Ponda, Tiswadi GPS teachers ‘open’ gateway into the world of reading

PANJIM:  Despite several challenges the pandemic has thrown up since early 2020, a strong network of Government Primary School (GPS) teachers from Ponda and Tiswadi talukas have come forward to ensure that students get access to various books.
Not only did they succeed in this initiative, but they also helped inculcate that passion for reading amongst these students at the grass-root level.
This initiative was backed by the entire team behind the Bookworm’s Libraries in School Programme (LiS).
In collaboration with the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT), Government of Goa and supported by Cipla Foundation, the NGO Bookworm provided ‘Book Boxes’ to over 60 government primary schools in these two talukas.
 “Over 180 teachers participated in training and their experience opened up the use and approaches to book joy for primary school children. The teachers attend the monthly webinars from last year, 20 schools are part of an intense library ambassador programme,” said Sujata Noronha, Bookworm Director.
What’s important to note here is that this was a time when everyone was dealing with the pandemic and their individual safety needs, these teachers embarked on this special mission.
In the first phase, service delivery of “Book Boxes” was initiated to 54 schools in 2020- 21 and parents and children across diverse communities accessed these books on school visits because the teachers initiated this process.
However, as school reopening is still a grey area along with the crises loom of disengagement with print, a fatigue with the delivery mechanism of collecting material from schools and an additional burden of school guidance on a frail parent base – it is these teachers who found creative ways to deal with these challenges as well.
“In June 2021, Bookworm with continued support identified 20 unique teachers who have shown initiative and gone beyond mere doing in their book joy programme. These teachers are now being initiated into creative practices that include mini-library displays, book selection process, book activities for various ages and language groups, and nurturing their own reading journeys,” said Pranita Naik, LiS Programme Lead.
Every week the communication is rife with sharing of ideas, spontaneous creativity and asking for support as well as additional material to enhance the library experience of their children.
“What is also being witnessed is the ripple effect of good empowering practices where the community of teachers outside this network is also engaging in book activities and attempting creative displays to attract parents and children to the library in their schools,” Pranita added.
There are also provisions in place for those students who are unable to make it to the school themselves to visit these libraries.
 “These books are given as part of the Book Box. We encourage children to come, browse and borrow books for reading. In some places where children don’t come, their parents come to collect the subject worksheets and during that time, they borrow a book also from the display,” Sujata added.
 “The children are very happy to receive the worksheets from the ‘Book Box’. The response is also good. If the children are not able to read English they at least look at the pictures and fill the worksheets,” said a staff member from GPS Arla.
While Laxman Dodmani, from GPS Varkhande said the sessions were very innovative and inclusive, Ashwini Kamat from GPS Shiroda said the ‘wonderful’ sessions proved to be very helpful to them while carrying out their daily teaching.
 When the Bookworm LiS Programme team was asked why they came up with this, they reasoned that since the abrupt closure of schools in March 2020, young children for whom schooling was a gateway into the world of reading were shut out. “What literacy research previously understood as the summer slide (loss of literacy skills during months of summer holidays) is likely to be understood as a severe avalanche in the years to come,” said a team member.
“We wish all the 180 plus teachers a very happy Teachers’ Day this year in full recognition of the tremendous journey they are on,” the team member concluded.