Reach to Teach embarks on making learning joyful in Arunachal Pradesh

OUR CORRESPONDENT

ITANAGAR: The Reach to Teach (RTT), a UK registered charity organization, has embarked upon a mission for a large-scale transformation in school education in Arunachal Pradesh by making learning joyful.

The organization had already inked a tripartite memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the State Government and the NITI Aayog in July this year, which is a three-year partnership (2022-25), focusing on the enhancement of the learning outcome of students across 3,000 plus Government schools in the State, thereby reaching out to over two lakh children.

The school education transformation project is under the NITI Aayog's development support services for States initiative.

"Our focus is on improving learning outcomes only in government schools. The whole focus is to try to better the quality of learning with making learning joyful as the motto. Even in Government schools, joy is not driven by money…joy is driven by attitude and engagement," Reach to Teach Foundation CEO Ratna Viswanathan said here on Wednesday.

"Our focus is on transformative learning programme in the State from class 1 to 12 and we are re-writing lot of contents through our technical partner IGNUS with whom we are working to create the contents which is very child and teacher-friendly," she said.

"Teachers know their students best. They have years of teaching experience. Why not focus on the teachers how to teach? Now our whole focus is to empower teachers and make them enthusiastic," Viswanathan said, adding that there would be activities to make the lessons interesting for the child and the teacher.

She added, "Joy has nothing to do with expansive classrooms and equipments, it is about how to teach and that what we are trying to do."

The foundation has already started school readiness programme in the State.

"Teachers should have emotional understanding of education which is important. We have planned two English and two Mathematics activities each day before start of the classes, which will infuse fun among the teachers as well as the students before getting back into learning," she disclosed.

"Now we are here for a visioning exercise. We are going to roll out the contents for the classes from I to XII in English and Hindi. We are starting in English and then we will translate to Hindi. Fortunately, Arunachal has one binding language that is Hindi," she said.

When asked on the help extended by the State Government, the CEO said that the Government has given the organization full access to schools, SCERT and Government departments so that all could work collaboratively.

"It is a three-year programme but if at that stage we will see that something is not complete, we will take it further by another two years," Viswanathan added.

Every child will have access to quality education to enable them to become confident social citizens with improved life chances. We strive to improve education outcomes by making learning joyful, working with governments, partners, parents and communities with foundational learning skills at the core, she said.

"We take a systems approach to strengthen education service delivery. Our technical support and programmes are consultative, evidence-based and data-driven. Through continuous monitoring and evaluation, we ensure that learning from our programmes is at the centre of programme design. Our approach is bolstered with fit-to-purpose and contextually relevant technologies that amplify the intended outcomes of system reform," she pointed out.

"We envisage a system where all stakeholders understand their roles and carry them out to ensure children acquire necessary skills which equips them to lead productive lives," Viswanathan added.

Also read:  Arunachal Governor BD Mishra launches book on McMahon Line

Also watch: