IAS Diaries Part 27 - Project S.T.A.R

 As education lays the foundation of mostly everything, it is important that we do our best with the resources we already have. Project STAR aims to do just that. The acronym stands for School Transformation by Augmenting Resources and clearly states the objective. With whatever resources we have in the educational machinery as of today, we need to bring them together, train them better and facilitate a convergence model to get the best out of them. That is the whole philosophy behind project STAR.

There are several components to this Project but the fundamental value would remain to be the attempt to make the education process more intensive and inclusive. We need to expand the horizon which only deals with the syllabus as prescribed in the books. We need to showcase to students the various opportunity that open up after schools, the myriad disciplines they can choose for graduation and then how to achieve all this with the resources at their disposal. It would also be using a lot of volunteers and government servants who would want to contribute to improve the status of local government schools.

The Project can run under the overall guidance of the Deputy Commissioner/DM/Collector who would then involve other public servants who volunteer for this work. The offices of DSEO/SDSEO/Education Officer would be completely involved in various aspects of the implementation. Their presence is most crucial for ensuring faster communication with the students and teachers. The BRCs and CRCs would play a crucial role to monitor the implementation of this project. For closer monitoring of the project, few worst performing schools may be selected as sample and all the components of the project shall be deployed in these schools. The results shall be again taken after one full academic sessions to analyze the changes. 

Components of Project STAR – There are several components which needs to be dealt with separately by dedicated task forces. In this segment we will look at these components in a detailed manner. At the district level, different officers may be made responsible to look into one component

Career Counselling -  This is one of the most urgent aspect which needs to looked into as the students are not at all aware of the several options which are available these days in terms of variety of job and employment opportunities. As a result of this they are not able to understand the importance of the whole education system. Most of these students in rural areas are first generation learners and their parents and guardians are mostly engaged in agriculture activities and they did not go to school. Therefore, there is an immediate need to make these students aware the numerous opportunities that open up with good education.

In these Career Counselling sessions, various officers serving in different Line Departments may be called. As these officers will have different educational background and work experiences, it will definitely open up the minds of students to unknown oppurtunites. The Multifacility Centers (MFCs) present in all the blocks may be used as a venue. Schools which have large halls or rooms may be also used as cluster centres for conducting such workshops. The Public Information Offices across the districts may be involved to provide PA systems in the sessions.

But since the schools are scaterred all over the district, it is impossible to cover all the schools for such workshops. Here again, the need is to create clusters of several schools in the radius of 5 km and decide a venue for several activities under Project STAR. The education department already has that kind of division in form of school clusters and the respective CRC can be enhaged for the necessary coordination for these activities. These CRCs must be provided with latest Multimedia gadgets so that the power of pictures and videos can be fully tapped in to explain concepts to children. 

These charts will be provided to all the schools under Project STAR along with other educational posters and materials.Various other activities which can be undertaken to make aware children about all the career options are :

1. Exposure trips to various important cities and industries nearby.

2. Organization of a Career Related Seminar at the district level

3. Inviting guest speakers on different topics every month

4. Screening and broadcasting various documentaries related to science and technology

5. News reading and discussion on current affairs in the morning assembly

Teacher Training – Training is one process which is meant to be eternal. There used to be times when training was only imparted at the beginning of the job or profession and the nature of the training used to be very particular in terms of subject matter. Now if you see any institution, the trainings have been more diverse and recurring and rightly so. There are so many refresher training from time to time during the career progression of the employees. The same needs to be facilitated for the teachers. Knowing the contents of the syllabus is simply not enough as a Teacher must also possess mastery in communication skills. He must also understand the psychology of children to make the process of learning easy and fun. He must also be able to use the Multimedia aids to make the learning more effective and efficient. Moreover, following measures should be taken at the state and at the district level to ensure we improve upon the existing state of teacher training:

1. Ministry of HRD, Govt of India and other institutions working in the field of educational training have developed several platforms for the purpose of teacher training and resource collection. The teachers must be trained regarding the use of such online resource.

2. The teachers should also be provided with several refresher courses from time to time encapsulating the recent techniques of effective teaching.

3. Emphasis should also be given on imparting trainings regarding the use of ICT in the teaching process. Computer training should be made mandatory for all the teachers. In this age of information, this becomes all the more important. 

Personality Development -  Only getting a passing certificate from school is not enough these days. To get admission into colleges and other institutions, what is also required is a good personality. In the various visits made across the West Garo Hills District schools, it was ubiquitously observed that the children are only doing passive learning. Mostly they are sitting in the class listening to the teacher without any kind of participation from there end. They were not able to even give an introduction in English or Garo. The following activities may be undertaken by schools or clusters to ensure personality development :

1. Holding competitions like Poetry recitation, debates, elocution, essay writing etc at the school or cluster level

2. Public Speaking by students every day in the morning assembly

3. Role plays and Group Discussions to be held on various topics

4. Ensuring conduction of Sports and Games 

Innovation and Creativity -  There are several attempts made to inculcate creativity and to promote innovation among students. But most of these science exhibitions and competitions are organized in the urban schools and clusters. And most of Meghalaya being rural, the participation in such events is marginal and mostly is limited to the district headquarter schools across the state. That was, the rural and remote schools and the students studying there are missing out on these quintessential resources of learning. We must hence organize such competitions and seminars at the district and block level to make the learning process even more inclusive. Following measures may be taken to under this component:

