[Core] Fwd: [Research] Meeting with Jharkhand Education Secretary
Guru
Guru at ITforChange.net
Tue Sep 28 21:41:16 IST 2021
a second note from Rishikesh
-------- Forwarded Message --------
Subject: RE: [Research] Meeting with Jharkhand Education Secretary
Date: Tue, 24 Aug 2021 09:56:15 +0530
From: Rishikesh <rishikesh at apu.edu.in>
To: 'Jean Dreze' <jaandaraz at riseup.net>, 'Guru' <Guru at ITforChange.net>,
'Jyotsna Jha' <jyotsna at cbps.in>
CC: 'Mythili Ram' <mythiliramchand at gmail.com>,
research at educationemergency.net, 'venita kaul' <vkaul54 at gmail.com>,
'Sriranjani Ranganathan' <sriranjani.ranganathan at gmail.com>, 'Manisha
Priyam' <priyam.manisha at gmail.com>, 'Niranjanaradhya.V.P Aradhya'
<aradhyaniranjan at hotmail.com>
Good to note that at least the meeting took place and was not as bad as
you expected it to be. Thanks for the update Jean – looks like ‘we are
still going to be in the tunnel for some more time’ if we don’t do more.
I think it will be a good idea to meet the CM as well. I think, both the
bureaucrats and the pol. reps, have to be influenced to ensure that they
act.
I know all of you at Jharkhand will be pushing hard on this issue with
further data that you are collecting. Best wishes & let us know if we
can help in any way.
*Meanwhile, please find attached a document that illustrates how
**Grade****4 Hindi
syllabus,****based****on****the****Rimjhim****textbook****(NCERT), and
Grade 6 Science syllabus could be re-cast by prioritizing LOs.***
Warm regards,
rishi
*From:* Research <research-bounces at educationemergency.net> *On Behalf Of
*Jean Dreze
*Sent:* Tuesday, August 24, 2021 7:06 AM
*To:* Guru <Guru at ITforChange.net>; Jyotsna Jha <jyotsna at cbps.in>
*Cc:* Mythili Ram <mythiliramchand at gmail.com>;
research at educationemergency.net; venita kaul <vkaul54 at gmail.com>;
Sriranjani Ranganathan <sriranjani.ranganathan at gmail.com>; Manisha
Priyam <priyam.manisha at gmail.com>; Niranjanaradhya.V.P Aradhya
<aradhyaniranjan at hotmail.com>
*Subject:* Re: [Research] Meeting with Jharkhand Education Secretary
The meeting was so-so - not great overall, but not as bad as I expected.
On the positive side, the secretary was cordial, sympathetic, gave us a
lot of time, and was aware of the gravity of the situation. I think that
his heart at least is on our side. But it sounds like there is a lot of
opposition to reopening of schools from various quarters, including
certainly the health department, and other quarters also that he did not
specify. So no specific plan as of now though he said that "there may be
some good news by the end of the week" as we departed.
Also, it doesn't sound like any serious preparations are being made for
reopening - not even repairing the school buildings. About the "learning
transition", the only measure they seem to have in mind right now is to
tell teachers to spend half of their time on "remedial learning".
Their main concern right now seems to be the forthcoming "National
Achievement Survey". That's based on grade-specific learning, so that's
what they are focusing on right now. They don't want Jharkhand to end up
at the bottom...
I think the bottom line is that everyone is "playing safe" and no-one
wants to take the risk of being blamed in the event where some children
die (or infection spreads) after schools reopen.
That's the long a short. We might seek an appointment with the Chief
Minister. (Meanwhile I sent Rishikesh's note to the secretary, in a
follow-up mail.)
Jean
On 23-08-2021 10:10, Guru wrote:
Dear Jean,
As Jyotsna says the letter is brief yet communicates the most
important points. Perhaps in the conversation you may be able to
bring in the larger consequences of school closure (child labour,
malnutrition, early marriages, likely high school drop out across
next decade and iniquitous nature of all these) and possible support
in terms of models/resources from the national coalition on the
education emergency.
