Vish and his IM Team in GE invited us to share our experiences in Sikshana and find out how they could help us. The meet which was held at the Jack Welch Research Center in Bangalore was well attended; the proceedings were also broadcast over their intranet. Three major developments from this highly interactive meet:
We are getting nearly 100 PC's of which roughly half are Note Books. With this, we should be able to place more than one PC in each of our schools!
One of the responses from the meet was from Hyderabad; the participant wanted to know how she can replicate the experiment in AP. If this could be taken up further, it could be the breakthrough we are looking for- to take Sikshana to the next higher level.
A note is being posted on their intranet inviting prospective volunteers to come forward and announce their interest. We are confident of getting at least ten members from this effort; which again could be another major additional resource for us. We plan to have a meet with this group later this month.
Vish- Our thanks to you and your team for the great time Prasanna and I had with all of you yesterday - and the offer of a long helping hand from GE. We are looking forward to working closely with you closely- and meet your expectations.
Cheeluru is a small hamlet, roughly midway between Bangalore and Kanakapura, situated on the banks of Cauvery river, it is surrounded by farmlands and coconut groves. Two teachers, Srinivasachar and Ashok Narayana, from its local primary school (map) signed up for our notebook computing experiment last December. They had never touched a computer before and this was their first hands on experience with computing. The odds were stacked against them - no training, no IT support, no hand-holding, very little localization in Kannada. They had to learn to use the computer on their own and create documents. Of course, they could seek the help of peer teachers. If they really get stuck, they could take a bus to Bangalore and get IT support.
In February, Asharani joined Sikshana program as a field resource person. She is a trained teacher and is also well-versed with office automation software. KDE deskop and Linux was new to her, but she caught up quickly. Her weekly visits to the schools ensured that the teachers used the computer regularly.
I conducted a one-day session for the teachers on the goals of the project and the concept of notebook computing. Srinivasachar and Ashok were both very excited by the graphical KDE desktop and started exploring it with the mouse. They learnt to move the pointer, operate left and right mouse buttons including double-clicks, opening folders and files. They also learnt to connect flash memory to USB slots and copy files to it. Then came the famous beginner's question. "How do I switch off the computer?". For all the progress that we have made in desktop computing over the years, this basic need is still unresolved!
Early february, they showed their creations in an informal exhibition. By then, they had the mouse movements under control and drilled down folders without hestitation or fumbling for mouse buttons. Ashok used Kwordquiz to create flash cards about States and their Capitals, Audacity to record songs by holding a cassette player near the computer. He had a chart mapping keys on US layout to Kannada unicode keys and used this mapping to create a file containing all Kannada alphabets. Srinivasachar also learnt the Kannada layouts. He used Audacity to record prayer and patriotic songs, used Kwordquiz to generate simple flash cards and had started using Xara LX for pictures.
Early experiences with computing revealed an interesting aspect of human factors in design. The teachers, both from rustic backgrounds and very little exposure to technical English, had an inherent fear of this new and expensive technology. In spite of assurances about their KDE login sessions, they harbored fears about damaging the computer through inadvertant operations. Once, Ashok became nervous when he heard the sound of glass breaking and a critical error message popped up. Uh oh! he was afraid that he had broken something inside the computer and shut it down immediately. When he turned on the computer later, it seemed to run fine and no glass pieces fell out of it. Later, he learnt that it was just the KDE desktop playing "KDE_Glass_Break.ogg" sound clip to alert him about a critical error message. Boy! what a relief! Now, he laughs about it. Well, he did'nt have to face the notorious illegal instruction message.
When I was discussing these experiences with Ramamurthy, he pointed out that there seems to a threshold for learning to use computers. For those, whose initial enthusiasm is sufficient to carry them across this threshold, there is no looking back. Others who come up against this threshold lose interest rapidly and stop experimenting with the computer. In Cheeluru case, it appears that the teachers came up against this threshold and were afraid to experiment further. However, seeing the creations of their fellow teachers from other schools at the exhibition seems to have given them an extra thrust to carry them across the threshold. Asharani's weekly visits also helped a great deal. They had to show something new every week.
Yesterday, when I visited Cheeluru primary school, I noticed that they were now using the notebook computer almost every evening. They were also looking forward to the next exhibition. Ashok observed that when each child had his/her own slate and chalk, teaching was much easier because the child would write words or sums on the slate, clean it with a piece of damp cloth and repeat the process till (s)he got the hang of it. Language and Maths were easy to pick up this way. When paper notebooks and pencils replaced the slate and chalk sticks, the children cut down on their drills. Most villages dont have regular garbage disposal services and so most children learn to live with conservation and scarcity. So, did the fear of running out of notebook pages hold them back? or Is it the fear of wasting paper? Would introducing magic slates and stylus make a difference? This looks like something that Sikshana could probe further.
The teachers in Halagondanahalli public primary school have been exploring notebook computing since December along with four other public schools in Kanakapura. Interestingly, for someone who has never used such computers before, they did manage to come up with some interesting creations.
