Case Study

Sakran, Sitapur village, Odajhar ... ...

  The work of Pratham Education Foundation is prominent in the village of Odajhar for the last two years especially due to H-Learning program in which children study from tablets.

  Odajhar village is located 8 km from Sakran (Block headquarters). There is a total of 250 houses in the village, and not all of them are well thatched. Located in the village are some primary and upper primary schools in which children access Pratham materials along with regular school curriculum. There is also a small Anganwadi center in the village where the little children study. Most people work in the village are primarily farmers. Rug weaving is also a good source of employment and earning in this area. Some people go to the city to earn better wages. The entire village is divided on the basis of caste and creed.

 In Odajhar village, there are 12 groups in which 6 tablets are handed over to children to share and study. Over the past month the entire village and we at Pratham have been preparing and running programs for 5-to-7-year-old children on the one hand and helping the elder one make videos using Viva Video app. Both the programs are running successfully by the cooperation of our team members at Pratham and the villagers at large. Our work with pre-school kids is a good way to keep them engaged and updated with learning. The kids and their mothers participate equally in the learning process and the cooperation of the mothers helps us keep our programs running.

 During the follow up of pre-school preparation program we had a lot of funny experiences. One such interesting experience to see was that of 5-year-old Ayan. He resides with his parents and siblings. The elder male members of the family work at cloth mills to feed the rest of the family. Ayan's elder brother studies in class 7 and the elder sister studies in class 5. Ayan is yet to go to school. Senior children in pre-school preparations surveyed Ayan’s locality. After 15 days of Survey, the fair was organized in the village and the people of the house attended the fair.

   One hour before the assessment began, our team did a follow up session with all the villagers who had been invited to attend the Mela, to remind them to come to the designated location. Having received the reminder Ayan showed up at the Mela with his grandmother. Initially, there was a fear in him or maybe he was just a little shy, but seeing the other children perform so freely in the test he relaxed himself. By the time his assessment begun, the fear in him was gone and in fact he interacted so freely with our volunteers when he required help during the assessment. During testing on the testing counter, his grandmother was actively supported and encouraged him to answer the questions as required. At the end of assessment, Ayan was asked to stand with his grandmother while she was explained the purpose of our endeavor and the correct usage of our materials.

    When she was being handed over the report card and the material to take home, she was constantly told of how much time and effort Ayan along with his parents would have to make to see the efforts bear fruit. With that in mind they went back home and after 10 days when our team reached Ayan’s village again, we saw him engrossed in studying out loud with the help of the study material while his mother and grandmother sat beside him to support. The moment he saw us, he greeted us and we could see the excitement in his eyes to show us how confident he has grown over such a short period of time and how prepared he is to go to school. In 10 days, he was able to count up to 20 and even recite all the alphabets in order.

     Now Ayan goes to school and is able to recite poems, alphabets with clarity, count till 100 and even draw and color inside patterns as instructed to him during the ECE mela meet. We are looking forward to meeting him during our follow up ECE Mela as we shall be able to witness his enhanced confidence and morale, and add colors to our efforts as a family named Pratham.