Stories in the Hamlet
The little girls of Bijalpada Zilla Parishad school take back home the stories that
they read as part of KPALP's Independent Writing programme
Away from the Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway, in the picturesque tribal hamlet of Bijalpada in Palghar district, live 33 children who have fallen in love with books and stories. Instrumental in fostering this affection is Kendra Pramukh Raghunath Mahala (54) and the teacher of grades four and five, Kailas Bhimrao Jangale (36). The latter has spent 12 years teaching at this Zilla Parishad school.
Mahala has been part of the Kendra Pramukh Academic Leadership Programme (KPALP) pilot and continues to be an active member of the Professional Learning Community (PLC) of the KPAL programme. He professes faith in the programme, which he says has helped him hoist the skill levels of students in the previous cluster he headed. ''Every Kendra Pramukh across Maharashtra should be part of KPALP,'' he says with quiet conviction.
Love of reading
Mahala showed Jangale, a teacher in a school in his cluster, the story templates that he should facilitate for his students, so they may learn to write independently. ''Earlier when they arrived at school every morning,'' Jangale recalls, ''the children would run around and play. A few days after we began the read-aloud activity, I found fourth and fifth graders sitting in groups reading and discussing story books instead. I was amazed! All the story books we have are frayed from use, since children don't miss an opportunity to read. They even take them home.''
Books are now highlighted at the Paripaath or morning assembly each day. A child comes up, displays a book to the gathering, and explains cover elements like title, author, illustrator and publisher's name, the blurb and illustrations. Another child comes up, summarizes and reviews the same story. Children enthusiastically volunteer for this activity.
A holistic approach
Mahala says that the Independent Writing module has infused both teachers and students with energy. ''The basic skills that children are supposed to attain are all addressed through the independent writing activity—reading, conversation, speech and writing.'' Jangale adds that children have begun to notice details like the suffix attached to words, peculiar to languages like Marathi. They underline these and words whose meaning they don't understand and come to him for explanation.
New horizons
Echoes of the Independent Writing programme, with its focus on learning story-writing through a close reading of story books, are leaving the premises of the Z.P school and reaching other spaces. The picture books tucked into scruffy red schoolbags are making their way into homes in the sleepy hamlet of Bijalpada.
When we ask children to narrate a story they have read, not in Marathi, but in Warli, the local tribal language, Ravina Rahate holds us spellbound with her lilting, immersive telling... She is a natural! The 9-year-old's parents go to work in the fields all day. Some days she is the lone caregiver to her three younger siblings, even bringing them along to school. She has begun to tell them the stories she has read. Jangale has observed Ravina's 3-year-old brother cup his face in his hands and sit completely still, listening.
While the boys in Jangale's grades are a confident lot, several of the girls were so reticent, they would not speak at classroom discussions. He sees a sea change in their behavior since read-aloud and stories have become points of discussion.
Growing in confidence
9-year-old fourth grader, Anita Baraf would never speak above a mumble, if she spoke at all. Her eyes would well up with tears if the teacher addressed her directly. Today, Anita volunteers to read story books aloud in class and raises her hand often to answer questions related to it, her voice still pitched low, but her expressive eyes speaking excitement and interest. She even reads stories, from the books she borrows to take home, to her mother. She explains them to her family in Warli, her ''boli bhasha'', eager to share her thoughts and her joy.
Anita's home is a good 45-minute walk from school, between village houses, cactus hedges and bare, wintry fields. Mahala and Jangale walk behind Anita, led to the beautiful brown farm house, neatly laid out vegetable garden and fields beyond it. They congratulate her gentle, smiling mother who has left her chores to spend a few minutes with us. Indura Baraf tells us that Anita regales her with a story each evening. Anita's favourite book at present is 'Kute gele paani?' (Where Has the Water Gone?) her mother says. Anita's smile deepens and her eyes well up, at the love and honour books have brought her. The stories have brought her teachers home to her family. Learning, through stories, has indeed arrived at the doorstep of the hamlet called Bijalpada.
