Education v1
Supporting 5 primary and secondary schools in Pune, Nigdi, Salumbre, Solapur and Harali
Challenges
Education, in all its ways, is often considered to be not only the bridge to realizing personal aspirations, but also a stimulus to aspire in the first place. A profound and well designed formal education system has the power to lift an entire society out of disabling poverty and turn it into a progressive, self sufficient and responsible civilization. In India, the Right to Education (RTE) movement and universalization of education have been the driving forces behind a steady enrollment of over 95% of children between 6 to 14 years of age, for the past 12 years. While promising, it begs the question whether achieving a high enrollment is enough. Studies show that only 73% of students currently enrolled in Grade 8 are able to read at the Grade 2 level and this number is unchanged since 2016. Further, only about half of these students are able to do a 3-digit by 1-digit numerical division correctly. Putting things in context, Grade 8 is the level until which formal education is enforced by the Indian law.
Problems often exacerbate as we move away from the sprawling urban centers towards the countryside. In rural India, only 6% of elementary schools can employ a dedicated physical education teacher. Deficiencies in school facilities seize the scenario in most schools. With less than half of the schools being able to maintain on-campus drinking water facilities and girls’ toilets, access to libraries is a distant dream for most.
Prabodhini Way
Education, in all its ways, is often considered to be not only the bridge to realizing personal aspirations, but also a stimulus to aspire in the first place. A profound and well designed formal education system has the power to lift an entire society out of disabling poverty and turn it into a progressive, self sufficient and responsible civilization. In India, the Right to Education (RTE) movement and universalization of education have been the driving forces behind a steady enrollment of over 95% of children between 6 to 14 years of age, for the past 12 years. While promising, it begs the question whether achieving a high enrollment is enough. Studies show that only 73% of students currently enrolled in Grade 8 are able to read at the Grade 2 level and this number is unchanged since 2016. Further, only about half of these students are able to do a 3-digit by 1-digit numerical division correctly. Putting things in context, Grade 8 is the level until which formal education is enforced by the Indian law.
Problems often exacerbate as we move away from the sprawling urban centers towards the countryside. In rural India, only 6% of elementary schools can employ a dedicated physical education teacher. Deficiencies in school facilities seize the scenario in most schools. With less than half of the schools being able to maintain on-campus drinking water facilities and girls’ toilets, access to libraries is a distant dream for most.
Acheivements
In the past half century, Prabodhini has created a reputation of excellence in the society. Distributed among its various centers, Prabohdini has an established track record of shaping students who went on to push frontiers in academia, shape national policies, run businesses, defend borders or provide exceptional healthcare. Prabodhini students often taste success while they’re still in school. A number of NTSE (National Talent Search Examination) scholarship holders, Science and Math Olympiad medalists are accompanied by national athletic champions. Kreedakul has produced 126 national achievers in various indigenous and athletic sports. Students from the Nigdi center completed a 1000 mile bicycle expedition to study rural India up close. Prabodhini caters to 400 rural students learning from Grade 5 to Grade 10 at the Salumbre center and about 250 students enrolled from Grade 1 to Grade 10 at its Harali center which lies in an extremely disadvantaged region of Maharashtra state.
How can you help
Prabodhini believes consistent and dedicated efforts in the right direction will help in changing the state of education. Running centers and facilities effectively along with adapting the infrastructure to technological progress requires strong finances which Prabodhini usually generates through donations and partnerships. Further, if you are interested in getting involved in these activities and taking up further responsibilities to utilize your skills and expertise in any relevant field, Prabodhini welcomes and looks forward to working with you.
Teacher Professional Development
Challenges
It is well established that teacher capabilities are positively related to student achievement. Recent studies report that two in five teachers in India’s elementary public schools do not possess even a Bachelor’s degree and only about half of these teachers have a professional or graduate degree in education. Studies suggest that the existing framework for professional training does not equip teachers with enough pedagogy skills. Consequently, most teachers struggle in applying their conceptual knowledge and skills to create newer examples, design problems and higher-order learning opportunities to aid their students’ education. As India up-heaves to provide quality education to all, building teacher capabilities is a crucial stepping stone.
Prabodhini Way
Prabodhini provides continuous in-service training, professional and personal development opportunities to new and young teachers from elementary and middle schools in rural, urban and suburban areas. Prabodhini aims to produce articulate educators to deliver its idea of ‘Man-Making’ formal education and has set up W. N. Dandekar Teacher Training Center in Pune. Since teachers are much more effective when inspired, prepared and organized, Prabodhini has developed and maintains an app on Android platform which guides educators to create study plans, design engaging lessons and other e-resources.
How can you help
While financially supporting the teacher training center is non-trivial and much needed, Prabodhini also solicits competent and dedicated individuals to get involved and devote their productive time and resources to achieve this goal. Prabodhini offers several project-based, temporary and permanent training and internship opportunities for pre-service teachers, educators, app developers and education researchers to contribute towards realizing the vision of providing quality education for all.
