and Harshavardhan, and the CEQUE team for patiently drawing out the stories from teachers and weaving them into beautiful narratives. Thank you also to Ankita for your editorial skills that have brought the best out of the stories, to Ananya for bringing them to life through your illustrations and Soumya for the aesthetic book design. Finally, and most importantly, to the teachers profiled in this book. Your passions continue to inspire and we are privileged to share a part of your teaching journey with you.

ANJU SAIGAL Founder Director CEQUE

UMA KOGEKAR CEO CEQUE

3 MEET THE TEACHERS

Her caring attitude and empathetic nature ensure that PURVA SAKPAL’S students stay engaged in the classroom.

utside a small hut in his dark forehead. He knows it will start Sangameshwar village in raining soon. Eight year-old Gandharv, Ratnagiri, Maharashtra, 35-year- in loose shorts and an old checked shirt, Oold Ramchandra Vedruk waits astride his with a faded school bag strapped onto his old bicycle. There’s an ominous clap of shoulders, darts out of the hut. He climbs thunder and his worried eyes follow the onto the small seat affixed to the bicycle lightning across the sky. A frown mars crossbar. “Baba chala,” he says, looking up at his father. An affectionate smile spreads across Ramchandra’s gaunt face. He lost his job in

6 Mumbai due to the lockdown and has since says. “From the pictures I could make out moved to his village, taking his family with that the answer sheets were wet—it had him. Today, Gandharv needs to write his probably started raining while Gandharv online unit tests but there is no cell phone was writing his examinations but the connectivity in the village. Ramchandra smudged writing was readable and I could pushes the pedal hard with his plastic mark him based on it.” slipper-clad foot, the chain wheel clanks and the bicycle moves ahead. He rides five Those of us who live in big cities cannot kilometres over muddy lanes, taking his son imagine how challenging the year 2020 has to a small hillock outside the village where been for students from the economically his cell phone returns to life. Gandharv weaker sections of society. Continuing gets off his father’s bicycle and sits on the their education required a lot of effort ground, opening his school bag to pull out from parents as well as educators, a heroic his notebook and pencil. Ramchandra contribution that goes completely unsung. opens his WhatsApp chats and downloads Purva is one of the teachers who strived to the three unit tests sent by his son’s class ensure that the children of teacher all the way from Mumbai. migrant workers, many of whom lost their jobs Nearly 300 km away, in the slums of during the pandemic, Kamraj Nagar on the Mumbai–Pune continued to attend highway, Purva Sakpal, class teacher online classes. “My of Grade II, Bhairav Vidyalaya, waits students come patiently. “By 4 pm that day, Gandharv from the slums. had completed all three papers – Marathi, When schools English, and Maths – and his father had shut down in clicked pictures and sent them to me,” she 7 March, my biggest fear was that they would drop out,” she recalls. What kept her faith alive was the belief that their parents would not let that happen. “Most mothers work as household help and fathers are truck drivers, rickshaw pullers or daily wage labourers. They realize that only education can give their children an opportunity to rise above the abject poverty they live in.”

Teachers like Purva made many concessions for such students. WhatsApp groups were created and classes were shifted online; additional classes on handicrafts, like making paper boats, bead necklaces, or storytelling were introduced to keep children interested. It also kept the children in their homes while the pandemic was raging. When she noticed that some of her students had stopped seeing the group chats on WhatsApp, Purva reached out to them personally. “We asked them what the problem was and tried our best to solve or support parents through the tough time they were facing, imploring them to ensure 8 that their children did not stop studying altogether.” Children who had returned grandmother and requested her to not take to their villages or did not have proper cell her name off the school rolls and let her phone connectivity were given the option attend the WhatsApp sessions even if she to do multiple tests on any day and place was being admitted to the village school. convenient to them, long after the actual “We had even got a demand for a Transfer date of the examination had passed. The Certificate from her family and had no school trustees also played a major role by option but to process it. But it was not long waiving fees for the entire year for all 2000 after that she returned to Mumbai,” Purva My students come students. “We did not ask a single child to was delighted. “I’m happy she is back in pay their fees. We also made it a point to my class. I am sure she will do very well from the slums. not embarrass parents by talking about in life and make us proud one day.” Not When schools shut unpaid fees.” only has she been a supportive teacher, down in March, my but she has also functioned as a friend Most of Purva’s students live in narrow- and family, advising parents in times of biggest fear was that laned, water-logged, single room shanties. need, talking to children who were upset, they would drop out. “Some of the parents lost their jobs during infusing their hearts with hope. She has the lockdown, and had no option but to been an emotional support to parents when borrow money to return to their villages,” things were not going their way. “All our she adds. “Vedika Kadam, one of the children, except two who took transfers to brightest students in my class, called me their village schools, are still with us. There one day. She said that she wanted to study hasn’t been a single drop out. What can be here but her grandmother was forcing her more fulfilling for me as a teacher?” to join the village school in Vangni, Mahad taluka, where her father had taken the Written by RACHNA BISHT RAWAT family after he lost his job in Mumbai,” Purva recounts. Purva called up the child’s 9 Armed with out-of-the-box thinking as well cousin Akash’s thatched hut in the as the social skills, PINESH JADHAV manages quiet of the winter night. An excited to weather the pandemic with ease. Akash gets his little sister and follows Jai to his house next door. Jai’s younger t is 8 pm in the Sangwan-forested brother Vijay and two more kids from hilly area near Musarane village of the neighbourhood are waiting for Maharashtra. “Aye Akash chala laukar! them on the bare floor, feet crossed and IPinesh sarancha phone aala ahe. (Hey eyes shining. A small Chinese handset Akash, hurry up! Pinesh sir is calling.) ” is carefully nestled in Vijay’s palm, on Ten-year old Jai Diva jumps on one foot, which their class teacher Pinesh Jadhav then the other. He has come across to his waits patiently for his audience.

10 11 “Mi tya sarvanna aanle” (I have got them the villagers towards the school, even if all, Sir.) ,” Jai says, holding the phone close they didn’t have kids studying there. We to his mouth. “Tu filmstar aahes (You’re a approached people with smartphones star.) ,” responds the smiling voice of his who could teach children in their teacher. “Today I shall tell you a story,” says neighbourhood. The Gram Panchayat I started teaching Pinesh. Six sparkling smiles light up the supported the cause and soon enough, the children in room. More than 12 km away in his house volunteers from the community were in Akloli village, Pinesh leans back on his enlisted as surrogate teachers, giving a his neighbourhood pillow and begins an animated rendition few hours every week to students who on his speakerphone of a story from their Marathi textbook. would come to their house. A WhatsApp Amongst the teachers in Maharashtra who group called ‘Aamchi Shala – Musarane’ at 8 pm before the strived hard to overcome the challenges was formed that had 18 members with family had their of teaching in the lockdown is 36-year- smartphones.” dinner. And so we old Pinesh, from Zilla Parishad School, Musarane. With only 6 out of 40 students But the real challenge lay ahead. Nearly managed to cover all with smartphones in the family, teaching one-third of Pinesh’s students come from 40 of our students. virtually was a challenge. the scheduled tribes living in a cluster of huts two-and-a-half kilometres from the Pinesh devised a program called ‘Amcha village, deep inside the Sangwan forest. gav, aamchi shala. Chala setu bandhuya’, These families belong to the Katarani, a bridge between students and teachers. Warli, and Malhar Koli tribes. They work “We instilled a sense of belonging amongst in brick kilns or as daily wagers. Very few