Prashanth Hegde is the headmaster of this school and Anantha Angadi is a teacher in the same school. Both have also enrolled in a post-graduate diploma program in English Language Teaching with their finals coming up in April or May. When we started the notebook program, we wondered how they would find time between school work, course work and their family time to work on computers. But work they did and managed to use a variety of authoring tools to produce slides, documents and audio clips.
Over the last two months, the teachers faced issues with their computers. Early on, Prashanth had let the battery run down resulting in a forced shutdown. Subsequently, he faced slow bootups and sudden reboots and didnt realize that the sudden shutdown had corrupted the root filesystem. OpenOffice was very slow on these computers and sometimes applications crashed and erased hours of painstaking work. They attributed such failures to their own errors. The problems were diagnosed and fixed during their first exhibition.
These early problems does not seem to have dampened their enthusiasm in any way. In fact, it spread to other teachers in the same school. Geetha, one of the teachers in Halagondanahalli, cajoled them into teaching her to use Kile and LaTeX to create multilingual documents.
With no training available in their village, they managed to teach themselves by trial and error on how to use KDE desktop, launch programs, create files and folders, edit pictures and documents and so on. They used Xara LX to create story panels, Kile to edit LaTeX files. Audacity was used to record songs by kids. Lesson plans were produced in tabular format in OpenOffice. The snapshots here show the work-in-progress. </p>
The first attempt to produce a story panel produced hilarious results. "I call it The Drunken Mosquito", jokes Prashanth. A trackpad is not as easy to learn as a mouse. After a few hours of tracing drunken mosquito paths, he realized that he could use both hands on the trackpad and achieve better control.
After a few days of practice during the year-end break, he learnt to control the cursor enough to create greeting cards for new year and Sankranthi (Harvest Festivals).
Over the next few weeks, he learnt to experiment with fonts, shapes and colors to put together a story panel on the Fox and the Grapes. Prashanth likes the malleability of this medium where he is not only able to capture his ideas in such slides but also modify them quickly in a way that was not possible on charts or blackboard.
Prashanth also experimented with recording songs by kids. He experimented with multiple tracks and applying filters to sounds using Audacity. The first track is that of his son singing a popular prayer song. The second track is also a song but had a filter that makes it sound very much like a gramophone record running at half-speed.
Ananth Angadi is attracted by ability to use different fonts and colors. "I can use colors to highlight nouns and verbs to make stories attractive for children", he states. Notice the yellow font for "story". Story panels allows him to experiment with different spellings and grammar. He also uses such panels for creating vocabulary lists of terms used in Railway Station and Hospitals.
He also showed me his attempt at using Kile to generate letters in Kannada using LaTeX language. LaTeX has taught him to distinguish between command and data. His signature in the picture below shows what happened when he forgot to type in the instruction to switch between Kannada and Roman fonts. Unlike his students, computers cannot guess his intentions and correct errors in his instructions!
Moral: Garbage In Garbage Out.
The kids like playing word games, so Ananth tried to put together a word panel where the children have to create words by picking letters from a jumble. The counting panel is where the children will have to associate numerals with the count of objects. Obviously, the panel posed quite a challenge for his mousing skills!
Halagondanahalli school gets its first multi-color layout map, produced by the teachers themselves. Google map does not show the "Chinnara Ranga" (Stage) building as it is a new construction.
Halagondanahalli teachers have been prolific in their output inspite of many hurdles like lack of training, manuals or IT support and their upcoming diploma exams. They have also managed to spread their enthusiasm to other teachers in the same school. The notebook computer is not a scary piece of equipment anymore. It is now seen as a medium to express their ideas about teaching and learning.
The conventional approach to computing in our primary schools is to configure a desktop PC with Windows and play canned flash animations or videos. This environment didn't require any active participation on the part of the teacher. In fact, teachers would often play the CDs and walk off to handle another class or go out on an errand! Our notebook computer experiment, launched in early December, was designed around teacher's active involvement not only in classrooms but also required them to author their own teaching resources either by adapting existing documents or by creating new documents. None of the teachers had prior experience working with Linux desktops and only two of them had exposure to computers at all.
On Friday, 9th February, the teachers arranged an exhibition of the results of their early efforts in Rotary Bhavana, Kanakapura. I attended this exhibition with some trepidation since this is the first time we had let teachers in rural environment handle a notebook computer for six weeks without any supervision. However, the event put to rest all reservations on this count.
The computers had been handled with due care. They were free of dust, dirt, grime or scratches. All, except one, had their file system intact which meant that they were being shutdown properly when the battery went low and the there was no power supply. One computer had developed errors in the home filesystem and would crash occasionally. This machine did not have a swap drive configured, so the file system errors could have crept in due to low memory conditions.
The system logs showed that the teachers had used the computers mostly in the evenings and weekends with login sessions lasting from twenty minutes to two hours. None of the teachers wanted to give up the computer. They had overcome their initial fears and were spending increasing time on their notebooks (much to the chagrin of their spouses!).
Each teacher presented their work on their own without any assistance. They used keys (include control keys), trackpad, menus, icons and dialog boxes smoothly and without hesitation. They navigated the file structure using Konqueror and launched applications from menus easily. They didnt fumble while using trackpad buttons. They were also able to open up multiple applications and switch between them.