All the best. Along with the letter you could also release the
'press release' post your meeting.
regards,
Guru
On 23/08/21 9:58 am, Jyotsna Jha wrote:
Jean,
The letter looks good - communicates the most important. Wish
you all the best - let us hope it creates an impact. I think it
will be good to release it elsewhere through media as well once
you have had your meeting.
Regards,
Jyotsna
On Mon, Aug 23, 2021 at 8:08 AM Jean Dreze <jaandaraz at riseup.net
<mailto:jaandaraz at riseup.net>> wrote:
That will be really useful. Here is the letter I have
drafted for the Education Secretary (not for circulation
please, we will release the final version to the media
tomorrow). If need be, we will send a similar letter to the
CM and request an appointment.
Jean
On 22-08-2021 21:31, Mythili Ram wrote:
We have received about a dozen cases of what's being
tried in different sites, largely in South India for
now. We will compile them by Thursday and share.
Mythili
On Sun, Aug 22, 2021, 5:29 PM Jean Dreze
<jaandaraz at riseup.net <mailto:jaandaraz at riseup.net>> wrote:
Thanks Guru. Would be good to hear more about points
1 and 2 from Mythili, Ranjani and Manisha. I will
count myself lucky if we are able to persuade the
Secy that schools need to reopen soon and that the
Govt of Jharkhand may benefit from these inputs for
the purpose of preparing a transition plan.
Hopefully they are on the job, but I will be
surprised if they have electrifying proposals.
Jean
On 22-08-2021 13:14, Guru wrote:
Dear Jean,
I have compiled inputs from Rishikesh, Jyotnsa
and Sajitha in mail thread + Note on the
Education Emergency in Hindi
<https://educationemergency.net/2021/08/resume-and-renew-education-for-26-crore-children-hi/>
+ Press release advocating immediate opening of
pre-primary and primary schools from the
National Coalition, in the attached PDF, to make
it easier to print/share.
It may be useful to present the note as from the
'National Coalition on the Education Emergency'
whose members are working to provide education
support to schools, communities as well as
larger mobilization of parents, teachers,
stakeholders. *So that it is seen as a potential
continuous support/engagement than a one-off
interaction. *The note in the beginning
summarises this potential support (also provided
below)
1. The Working Group on ‘Education Support to
Schools and Communities’ is in the process
of documenting models of meaningful learning
(of different groups/organizations) and
compiling these. Based on this, the group is
preparing ‘Guidelines for school opening’.
We will provide the documents from this
process to the Jharkhand education
department. Contact Mythili Ramchand,
Ranjani Ranganathan)
2. The Working Group on ‘Education Support to
Schools and Communities’ is in the process
of organizing a meeting of parents groups,
teacher groups, NGOs, CBOs working in
*Jharkhand*. The Education department should
have a representative attend this virtual
meeting to get a direct hearing of views of
different stakeholders from Jharkhand.
(Contact person - Manisha Priyam)
3. The Working Group on ‘Research’ is compiling
research studies conducted relating to Covid
and education, and will release the
highlights soon. The suggestions made in
this note, do align with the findings of
almost all the research studies.
4. The press release in the note argues for the
immediate opening of pre-primary and primary
schools, (contrary to the political
preference to open class X-XII) as the
maximum harm from school closure affects
this group. The note in Hindi
<https://educationemergency.net/2021/08/resume-and-renew-education-for-26-crore-children-hi/>
discusses the need to 'resume' and 'renew'
school education.
I am copying Manisha, Mythili, Ranjani and
Venita for their inputs/suggestions.
regards,
Guru
Gurumurthy Kasinathan,शिक्षा आपातकाल पर
राष्ट्रीय सहभागिता
<https://educationemergency.net/2021/08/resume-and-renew-education-for-26-crore-children-hi/>
On 22/08/21 10:26 am, Rishikesh wrote:
Sajitha & Jyotsna have already provided very
useful inputs. So, I’m not sure how useful
this attachment is Jean. It contains
examples on how the current and next year
can be designed and the kind of curricular
changes (broad and the next level
illustratively for Math).