12 possess even simple feature phones. While he wanted to bring change in society. technology had not pervaded here, it was “When I conduct functions in my school, imperative education did. On discovering I don’t ask my student to raise slogans like that Manoj Diva, the father of two of ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’. Instead, I tell them his students had a simple phone, Pinesh not to spit on the road, to keep our village made another bridge. “I started teaching clean, to stop people from honking loudly the children in his neighbourhood on his on the road. These are the things that will speakerphone at 8 pm before the family make our country great.” had their dinner. And so we managed to cover all 40 of our students.” Written by RACHNA BISHT RAWAT

Carving his own version of a worldwide web, Pinesh managed to permeate all points where his students were. Pinesh grew up in Khandgaon, a small village in Maharashtra. Most people here were farmers or kept cattle, selling milk to a dairy in the nearby town of Tisgaon. He recalls waking up at 5 am and cycling five kilometres to the next town for a bus for college. He gave up the option of doing Engineering or studying agriculture in favour of a D. Ed., because

13 BAPU MUNGHATE invigorates a community in the remote, slum area of Gadchiroli, to come together & make schooling possible home to local tribes. Making an earnest amidst a nationwide lockdown. appeal, Bapu persisted and said, “It is difficult to explain, but it is all for our hat are you saying, Guruji? children’s future. We don’t want our You must have some courage! students to suffer. Trust us to abide by People are scared of Corona the government’s rules. We have around Wand won’t even venture out of their houses. 440 masks and 5 litres of sanitizers given And you want to start the school? ” Mr. to us by the Gram Panchayat. We will Nitin Botkelwar, a member of the school maintain social distancing, we will take all committee asked Bapu Munghate, a local precautions.” teacher who was making a strong case to resume schooling, before the Mahawada Bapu recalls how around the 24th of Gram Panchayat. With 69 houses and a March, 2020, the world came to a standstill. 14 population of 442, Mahawada is a village The lockdown was announced and people 15 were confined to their homes. Students were gallivanting in the fields or in the forest, cut off from their studies. All the efforts Bapu and other teachers had put in places for schooling. One of the village With our collective to motivate them on the path of academic folk, Mr. Divakar, offered his premises to efforts, we turned progress were going in vain. Bapu describes hold classes.” The challenge though was to the house into a the conundrum as ‘heartbreaking’—“If turn the residential space into a makeshift we brought students together, we’d be school. “With the Rs. 2600 we’d collected school. The kids responsible in the event something went under the ‘Shikshanache varee’ project, we resumed studying wrong.” The prospect of online learning bought teaching aids. We all contributed was close to impossible for children of this some money to buy paper plates and and it was a joyous village where neither smartphones existed glasses which we used to make reading moment for us all. nor network. Bapu and other teachers materials, alphabets, and punctuation decided to work out a viable strategy. They signs.” Then there was the problem of gathered the villagers and held a Gram basic infrastructure. Bapu added, “The Sabha meeting. Bapu shares, “We made place needed cleaning and rework. We the parents understand that the children reached out to the social workers for help. were losing out by this disruption in their We painted the walls, decorated the house, education. We had to set up alternate put up posters and the teaching aids.” Mr. Sukharam Patil, a policeman from Usandi, donated a large floor mat, while Mr. Divakar pitched in with some more seating. “With our collective efforts, we turned the house into a school. The kids resumed studying and it was a joyous moment for all of us.” Bapu, in the meantime, was selected for the CEQUE (Centre for Equity and Quality in Universal Education) fellowship programme and attended online training sessions. “They taught us various innovative strategies to ensure students achieved their learning outcomes. The strategies for learning comprehension proved to be particularly useful with our students. Kids started breaking down unfamiliar words to get to their meaning, asked probing questions while reading, and also learnt to summarize. CEQUE also provided us with workbooks which helped students revise at home.”

Finally, things were back on track. Although Covid put a lock on the actual school door, Bapu along with the villagers unlocked the door to learning.

Written by HARSHAVARDHAN DANGE 17 18 Persistent & resourceful, ROHINI DANDGE manages to overcome obstacles in order to provide a good education to her students.

asara town is about a hundred Primary school teacher Rohini Dandge, kilometres from Mumbai. It 32, has been walking this dangerous half- connects to the metropolis by kilometre stretch to the Zilla Parishad Kthe local, suburban rail network. On any Primary School at Bara Bangala for given day, one may find people heading the past six years. When she first began from Kasara station towards Bara Bangala teaching here in 2014, the school was village by walking across a path right by an eight-by-eight rented room. Fourteen the railway tracks. Trains come without children, from grades one to five, and their warning from around the hill and people two teachers, filled this space with books, must press up against the railings of the stationery, the singsong chant of alphabet bridge, close their eyes against the rush of and numerical table, and the giggle and air and dust, and wait for it to pass. chatter between lessons. 19 In 2015, the need for a larger space became in the village who had smartphones. She imperative. “Many children in the village urged them to make their phones available used to go to school in Kasara. But when to her students. “I instructed them as well we began to do interesting activities and as the 14 parents who had smartphones innovate with teaching, another fifteen to download the Diksha app,” she recalls. enrolled here,” Rohini says with a smile. This government resource provides digital To expand the school, the villagers and the infrastructure for teachers, including Many children in two teachers contributed money, material, learning material like educational videos, the village used and free labour. A brick room was built songs, poems, and plays. Rohini went on on a plot of bald, unfenced forest land to use a range of these resources to teach. to go to school in through an unofficial deal struck between She would print and scan material to send Kasara. But when the members of the Gram Panchayat and on WhatsApp that she had received on we began to do people from the Forest Department. It Diksha or on Telegram groups, such as the became the schoolhouse for the 25 students. Maharashtra Teachers Panel and Shahapur interesting activities Teacher Education Development. and innovate with No stranger to being a teacher without teaching, another a proper classroom, Rohini faced the Given the economic challenges during challenges of the lockdown with equal the lockdown, the children’s parents often fifteen enrolled here. perseverance. “In June, I attended my went out looking for work, so their phones eight-year-old daughter Manasi’s classes were not available to the children during on Zoom to see how private schools were the day. So Rohini initiated night school. A facilitating online learning. I wondered how typical session would start at 8 pm with less my kids would manage with hardly any than half of the class. The village of Bara access to devices,” she says. She thought Bangala has no electricity at this hour, so of ways to overcome this drawback. She they would peer at her out of pitch-dark 20 created a WhatsApp group of young people rooms. It would take a few messages in the class WhatsApp group and some phone In a place where there is little water, calls, for the remaining students to slowly very few hours of electricity, and no trickle in. Meanwhile, Rohini would make land available for a school building, in sure the children waiting have something a time that the world will remember as to engage with. So a playlist would begin. one of disease and rising squalor, Rohini First, short videos on Warli painting, envisioned digital classrooms for her another on ‘good habits’, one on the economically challenged students. She went dangers of plastic waste, and finally a song: on to make these happen. Yeh mat kaho khuda se meri mushkile badi hai, ye mushkilon se keh do mera khuda Schools across regions are seeing a rise in bada hai! (Don’t say to god, my troubles are student dropout rates, yet Zilla Parishad big, say instead to your troubles, my god Primary School, Bara Bangala, has is bigger than you!) Ten minutes later, she accepted additional enrolments. Children would have a full classroom. Some would who had come to live in the neighbourhood join in pairs in one of their homes, sharing during the lockdown are eager to stay on a phone. Others would gather at Samaj and study. Perhaps because Rohini, whom Mandir, the village community centre, with they meet at the door, is unfailingly kind phones lent to them by their elders. Once and resourceful; she is the face of all students were in, Rohini would begin education here. teaching this diverse group of second to fifth graders. She would address students Written by CHATURA RAO of each grade, handing out assignments, homework ,and guiding each group through mathematics or poetry. And thus she would ensure everyone was on track with their studies. 21 An open mind, free to creative ideas helps PRAMOD KHANDEKAR navigate the difficulties of educating in the lockdown.

