1, 2, 3… 11 Yes! Eleven
Makkala Jagriti now has its footprint in 11 districts of Karnataka. In the month of July, we expanded our presence to the districts of Bidar, Vijayapura, Raichur, and Yadgir where we would be working towards transforming Child Care Institutions (CCIs) into spaces of holistic learning for children. We shall be working in 26 CCIs across 10 districts overall.
The team, which has now grown to nearly 30 members, spent 10 days in Bangalore immersing themselves in the organization’s core values, child rights, facilitation skills, issues of children in need of care and protection, and their own roles in the program. The new and the old members became one cohesive family at the end of the training and created goosebumps moments when they made an earnest commitment to the cause in their own words.
From Karnataka to Kashmir with love
And for news beyond the state, we were presented a rather unique opportunity to support young learners in a small under-resourced school in Pulgam, Jammu and Kashmir with story books for their library. For us who believe that children should get learning opportunities, no matter what, it was a simple act to respond to the requirement. The heartfelt acknowledgment we got when the books were received by the school however was exhilarating.
Watch the warmth with which this young boy shares his gratitude. It inspires us to do more, and we surely will. Love and learning know no borders.
Our rural interventions get a boost
Thanks to a new partnership with Symphony RetailAI, our intervention towards providing holistic learning opportunities to rural children in Gadag district received a fillip. With this support, we shall be working with 3 schools in Shirahatti Taluk and reaching out to nearly 400 children every year along with empowering teachers and engaging with parents. The schools have been carefully chosen – their locations are away from the Taluk hub, most of these children are first-generation learners and there are resource constraints in the schools – so that our program reaches the neediest.
When teachers become learners
For everyone of us working in education, we place a high level of expectations from teachers. But what is the kind of space and support that our teachers need to bring out their best? While searching for answers, we initiated a “Learning Circle” among teachers of the schools. The theme of this event was creating relevant Teaching Learning Materials (TLMs) and we only facilitated the circle and nudged the participants a bit. Barely a 2-hour event, we were able to witness the sharing of knowledge, best practices and creativity of the teachers without any constraints. There was a high level of participation from all teachers involved and most importantly, they enjoyed it and are looking for more such events in the future.
“It was a very happy occasion for all of us teachers to come and sit together and make Teaching Learning Materials TLMs). Here, I got to understand new different methods of making TLMs from other teachers. I am grateful that such a forum was coceptualized and I got an opportunity.”
Chitra
Science Teachers, GHPS Maralukunte
Learning Circles have a great potential in keeping the morale and creativity of the teachers at a high level and keep working at enhancing themselves. We are excited to see what lies ahead.
A lot more has happened in July than there is space to share. More than two hundred volunteers from Google and Alstom have created magic for our children through various initiatives; we have conducted baseline assessments for all our children across programs and we have been putting our hearts and minds to spice up our SPICE curriculum. More of that in the next edition.
