Young minds suffer as nurseries go neglected

According to teachers,children,in the absence of worksheets,are unable to learn writing in nursery classes. As a result,they face difficulties when they move to Class I,where they are made to write sentences as mandated in the syllabus,say the teachers.

“The worksheets designed by Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) officials are meant to be used by students of Class I to VIII and not by nursery classes. With nursery students we need to take a gradual course with learning. However,it is difficult for them to switch over to writing exercises in Class I,within an year after nursery,” said Anujit Kaur,Principal of GMSSS Sector 16.

A nursery teacher from the school said,“Most of the students who join the school are from rural backgrounds and their parents are generally illiterate. So,for them,all the learning takes place in school as the parents cannot contribute to their revision at home. Because of this,the teaching pace has to be kept slow.”

Suggesting certain measures which can help schools improve elementary level teaching,another teacher from GSSS Sector 27 said,“Children learn faster through audio-visual aids. If provided with sufficient resources,schools can set up multimedia classrooms.”

The nursery teacher added,“Apart from this,regular training sessions for nursery teaching should be conducted by our research institutes like the State Institute of Education.”

Admitting that the state government is not doing enough to enhance the teaching techniques in nursery wings,UT Education Secretary V K Singh said,“It is true that we have not been able to work well towards productive development in the learning of nursery students as on date.”

“This has happened partly because there are no specifications made by the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) for nursery teaching. But the state does hold the responsibility of taking initiatives in the direction. We will develop an action plan and begin conducting special training for teachers,” Singh added.