ne day, Pramod Khandekar, a teach students through the lockdown using teacher from the Zilla Parishad the walls of the houses in the village as school at Adpalli in Gadchiroli blackboards. That was it! Pramod loved the Odistrict, was going through his Facebook concept and decided to replicate it with his account on his mobile phone. He stumbled students. He connected with his colleagues upon a video that fascinated him. Even to draft a plan of action and fortunately, though the language in the video was they all willingly extended their support. unfamiliar and difficult to understand, he persevered knowing it was something to He would fix blackboards on the walls of do with teaching students. He hoped to the village homes. The first step was to raise comprehend some of it. The video had a the funds for this. It was decided to use the teacher from Tamil Nadu attempting to school budget and in case it fell short, he 23 and his colleagues decided to pitch in the through the lockdown. Everyone in the deficit from their own pockets. village marvelled at this unique and innovative way of learning. But there were The second step was of placing the other hiccups to the project. Teachers blackboards. Ideally, they needed to be realized that since there had been a gap in situated close to the students’ homes. After surveying the village and identifying where the children lived, they shortlisted the houses which could potentially provide the He printed six flex posters with backdrop for the open classrooms. The tables, the alphabet, parts of the teachers visited these selected houses and explained the concept to them to secure body, and names of flowers & their cooperation. They purchased colours plants etc. These posters were and brushes and organized labour to get the blackboards made and put up outside stuck all over the village the nine houses in the village.

Pramod and his colleagues worked out studies, students had forgotten the basics. a timetable for this makeshift school to To help them, Pramod decided to print give the process a structure. Marathi on a few flex posters with basic information Monday and Tuesday, Mathematics on about different subjects. He printed six flex Wednesday and Thursday, and English posters with tables, the alphabet, parts of on Friday and Saturday. And thus this the body, and names of flowers and plants, novel school was started. Students would etc. These posters were stuck all over the assemble near the blackboards, maintaining village. Although the school remained shut, 24 social distancing, continuing their studies children could gather in front of these posters to refresh the basics. Slowly they came up to speed and were able to solve the assignments given by their teachers.

During the same period, CEQUE had started its online training sessions and Pramod was selected to be a part of the fellowship programme. He learnt new innovative strategies for reading comprehension and implemented them with his students.

While the teachers did their best to keep the kids engaged, the children were wandering and creating a nuisance, which troubled their parents. Finally, the teachers met with the SMC authorities and requested them to restart school. Pramod and his colleagues agreed to hold classes for two hours every day. Much to the joy of teachers, parents and villagers, the children resumed some sort of a formal routine.

Written by HARSHAVARDHAN DANGE

25 Her sincerity and sense of responsibility push ASHA CHINE towards unconventional routes to accomplish her goals.

sha Chine’s scooter draws up towards the ‘kanda chawl’ or onion store, on the outskirts of Dubere, Awhich functions as a makeshift classroom for the students of Class IV of the local Zilla Parishad School. A group of bright- eyed ten-year-olds wait outside the room with masks on their faces. Asha takes off her helmet and with a smiling “Kashe aahat? (How are you?) ” in their direction, puts on her face mask, and opens the lock to the store. There are just nine students attending the makeshift school. “Where are the remaining two”, she asks. “Sarthak is unwell and Chaitanya has gone to visit his uncle,” she is told. away from home because there were no Shivraj Waje raises his hand. “Madam, colleges in her own village. The daughter will you please come to our house today?” of a poor farmer from Nashik district, she he asks. They’ve had a good crop and his faced great hardships to get an education. mother wants to gift Asha a sack of grapes. Now she is happy. She enjoys her work, “Nakko re baba!” she says, declining the even though it requires her to live away offer and joking that last year she got an from home in the small village of Dubere. upset stomach after eating their grapes. She feels good that her earnings ease her The class laughs. Asha, smiling, holds up father’s burden to some extent. a chart provided by CEQUE. “Dream,” she calls out. “Dream mhanje swapna.” Lockdown brought new challenges in her The children repeat after her. “Bought,” life as a teacher. In June the government she says. “Bought mhanje kharidi kele.” announced online classes. Asha recalls, “Surprise.” “Surprise mhanje ashcharya.” “Dubere is a village of farmers and They obediently repeat. labourers. Some of them had android phones, others bought new ones to help “As many as 70% of my students can follow their children study. But usually, there is what I teach but it is the remaining I want only one cell phone in the family, which is to work on. If I can keep them coming to with the father. We could schedule classes class regularly, it might change their lives”, only when they got back from work and she says. Asha Chine is a government could give their phones to the children.” school teacher and has been teaching for 12 There were other challenges too. years now. She wanted to become a doctor, The children were sincere to but her family couldn’t afford to send her to begin with but soon started medical school. She chose the viable option using their phones for playing of a two-year D. Ed., programme, living games, watching YouTube or making TikTok videos. The village also the roster and collect my salary, I felt so had network issues; some students couldn’t guilty that I would be up all night thinking, afford to buy android phones and missed ‘Kis baat ke paise le rahi hun? (What am classes; some didn’t have money to recharge I taking my salary for?)’; and there would the phone. Inevitably, there were dropouts. be no answer. Now that I see my students After the Diwali break, only eight out smiling and I look into their eyes to find of thirty-five students showed up for the that they have understood what I am In the months when class. That’s when Asha explored the idea teaching, it makes all the effort completely of taking physical classes. “I spoke to the worthwhile. Aata mala ratri changlee zop I only went to school parents and they welcomed it,” says Asha. lagte (Now I sleep well at night).” to sign the roster The class was split up into three groups of 12, 12, and 11, and each group would Written by RACHNA BISHT RAWAT and collect my attend classes two days a week. Social salary, I felt so guilty distancing was to be maintained and the that I would be up venues were picked in walkable distance from the kids’ homes. ‘Kanda chawl’ was all night thinking, one of the three venues chosen. Masks and ‘Kis baat ke paise le sanitizers were compulsory and students rahi hun?’ brought their own durries and sat three feet away from each other.

Taking physical classes against government advice was tricky and cumbersome. She need not have made so much effort given that she’d get paid regardless. “In the 28 months when I only went to school to sign ishal Borse speaks very fondly of Malegaon where he grew up and now teaches. It lies about V100 kilometres north-east of Nashik with its central attraction being Bhuikot Fort. Constructed in 1740, its ramparts still stand tall on the north banks of the Mausam river. Today the fort houses a high school, junior college and the semi-English New Primary school where 32-year-old Vishal VISHAL BORSE’S dedication and sense of duty works as a Grade IV teacher. The town towards his students motivate him to keep has a majority of Muslim residents, with a pushing forward. literacy rate of over 83%, much above the national average.