1. Organization of District Level competitions for identifying and encouraging creativity and innovation.

2. Institution of District level and Cluster level awards.

3. Ensuring participation in State and National Level Science exhibitions and Olympiads.

4. Creation of at least one Science theme park at the district head quarter where exhibits from across the district can be displayed

Ethics – Education has several dimensions and one which is often neglected is the inculcation of several values and virtues through the institution of schools. One of the major objective of the whole Education Machinery is to create a good set of human beings who can make the world a better place by contributing in a constructive way. For that to happen it is important that we teach our children in the formative years of learning the relevance of certain virtues be it gender equality, compassion , integrity, discipline, team work etc.The students may be engaged in these following activities to introduce them to the world of ethics:

1. Engaging them in NSS or some kind of Social Service Society

2. Celebrating various important days across the year which symbolize various ethos. For e.g World Environment Day etc. 

3. Streaming movies and documentaries on certain topics

4. Special classes to be taken on gender equality, environment, social justice etc.

Adopt A School -  Public Participation is an essential element if any public movement is to be successful. And in a country like ours, where the numbers are so high for everything and the resources are getting scarce by day, nothing can be achieved without involving the people and without making it a pubic movement. One example is Swachh Bharat Mission(SBM) where the scale of achievement was only possible by the involvement of all citizens. We need the same to revive the educational institutions run by the government which serve the underprivileged majority.  By #AdoptASchool campaign, we put forward an appeal to the privileged ones to take ownership of one of the govt school nearby. Repair it, renovate it, beautify it, provide teaching tools, take counselling sessions or volunteer to teach the kids, do whatever you can to improve the current state of affair. Read more about this campaign, CLICK HERE. 

Survey and Assessment – Before any new steps are taken with certain objectives in mind, it is very important that we ascertain the ground conditions and understand in totality the present status. To understand the learning levels of children, small tests and assessments may be administered from a random sample. Based on the data received, an intensive study and analysis would give us the real picture of education in the sampled area and would throw some light on what interventions are to be made.

The following chronology may be adopted for the purposes of survey and assessment:

1. Firstly, the previous year’s results need to be collected and collated to understand the weaknesses and trends in the failure rates. The level of understanding of students can also thus be assessed.

2. Based on these results, a questionnaire may be prepared with clarity of what is being assessed by administering it. The same may be taken on one single day or in a phase wise manner through out the district.

3. The staff from DIETs and other education department staff may be engaged to administer this questionnaire.

4. Like in other states of Gujarat and Assam, “Gunotsav” may be organized wherein the staff  of line departments are sent to schools decided randomly for inspection and taking tests.

5. The results from these surveys may then be used to create special intervention Cluster wise, as the problems are always different in different areas and one single solution would not work everywhere.

Read more posts from IAS Diaries - CLICK HERE  

The aquatic symphony

From the five meter high watch tower, he threw a ball made of rice-flakes like a projectile off a canon. And as soon as the ball started it's free fall, the fishes seemed already aware that food was on the way. All of sudden, they were swirling around with unprecedented pace.

This is common sight across various fish sanctuaries in Garo Hills, places where the local communities have taken a resolve to conserve fishes. Yet another ball was in the air, and yet again they drifted in collaboration. Amidst the chaos of splashing sounds, you could see the creative confluence. As if, someone out there, was choreographing, this aquatic symphony!

Plastic Free Year

Last year when I came to Dadenggre, during my early days I saw overwhelming quantities of plastic and polythene bags mixing with the local streams. In such rural and remote areas, there is no municipal body or any other institution to process the garbage generated. Even at places where it is collected, most of it is dumped into landfills. Lately, there have been so many research articles on how marine life is getting critically endangered and environment is getting badly affected by the plastic menace. It was then that I decided to reduce my plastic footprint by following these:

1. When going to market, take a reusable Cloth bag along. Say NO to poly-bags.
2. Carry your own water, say NO to plastic water bottles.
3. Say NO to plastic straws.
4. Say NO to junk food. It is unhealthy and comes in plastic packaging.
5. Process your organic waste by home compost.
6. Buy natural fabric clothing. It feels good too.
7. Don't litter.

After one year, I feel proud of having adhered to all these pointers. And in 2019, I resolve to further reduce my plastic footprint. Will you join me ?

#BeatPlasticPollution #HappyNewYear #Resolution #GoGreen

Book Review- Invisible Cities

A collection of Marco Polo's travel diaries where he goes on describing cities endlessly. It is intriguing in the sense that how every city can have it's own story, it's own soul and a unique description. As if cities were persons. It is debatable whether he actually describes distinct cities or they are just random scribbles about Venice, at different places, in different times and while in different moods. The writings are perhaps too vintage for the contemporary readers. At times the repetitive element in the flow makes the affair humdrum. Perhaps a good read before or during  your travels to European cities. 

