Uttar Pradesh, India's most populous state, is a microcosm of the country as a whole. Unfortunately, the current narrative isn't a positive one. According to the 2014 Annual Status of Education Report (ASER), a concerning 16.5% of 5-year-old children in Uttar Pradesh were not enrolled in any form of schooling, be it preschool or primary school. This is a stark contrast to nearby Himachal Pradesh, where the figure is just 3.5%. These children are missing out on the crucial early start they need to navigate an increasingly complex, globalized, and competitive world.
Globally, there's a pressing need to reevaluate how education is delivered and its broader purpose, especially as societies place growing importance on STEM fields while sometimes stifling creativity.
In the face of these challenges, I was delighted to come across Pratham's R&D program, which, at the time, was in its pilot phase. It reimagines education by drawing on over two decades of continually evolving methodologies and applying high-quality control trial assessments to discern what works and what doesn't. It doesn't adhere to the traditional notion of a 'school.' Instead, it embodies the African proverb that "it takes a village to raise a child." In this model, teachers, students in the classroom, and the community all play crucial roles in ensuring children are set up for success.
Considering the lack of preschool experience across the state, a warm-up period condenses preschool education into a few months before students start grade 1. Parents and teachers maintain regular interaction, with teachers even making home visits. Mothers, many of whom are illiterate or undereducated, come together and assume a pivotal role in their children's education. This system fosters deeply invested stakeholders and adopts an innovative approach to education that prioritizes fun, needs-based learning, and child-centeredness, setting it apart from the rest of the state's educational system.
As Pratham continues to evaluate the success of these programs and strives to make them scalable, it stands as a testament to the new era and ongoing evolution in education delivery.
A child plays a game of arranging letters to form as many words as possible. Unlike in English, Hindi words have vowel extensions which make them unique and numerous.
A child reads one of the books created by Pratham Books which are part of the reading corner in the R&D setup.
R&D is also about creating a sense of ownership - of the class, classmates and the walls within the classroom. These photographs cement the relationships between these children as well as with their teacher.
Babli Pandey - one of the R&D teachers, engages with one of the pupils doing a different activity than the one that she is attending to. The program's structure allows children to do class, group and individual activities which creates for a stimulating learning environment.
A child in an R&D classroom reads a book - published by Pratham books. The books come in different reading levels which help parents and educators determine the appropriate level of difficulty for the child. This book is yet another that makes up the reading corner in the R&D classroom.
As a contrast to the R&D classroom, we met a Government school headmistress who simultaneously ran 3 classes - owing to the fact that her teachers were sent away on election duty. Until then, I had only heard of such stories but this was the first time that I came to witness such a reality. Not surprisingly, India's education system - despite efforts from the top, is from from being child-centric.
Learning happens everywhere in an R&D classroom. Children are encouraged to write wherever they feel would be good to work out their solutions and ideas. Some of these children decide to have a go at the wall whereas others will try the floor.
A child is given a word problem designed by his teacher. Across India, I came up several teachers that went out of their way to prepare low-tech Teaching Learning Material. As a teacher myself, I found it thoroughly inspiring and also somewhat unfair with the accusations that teachers would regularly have to shoulder.
These children are part of the same school where teachers have been sent on election duty. Grades 1 and 2 were being taught by Pratham R&D teachers and therefore not obliged or part of the government system. Here, though, students are taught their lessons in the kitchen due to a shortage of classrooms. 2 classrooms and the kitchen are shared by 5 grade levels.
Children look at the photographer thoroughly distracted from their lessons, but with hard evidence of having indulged in some form of chalk-based learning or activity.
This girls is not formally enrolled in the R&D program. Her sister had constantly missed class - which led to her teacher making efforts to find out why. In the absence of a care-taker, her sister was asked to stay at home and baby sit her sister - a common reason why so many girls are out of school in India (and indeed the world over). The only solution was the sister to bring her younger sibling to class. We're told that depending on the activity - she also gets to involve herself. Of course, we would have rather hoped that she was in a playschool among friends of her own age - laughing away - but this is hard given the choices and limitations of India's education system.
Amrit-Lal, one of the administrators of the program - shows me the detailed lesson plans that are created by the R&D staff for their classrooms. Their preparation and dedication to the class taught me a lot about teaching as a whole.
Arvind (not me Arvind) is one of the R&D teachers and works with his students here to explain how to do some of the problems sheets prepared by him.
A student in Arvind's class works through a number and counting puzzle drawn out by him - yet another example of learning and engagement being an open and everywhere concept.
