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Yes
Madam!
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In
teacher Urmila Jaisi’s classroom in robot-like discipline has
been replaced by group work, creativity and many more smiling
children
By Line Wolf Nielsen
Previously when Urmila Jaisi were teaching the alphabet she used
to make the children repeat the name of the new letter, followed
by a “yes, Madam!” Now, however, she has abandoned that practice.
The change in her ways of teaching is a result of two weeks of
training in April 2004, conducted by MS Nepal partner BASE-Bardiya.
After more than a year of contemplating and experiencing the new
methods, Urmila Jaisi is a more confident teacher.
”I really learned a lot and especially the new method aiming at
younger children has proved very useful. I’ve learned that all
activities should be centered on the active participation of the
children and I am no stranger to organising group work anymore,”
she says.
These days she no longer believes the children will learn anything
from repeating her teaching with a ”Yes, Madam!”
”I believe children are easily bored if everything is conducted
from the pages of a book and I can see, that their learning is
enhanced if I make use of music and singing,” she tells.
Whenever the children have to learn the spelling of new words
Urmila Jaisi have begun to bring objects to put on display – it’s
more active than just pointing on a picture poster. “The fruits
and sweets are very popular, because we eat them afterwards,”
she grins.
32 year old Urmila Jaisi has been a teacher in for the last 15
years. She lives in the Mid-Western district of Bardiya and for
the last 12 years she’s been teaching at the
Shree
Bishwojoti Primary School in the village of Rajipur. Her monthly
salary amounts to 4100 Rupees.
The
school has 531 pupils, primarily from a poor background, their
families being landless Freed Kamaiyas and Dalits.
Smiles
in the Classroom
The
area is affected by the ongoing armed conflict between Maoists and
security forces.
A
handful of the children in her primary class have been orphan aged
due to the conflict and Urmila Jaisi has to cater to their special
needs for reassurance. This is made easier with the change in her
attitude towards the possible relationship between teacher and
pupil.
Previously she maintained a distance between herself and the
children in her classes, because she found it the only way to keep
the discipline high and the respect in place.
However, at the training she was taught that a teacher should not
be the cause of even one percentage of fear – as it will most
certainly affect the learning abilities and the motivation of the
children.
”I
have now decided that the children can come as close as they want
to, and sometimes I find them crawling all over my head now. They
also approach me when they cry and seek solace - something they
did not dare before.”
Thus,
the day no longer starts with her calling out the students by name
and number and listing them in her big registration book, while
they sit in complete silence. Now she is greeted by talkative
youngsters who dare ask her how she is – and that do give a much
nicer and less formal start to the day, she believes.
Whether or not it is due to the closer and more relaxed
relationship between the children and their teacher she does not
know, but Urmila Jaisi do feel that the children in her class are
smiling and laughing a lot more than a year ago, before her
training.
Increased Popularity
With
money from Operation Day’s Work the MS Nepal partner BASE Bardiya
supports the construction of schools and education programs for
children of landless freed Kamaiyas and Dalits. School management
committee members, teachers and parents are included via trainings
and meetings. The training programme of Urmila Jaisi is called
”Child Center Teachers Learning Approaches” . The two weeks are
supplemented by a refreshment course after six months. One of the
problems she brought up on that course was the handling of group
work when four teachers are dealing with 175 children. At the
course they were only handling 20 students and she would like to
learn more about handling larger classes.
BASE
staff is visiting the school once a month and also supports the
refurbishing of the schools classrooms.
In
total three teachers from the Shree Bishwojoti Primary School have
received training from the BASE-Bardiya programme. They have all
tried to share their new learning with the rest of the staff.
Especially some new teaching methods for the 4. and 5. Grade has
proven useful.
The
new teaching methods have made the school popular
”
Students from a nearby school are keen on joining us. We have to
tell the parents that the best thing is to attend a school near to
your home so that they do not all send their kids to us,” Urmila
says.
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