I’m attaching the word version so that you
can use any section of the note to
incorporate into your submission to the
Secy, GoJ. Please feel free to use the note
I’ve shared in whatever way you feel fit as
it does not require any referencing.
Warm regards,
rishi
*From:* Research
<research-bounces at educationemergency.net>
<mailto:research-bounces at educationemergency.net>
*On Behalf Of *Jyotsna Jha
*Sent:* Sunday, August 22, 2021 10:06 AM
*To:* Sajitha Bashir
<sajitha.bashir at gmail.com>
<mailto:sajitha.bashir at gmail.com>
*Cc:* research at educationemergency.net
<mailto:research at educationemergency.net>;
Niranjanaradhya.V.P Aradhya
<aradhyaniranjan at hotmail.com>
<mailto:aradhyaniranjan at hotmail.com>
*Subject:* Re: [Research] posters
Hi Jean,
I can see that we all have different and at
times also contrary suggestions.
Yet, can help suggesting a few - I am sure
you would discern and decide: I think you
should ask for some quick decisions that are
also easier to implement followed by some
modified approaches for being more
supportive to children. I have five suggestions:
1. I am a votary for a Zero Year or a Bonus
Year for all primary kids, especially in
states like Jharkhand and Bihar. In the
lifetime, one year is nothing but if pushed
to higher grades without knowing nothing, it
would lead to much higher dropouts.
2. A curriculum-approach replanning with
support of local (there are some in Ranchi
who understand these well) and some external
people, focusing on key and
supportive concepts - I know that MP is
making some such initiative. Different from
bridging in the sense that it also takes
note of already prevailing learning gaps and
also structural aspects.
3. Training teachers on this new approach
and also extensively on equity and learning
issues making them able to have a
differential approach and not treating all
children the same. It may also mean
individual testing (as Sajitha is
suggesting) to know about each one of them -
but much better to equip teachers to do that
rather than organising large scale ones. It
must include orienting them on
socio-emotional support and the importance
of maintaining links with children/parents
during such breaks.
4. Preparing teachers/schools/system for
future sudden such occurrences (third
wave?). For instance, many schools
don't have all children's addresses with
landmarks, phone numbers (family or
neighbour), closest literate person's phone
number/address. We found that to be a major
constraint that teachers faced when it came
to getting in touch with students and
families. Record collection may have
happened but the school does not have these
in many cases.
5. Textbooks (plus additional learning
materials) and Meals to be non-negotiable -
the system must assess the current practices
and assure the availability of these two.
Regards,
Jyotsna
On Sun, Aug 22, 2021 at 9:20 AM Sajitha
Bashir <sajitha.bashir at gmail.com
<mailto:sajitha.bashir at gmail.com>> wrote:
Studies from the US show that it takes
several years for students who are below
grade level to "catch up" to grade level
; one study I saw indicates that only 4
% catch up in two years ! (This is
pre-pandemic). In general, younger
children, and students who are not
independent learners take longer. So
this cannot be a one-time effort, it
could take a few years. In other words,
think of what you have to do
consistently for several years (which
may , if done well, actually introduce
some much needed changes in the
education system). That is the first
point that I would make.
The education support group of the
coalition is preparing draft guidelines/
principles . At this stage, a few other
points that could be put forward
- children need to be assessed
individually (not just on academic
subjects); sample based assessments and
tests give us an idea of the scale of
the problem, but do not indicate what
needs to be done in each school. These
have to be administered by teachers, but
there must be some quality checks and
protocols, and consistent analysis of
data, to help develop school plans. [
Also, children would also have learnt
new skills and resilience during this
time, and it is important to build on this]
- extend the time for learning (eg
weekends, holidays etc). This obviously
has to be negotiated with teachers or
other organizations have to be brought in.
- mixed age groups / classes in smaller
groups - eg you can teach literacy
skills to some students in classes 1-3
together, if some grade 2-3 students
have lost literacy skills. This becomes
more difficult at higher levels, but
solutions can be found.