Interestingly, the absence of Kannada letters on key caps didnt dissuade them from switching to Kannada layout for entering Kannada text (UTF-8). One of them created a UTF-8 text file that mapped English keys to Kannada keys. Others used this file to memorize keystrokes to enter Kannada codes into text editors and even entered filenames in Kannada. This must have required hours of practice (and patience!). The thrill of seeing Kannada letters must have motivated them to persevere through tricky and non-trivial operations.
The variety of files they had created was a pleasant surprise. The teachers used Xara LX to create slides, Audacity for sound recordings, Kate and Kile to create bilingual documents, Digikam for photo albums and Kwordquiz for quizzes. Here is a brief sample of some of the files created by them:
Speeches (English) by 5th, 6th and 7th standard students
Nursery Rhymes (English) by 1st standard Students
Alphabet Songs (English) by 2nd standard Students
Local Folk Song (Kannada) by a Parent
Patriotic Songs (Kannada) by 1st standard Students
UTF-8 Documents using Kate (KDE Advanced Text Editor)
Kannada Keyboard Layout - Quick Reference
Vowels, Consonants, Conjuncts (Kannada)
Patriotic Songs (Kannada)
Photo Albums using Digikam
Animals, Buildings, Places, Biology etc.
School trip to Sravanabelagola
TeX/DVI/PDF files using Kile (LaTeX Typesetting Editor)
School Monthly Report
Leave Letter
English Question Paper
Documents using OpenOffice
School Admission Register
School Summary Report
Quizzes and Flash Cards using KwordQuiz (Quiz Application)
Indian States and Union Territories and their Capital.
English-Kannada Translations
Synonyms and Antonyms
The files created by the teachers are not perfect. One teacher displayed his first attempts at creating a story panel for "Fox and the Grapes" and called it the "Path of a Drunken Mosquito" :-). His second attempt, a couple of weeks later, showed a much better result. Such progress indicates a high level of motivation on the part of teachers in authoring their own content for their own classes. The breadth of files created by the teachers puts to rest any doubt about their capability to adapt to an era of digital blackboards. The challenge now is to develop the skills to a level where the teachers can, with confidence, use it on a regular basis in classrooms.
Stay tuned for samples of their work in my subsequent posts.
During our last visit to Sasalapura school, the seventh standard students took an oath that everyone in their batch will get a B grade or better in the next assessment. Well, many kids take such oaths inspired by the moment but their seriousness wanes as soon as we leave the place. In Sasalapura, the students wrote down their oath on a chart, added in the names of their parents, and every one of 31 students in the class signed their name and put the chart for public display in their school as a constant reminder of their goals and get the support of their teachers and parents!
"We take an oath in the name of God that each one of us will score first class in the upcoming trimester assessments and we will complete our daily homework by ourselves without urging by others" -- signed by Seventh Standard Students of Sasalapura Government Primary School
There are no graduates in Sasalapura, a small village of about 350 households and a population of about 1700, and the illiterates outnumber the literates. Every year, a batch of 25 to 30 students complete their seventh grade but very few take up secondary school and even those drop out before clearing matriculation exams. The earnestness of this batch of seventh grade is the first glimmer of hope that the interest in studies will sustain all the way to graduation.
The teachers are also taking up this challenge seriously. Shambu Lingaiah, one of the teachers participating in our notebook computing project and the only one with prior computing experience, turned down a transfer opportunity to continue to work in this school. He finds the notebook computer very handy for his classes. He takes it home with him during evenings and weekends to create lesson plans, flash cards, animation clips and so on. He goes to a cyber cafe in a nearby town and augments his collection with downloads from Internet onto a flash memory. He takes along his cameraphone on school picnic trips to take pictures of places and people and uses these pictures in the classroom to reinforce lessons and concepts. Voice recordings are used in language classes to encourage kids to speak, sing and to help them in articulation and diction exercises. He has trained his fellow teachers and even some students use the computer to create documents and pictures in Kannada and English. This school has started using spreadsheets to analyze quaterly assessment results. Their challenge now is to apply all these tools to identify the gaps in learning or teaching methods and fix them so that all the students are able to come out with flying colors.
Sasalapura public school has set off on a long and ardous journey towards fully functional literacy. The point to note here is that they now have the right maps and equipment.
There are a bunch of things we are doing and there are a few things we want to try out further. After our previous talk with Mr Ramamurthy, we want to see if direct volunteer-student interaction works out any better with regards to computer based learning. We have been trying out dumping variety of educational content on the computer like the dot-edu cds or the wikipedia. We would also want to setup computers to run interactive material like the APF cd's. We also want to set up the automated math drill software. Thereby, as I have mentioned, we need to give the students/teachers more than one reason or motivation to boot the computer.