“Ours is a very well-integrated community and there’s a genuine desire to do good. Since it’s located along the national highway, Malegaon witnessed hordes of migrants travelling back to Uttar Pradesh and Bihar in the early weeks of the lockdown. Local families set up stalls along the highway to provide food and water to the travellers,” he recalls brimming with pride about the social consciousness of his townsfolk. 29 His students include labourers’ sons as well Vishal, who has a Diploma in Education, as children of lawyers and businessmen, believes in keeping himself updated on Muslims and Hindus. “Ours is a sought- new teaching techniques. In his tenth year after school; after all, it’s a novelty to be at the school, he got selected for CEQUE’s located inside a historic fort. We have fellowship programme. “I’ve found their children from all walks of life, including teaching methodologies very useful. Since those who can’t afford books and uniforms we implemented them, my students have and we provide them with these as part of developed a love for learning. They’re now the school’s social initiative.” able to summarize chapters more succinctly, answer off-beat questions, and are curious When schools first shut down in March about new words and concepts. Even the 2020, they thought it would be a temporary kids who never submitted their homework situation. But eventually, kids had to on time started working diligently. What be promoted to the next class without impressed me the most was the CEQUE conducting exams. “By June we knew team’s dedication—they managed to that we would have to take classes online prepare and have workbooks delivered and were prepared to start teaching via to us in the middle of the lockdown WhatsApp, Zoom, and educational videos. which proved extremely useful for online Fortunately, all 64 kids or their parents teaching.” had Android phones and we were already using WhatsApp groups to send them their Vishal was awarded a prize for innovative homework. We continued the same practice teaching in a competition organized by SIR and broadened it to include PDF files and Foundation in Solapur. Amongst his many videos from YouTube and other apps. inventive methods, one was organizing Where resources were unavailable, I made weekly e-competitions in different subjects. 30 my own videos.” “After a point, the kids started getting bored with online classes. So I organized smile. “You know, I’ve not met any of my competitions in everything from art and students from this batch as their classes craft to writing and singing. We started have only taken place online. Yet, when I’m giving out e certificates to the winners and driving through town or going somewhere this kept them motivated.” Stories of his for work, I get stopped by parents who online-learning initiatives got published in recognize me even when my face is a handful of Marathi newspapers including covered with a handkerchief! They thank Lokmat and Sakal. me and acknowledge the efforts I’ve taken to keep their children engaged Vishal’s dedication is remarkable because and interested in their school work. he went through a trying time in the initial Nothing makes me happier.” months of the lockdown. He shares, “My wife was pregnant and due in May. We Written by DEEPA DEOSTHALEE were by ourselves in Malegaon amidst a strict lockdown because of the many Covid positive cases in town. Those weeks were quite tense.” Eventually, he managed to drop her to her family and while it was lonely being by himself, he was able to focus on his work. “The CEQUE workshops happened around the same time and participating in them really helped me regain my confidence,” he adds.

Ask him what brings him the most satisfaction and he breaks into a broad 31 His steady & silent determination helped BALAJI NAIKWADE tackle many challenges to inculcate a love for learning in the youth.

or 39-year-old Balaji Naikwade, his mother is his greatest source of inspiration. An unlettered woman Fand a single parent, it was she who instilled the value of education in her children and ensured that they finished school against all odds. While he had to work as a farmhand to earn a living from a young age, he also earned scholarships and was considered a bright boy by his teachers. Yet, at every juncture, harsh realities kept putting roadblocks in his path. Growing up, he 32 learnt to make the best of what he had. Balaji has been a primary school teacher boy whom he weaned back into the school for the past 15 years. He continues to learn system by gentle persuasion and a nudge and is presently doing his second year to interact with the other kids. Very subtly M.A. in History through distance learning. and slowly, through nuggets of lessons, he For the past seven years, he has taught helped the kid develop a love for learning. math to first grade students at the Zilla Parishad school in Rajapur near Yeola. It’s When the pandemic hit, Balaji’s school, a drought-prone, impoverished area where like all others across the country, was shut. many residents are manual labourers who Since there were Coronavirus patients in travel to other villages to work in sugarcane the village, teachers were banned from fields or at brick kilns. Children often end entering. Many parents were unconcerned up managing households and taking care about a potential break in their children’s of younger siblings. Given the precarious education. “How does it matter if our financial condition of most families, owning son or daughter skips a school year?” they a smartphone or a television or radio is a would ask him. While he devised ways luxury few can afford. to ensure that he kept his classes going remotely, he also spent time talking to the “Ours is the only semi-English school villagers and guiding them about taking among the six ZP schools in the vicinity. adequate precautions against Corona. Unlike the others, where student enrolment has been dropping year on year, we have Before he joined the CEQUE Fellowship shown a steady increase,” he says with a Programme in 2020, Balaji had already proud smile. Some of the credit for this started making instructional videos goes to Balaji’s personal efforts. He sees a on YouTube, albeit only sporadically. reflection of his own difficult childhood in He attended ICT (Information and young dropouts. Take Ishwar, a 4th grade Communication Technology) workshops at 33 the State and Tehsil level and learnt how to groups to check their homework and give use video-making and animation apps. “I them fresh assignments.” Balaji devised actively participated in CEQUE’s webinars another strategy to keep students interested and learnt a lot from them. Through their in education. He reached out to older training, I realised that there are other boys who had studied with him and asked ways of imparting education beyond the them to gather younger children in their traditional linear techniques. Not only did it neighbourhoods and help them out with equip me with new tools and strategies for their school work. “I called them ‘Galli creating lesson plans, it also motivated me Mitra’ (neighbourhood friends) and their to acquire new skills and gave an impetus network helped my kids stay focussed on to my YouTube channel ‘Study with Balaji’, their assignments.” He also started a mobile where I have now posted more than 60 videos,” he says.

Balaji, like many rural teachers, had I called them ‘Galli Mitra’ to still overcome problems of poor (neighbourhood friends) & their connectivity and limited mobile access in the community. “Parents here aren’t savvy network helped my kids stay like in the city. And most households have focused on their assignments just one phone between three or four kids in different grades. Of the 30 students in my class, I formed a WhatsApp group with the 22 who had mobile access and library in the village. “We have lots of could watch the videos and lessons I sent books in our school and I circulated them them. For the rest, I would go to their among the students asking them to pass 34 homes and get them together in small each book on after they finished reading it. This encouraged them to read.” From June onwards, teachers were mandated to work at 50% staff capacity and so Balaji started taking the 20-kilometre journey to the village thrice a week. To this day, students aren’t required to attend school, but they trickle in while he’s there to clarify doubts or get help with their workbooks.

Ask him what gives him the greatest satisfaction and Balaji’s face breaks into a broad smile, “That my students genuinely love learning. When their parents call up to thank me for going out of the way to help them and keep them motivated, it makes me feel proud to be a teacher.”

