Stimulating Learning Environment

Sitting in the office at Kalaunjar Middle School, you see a flurry of activities. Students are coming in and out, asking for question papers during exams, getting doubts clarified. The busy-ness seems almost mundane.

Learning is not just restricted to what happens in the classroom, the learning experience is more holistic than that. Creating a safe environment that is free of judgement is imperative for meaningful learning. The room to be human and express one’s individuality while contributing to a larger vision inspires individuals to change. While the voice of the learner must dictate the environment of the school, we must also recognise that the voices of the teachers, staff, parents and community are equally important and must be heard.

"स्कूल सिर्फ पढ़ने लिखने की जगह नहीं है। एक दुसरे से भी बहुत कुछ सीखने को मिलता है।"

- विश्वनाथ यादव, प्रधानाध्यापक

Walking the talk

Kalaunjar tested the Quest team’s patience and persistence everyday but despite that, the on-ground team walked the talk and helped build a sense of trust, and inspired the teachers to do better.

"यह लोग समस्तीपुर से रोज़ समय पर आ जाते थे, फिर हमें भी लगता था की इस गांव में रहते हुए हम समय पर क्यों नहीं आ सकते?"

- विनीता देवी, पूर्व प्रधानाध्यापिका

Last period activities

Every child waits for the end of the school day, not because they want to go back home but so that they can participate in sports and art activities in the last period. These activities are organised by Ashraf bhaiya and Poonam didi. They have helped students connect with the school, broken deep rooted gender norms amongst children and brought about a sense of respect and camaraderie amongst them.

Removing fear

The formal Indian education system is built on fear and a strong sense of hierarchy manifests in various ways. Over a period of time, workshops, conversations with teachers and disallowing physical punishment built a sense of community at the school. Students were no longer afraid to speak their mind.

Community connect

Establishing a connection with the larger community of the village through house visits, strengthening the SMC, reaching out to parents regularly for PTMs increased the respect for the school and its people. With the community developing a better understanding of education, children began to reflect the same. And slowly, the community also began developing a sense of ownership towards the school.

"सबसे बड़ा बदलाव आया है की अब समुदाय स्कूल से जुड़ गया है। पहले पेरेंट्स के पास कोई कॉन्फिडेंस ही नहीं था की वह शिक्षक के पास आकर अपने बच्चे के बारे में बात करें।"

- पूनम, सहज करता

Looking back

One of the biggest hurdles to building a conducive learning environment in school was the lack of leadership. With the school seeing three headmasters in the last three years, every transfer would result in starting from scratch again. Besides that, each headmaster brought with themselves their own dogmas and biases and a huge resistance to change.

Trying to change something first requires admitting that the current state of affairs is inadequate, and admitting that means taking responsibility of the situation at hand. This is easier said than done. At the same time, admitting there is a problem is only half the battle won. Bringing about change involved all stakeholders to change their outlook towards learning.

"पहले बच्चे स्कूल आना पसंद नहीं करते थे, अब तो भगाने से भी नहीं जातें है!"

- विनीता देवी, पूर्व प्रधानाध्यापक

Environment can be a fairly intangible process to grasp and monitor. And while there might be behavioural cues, the intangibility makes positive reinforcement slightly more difficult. Perhaps the most difficult things to change is also one that makes the most impact.