It had been about a week since I joined Meghshala as an intern and I was heading on a school visit for the first time. I didn’t really know what to expect but what I saw went well beyond anything I could have envisioned. My feelings before the visit were an amalgamation of excitement, curiosity, and of course, a teensy bit of anxiety.
My IPA, two fellow interns, and I were headed to GLPS Vidyasagar, a government-funded lower primary school in Saraipalya that housed students till grade 5. The school lay tucked away in a by-lane which one could easily miss if not for the lively chatter of its students. On entering, we were offered 'bisi bele bath, which is how I knew that it was going to be a good day! We then met with the headmistress who was enthusiastic about showing us around the school and the steps they are taking to provide students with the best possible education despite the limited resources available. Then we got to the part that I was most excited about - meeting the kids! We were going to mainly engage with fourth graders on that day, which meant sitting in on their classes that day and observing the relationship between how teachers were using the Meghshala app and how students were reacting to it.
The content was made visible to the students through the convenience of a portable projector and they all seemed really excited about learning with the help of technology. The class went smoothly with the teacher constantly pausing to make sure the children were following and then taking a few extra minutes to reinforce points wherever necessary. What truly amazed me was the willingness to learn and adapt. The school is a Kannada medium school and so classes are taught in the said language.
Many children in the class have migrated to Karnataka from different states and hence, did not speak Kannada initially. Within a span of two years, most of them have learned to speak, understand, read and write the language. There were a lot of classroom activities prescribed through the Meghshala app and these seemed to keep the children focused while also making it a fun process. At the end of the class, the teaching roles switched a little - the kids taught us a song, and then we had a little sing-along to finish the class!
Then we got to interact with the teacher and this answered a lot of questions I had. She expressed the difficulties she faced in ensuring that all the children in the class were on the same level of understanding, and she also said that the Meghshala lessons help bridge that gap. She also said that incorporating technology into teaching is as refreshing for the teacher as it is for the students. Visiting the school was perhaps one of the most enlightening, wholesome experiences I’ve had in a long time and I can’t wait to visit more schools.
- Akanksha Reddy ( Intern )