Sea Change

And this isn’t because of the ongoing half-yearly examinations being conducted by the Education Department of the Andaman and Nicobar Administration. At a loss to come to terms with magnitude of the devastation, the local administration working closely with different voluntary organisations, has hit upon a novel strategy to bring children back to school.

‘‘There is a paradigm shift in our approach to education which till now had been quantity centric. We were more concerned about the number of schools and educational institutions as a result of which quality got compromised. However now the thrust is on Multi Grade Multi Level (MGML) teaching,’’ says R Dev Das, assistant director of education.

The focus, he says, has shifted to equipping teachers even in the remotest islands with special skills that will enable them to deal sensitively with children. For the first time the focus in the islands has shifted essentially from text books to encompass a host of activities including painting, crafts, music, role play and sports. ‘‘The results are very encouraging,’’ says Das.

Seventy teachers from different islands including the worst-hit southern group of Nancowrie, Katchal, Kamorta and Campbell Bay have already undergone an intensive MGML training initiated by the Rishi Valley School run by J Krishnamarthy Foundation at Andhra Pradesh.

‘‘The objective is to train teachers to extract the best out of the students even in cases where they have to function with the least possible infrastructure. For this, indepth knowledge of the ‘playway’ method is required by which a teacher is taught to teach multiple levels simultaneously. The programme was conducted between August and November. All teachers would act as resource persons across all islands and equip those working with block resource centres under the Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan,’’ says Das.

TO make the ‘playway’ method a success, special focus is being laid on psycho-social counselling for children who are still in trauma. New Delhi-based Rajiv Gandhi Foundation of India has tied up with the Education, Health and Social Welfare Departments of the Andaman and Nicobar Administration to train leaders, including doctors and teachers, to detect warning signs among students. UNICEF and West Bengal Voluntary Health Association are also working in allied fields with different target groups.

‘‘Psycho-social training is of prime importance for the islanders now. Teachers are being trained of ways of identifying problem signs. They are being given tips on how children can deal with loss by participating in diverse activities such as painting, crafts, handwork, sports, story telling and indoor games,’’ says Das.

The administration has also signed a MoU with Pune-based Bharatiya Jain Sangathana for improving quality of teaching in the islands. From computers and multimedia-based teaching, the focus is also on value education and yoga training in schools.

The Rajiv Gandhi Foundation, which has trained 245 teachers in the islands, aims to develop a cadre of ‘‘special caregivers’’ who are able to apply diverse counselling techniques. One of the methods being used to cheer up children is mask therapy where the trainers are being told to make plaster of Paris moulds of faces of students who have been identified as suffering from depression. Then the student is asked to make one of the group leader. The idea is that when he sees the difference in his and the leader’s expressions, he will get a smile on his face. To take the programme to the grassroots, tribal captains are also being trained as master trainers who in turn would educate others in their colonies. And not only are the students gradually returning to school, their smiles too are.