Written by DEEPA DEOSTHALEE

35 Determined to provide quality teaching, JOLENA FURGOS adapts and tweaks her methods to fit her students’ needs.

midst lockdown, many workers still had to step out of their homes to provide essential services. They Awere described as ‘Covid warriors’ for their bravery in carrying out their duties despite the risks. While teachers weren’t expected to leave their homes and go to school, they too were battling on a different front, to continue the education of their students despite the odds.

Jolena Furgos, a Zilla Parishad school 36 teacher for the past 15 years in Vasai, was one such warrior. Jolena teaches Math a week, they had to miss online to children of Grades 5 to 8 and is very school on those days. popular among her students for her style of teaching where she uses innovative methods In the initial weeks of the to ensure they absorb their lessons. But even pandemic, Jolena visited her for her, online classes through the lockdown students to explain to them and have been a huge challenge. their parents what online learning would be like. In June she made Jolena’s school is in Tileej and has a sure that between 20 and 25 strength of 420 students. It’s housed in a students registered for online single building surrounded by mountains. classes. But many parents chose The students and their families have to send their children to work migrated into this region, some from the rather than study online because Konkan belt, and some from as far as Uttar they needed to supplement Pradesh, in search of livelihood. Some the family income. Even the stay in nearby chawls in cramped 10 by 10 concept of online education rooms, others in slums, and their fathers didn’t make much sense to work in factories producing spare parts and them. Jolena refused to accept plastic toys while the mothers make and defeat and started teaching a package small items such as clips, bindis, group of five students using pins, jewellery, etc. from home. After the Google Meet. There were many lockdown, many children had to help their obstacles such as network issues parents out with household activities. Some and their inability to grasp what even started working on a meagre salary of the teacher was saying due to Rs 1000 or more as cleaners or shop help. the multiple stoppages. Jolena Since the shops were open twice or thrice found that teaching mathematical 37 concepts, answering doubts, identifying pandemic, Jolena finds her class strength gaps and addressing them, reviewing and increasing day by day as the torch of giving feedback on solved assignments learning continues to burn. were all very difficult to achieve in this virtual medium. She then switched to Written by ASHISH KELSHIKAR She told each of PowerPoint presentations and started using a blackboard on the screen instead of them to bring along teaching orally. friends who didn’t One day, her student Ankita got two of have phones for the her friends along and sheepishly asked class. Just as two if they could also join the session. Jolena students sit on one readily agreed with a twinkle in her eyes. As soon as the class was over she went to bench in school, two the village and held a meeting with her five or more students students. She told each of them to bring would now use along friends who didn’t have phones for the class. Just as two students sit on one one phone bench in school, two or more students would now use one phone. And so more and more students joined Jolena’s classes. She also helped eight students from Grade 8 prepare for their scholarship exams in the school premises while maintaining social distancing. With her continued effort 38 towards making education accessible in the Empathetic & sensitive, REKHA SWAMI comes up with simple solutions to maintain her bond with her students!

wo years ago, at the age of 45, students’ parents work at industrial units Rekha Swami completed her in Boisar area. They belong to different graduation in Marathi literature. communities such as Adivasi, Ahir, TPerhaps this love for learning also inspires Maratha, Bhojpuri and Hindi. Children her to playfully and persistently lock of workers from U.P and Bihar often horns with the challenges of her job as a come into the school system completely government school teacher, to keep her unlettered. Upon lockdown, a few were second grade students, many of them first- taken back to their villages and have been generation learners, interested in school. gone ever since. How will they cope if they join school directly in the third grade?” she Rekha says, “The school I’ve taught at for worries. If they return to school at all, is a the past six years is in the Tarapur Atomic thought that lingers unspoken between us. Power Station (TAPS) colony, Palghar. My 39 “Since the end of March 2020, of my 26 Her home-made videos are quaint and students, I’m in touch with around 20. nothing short of charming. To her little Of these, only about 14 whose parents students, these would certainly appeal. have smartphones are under my academic They’re a combination of poems or stories guidance.” There is a catch to this too. told in her voice, posing questions in the Even just a little The one smartphone a family owns is end for the kids to answer. One storytelling often reserved for the older school-going is based on a Pratham Storyweaver book bit of contact children in the family. “I wondered how to called ‘Chhote Rangari’ or ‘The Small keeps the cords of teach in the digital mode,” she continues. “I Painters’. In response, she received videos initially sent educational YouTube videos. of students answering the questions she had attachment in place. But I wasn’t sure they were keeping the kids asked. Such as Devesh Bhunesar, who with Students know that engaged. The kids are in the second grade his freshly scrubbed face, neatly combed their teacher thinks and are often shy or scared of strange faces. hair, a small vermillion dot on his forehead, They’d also get distracted by all kinds of sits cross-legged in a clean shirt and shorts about them; parents things watching YouTube videos. I was sure against the wall of his home. He introduces feel the teacher’s that they’d be more open to learning from himself, his teacher and his school name me directly; my face and voice is what they and then answers each question that an concern and raise are used to after all.”So Rekha began to older sibling (off-camera) asks. A naughty their efforts to help make her own videos. “I brought out my gleam surfaces in his eyes from time to time. the children learn. children’s old blackboard, set it on a stand and used an app to record,” she explains. One video features a poem about butterflies Some videos are made simply by focusing from the second-grade Marathi textbook. the camera on her hand working out sums It has a child’s voice speaking the poem on the blackboard using chalk, while her with perfectly enunciated syllables, perfectly voice explains in clear detail what placed pauses. This is actually Rekha’s 40 she is doing. voice, tweaked in the Kinemaster app, to sound like that of a small child. The brings to her videos. But despite her efforts, poem is followed by her own adult tones Rekha worries about those children who explaining the theme, the beauty and don’t have access to phones and most of all, colour of the “phoolapakhru” that is akin the ones that went away. to the flowers it hovers over. At the end is a shot of one of her students reciting She continues her best to help those the same poem at a fast pace, ending with she can. With the parents and children a quick muttering of “dhanyavaad” or who have a smartphone, she has regular “thank you”. This variegated offering is a conversations over video calls. “We all net with which Rekha skillfully captures the feel less isolated when we reach out and attention and sets free the imagination of connect,” she smiles. “Even just a little bit her young students. of contact keeps the cords of attachment in place. Students know that their teacher Rekha learnt the value of her words and thinks about them; parents feel the teacher’s her presence right at the beginning of concern and raise their efforts to help the her career. “When I began 25 years ago, children learn.” working as a primary school teacher in a hamlet called Adivasi Pada in Dahanu, I Written by CHATURA RAO would go from door-to-door fetching the children,” she recalls. The hardest part of the new job posting was that she did not know the children’s mother tongue. She taught in a faltering mix of Warli bhasha and Marathi, with the students teaching her their language as much as she taught them hers. It is this power of the word, that she 41 Channeling his passion for acting in his teaching, RAJAN GARUD brings enthusiasm and playfulness to his classroom!

n the rains of 2009, Rajan Garud from Mumbai travelled to a village called Khorichapada, in Palghar district, on Ihis first posting as a teacher.

