24th April 2018, Tuesday morning the course
leaders and group leaders started calling to ask about my arrival since all
preparations were done. In assurance all I could say was "I will reach in the time, you need not worry." When I reached the village, I saw that there was a fair atmosphere. Unlike
every other day in the village, today felt a little different. People were
rather excited and full of energy and cheer. Children were excited yet a little nervous to appear for the
test. The course leaders and group leader
kept the tables, chairs, doors, mattresses etc. in the right place. At a corner of the village, our mela was being conducted by
placing five tables beside each other. All
the preparations were done very well. I was
very happy to see the arrangements.
Together, we set up the contents related to
different types of competencies at each table. Everyone sat
down at their predetermined location. Gradually
mothers and kids came to the determined location of meeting. On one side, the mothers
satin groups, the kids sat on the other side. Some kids were accompanied by other family members too. They too
made their own space among the mothers to sit and chat.
The mela began with an introduction session
where people were explained the purpose of the fair and the way forward. Knowing
this, the parents and the people of the village were rather elated to see our
endeavor to work with small kids. This was the first time some organization took
the initiative to do something for small child. It was thrilling to see the
excitement among the villagers and their support as opposed to our fear of
failure. After this, a couple of videos
were shown to the mothers. The parents felt our concept is different as compared to the usual style of teaching.
Additionally, they stated that with the help of these videos they can read out
to their kids at home too. Most of the mothers said, “Teach us also that we will teach our children and take
responsibility for teaching our children.” After
that the test of the children started to be conducted. Mothers and Parents began
to support children's test by applauding and pushing their kids. Young children also got excited to start the test. On the one
hand small children were being examined, on the other the kids who were
promoted to class 9 were summoned for their departure ceremony.
The level of excitement kept rising with
passage of time. The kids and their parents felt honored to be involved in such
a good cause for the first time. The children
of the group sang songs to greet farewell to their seniors and gave them
garlands of flowers. The children moving to
a higher grade shared their experience of being a part of H-Learning program.
Most of them had the same things to talk about. They said they have learned about
bones, blood, colors, solar system, eclipse and English. They were happy to be a part of the program and saddened that
it ended so soon! They felt so connected to
the tablets that they were sad that they will not be able to study from the
tablet anymore. To this, they were told that they can always refer
to the tablet to revise the old material and look up for new additions made.
Now, it was time for small kids. Dressed in
colorful clothes, under heaps of powder smeared all over the face they came to
the mela with their mothers. The existing group members
welcomed them by giving flowers, garland, self-made cards and tilak. They were
elated to know that they will now be a part of the program that teaches on
tablet. Course Leaders and Group Leaders
were assigned the responsibility to guide and support the new joining kids.
Mothers were given a Welcome kit and
informed about the usage of it. CRLs for the particular area were fixed too. The
entire mela was a smooth sail. In the end, parents and mothers were appreciating the effort we at Pratham put to
provide education to their children. We at
Team Pratham have taken an oath to help the kids daily, since that is our only
motivation.
In this way, the mela was done more
effectively than expected. There are about 45 houses in LakhanPur village, 6 kilometers away from the Hilloli block office in Unnao district.
From this village there were 4 groups, 25 children and
15 mothers and 12 villagers present in the fair.
Fair picture in Lakhanpur village |
The girl giving a test during the fair in Lucknow |
Mothers watching videos during the fair in Lakhanpur
village
|
The girl giving a test during the fair in Lucknow |
Children
farewell to older children in Ghalibpur |
While giving material training to mothers during the fair |
Akbarkeera
farewell to older children in the village
|
Small children are welcomed in
Akbarkeera village
|