But the usage from the teachers/students is not equally reciprocative. I tried to reason this out. Mostly what seem to happen is that the HM (Head Master) of the school thrusts the responsibility of computer based teaching to 'a' particular teacher. And if that teacher is on leave or is on some govt. duty (like the recent door-to-door electrol sensus collection), the program is discontinued. And it takes a lot of momentum to get it back on track. If this assumption is true, I want to see how we can get more than a single teacher share the responsibility of computer based teaching. Apart from this we also want to try out alternative technques to get the students use computers.
Hence this is what I am thinking. I still need to discuss the same with Mr ESR. I want to try out "volunteer taking control of these activities" in a couple of schools and continue the ongoing activity of dumping content and motivating teachers/students to use them in the other schools. Both of these running in parallel.
On 18th Jan 07, we had an eventful meet with the Heads of the schools at Kanakapura. 35 out of 36 attended it even though it was organized at short notice. A review was taken on the progress of the program and the varying compliance levels to the agreed concepts and practices. Many of them agreed that their performance in this regard needs improvement and that they will put in a visible effort to meet the expectations. This introspection seemed to have done a world of good to them.
They reiterated their commitment to the following prime goals for the year: There will be no kid with an individual score of less than B in the final semester examinations of 7th Grade- barring stray cases where non-academic interventions are called for. In the year end APF assessments, the schools will meet the target score of 65. Presently 25% of the fall short of it. Projected lingual fluency in the First Language - Kannada- will be ensured at the 3rd Grade.
It was brought to their attention that there are still a few activities scheduled for the year on which there have been no progress. These include Inter School meets, publication of the House Journal and formation of a Library for the use of the teachers. It was felt that there should be more interaction and co-ordination among the schools and that programs of this type cannot be expected to be driven from the top. For the first time, a small group of three Heads was formed- with the HM's of Narayanapura, Chowkasandra and Jyothi Colony coming forward- to co-ordinate all activities among the 36 schools. This responsibility will rotate among the group periodically, so as to ensure greater sense of participation. This is a really welcome step towards autonomy and empowerment.
One of the first decisions was to organize an inter-school event to comommerate Gandhi Jayanthi on 6th Feb. Preparations are already in full swing. So are the discussions on setting up a time schedule and an activity chart for the forthcoming semester examinations in March. The participants had a session of their own; the enthusiasm was overwhelming. I hope this keeps up...
We came to the last two schools this week , bringing to an end our first round of visits. The first was at Doddakabballi . With 120 kids and three teachers, the obvious issue that came up was the shortage of teachers; have'nt we heard this before? But then the surprise came next. The HM was unable to use the provision that we have made to recruit local hands to fill in this gap. Reason: The community is split along caste lines and is unable to identify consensus candidates! This really floored us; even the suggestion that they can go in for two persons- one from each of the 'warring' groups - did not help. The attitude was more on the line - 'none from the other'. Some serious talk from the HM provided a slot for one finally; though how long this truce will last is anyone's guess. The fault lines of our society and its ability to come to terms with the realities of life was finally showing up.
It is not unknown that kids are often prevented to participate in the mid-day meal program , because it was cooked by the 'wrong' people. That this will even prevent the school form recruiting a badly needed teacher was something new to us ; we live and learn.
The next stop was at Chikkallanadoddi. This is the only lower primary school with us in the Kanakapura zone. It has 50 kids in five grades and two teachers of which one was on leave. It was refreshing sight that greeted our un-announced entry into the schcol. The kids were busy repairing the approach path and planting the school garden. Those who were not occupied with this job were busy studying in their class rooms. the usual test for lingual ability to read Kannada story books was given in the Third Grade - with remarkable results. Every kid was able to read fluently whatever was given. The sad sequel came later. When asked about what they would like to become when they grow up to be adults, pat came the replies: coolies, bus driver, servant maid and even a 'revenue inspector' - in their own words. This was not the first time, I had to contend with this mindset but it was on a substantial level here, something that cannot be ignored. It is a sad commentary on the system that it had not been able to ignite even a faint spark in the kids for a better future. We returned with a heavy heart for the day.
I occasionally, at times, at my convenience, spend some time with an NGO called Sikshana. Wondering why I chose so many words to describe my "time spent" with Sikshana. Read on as this is the topic of this post.
I joined Sikshana after Pramod (pramodbiligiri ) who had been with this NGO for about a month. Pramod did less to motivate me to join this NGO than describe the activities he was doing with the govt. schools kids. And now as Sikshana is thinking of many more interesting activities we need more people to join us. And hence we started to spread the word in the form of mailing lists, word-of-mouth and we want to try Radio, asking people to join us as "volunteers". But the response has been very negative. This got me thinking as to why is it so hard to find "volunteers". Here are a few reasons I came up with.
Its in the very word - "Volunteer" - which scares people. I personally think this is way too a grand word to use to describe our relationship with Sikshana. Its like the word - "SAINT". Its holy and grand to be used to describe any person. The very word - "Volunteer" - comes with a heavy baggage of responsibility, commitment, sincerity and all the nice words in the dictionary which sets the bar very high. This is what the word conveys to people to, which scares them from spending their small proportion of energy for these activities.