The children at the Zilla Parishad primary school spoke only Warli bhasha, the tribal dialect commonly spoken there. He learnt the dialect to be able to communicate with his students. This was not as hard as for Rajan, who always wanted to be a theatre actor. He recalls, “When I realised that acting wasn’t a financially viable option, Rajan. “I pushed all desks aside and created I went on to pursue my D.Ed. I decided space for us to sit in a circle on the floor. to be the best teacher I could be.” It has My teaching method is to keep a track of been twelve years since that monsoon, ten every child, especially the ones who tend to of which he has spent not just teaching get left behind in their studies. I help them tribal children but also developing bilingual catch up. This makes the class atmosphere stories, a Warli-Marathi dictionary, an much better, and also makes peer learning alphabet book where “a” stands not for possible, so that everyone can make the Marathi ananasa or pomegranate, but progress.” At the new school, Rajan lost no for anuna, Warli, for custard apple. These time in creating a climate of togetherness. award-winning tools have helped to bridge “Instead of eating in the staff the mother tongue-to-state language gap for room, I sat and ate my lunch with the young tribal learners. poorest children,” Rajan recalls. “Soon the other kids joined us. We began to All through these years, Rajan’s passion have our meals together.” for acting wasn’t lost. It transmutes into his work as a teacher. The physical prowess Rajan instantly builds a rapport of an actor has translated into training with his students and is constantly children for district-level sports; his flair for improvising to meet changing storytelling has opened avenues of dance, circumstances. These qualities music and theatre for the students. It also kept his students in good stead shows up, everyday, in his teaching style. through the lockdown. Early on, Two years ago, Rajan was transferred to Rajan realised that engagement District School Kardal at Safale town. with the children was important. He noticed some students formed groups He says, “When I heard about the and kept some others out. This troubled Zoom app, I phoned parents and 43 instructed them on how to download and spent playing in a schoolyard like the use it. We started online classes from April one in the picture. “I use pictures from 1st, seven days after the lockdown started.” their textbooks,” he explains. “They are supposed to learn the words associated with He didn’t jump into teaching right away. these pictures. But I wouldn’t make them In the grim reality of the pandemic, Rajan write these directly. Instead, I’ll ask them a realized the importance of first making a safe space. “I invited teacher-artists who work with puppets to our online class and interviewed them. Activities like these I invited teacher-artists who helped to keep the children from worrying. work with puppets to our online In the classroom too, before the lockdown, I’d teach through dialoguing, and they class and interviewed them. would learn, not knowing if I was playing Activities like these helped to or teaching! Through dialogue as a means keep the children from worrying. of learning, the kids often teach each other and I simply monitor them.” he adds.

The conversation that began in the description of what they saw. To get them classroom, face-to-face, was not hard to to identify objects using the right words, continue online. Rajan’s online classes are I’d also describe the object in roundabout highly interactive, where, against a neon- ways. Suppose the word is ‘clock’, I’d ask, hued image of a classroom, he initiates a what time does class start for us every discussion through text and images on the day? What were our school timings before screen. The children participate eagerly by lockdown? Through questions and riddles, 44 sharing their experiences of, say, an hour I’d bring forth the idea of time and a clock and eventually speak more about the clock and its use. I’d also bring in the aspect of math, by talking about the division of an hour into minutes and seconds.”

While the school is closed, their education continues. He recalls, “Recently, in our online classroom, a reticent boy named Vedant, said, ‘Sir, when will our school start? When will we get the chance to meet face-to-face and be together all day?’” It is words like these, spoken by a child straight from the heart, that make Rajan truly happy and proud to be a teacher.

Written by CHATURA RAO

45 With her infectious energy & drive, no one can stop KUNDA BACHHAV from making a difference through education!

46 t is 8 am on a sunny Thursday morning facing the eager readers. ‘Pustake Aapalya in Anandvalli village of Nashik. There Bhetila’ says a small placard placed in the is palpable excitement near the village foreground. “These books are yours too,” Itemple where a massive banyan tree stands it says. with its arms unfurled. Kids from ages 2 to 19 have started gathering. The students Kunda’s mobile library with its 200 books sport frayed, mismatched clothes with has been one of the most exciting things in rubber slippers on their feet, gamchas and the lives of Anandvalli village through the hankies tied up behind their heads to serve pandemic. It’s been coming to them, thrice as masks but their eyes sparkle every week—Mondays, Thursdays and with excitement. Saturdays from 8 am to 12 noon ever since schools shut down in March 2020. Kunda “Aali re aali. Madam aali.” A cry rings out. has tried to ensure that students from With a friendly honk, a grey Celerio winds economically backward areas stay in around the corner and comes to a stop touch with education. near them. Smiling, Kunda Bachhav, class teacher of standard 8, Mahanagar Palika “I teach slum children and understand Shala No 17, parks her car, gets out and is the constraints under which they study,” immediately surrounded by the youngsters. says the gentle but determined teacher Asking them to maintain distance, she pulls who looks younger than her 39 years. out cartons of books for them to carry. Since most of her students come from Soon, an old bedsheet has been spread families where both parents have to work out under the Banyan tree, and books are to keep the household running, older kids lined up with their bright shining covers are responsible for cooking and looking 47 after younger siblings. This interferes Kunda has also been focusing on making with regular schooling. “One of my main school interesting for children. “I want challenges is to convince parents that them to enjoy school so that they pressurize education provides the only opportunity for their parents to send them,” she explains. their kids to overcome poverty,” she adds. She has introduced them to laptops, which they find very attractive; she brings them One of my main Sometime back when Kunda noticed that books to read, tells them stories, gives them challenges is to one of her brightest students, Saakshi rides in her car which is a big thrill. Before convince parents Ahire, had stopped attending school, she the lockdown, Kunda booked the school drove down to Anandvalli and looked for van one morning and gave her students a that education her house. It was not easy to locate—with memorable outing. “I took my entire class provides the only an alcoholic father and a mother working to the city where we watched ‘Tanhaji’, ate as house help, the family of five lived ice cream and popcorn and the children opportunity for hand-to-mouth and frequently moved stepped inside a mall for the first time in their kids to houses in search of lower rents. “I learnt their lives.” She herself paid for this outing overcome poverty. that she could not come to school because for over 35 students. “Ham mandir mein she had to look after her siblings. I told her daan karte hain, iss se accha hai bacchon to start bringing them to school as well.” pe kharch kar dein. At least we can be Since then, the older of the two kids (4) instantly rewarded by their joy.” was admitted to the nearby Montessori school, the younger one (2) would sit in the Kunda’s efforts have borne fruit. Dropouts classroom with his 13-year-old sister. rates have gone down and admissions have

48 improved. “We are a corporation school but online sessions about ISRO and NASA. we are trying to be as good as private and She’s even convinced Apurva Jakhad, Space English medium schools. Society doesn’t Educator at NASA–Honeywell, to give her look at our children favourably but we are students a talk. Kunda’s efforts continue trying hard to change that outlook.” She to make education exciting, inspiring and has been giving regular lectures on socially value-adding to the lives of her students. relevant topics during the lockdown, inviting experts from various fields to online Her efforts spring from a place of empathy. chats with her students. “We are twinning Kunda’s father is a poor farmer. “While I with other schools around the world was doing my D.Ed., I had to take a bus and when my students speak in English and then walk four kilometres every day and conduct themselves with so much since I never had the money for an auto. confidence, my heart fills with pride.” Today I am a government school teacher. Education got Kunda has also been able to involve the me out of poverty and I community in supporting children from believe it can do the same the underprivileged strata. Her husband for my students as well.” donated sweaters to all her students, her friends have supported her by donating Written by RACHNA BISHT RAWAT books, groceries and sanitary pads, while the Sakaal group has adopted needy students. The children have been attending

