School Visit: Chinhat Schools (Nandpur and Salarganj)

Summary: As part of a 2-year study led by the University of Washington, DSH is expanding into 11 government schools (located in Chinhat) this coming school year. We’ve started filming teachers in these schools to assess the “before” situation. In our initial visit of two schools, I finally saw the bleak situation of education in village schools.

Holi is generally celebrated over two days, though many folks end up taking the entire week off. This means that although school is in session Friday and Saturday, students generally don’t show up until the following week.

DSH is launching in 11 government schools in the Chinhat region through a 2-year evaluative study funded by the University of Washington. We visited 2 of these schools on Saturday in hopes that we could film some of their classes (to document the “before intervention” state of teaching). Unfortunately both schools lacked the appropriate student population for filming . In Nandpur, not a single student was in attendance.

We tried again on Tuesday and arrived at Nandpur greeted by the sight of teachers congregating in the principal’s office. No reason; just because. We requested to film the 5th grade math and 3rd grade English classes. The math teacher then went outside, located the appropriate lesson (simple interest), led an exercise on the board, and walked away while the students copied it. Five minutes later, she returned to make sure students had copied the exercise correctly. (Though this was a class 5 lesson, class 4 students participated and obediently copied the board as well.)

Third grade English was even harder to watch. The teacher spent 5 minutes going through the numbers one through ten, writing the English word followed by the Hindi pronunciation and meaning. When he ran out of vertical board space at “seven,” he simply continued to “ten” verbally. Then he looked at Rahul with an expression that said, “What now?” He stopped and watched as the students copied the board. Unfortunately, it looked as if students were copying the English words as if it were art (the teacher wrote in half-cursive). Only with Rahul’s suggestion did the teacher check the copies, and even then it was a cursory sign-off.

Salarganj, the second school, wasn’t much better. Teachers were milling around when we arrived, with students quietly sitting outside. Again, only when we asked did the principal assemble the appropriate students (class 4 and 5) and teacher into the classroom for filming. This para-teacher* was equally clueless and started with an addition problem (e.g., 13595 + 2543). Look to Rahul for next steps. [Please continue.] Look through curriculum. Started a subtraction problem (as with numbers above). Look to Rahul, then curriculum. Started multiplication problem (e.g., 25456 x 45). Look to Rahul. Curriculum. Long division, at the end of which the teacher was saved by lunchtime. Keep in mind that this was 5th grade math.

We didn’t film class 3 English because the teacher was absent. They’ll call us when the teacher shows up.

I realize that our presence (as foreigners and with cameras) is very distracting and intimidating. But that’s no excuse for poor / no teaching. These children deserve an education; at the very least, they deserve to be inspired, and these teachers were less than inspiring. I am excited (and possibly overly idealistic) about the potential for DSH to make a difference in these schools.

* Note: A para-teacher is a teacher elected by the local village head. Unlike the government teacher, a para-teacher has lower / no credentials and receives a lower salary (on the scale of 3,000 versus 10,000 Rs a month). S/he is essentially a less qualified teacher who shares the same responsibilities as a teacher. Alas, the state of government village schools.