Last friday, I tagged along with ESR and Prasanna to Sasalapura (SSL) village school. When we reached the school, the committee members were in a huddle with Shankarappa, the HM. One of their teachers, Shambu Lingaiah, was going to be transferred out of this school. Sasalapura school did not appear in this year's shortlist of schools where new teachers could be placed, so the chances of a replacement were slim. The school was already short of trained teachers and now the situation went from bad to worse. This showed in the learning levels of seventh grade students. Out of 31 students, more than 13 were assessed at C+ or below in one or more subjects in December. ESR talked to each one of the students and found them to be quite smart and eager to learn. Properly guided, they could become really good students. The village elders lamented that they dont have a single graduate, let alone a teacher. Teachers from nearby towns are reluctant to take up assignments in such remote villages.
Shambu's transfer was also a setback to our computing experiment. He was one of the teachers who had been given a notebook computer. Now we have to move it to another school. Luckily for us, Shankarappa, the HM, is a dedicated teacher. SSL is one of the few village schools to hold special classes in the evenings for students. In spite of all the hurdles, he got the entire seventh grade students to take an oath that they will all work together to get every student achieve B or higher grade in the coming exam. They are also going to write it down on a chart, sign it and put it up for public display so the whole village can support them. The target is tough as they just have two months to go. Will they make it? Time will tell.
I joined ESR and Prasanna on their trip to Kanakapura school cluster yesterday. This time, our visit included a newly adopted public school in Hegganuru (HGN), a small village in Kanakapura taluk. Though small, the homes in the village looked quite prosperous with tiled roofs and some homes even had cable TV. The village public school in HGN had fewer students compared to other Sikshana schools. It was being managed by two teachers. There was little evidence of parental participation in school activities. There were about twenty students in seventh grade. The students were timid and shy in our presence and it took a lot of prodding and cajoling on ESR's part to get them to respond to this questions about their goals and ambitions. Meanwhile, I requested the teachers to show me their book collection. The collection had both Kannada and English titles with attractive covers, age appropriate content and readable text. Once a week, the books would be placed on a table and the children would be allowed to select a book to take home for a week. However, the books looked very new and still had the "fresh book" smell. It was difficult to believe that books were even being borrowed, let alone being used. Apathy on the part of parents, combined with lack of competition, seemed to have lulled the students into a state of complacency. I suspect that the cable TV was a bigger draw than books. ESR, as was his wont, gave specific targets to the teachers on library usage and minimum grade targets for this academic year. Suresh, our cluster resource person, would be visiting the school regularly to check on the progress.
Looking around the lush countryside, fertile farmlands and groves, I felt that the natural comforts of life in these parts reduced the motivation to attend school. Nature doesnt threaten these parts with tornadoes, snowy winters, or floods. No wild animals or locust swarms to destroy crops. People have lived off this land for generations before the "school" came in. Complacency and apathy is a natural consequence. It reminded me of my own childhood days growing up in a small village and the attitude of villagers towards school education. That village no longer exists, having yielded to the rapidly growing demands of India's IT city. The school dropouts, who depended on their land for survival, were forced to sell their lands. The proceeds were soon frittered away in risky business setups and dubious finance companies. Those who attended school were able to spread out successfully and rode the IT boom.
HGN cannot exist in isolation for ever. Already, cable TV and mobile phones have started ushering in changes in the lifestyle. Sikshana's challenge in HGN will be in jolting the students and their parents out of the frog-in-the-well mindset and convincing them that a solid education puts the current and future generations on a much more stronger footing than land, gold or silkworms.
Yesterday, I accompanied Ramamurthy (ESR) and Prasanna to Halagondahalli (HLG), a village about 6km south of Kanakapura. This school saw the launch of our notebook computing experiment last month. Prashant Hegde, its Headmaster, is credited with turning the school around from a dull laid-back place to a vibrant school with active participation from the village community. The school has four teachers and only Prashanth and Anantha Angadi were given computers. The other two teachers didnt want to be left out, so they cajoled Anantha into letting them use the computer too. They stayed back after school hours to work on the computer. This bodes well for the project. So far, the teachers have been exploring various programs on the computer. They now seem comfortable with using keyboard and mouse controls in lauching programs and typing text.
I am aware of the compulsions behind the transfer of teachers from school to school, though i am unable to accept many of them. Still, when it comes up in some cases as a 'punishment' to good performance, it is time for us to sit up and take notice.
The cause for this drastic comment: five of our HM's in the City schools are under transfer this month. These are all schools which have recently been upgraded to upper primary schools. The teachers concerned have done a great job in taking their schools from their lower primary status to higher primary through hard work and lots of initiative. Now that the job has been done, the wheels of the State start moving; some one decides that the existing Heads are no longer 'appropriate' for the enhanced status. The State not only transfers the existing teachers to positions and places, which look like punishment to them, but also bring in replacements on the basis of seniority and 'other' factors.
It is no longer a surprise to us that in our schools , whenever we talk about taking the schools to higher levels, there has always been a lukewarm response from the Heads; they seemed to be fully aware of what is in store for them, in case they succeed!
Sikshana has taken a yet another giant leap with the induction of Mr Prasanna as its Chief Operating Officer. With this step, we now have the seed of a sound organizational base that will extend beyond a single individual.
