Till few months ago, children studying in the Government Primary School in Cuddalore district’s Keeranur were lagging in academics. They were struggling to cope with the burden of studies. But not any longer. They have developed an active interest in learning now and this turnaround has been made possible by P. Vasanthan, a teacher of the same school.
“When I first entered the class, I was disappointed to see a lot of non-performers despite plenty of talent. It did not take long to find out that the childrens’ home environment was not conducive. Most of them had drunkard fathers and were troubled. I helped the children write postcards to their fathers on ill effects of drinking and how thebehaviour at home affected their studies. I also organised anti-liquor campaign and staged street plays involving the children. The results were good as almost 60 per cent of the fathers discontinued drinking alcohol,” says Vasanthan.
Vasanthan’s mission did not end with this one school where he also mobilised funds to provide basic amenities in the school. Once his task is achieved, he applies for transfer and moves to another school, which he feels, needs his contribution. He got into this drive inspired by Kalakala Vagupparai, a group of Government schoolteachers formed to encourage and inspire teachers to improve quality of teaching in Government schools.
Like him there are many primary school teachers in the group who are now part of the Tamil Nadu syllabus formation committee. “I help students to look beyond the subjects by introducing multiple activities that make learning easy. For instance, while teaching a lesson on life of butterfly, I took my students to nearby garden and showed them the various stages of metamorphosis ,” says, Sasiakala, headmaster of Govenrment Primary School, Vandavasi. She has meticulously recorded all her activities in classroom and recently published a compilation Idhu Engal Vagupparai .
It all started when drawing master turned Tamil teacher R. Siva and his like minded teacher friends Ramanan, Balamurugan, Muthukumar and Suresh Kathan casually discussed ways to improve the quality of education.
“I joined a Government school as a drawing master and became close with my students as I could help to relieve them from the burden of studies. But I did not realise it then till I became the Tamil teacher and was shocked to find lot of students failing in the subject. When they can speak well in a language, why can’t they read and write in that language is still a mystery,” says Siva.
So he opened a facebook page Teach Tamil where he posted his queries and initiated a discussion. A chance meeting with retired Tamil professor, Madasamy, who was integral part of the State Government’s Arivoli Movement, helped Siva and his friends to form Kalakala Vagupparai.
Siva organised a residential camp and invited Government schoolteachers from all over the State. At a time when teachers were hesitant to attend any training organised by the Government, entries for the camp poured in. “The response was overwhelming. It was encouraging to see teachers willing to spend from their pocket to attend the camp,” he says.
Experts in different fields were roped in to make teachers understand what they can do other than teaching subjects. Teachers were introduced to clay modelling, fine arts, folk and theatre arts and in subsequent camps they were also introduced to books, documentaries, short and feature films on education.
The group has gathered around 400 members in two years. Members of Kalakala Vagupparai from Madurai and neighbouring districts regularly meet to thrash out problems they face in the classrooms while those from other parts of the State meet once a year during summer vacation. “I don’t insist members to come down to Madurai to meet under the same banner, they can also form their own group in their region and meet regularly and discuss,” says Siva.
Such meetings have also inspired teachers to try out different techniques to motivate the students. “Our main focus is on primary school teachers as they lay the foundation for a subject. We help them acquire basic knowledge in all subjects,” says Siva.
Taking cue from Kalakala Vagupparai, many such groups like ‘Asathum Arasu Palli Asiriyar’ and ‘Kalviyalargal Sangam’ have come up with similar objectives.
TEACHER’S CHOICE
Siva carries a brief case to his class every day. It is full of books on edutainment. There are also comic books. Students are encouraged to read those books and they are also free to take home books. He once screened Poompuhar to help students understand epic Silappathigaram . “I try to break away from the rote learning method and guide students to think differently,” he says.
Suresh Kathan, a post graduate teacher of Government Higher Secondary School, Pothumbu near Madurai, everyday goes to his class with an etymological dictionary and takes one word for discussion. “It was very interesting. I get a lot of information. When I searched for school, the etymology said it originally meant a place to rest. May be you learn something during the leisure time,” says Suresh.
