Lessons in Progress

For those of us who have underwent conventional schooling during the recent decades, memories of lugging around bulging bags full of fat textbooks or memorizing the multiplication tables without really understanding what it's all about are not unfamiliar ones. At the session "Experiences of large scale implementation of methodologies in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka", moderated by Vimala Ramachandran, the presenters shared the lessons learned and trials faced in the implementation of MGML methodologies. Malathy Duraisamy, Professor at IIT Madras, gave a brief account of the study which evaluated the Activity Based Learning method and was able to confirm that ABL has been exceptionally successful in the 10 schools that were studied in the Chennai and Kanchipuram districts of Tamil Nadu. Pooja Kulkarni, IAS, took us over the success of the methodologies across Tamil Nadu where the project, which began with 13 schools in 2003-'04 covers 37,486 schools since 2007-'08. Ms. Kulkarni emphasized that the ABL is a continuously evolving method which needs to be constantly evaluated and updated in accordance with the feedback received from the teachers. The audience got a chance to hear about the Nali Kali or "Joyful Learning" programme in Karnataka from Geetha S., SSA, Government of Karnataka whose presentation commenced with a video of a Nali Kali classroom. In Karnataka, ABL was initiated in 1995, and is currently put to use in 44,101 schools. The triumphant mood continued as Anita Kaul, Director, Council for Social Development, pointed out that ABL classrooms have been successful in breaking cliques that tend to segregate a classroom on the basis of caste, learning abilities, gender or class differences. The audience when called upon to join in the discussion kept up the optimistic mood. The discussion indicated that right now is a great time to be a child, when learning seems to come naturally and creativity nurtured. One cannot help but be jealous of this young generation!