49 With persistent effortsKALPANA MANE recreates the experience of a physical classroom on a digital screen.

alpana Mane pondered over the previous day’s mathematics class. “It wasn’t very exciting,” Kshe reflected. It was difficult to explain the concept of subtraction with the help of a number line in an online session. With these thoughts playing on her mind, she prepared for the next day’s lesson. It was a language class for Grade II students and she had to teach them a poem. Before introducing the poem, she would show them a few pictures that could describe the elements from the poem. In order to engage them, she would 50 also prepare a list of questions to be asked. This is how a typical day looks for Kalpana two decades of teaching experience had in the new world of online teaching. A prepared her for this new reality. primary school teacher at the Gandhi Bal Mandir in Kurla for the last 22 years, The 30 students in Kalpana’s Grade II Kalpana calls school her ‘second family’, class belong to humble backgrounds. Many and asserts that her zeal and enthusiasm fathers are daily wage workers and mothers for the profession hasn’t waned with the are predominantly homemakers. At the passage of time. Preparing for start of the academic year, Kalpana formed each class is as important a WhatsApp group but the challenge before to her as cooking a her was to get students to concentrate for special meal for guests 30 to 40 minutes at a time during online visiting her home. When classes. To try and maintain the routine the lockdown was from their days in school, she would begin announced, Kalpana the day with a morning prayer, followed by was in a quandary a short conversation with the class before about the shift to actual lessons. Students’ concentration online teaching. would start dipping not long after the lesson Nothing in her started and they would get restless and find

51 it difficult to sit in one place. She called up in a manner that enabled her to write on a each parent individually and asked them blackboard and have her students read it. to designate a spot in the house for the online class. She told them to put up a small sheet or dupatta as a background screen for the child to identify the spot. Soon a She told them to put up a few of the students started following this routine and as she encouraged them, the small sheet or dupatta as a feel of their usual classroom began to be background screen for the child simulated in these artificial settings. In June 2020, she enrolled herself in the Teacher to identify the spot. Soon the Pages Programme to learn more about feel of their usual classroom imparting online training in Mathematics began to be simulated in these and languages. These webinars gave her a new perspective on strategies to apply in artificial settings her own teaching.

As days and months passed, students started enjoying the Zoom school and parents To ensure that students have actually didn’t need to monitor their attendance. absorbed what she’s teaching, Kalpana But Kalpana still missed the most vital assesses what they learnt in the previous component of the physical classroom—the class before beginning the day’s lesson. blackboard. For her, a classroom without Since many of the students speak a a blackboard was like a ship without an different language at home, she uses poems, anchor. Taking her son’s help she used a drawings, songs, and stories to get them 52 tripod to help position her mobile phone comfortable with conversing in class. She organizes online games such as ‘Guess the picture’ and also tries to get the parents involved in making the kids study.

With persistence to keep the children engaged and motivated to continue their education, Kalpana has managed to create a virtual classroom and bring her students the joy of learning even during the lockdown.

Written by ASHISH KELSHIKAR

53 Creating strong relationships using minimal technology helps SMRUTI TEMKAR keep her students engaged in virtual classrooms

mruti Temkar, a teacher at Shivaji Vidyalaya in Kanjupada, Kurla, was assigned Class I in 2020. Except – Sthanks to the pandemic, lockdown, and closure of schools – there was no way to get to know the tiny tots in her class. It was equally difficult for the students who in their first year of school had to face the challenges of studying via mobile phone.

Eighty per cent of the students live in the adjacent slum area. Their parents are mostly daily wage earners working as auto-rickshaw drivers, watchmen, vegetable 54 vendors, or, in the case of women, domestic help. Six-year-old Nidhi, whose father works as a peon in her school, has missed all the excitement of starting school—seeing her new classroom, getting a uniform, told her that unless she was able to connect timetable, books and school bag, and of individually with each child, they wouldn’t course, meeting her class teacher. Smruti, listen to her. To begin with, she called up a veteran with 21 years in the profession, each child to chat and get to know them. has mastered the art of creating a special She talked to them without inhibition or bond with each of her students. Her apprehension, despite the barrier of not approachable attitude helps her teach in a being face to face. very friendly environment. She says with a lot of conviction, “My students are like my By the beginning of June, she had started shadow. They are around me all the time. a WhatsApp group with 15 students on They reflect what I do in the classroom and board. To introduce herself to the class she carry their impressions into the world. I made a video singing an introductory poem hate being disconnected from them.” How about herself and sent it to all the students. could she create a friendly bond with them The children followed her cue and each over a mobile phone? Her experience one of them sent a poem about themselves. That broke the ice. Smruti started teaching them using Google Meet. She was not very computer savvy, but she managed to learn as she went along. 55 The next challenge was getting little kids one and two students no longer needed to focus on the lesson and listen to the to attend online classes. Smruti was very teacher for 15– 20 minutes at a stretch and upset—she had just gotten the children gradually increasing the class duration. She acquainted with continuing school in a new would begin the lesson with a fun game manner. activity such as ‘recognizing different bird Her experience sounds’ or ‘objects around the house’, etc. While she was trying to figure a way out told her that unless ‘Let’s learn’ soon became a favourite game of this conundrum, she received a message and she kept adding new ones to keep them from Nidhi responding to her WhatsApp she was able to engaged. “Nidhi, you’re up so early!” her profile photo, “Madam you look so good!” connect individually mother laughed. “Yes, today I have an This gave Smruti an idea. She decided to acting class. I really enjoy it,” Nidhi replied. continue teaching on WhatsApp and told with each child, they But she was still disappointed that she had her students that whoever completed their wouldn’t listen not seen her teacher properly. “We could worksheet or assignment and sent her a to her. ask her to send us a photo of herself,” her photo of their work on WhatsApp, could mother suggested. It was a month since become her WhatsApp profile picture. online classes had commenced and the The idea was well-received by parents bond of friendship between Smruti and her and students and it encouraged them to students was getting stronger. complete their work on time. Through consistently innovating, Smruti managed to Around this time, there was an stay connected with her class through the announcement that pre-school and Class pandemic.

56 One day, she got a call from Nidhi who insisted on meeting her. Smruti was overwhelmed by this because it was her reward for working so hard over several months. Not long after, she was able to restart online classes and found her students participating with great enthusiasm. While both Nidhi and Smruti are still waiting to see each other in person, with the help of technology, they managed to bridge the physical distance and keep the torch of learning burning bright.

