Uttar Pradesh has got many tales about its bland education system but there are teachers who have gone out of their way to remove the black spot from the state and spread literacy .A Primary School in Tikri, in block Kosaba of Badaun, has 71 students and 3 teachers. The school has witnessed almost 80 percent attendance of students since the last two years even when the school has no electricity supply, no water in the toilets and no ground to play.
It is the pertinent efforts of the teachers in the school, who have brought about this change, against all odds, within a span of two years. These three teachers – Veer Singh, Suryaprakash Vimal and Bhishma Pal Singh, introduced various ideas to help generate interest of students in studying and attending school regularly. They also found ways to motivate parents to send their children to school.
During the harvesting and planting season, children do not attend school for months. In many instances, children leave in between school hours to deliver lunch packages to their parents working in the fields. The teachers have over a period of time, built personal equity with the parents. They go door to door, visiting homes of these children, engage in a dialogue with the parents and make them understand the importance of education for their children. The teachers ensure that they meet each parent twice a week.
The teachers also organize extra classes for weak students to help them improve their weak areas.
Till two years ago, caste based discrimination was a way of life in this school. Children of a higher caste would not want to sit or have food with children from a lower caste. Consistent efforts of the teachers to make the students aware, counsel them and their parents about equality has shown results.
The children now mingle with each other and there is no caste-based discrimination. They are taught quality and shunning the caste based system via songs.
Lack of interest is one of the major reasons why children drop out of schools. These teachers have found solutions to cater to this problem as well. They involve students in a lot of fun-filled activities like races, yoga, and painting and teach them via songs. The children are taught prayer songs as well as inspirational songs which motivate them to be united, study together, and do well. They also share stories from epics like Ramayana and Mahabharata and leave the story at an interesting point to keep the excitement of the children alive so they would want to attend the next day to hear the complete story.
The teachers work hard to build trust with their students. They reach school on time, no matter what. They encourage healthy competition by serving mid-day meal first to students who perform better in class. The students rely on them completely.
While the students are learning better, performing better, the change brought in by the teachers is such that many children have shifted from private schools (which are usually considered to be providing better education) to this school.
The state of another primary school in the area, with similar problems, is in stark contrast to this one. The comparison comes down to the quality and capability of teachers in both the schools.