A Year’s End, A Journey Begun (03.12.18- 04.12.18)
The school is a complex microcosm with many dynamics at play. From the Head Master (HM) to the teachers to the computers to class size to peripheral measures such as availability of rooms, other programmes in the school, parental interest—all these factors determine the shape a programme takes in that school. This December, we went to schools in Telangana to better understand the process and ruminate over what works and what needs work.
The CLIx Team assembled in Telangana to visit schools during 3–4 December 2018. Some of us were new to school visits, others were old hands. A common purpose bound us all: understand the school microcosm and identify what enables and what detracts the rollout of CLIx and what else is at play in that school’s world. Each school has a story to tell, and this blogpost traces the story of one of these schools.
Zilla Parishad High School Thippaipally is in rural Karimnagar (old district). To reach it, one passed along cowsheds and old houses in the village, where the old men sit reading newspapers and chit-chatting and old women sit sunning themselves in the front yard as young women bustle about their morning tasks of drying clothes, laying out papads, making cowdung patties and so on. This is the community that supported the school getting three more computers in addition to its eight to enable the entire classroom to participate in ICT-enabled learning. The school renovated its ICT lab and changed its classroom allocation such that the 8th and 9th classes stayed in the ICT lab as much as they could. It has ensured that the 6th and 7th Std students get to learn computers as well.
8th and 9th Std Students Learning Together: When Multilevel Learning Is Made Desirable
How can this be? Well it takes a principal who is proactive and allows his teachers freedom and it takes teachers who are unafraid of challenges as they strive to create the best possible learning environment.
Self-pacing, Collaborative Learning, Exploring, Reflecting: The Students Are Awe Inspiring
The CLIx rollout is one part of this school’s story. Yes, it is wonderful. Yes, the students have done many of the CLIx modules. Yes, the technical challenges appear here, too. But the reason students love learning is their teachers. Students share their doubts. They help each other. Teachers sit with students as friends and encourage them. The Biology teacher, Veena, is frank about her lack of computer skills but is open to learning from the technical aspects her students as she shares pedagogic content. The Physics teacher, Jagdishwar, is not trained by CLIx, but his colleagues and the FRC introduced him to the CLIx modules and he quickly saw their worth and began rollout.
We are awed by what change agents can achieve. Our teachers and HMs the true heroes of society.
TPD-Implementation Coordinator
Consultant
The school’s name is ZPHS Thippaipally.
Very encouraging to read!
Very interesting to know about the story of Thippaipally High school Karimnagar, Telangana.
We should appreciate the efforts of the school team. The students are fortunate to have such dedicated team to provide ICT facilities in their school.
It shows how things can change when people understand the objectives and work towards to achieve the objectives. But the same time they should see the things should continue even few of them left from school or few teachers replaced by others due to administrative grounds.
The school should empower the students in using the computers, so the senior students help the junior students and thnigs go on. This ledas to sustainbility of learning. Most of the times vthis connecvity is missing.
Thippaipally High school may stand as a model to other schools in helping students in learning through ICT.