Prasanna has over 16 years of experience in the software industry. With a Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering from S.J. College of Engineering, Mysore and a Master's degree in Computer Engineering at TexasA&MUniversity, he went on to found a Texas based corporation called Softrends, Inc. which provided consulting services in the IT industry, especially in the areas of transaction systems to various clients in the USA.
After the above spell, Prasanna and his family have now returned back to India. He is now venturing into spending his energy and talent to make a difference in the lives of the less fortunate in India. That he had such an idea in his mind can be seen from the fact that during his final year of engineering, he joined a group of fellow students to start an organization called Mysore Amateur Naturalists to work towards preserving our environment. In the years spent in US, he was involved with various NGO’s in different projects. In 2004 he got introduced to a Bangalore based NGO called Samarthanam Trust for the Disabled (http://www.samarthanam.org) and has been working with them for their various projects. In 2004 and 2005 he got a team of 15 from the organization and had them perform at the Texas school for Blind, Austin. He was recently involved with their latest event the Walkathon 2006 on Dec 9th 2006. Also he co-founded Pragathi (http://www.pragathinet.org) in Nov 2005 with a few like minded individuals in Austin and executed various projects in collaboration with Odanadi, Rotary, AID and Sikshana around Mysore and Bangalore. These exposures are expected to stand by him in good stead during the forthcoming stint in Sikshana.
Mr Prasanna will assist Mr Ramamurthy in ensuring compliance of the schools to the accepted concepts of the Program and look after the 'day to day' operations. This is besides adding value by joining the think tank and contributing to the next phase of Sikshana. His induction is being funded by a sponsor through a separate channel.
We now look forward to taking Sikshana to 1000 schools in multiple locations- a much needed target for its statistical validation as a sustainable and replicable program.
Can teachers in primary schools really author content, if they are provisioned with the right authoring tools? Even if they have the ability to do so, will they have the motivation to do so? Assuming they are motivated to use a computer, will they create content appropriate for their school?
Frankly, I dont know. I am hoping that Sikshana's experiment with giving notebook computers to teachers will surface some answers on this front.
But why should teachers author content? Can they not just use computers to play off-the-shelf CDs?
In Karnataka alone, there are around 10m children who study through 26 subjects across seven grades. Textbooks alone will consume more than 50,000 tons of paper! Reuse and recycling will help but the demand will still be huge. E-books are not a question of choice, but a compelling necessity! With the rapid advancement in computing technology, the cost of e-book readers will drop down to a level where it be far more economical to equip students in public schools with these readers and load them with textbooks and library books than to print them on paper and ship them every year. With e-books, every village school can afford to have a full-fledged library.
When e-book readers become affordable in about two to three years time, we will run short of digital content in local languages about local issues. We faced this scarcity when TVs arrived but content was limited to a few films beamed from Delhi. It happened again when WWW servers could be setup inexpensively but content didnt exist or could only be "best viewed in Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator". Web pages gradually became "cobweb" pages. With entertainment or information, we could afford to be lax. We cannot be apathetic when it comes to educating children. It will happen again with e-book readers, unless we take the effort to get the horse ready before the cart. We need to get the teachers to learn to use the electronic equivalent of a blackboard and chalk and get their content, however small, into e-book readers.
There are around 200 teachers in Sikshana schools today. What are the chances of finding a dozen who will rise up to this challenge? Will they give up their evenings, weekends and holidays to master a complex machine with arcane controls and weird software stuff? Is the attraction towards computing because of geek factor? or is it because of the high marketable value of computing skills? Will they be able to go past the initial frustrations and learn to master a digital canvas?
The odds are stacked heavily against us. Public school teachers are used to a 9am-4pm job, long vacation plans, assured job till retirement and a life-long pension. Barring a few, most teachers are loathe to take up activities during their vacation or weekends. They are risk-averse. Why rock the boat? When technology shifts occur, there is always the Education Department to take the blame for not "training" them. With around 225,000 teachers, ED will take a really long time to tide over the shift. Long enough for most of the current crop of teachers to retire and live off their pension.
What gave me hope was an experiment conducted last year in Chikkalasandra public school. Two teachers stepped up to the challenge of authoring quaterly assessment papers using LaTeX. They stayed back on evenings and worked over weekends to learn just enough to complete the task. They have been able to sustain their interest for more than a year now. Even now, the teachers dont have 'computing skills'. They cannot do word-processing, spreadsheets or presentations. They will go blank if you ask them about "anti-virus" tools or "truetype indic fonts". What they can do is edit term papers in Kile, proof-read them in kdvi, take final copy in pdf and take it to the printers. They can generate term papers in Kannada, English (including math equations). Now they want to key in Kannada poetry and simple stories. Two weeks back, one of the teachers used a digicam to shoot their science exhibitions and created a digital album. They use the computer to do a slideshow for parents and visitors. Just about a year back, they took two weeks to produce the first draft. It was so frustrating that they often threatened to dump the whole project and go back to paper and pen. Today, they laugh about it.