Written by ASHISH KELSHIKAR

57 Integrity and responsibility towards his students impel NAMDEV CHANDGIR to go the extra mile.

ix days in the week, school teacher and opens his laptop. Soon kids of different Namdev Chandgir kicks his black ages start collecting around him; girls in old Hero Splendor into action and drives frocks and salwar kameez, boys in faded S30 km from Shahpur to Kasara. He rides trousers. Some with slippers, some barefoot. another 15 km ahead to reach the chawdi They emerge from their thatched huts with of Tokharkhand village, a public space copies and books and sit down on the used for holding meetings, discussions, and ground in front of him, masks in place. panchayats. Parking his bike, he removes his When he feels enough students have helmet. “Chala mulanno, atta ya,” he calls gathered, he starts teaching. out. “Me ithe aahe. Class suru honar aahe.” He repeats his message one more time and Namdev is the class teacher of standard IV, then sits down on the katta or cowdung- Swami Vivekanand Adivasi Ashramshala, lined mud platform, ties a handkerchief a residential school in Chindhyachi Wadi, 58 half-folded into a triangle around his nose that was temporarily closed because of 59 the pandemic. It has been more than six months since he has been going from hamlet to hamlet to take physical classes for his students. Namdev says he realised Teachers who work with early in the lockdown that online classes underprivileged children often would not work for them. “There are 450 students in our school, with nearly 50 need to think out of the box in each class. Most of them come from and many of them go out on a Scheduled Tribes like the Warlis, Malhar Kolis, Katkari samaj, Thakur samaj, etc. limb to ensure that their students They belong to very poor families, with do not drop out of the process only a few who have access to smartphones. of education. And even they cannot attend online classes since their village does not have cell phone connectivity,” he explains. Most parents are daily wage labourers and migrate to big nearly 10 hamlets within 50 km radius cities like Nashik and Ahmednagar to work of the school. It was not an easy task to on construction sites or brick kilns. Some convince the villagers. “While some villages go to Pune in the harvesting season to work were receptive to us, others were afraid to in sugarcane fields, leaving children behind let us enter their precincts since they feared with grandparents or relatives. that we could be bringing the disease. They had barricaded entrances with boulders He decided that physical classes were the and branches,” he recounts. “I requested only solution and since his students could my school headmaster and wardens to not come to him, he would go to them. accompany me. We set up meetings with Namdev’s 40 students were scattered in the village headman and Gram Panchayat members and assured them that we had no symptoms of Corona, we would maintain social distancing, and we were also taking all possible precautions to stay disease-free,” explains Namdev. Some villages agreed at once, others came around slowly when they got reassurance from neighbouring hamlets.

Classes were started, with Namdev covering three hamlets in a week on alternate days and getting children of nearby hamlets to attend the classes as well. He would reach the hamlet around 11 am, call out to the children and teach them in public spaces like the aanganwadi or the samaj mandir, mostly indoors since it was monsoon. Around 1 pm, he would have lunch, fix his mask back and head for the next hamlet. Around 4.30 pm he would close the session there and make the hour-long drive back home. He would spend alternate days preparing lectures, slides, videos, etc. “I had as many as 20–25 students in each class, out of whom only five or six would be from class IV,” he smiles, “I never turned away any student. I was joined by my colleague 61 Varsha Sunil Jagtap who also helped.” Now, school with the cattle, there is a lot of grass all teachers have started taking classes and near the school. The animals will graze every teacher has been assigned two villages there while classes are going on. When so Namdev goes to the same two villages six school gets over, Pravin can take them back days a week. It has always been a challenge home,” he told the child’s parents, adding, to get children from communities that have “I will also keep a watch on the animals to fight hard to sustain their daily lives as from my classroom window and make they find it harder to continue education, sure they don’t stray.” Pravin was soon Namdev says. He adds that solutions in back in school. these cases are simple but just need some accommodation by the school and the Teachers who work with underprivileged teacher. He shares a story from the pre- children often need to think out of the Corona days. When ten-year-old Pravin box and many of them go out on a limb Gawanda, a tribal kid, suddenly stopped to ensure that their students do not drop coming to school, Namdev got worried out of the process of education. Their and went to look for him. Upon reaching contribution to making India literate is Pravin’s house in Chindhyachiwadi village immense and, unfortunately, often goes he discovered that Pravin’s parents, both of unreported. Namdev is one such teacher whom worked as daily wage labourers, had and is extremely embarrassed when you stopped him from coming to school. “The mention this to him. “I know what we family owned three cows and ten sheep. managed was not perfect but it was our Since they could not afford to employ best effort,” he says. “I am only doing my anyone to look after the cattle, Pravin had job as a teacher.” to take the animals for grazing which they felt was a higher priority than sending Written by RACHNA BISHT RAWAT 62 him to school,” he explains. “Send him to

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

ASHISH KELSHIKAR DEEPA DEOSTHALEE Ashish Kelshikar, a post-graduate in education, Deepa Deosthalee is a former journalist and teacher. works as a Math Pedagogue at CEQUE. He is She has worked with various media organisations actively involved in designing the Math Curriculum including The Indian Express, Star Television and for CEQUE’s Teacher Innovator Program. He Elle Magazine and freelanced for publications such works very closely with teachers, coaching them to as Outlook, Tehelka, The Week, Rediff.com and adopt best practices in their classroom. Reporting The Hindu. She has taught Film Appreciation and from the field, this year he has explored his latent Writing for Journalism to post-graduate students at talent of writing and shared inspiring stories of the the Mumbai University. work done by teachers during the pandemic. HARSHAVARDHAN DANGE CHATURA RAO Harshavardhan Dange leads the Teacher Innovator Chatura Rao is a journalist, as well as a children’s Program at CEQUE in the districts of Gadchiroli and adult fiction writer. Her book, Gone and Chandrapur. He has written and hosted several Grandmother, was awarded The Hindu Good Books radio programs in the local dialect, that have been award for Best Picture Book in 2017. She received aired on All India Radio, Chandrapur, Nagpur and The Laadli National Award for Gender Sensitive Aurangabad. Popular among them was a series titled Reporting 2017 - Best Web Feature for her article ‘Ho ji ho’, and ‘Hat Ghalun Tiracha Matera’. His titled, ‘Women and the Trouble Within/Without short stories and articles have been published in Homes’ and The Southern Region Laadli 2020 – newspapers such as ‘Dainik Lokmat’, ‘Dainik Sakal’ Best Magazine Feature for her article titled, ‘School and ‘Dainik Mahavidarbh’. of Hard Knocks’. She teaches creative writing and information arts at the Srishti Institute of Art, 64 Design and Technology, Bengaluru. RACHNA BISHT RAWAT Rachna Bisht-Rawat is a journalist and writer who has authored five books on the Indian Army, including three for Penguin Random House. Notable among them is the book ‘Kargil’ that tells stories of extraordinary human courage during the battle. The only Indian to be selected for the Harry Brittain Fellowship, 2005, organized by the Commonwealth Press Union, her work has been published in The Statesman, Indian Express, Deccan Herald, Outlook, Discover India & Femina.

65 66 67 DURING THE PANDEMIC AND SCHOOL CLOSURE IN MAHARASHTRA…

Kunda Bacchaw began a mobile library of 200 books for her students in Anandvalli village, Nashik

Pramod Khandekar used walls of village houses to paint blackboard to teach children in open classrooms in Adpalli village, Gadchiroli

Smruti Temkar put up photographs of students that completed their assignments as her WhatsApp profile picture to keep them engaged in virtual learning in Kurla, Mumbai.

This book celebrates the innovativeness of teachers who soldiered on, despite the impossible circumstances of the year-long school closure during the pandemic. Belonging to government or low-income schools, and part of CEQUE’s Teacher Innovator Program, these teachers devised imaginative solutions that sustained the learning of children from the most vulnerable populations – from migrant labour to urban slums and remote villages.

WHAT WERE THESE SOLUTIONS? HOW DID THE TEACHERS IMPLEMENT THEM? This book is a must-read on how teachers, students and communities came together to learn during one of the most challenging times in human history.

68 Published with the support of