Pune: Goethe-Institut launches online platform for science learning in Marathi, German

There are various tasks which the children have to complete in each lesson. The students are awarded a badge for answering questions correctly at each level.

Around 10 Marathi schools from Pune, including two rural schools from Bhor Tehsil and Gorhe Budruk village, participated in the launch on Sunday, during which activities such as ‘taster lessons’ of Kinderuni, workshops, reading of science stories in Marathi and quizzes were organised.

Started in 2020, initially the programme was conducted only in two languages — German and English — but later it was made available in regional languages like Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, Tamil and Kannada.

Project coordinator Vaishali Dabke said that while the initiative received a good response from across the country, Maharashtra was top of the list.

“The project aims to create interest in science among children. Various sub-topics are covered under the main topics and children will be able to learn the lessons available on this platform themselves or under the guidance of their parents at home or in school with their teachers. The special feature is that the children will also learn some German words and their pronunciation through this medium. This will encourage children to learn German. The children will get a badge after successful completion of their homework,” she said.

Meanwhile Vikas Garad, deputy director, Maharashtra State Council of Education, Research and Training (MSCERT), who attended the event, said the council would soon launch a training programme in basic German for school teachers.

Project coordinator Vaishali Dabke said that while the initiative received a good response from across the country, Maharashtra was top of the list.

“The new education policy encourages learning of different foreign languages but the major challenge is preparing the teachers who can teach the languages to students. To address this problem, SCERT is aiming to develop a separate training program for teachers where they can learn foreign languages with the help of institutes like Goethe and other language experts,” he said.

Upto 30 lessons based on various subjects have been made available in audio-visual format on the ‘Kinderuni Marathi’ platform and cartoon characters like Professor Einstein, Miss Lau, Chrisstoff and Yovo the drone will take the children through stories and videos. There are various tasks which the children have to complete in each lesson. The students are awarded a badge for answering questions correctly at each level.