Last month, four teachers took off for three days to create term papers for all seven grades. They had to extend their stay by two more days to complete the task. But complete it they did, putting in more than twelve hours a day.
If six teachers out of around 200 teachers in Sikshana schools could make it, perhaps we should cast our net wider. So, this year, the experiment pulled in five schools. It would be a miracle if all them make it like CKS school. The frustration levels are going to be much more as the schools are in remote locations and they dont have anyone to guide them nearby. But the few who make it would have opened new vistas for their schools. They would have cut the path for others to follow.
But what if this experiment fails? What if none of them are able to author content? Then we take the notebook computer back and give it to another Sikshana teacher. What if none of the 150+ Sikshana teachers in Kanakapura are able to make it? Then we have a much bigger problem on our hands. Technology, alone, cannot solve this issue.
Yesterday was one busy day! Ten teachers, two each from Halagondanahalli, Sasalapura, Kadushivanahalli, Hunasanahalli and Cheeluru, arrived for an informal workshop on learning how to use a notebook computer. Only two of them had ever used a computer (which turned out to be a blessing in disguise). Out here, 'using a computer' means click ing buttons on a Windows box with no idea of what goes on underneath all the stuff. It is like operating those coffee dispensers in airports and railway stations. One can operate it for years without learning (or needing to learn) anything about brewing good coffee. No wonder such coffee tastes like waste water in many places.
The teachers started out with a whole bunch of questions, typical of those exposed to a complex equipment for the first time. I started them off with a basic KDE login and an intro to various areas on the screen - Kicker panel, KMenu, Program Icons, Pager, Task Bar, Storage Media, System Tray and the Clock.
The keyboard was really frustrating for beginners. Why does a computer keyboard have to be so complicated? No other consumer equipment comes with so many keys and controls. Aren't there enough special keys - ALT, CTRL, SHIFT, ESC, Fxx, Win, Menu - already? Yet, computer manufacturers seem to take sadistic pleasure in putting in more keys - Fn for hardware functions - and more 'one-button' keys that require special software to be installed. When will they learn the virtues of simplicity?
The teachers learnt some of the important key combos - F1 (help), ALT+F1 (Main Menu), ALT+F2 (Run Command), CTRL+Q (Quit). Two teachers knew how to operate a kannada typewriter. So I taught them how to switch layout from "us" to "kan" and back. When watching beginners use trackpad, I noticed that using both hands on a trackpad (like on a keyboard) gives better control than trying to use it with one hand (like a mouse). USB mouse drains battery, so this trick is really useful.
My next exercise was to get them to understand the power of their "little" box. A quick straw poll - "How many files are there on your hard disk?" I got various guesses ranging from 200 to about 3000. I introduced the filelight command to dig out the actual answer. The result, about 123,000 files occupying 2.2GB in a 60GB HDD, came as a shock to them. I let them explore various locations on disk. The circular disk metaphor of filelight made it easy for them to poke around and explore various folders. It also crashes during close, so the teachers got to know about software crashes also :-).
Next, I introduced them to key applications - Konqueror (exploring folders, previewing files, service menus), Audacity (for creating audio recordings), and Kile (for creating Kannada documents). I wanted to introduce Xvidcap (for authoring videos) but ran out of time. Konqueror was a big hit. Learning few basic moves - hover for preview, left click to activate, right click for services, and using kio slaves made them productive very quickly. I let them loose on /usr/share/{sounds,wallpapers,doc} folder (with previews on!).
I also showed them how the interfaces evolved from a typewriter-based interaction (console) to graphical, direct manipulation mode. They also saw short tutorial videos of Xara Xtreme that showed how simple graphic elements like line, curve and fill operations could be shaped into wonderful works of art.
They were so full of questions. I had to leave them to find their own answers. I did stress on a few themes, though. Usually, schools get old and obsolete computers on donations, with software better suited for a business environment than a school. The teachers dont get much say in the software content and there is no tie-in to any learning outcomes. The students outnumber computers by far. They only get to use it sporadically and that too in groups. This experiment is very different. A modern notebook computer, specifically configured for their needs, is given to teachers for empowering them to author digital content, be it a document, photo, painting, drawing, sound clip or video clip. The 60GB hard disk gives them a humungous capacity to store their creations. The 1GB flash memory stick allows them to transfer files across computers or to service providers like printing shops. Next time they get an idea while teaching lessons, the computer allows them to record and build up on their idea without having to worry about pen, cardboards, paint and so on. In fact, living in a remote village now becomes an advantage. One can work for hours without getting interrupted or distracted. The success of this experiment is going to depend on how much content they can create towards improving classroom teaching and motivating their students. There is no bar on teachers using canned content for teaching, if he/she feels that it is appropriate.
Two teachers, who had already used computers before, had difficulties in this new environment which required active involvement. They were used to using computers as passive media players or simple editors and were never motivated to look further. Initially, active involvement is much more difficult than passive usage because learning how things work takes more time and effort. But this upfront investment is essential to build up their skills and to adapt computing to their own needs. After explaining the goals of this experiment, I gave them a choice of continuing in this experiment or to revert to their old system of desktops and canned content. All ten opted to continue in the program. This was truly exciting stuff for them.