- focus on core subjects initially -
language, mathematics; and socio-emotional
- tailored training for teachers to
understand and take up new methods, and
regular support provided to them
- additional instructional materials for
the above (ie the textbooks usually
cannot be used; but additional
instructional materials are not
difficult to develop and need not take time)
- a clear instructional plan developed
by each school ( schools will need
support for this)
- detailed district or block level
planning and monitoring to support each
school;
- meaningful and sensitive communication
with parents on a regular basis.
- more public funding to support all of
above; one can't tackle the crisis
meaningfully with the existing level of
resources
On Sat, Aug 21, 2021 at 9:56 PM Jean
Dreze <jaandaraz at riseup.net
<mailto:jaandaraz at riseup.net>> wrote:
We are meeting the Education
Secretary in Jharkhand tomorrow. If
you have any suggestions, or any
ready-made material that might be
useful to him, please let me know.
Jean
On 22-08-2021 07:12, Rishikesh wrote:
That is right. The gap that has
occurred over the 16+ months is
so huge and as Jean says it is
over the gap that already
existed! If we are to do
anything meaningful, we will
need a lot of time with the
children to even get them to
where they were before the lockdown.
I guess all will agree with it
too. But the challenge is in
coming up with the appropriate
approach with a suitable
curriculum, material, pedagogy,
capacity building to use them &
so on… we will have to start
working with State Govt’s to
actionize this.
*From:* Jean Dreze
<jaandaraz at riseup.net>
<mailto:jaandaraz at riseup.net>
*Sent:* Saturday, August 21,
2021 8:09 PM
*To:* Niranjanaradhya.V.P
Aradhya
<aradhyaniranjan at hotmail.com>
<mailto:aradhyaniranjan at hotmail.com>;
Guru <Guru at ITforChange.net>
<mailto:Guru at ITforChange.net>
*Cc:* Sajitha Bashir
<sajitha.bashir at gmail.com>
<mailto:sajitha.bashir at gmail.com>;
mehendalearchana at gmail.com
<mailto:mehendalearchana at gmail.com>;
research at educationemergency.net
<mailto:research at educationemergency.net>;
Rishikesh <rishikesh at apu.edu.in>
<mailto:rishikesh at apu.edu.in>
*Subject:* Re: [Research] posters
It seems to me that the
"bridge", however designed, will
have to extend to March 2023,
not 2022. Because the "gap", for
children who've been left out
all this time, is not just
one-and-a-half years (since
lockdown began); it's
one-and-a-half years + what they
forgot of what they had learnt +
whatever gap was already there
before the lockdown began. I
don't see a 3-month bridge
course filling that gap.
Jean
On 21-08-2021 19:51,
Niranjanaradhya.V.P Aradhya wrote:
Hi Jean and friends
You have raised an important
issue. Since March 24^th to
till date nothing much
happened to children who are
in lower classes. Therefore,
I propose the following.
The children who joined
class 1 in 2020-21 can be
combined with the children
who are joining class 1 in
2021-22 since there levels
of learning are one and the
same. These children will
undergo accelerated learning
programme to learn basic
things appropriate to their
age and grade in a combined
manner to benefit both the
age groups and grades in
2021-22 for 200 hundred
learning days as indicated
by RTE Act. During this
period, teachers with
special curriculum and
methods help these children
master the competencies
otherwise they would have
mastered in class 1 and two
respectively. At the end of
2022 academic year , a
special programme for
children who got admitted to
class 1 in 2020-21 ( though
they have not attended
school) can be designed
with special curriculum to
prepare them for class 3, so
that we can avoid loss of
one year for no fault of
them.
In the meal for all other
grades from 2 to 10, the
first 3 months should be
devoted to well-structured
bridge course with a
specially designed
curriculum to get familiar
with age wise- grade wise
competencies before we start
curriculum transaction
Otherwise, the loss is for
marginalized children who
are first- or
second-generation learners.
Therefore, while talking on
behalf them and demanding
any solution needs a fair
understanding and all
benefit should be given to
children. The decision also
should be in the best
interest of the children.
