A young teacher is narrating an enchanting Panchatantra tale to a group of schoolchildren inside the colourful, resource room of the Adarsh High School in central Margao. It is raining heavily outside, but the noise of the rain is drowned by the unbridled laughter of the children as they revel in the story-telling.
This colourful resource room is a key component in the ‘Beyond Boundaries’ (BB) project of the Inclusive Education programme of NGO Sangath being conducted at the Adarsh High School in Margao since 2015. Sangath (meaning together in Konkani) has been driving their Inclusive Education project through the BB platform in 21 schools in the Salcette taluka of South Goa for the past two years. Sangath’s BB project is in active collaboration with the Goa Sarva Shikshan Abhiyan (GSAA) and financially supported by the Verna based Colorcon Asia Private Limited as a part of their corporate social responsibility activity.
According to Percy Cardozo, project leader, Sangath, inclusive education by its very definition means providing every child an opportunity to be part of mainstream education. “Our Beyond Boundaries project ties in with the government’s ‘Sarva Shikshan Abhiyaan’ which insists that all children in the age-group of 6-14 have a right to quality education,” Percy said.
According to Percy, their BB project addresses identifying children with learning difficulties like poor reading, writing, spelling and quantitative skills and providing the necessary support to bring them in line with the mainstream.
Sangath as Percy explained went about introducing their ‘Beyond Boundaries’ (BB) Inclusive Education project in a very systematic manner in twelve Salcette schools to begin with. Two teachers from each of these schools were selected for a comprehensive, 12-session teacher’s training programme where they were sensitised to topics like child development, learning processes, teaching strategies, managing behavioral patterns and creating an inclusive education environment.
These teachers who underwent the training programme went back to their respective schools as resource persons and got involved in capacity building. “Once the teachers are trained in all aspects of inclusive education, they need to identify children with learning difficulties and provide the necessary support,” Percy said.
On my visit to the Adarsh High school recently, I could witness an assessment session in progress, wherein twelve students with learning difficulties from classes V-VIII were being assessed by a group of teachers to identify their specific difficulties. The children had to undertake simple reading, writing and comprehension tests which helped their teachers identify the gaps. Once the gaps were identified, these children were put through fun-learning sessions in the specially created resource room in a bid to bridge the learning gap.
Speaking to Herald, Maria Genesis D’Silva, headmistress Adarsh High School explained the importance of inclusive education stating that every child had a right to free and fair education. “Diversity makes us who we are. Children must learn to accept each other as they are. There are financial divides, social divides and mental divides in society. We as educators must make an attempt to get rid of all these divides through inclusive education,” D’silva said.
According to D’Silva, the Adarsh High school has in association with Sangath identified children with learning difficulties and provided the necessary support to them. A batch of 30 students between classes V-VIII had been identified in 2015 and according to D’Silva these children had benefitted enormously from the education support provided and had adjusted themselves to mainstream very well. “I am happy to report that these children are more confident and able to keep up with the teacher in class. They read and write better and even understand Mathematics better,” she said.
D’Silva is of the firm belief that the state government must provide one special educator to every school in the state. According to her, approximately ten per cent of all children in school have some form of learning difficulty. “A special educator can train other teachers acquire skills which will help them identify these children easily and provide the necessary help and support,” she said.
Sangath’s Percy also echoes D’Silva’s thoughts. “Coaching mainstream teachers in inclusive education processes is the only way forward,” Percy said.
According to her, the government’s Right to Education (RTE) Act also shares the same philosophy by insisting that children from all strata of society are entitled to good quality mainstream education.
More information about NGO Sangath is available on www.sangath.in