The workshop, scheduled to end around 3pm, stretched to 5pm! The teachers left reluctantly as they had a long tough commute back to Kanakapura. One teacher wanted to take school snapshots and create a presentation out of it. Four teachers, who were trained in LaTeX, last month were quite impressed by Kannada Technical Dictionary built using LaTeX, esp. the ability to embed audio clips for pronounciation and wanted to put together such dynamic documents for their school. Another wanted to put together programs like Kalzium (Periodic Table).
Well, looks like the village school blackboard is under threat :-)!
We adopted the 21 schools under the second cluster in Kanakapura in Oct 06, with support from the Seattle and Yale Chapters of Asha. I have been covering our visit to these schools in some detail in these columns. You would have observed that one of the recurring problems as identified by the schools was the acute shortage of teachers. I am glad to report that during the last two months, as many as 27 teachers have been brought in by 21 schools to bridge the gap. I am sure that this induction will do a world of good to these schools.
It may interest you to know that the average honorarium works out to Rs 500 (US$ 12) per month! In practice, the entire process of induction is carried out by the HM and the School Committee from within the community resources; we do not play any role in this step other than providing the funds- and even this as a monthly package which is supposed to be used optimally based on priorities.
A comment on the staff induction by the State is in order at this stage. The last public announcement on this subject made on 13th Dec 06 promises recruitment of 9000 plus additional teachers - a welcome and overdue step; and zero shortage in primary schools. There are however several downsides to the picture which cannot be ignored.
The process of recruitment is such that it takes anywhere from 12 to 18 months, before these teachers can be placed in position. Even by official statements, a large number of teachers are now working in 'non-teaching' positions- some even without work and awaiting 'counseling' The shortage of teachers as recognized by the State is on the basis of one per 40 kids in the school. Here is where the problem lies: a school with 70 kids in five grades may get just one and at the best two. Many of our schools have numbers like 120 kids in 7 Grades. Here the situation gets even worse; with specialized attention and teaching skills needed in Grades 5 to 7, we will be having 3 teachers to cater to Grades 1 to 7! Macro level planning without sufficient attention to detail will always have these shortfalls. This is not to reduce the significance of the major initiative, that the State has taken.
The State has been taking recently several major steps to curb the 'transfer industry' and divert staff to rural schools. The success of these steps will however always be in doubt as long as the recruitment is centralized. On the positive side, we seem to be getting some where; and that is good news.
I dropped by Chikkalasandra school yesterday around 4pm. The quaterly assessment exams were on. The school was practically empty with most of the students completing the papers well ahead of the time limit. I was intrigued.
Ms. Vijayalakshmi, one of the teachers, declared, "The students are finding the questions too easy. The level is too low. We should set the bar, higher". Two of her colleagues nodded their head. Well, the questions were all keyed to the standards set by the State board. This was a school where, just four years ago, students were struggling to make the grade in Math and English. Now, the teachers are themselves coming forward to set the bar higher. They had internalized the spirit behind Sikshana.
In all my visits to Sikshana schools, I noticed that city schools faced bigger handicaps than village schools. The children were packed into small rooms with no playground. They also faced significant noise and dust pollution, traffic hazards around schools and so on. Chikkalasandra school was no exception. I was delighted to see the school rise beyond its problems and reach out to higher levels of academic excellence.
The week started with a visit to four more of the second cluster schools: Halugondanahalli, Arekere, Thungani and T Hosahalli.
Halugondanahallli has 200 plus kids and 5 teachers. The academic standard is good to start with; it has potential for becoming a model for others. It is here that we got the message: the village is changing! It has a strong self help group movement among the women, which makes a big impact on the school as well. We intend to treat this community as a Laboratory for Integrated Rural Development.
The next stop was at Hosahalli. This school is located in two buildings, 100 meters apart, adding to the daily woes of the Head Master. Teacher shortage is an issue here; we have advised the HM to ahead and recruit local talent.
Thungani with 190 kids and five teachers is the next destination. With less than 10 students each in Grades 1 to 5 and 70 /88 in Grades 6 and 7, this school is trying to give us a strong message. I wish some one takes up an intensive study of this strange phenomenon : is it an indication of lower fertility in villages, migration to cities, preference for private schools in the area.. With such abysmal induction in lower Grades, the public education system is surely heading for a crisis.
Arekere is a school with no major problems- a rarity. it has 80 kids and four teachers- an ideal situation by any standards. They can concentrate on the learning levels of the kids- a point which we made strongly in our interaction.
Thursday was the day for the distribution of note book computers at Halagondanahalli; and Sunday was the TQM day for the last batch of teachers. The workshop conducted by Umesh Nayak and Viji was a roaring success. The interaction among the participants was of a high order. We are planning an audit of a cross section of the schools during the last semester.
Thanks to corporate sponsorship, we have produced a short documentary which succinctly explains Sikshana's origins, philosophy and activities. Below is part 2 of the 4-part series. (If you have 19 Minutes to spare, it may be worth your while to take a look at the full series).
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