Book Review - Animal Farm

A classic that every one must read about the vicious cycle of rebellions and freedom. The story is setup in a farm where the animals are fed up of being slaves to the owner who is a human. They are fed up that the profits are cornered by the owner whereas they do all the hard word. And then, there comes a rebellion. They take over the farm and live happily but only for a while. One can relate it to events that happened several times in human history. A simplistic and amusing tale of how society evolves, with subtle shades of advice on how it could have.

At the end, these last few lines sum it up nicely. "Twelve voices were shouting in anger, and they were all alike. No question,now, what had happened to the faces of the pigs. The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which".

Book Review - Jugaad Innovation

A tremendous collection of examples from around the world of how creative and determined people have taken up a problem and resolved it by their innovations which are simple and affordable. The book without doubt is a strong case for an approach to look out for simple solutions to our day to day problems. A must read for the school kids and college youth as it enumerates zillions of examples of how several start-ups by youngsters around the world have pioneered solutions to complex problems.

The book itself has inspired several people and groups to start their own jugaad forums via which several innovative products have come through. A refreshing read on innovation with a spiritual theme that most solutions for life problems are 'simple'.

IAS Diaries Part 26 - Adopt A School

Education has always been my top priority. Fortunately during our stint at the Central Secretariat, I was attached to MHRD. It was indeed a great learning experience to observe the nuances of the education policy being deliberated. We were fortunate to visit Rajasthan and witness firsthand how they were improving their education sector so swiftly, the details of which you can read HERE. We also, as a batch, tried to cover as many Kendriya Vidyalayas as were possible for counselling sessions, more details HERE. And where ever I have been posted, I always went around covering as many schools and colleges as I could, for career counselling sessions.  When I joined as SDO(Civil) Dadenggre, the first thing I wanted to see, were the government schools. So every morning we would start early before office hours to inspect few schools. And after a month, the picture was pretty clear. But unfortunately very dismal.

The picture collage above is of Songadingre LP School in Dadenggre and the story of almost all the schools runs similar to this one. A typical LP school here would have 2-3 rooms at most, 2-3 teachers and around 30-40 children. Students of all classes are packed into one single room given the paucity of space and teachers. The ambiance is non-existent. The aesthetics are a foreign phenomenon. But the formality of education crawls forward. The word 'forward' really being debatable here. By the time I finished visiting most of the schools in the subdivision, we had completed a pilot project of making a Model Anganwadi center. You can read about it HERE. After few weeks we observed that the attendance had significantly improved, the kids were staying in the center for more time and the Anganwadi worker got highly motivated. We thought we should do the same for schools and from there came the idea of "Adopt A School". 

Under the able guidance of our Deputy Commissioner Shri Ram Singh, IAS, we were already in the process of conceptualizing a campaign to improve our education domain. We had named it as Project STAR (School Transformation by Augmenting Resources). As the name suggests, we had in mind a convergence platform wherein we pool in several resources already existing to enhance various strands of education vertical. One of the objectives under Project STAR is to improve the infrastructure of the government schools. Apart from the dovetailing of several other schemes to achieve this, we thought of crowd funding and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)  also. 

It was during this time that I came across the news that our Honorable Chief Minister Shri Conrad K Sangma donated his salary to renovate a school in Nongstoin. It was such an inspirational gesture with an appeal to others to follow suit. I decided that I would take up one school too by donating my two-month's salary. But the school I had in mind, needed severe repairs that would need additional funds. Also, there was an Anganwadi adjacent to it which was also in a terrible shape. So I initiated an online crowd funding campaign for school renovation at the time of Diwali. A lot many people from Meghalaya and across the country contributed in this campaign and made it successful. As soon as we had the funds, we initiated the renovation process. We engaged local artists to beautify the renovated rooms and wall. Here are few pictures for you to see....

The children seemed overwhelmed with joy to see their transformed school. But there are thousands of more such schools to be transformed and there are lakhs of such children waiting for it to happen. It's a gigantic task and to achieve it faster, we need support from all possible directions. Let's all come together and transform these institutions that are the key of empowering the future generations of Meghalaya. Let us, adopt a school!

P.S. To read other posts from IAS Diaries, CLICK HERE!

P.S.2. To read telegraph coverage of this CLICK HERE!

P.S. 3. Article in The Better India, CLICK HERE!

P.S.4. Article in The Logical Indian, CLICK HERE!

I am Malala - Book Review

An inspirational autobiography of a girl who stood up for the cause of education of girls in the Swat valley at times when Sharia was being enforced by the Taliban. Many people perhaps only know her from the assassination attempt but through this book you get to understand there was so much more to it. Her life and struggles before this incident must be read to understand the extent of her contribution.

And along with that, the resolute and stern father with a dream of educating all the children in the swat valley. His character had the greatest impact on how our Wonder girl shapes up in life. When your life is full of sacrifices, determination and perseverance, no matter how one writes it, it would turn out into something everyone must read. More power to such brave souls!