Niranjan
------------------------------------------------------------------------
*From:*Jean Dreze
<jaandaraz at riseup.net>
<mailto:jaandaraz at riseup.net>
*Sent:* 21 August 2021 1:20 AM
*To:* Guru
<Guru at ITforChange.net>
<mailto:Guru at ITforChange.net>
*Cc:* niranjan aradhya
<aradhyaniranjan at hotmail.com>
<mailto:aradhyaniranjan at hotmail.com>;
Sajitha Bashir
<sajitha.bashir at gmail.com>
<mailto:sajitha.bashir at gmail.com>;
mehendalearchana at gmail.com
<mailto:mehendalearchana at gmail.com><mehendalearchana at gmail.com>
<mailto:mehendalearchana at gmail.com>;
research at educationemergency.net
<mailto:research at educationemergency.net><research at educationemergency.net>
<mailto:research at educationemergency.net>;
Rishikesh
<rishikesh at apu.edu.in>
<mailto:rishikesh at apu.edu.in>
*Subject:* Re: [Research]
posters
Dear Guru and friends,
I am still tied up with the
field survey, but doing my
best to keep up in the
between with all the useful
material you are circulating.
The survey findings are
alarming (no surprise here).
In Latehar district, in 5
SC/ST hamlets, we found that
75% of children were unable
to read a single word.
Meanwhile, the schools are
falling apart.
I wonder what the "line" is
on automatic promotion. Once
again it seems to suit
privileged children, who are
more or less on track, but
it is the kiss of
educational death for other
children. How can children
who were enrolled in Class 1
last year, and have never
been to school or learnt the
alphabet, be in Class 2 now
(Class 3 in a few months),
where they are given English
textbooks (in Jharkhand)? Is
there not a case for a
"bonus year" when all
children are helped to
recover instead of sorting
the winners and losers yet
again? Just curious - I am
sure that you have discussed
this.
I am not clear whether
"research at educationemergency.net"
<mailto:research at educationemergency.net>
is a kind of collective
address so I am CC-ing a few
at random!
Best,
Jean
On 10-08-2021 11:05, Guru wrote:
Thanks Jean
We are in the process of
translating posters to
as many languages as
possible as these can
help in sharp and quick
communication. We will
share these with you as
well.
regards
Guru
On 10/08/21 7:03 am,
Jean Dreze wrote:
Dear Guru: Thanks
for this and other
mails. I am up to my
ears right now with
the field survey
(until 22 August),
but I will catch up
as soon as possible.
We will definitely
help with media for
one thing.
More asap,
Jean
On 06-08-2021 15:41,
Guru wrote:
Dear Jean
I am attaching the posters that my colleague made in our Karnataka
'Open Schools' campaign
The campaign included a street protest, media articles, few press
releases which were reported in local papers. It may have helped a bit -
the Karnataka Govt kept high schools open Jan-March 2021.
Through the State SMC Federation, Niranjan and others also organized
district level protest meetings on school opening. A PIL was also put up
in Karnataka High Court on both opening schools and providing mid day
meals. The CJ was sympathetic but did not give a firm directive to open
schools. (there is a general middle class fear psychosis)
For this time, apart from posters, street protests, short videos
(children, parents, teachers) in multiple languages, social media
campaigns, apart from policy briefs, guidelines/toolkits for school
opening will be required. And the idea of the national coalition is to
share resources/ideas across groups working in different geographies.
regards,
Guru
https://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/bengaluru/2021/mar/19/midday-meals-as-crucial-as-classes-survey-2278502.html <https://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/bengaluru/2021/mar/19/midday-meals-as-crucial-as-classes-survey-2278502.html>
https://itforchange.net/press-release-open-all-schools-and-all-classes-local-hygiene-precautions <https://itforchange.net/press-release-open-all-schools-and-all-classes-local-hygiene-precautions>
https://itforchange.net/press-release-open-all-primary-schools-now-to-avoid-a-learning-crisis <https://itforchange.net/press-release-open-all-primary-schools-now-to-avoid-a-learning-crisis>
--
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