Mumbai: To increase interest in science among tribal students, the State government has started a special programme covering teacher training, better science labs and creating reading corners. The initiative, being carried out in collaboration with Eklavya Foundation, will be implemented in over 400 tribal ashram schools.
Providing guidance to the government will be scientists from top institutes including IIT-Bombay, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research(IISER) Pune, Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education (HBCSE) and TIFR. For better science laboratories, teachers and students will be given science kits, while labs and libraries will be reviewed and upgraded.
Sunil Patil, Deputy Secretary, Tribal Development Department (TDD), said a Memorandum of Understanding between his department and the Ekalavya Foundation was signed for this programme last week. “This is aimed at encouraging students to perform science experiments on their own to understand the subject better. Ekalavya Foundation has been working in this field for over 30 years and their basic philosophy is, children learn better if they do it on their own. We expect the experiment will increase love for science among students.”
Milind Thatte, Organiser, Vayam, an organisation working with tribals, said the experiment is an encouraging sign. “The basic idea is fine and that is how any subject should be taught. This will also increase curiosity about the subject in the minds of students and we hope it turns out a success story,” said Mr Thatte, .
The government has also started a project to improve English among tribal students. The language will be taught with non-verbal and contextual cues, music, audio and visual aids. Also, English will be taught as a spoken language, not as a written one. An MoU has been signed with Karadi Path, a language learning organisation, for teaching English in 132 ashram schools ina two-year programme for Classes II to IX.
An independent researcher with the TDD said security and health of students in ashram schools were never a part of guidelines.
She added that many teacher posts are vacant since years, and temporary teachers don’t get quality training. “The quality of education has always been questioned. Interestingly, education department was never consulted to improve academics of ashram schools,” she said.
