Visit to a CLIx school in Sairang-Mizoram (17.01.2019)
The best part of my job is that I get to travel and visit schools in different parts of the country. From 13 January to 19 January 2019 I was in Aizawl, Mizoram. During my stay, I got an opportunity to visit 6 government schools around Aizawl city. It was a huge learning experience for me. This blog narrates my experience of visiting one such CLIx school -Government Secondary School Sairang located in a village named Sairang near Aizawl.
David who is the Field Support Person (FSP) with the Mizoram CLIx team, accompanied me to the school. The school is on a 1.5-acre land with enough space for a playground and farming. Met the Principal and the science teacher. The Principal took me around the school surroundings and showed me all the fruit trees that the students and teachers have planted .
The computer lab is well maintained. The science teacher – Mr Zirkima, is a new recruit who is techno-savvy. 9 out 10 computers are working though there were some issues with the mouse of a few. Class 9 has 36 students. Mr Zirkima, joined the school six months ago but did not attend the CLIx training. He took the initiative and tried implementing the sound module but did not finish as he was unsure about how to conduct the activities.
Students using the Foldscope
Considering all this, David and I decided to give him a mini experience of the CLIx module training. I gave him soft copies of the CLIx teacher’s coursebook and with examples of the ecosystem and motion module showed him how to prepare for the class and how to conduct a CLIx class. Along with giving him examples of hands-on activities and digital activities, we gave him a Foldscope (a frugal paper microscope) and showed him how to use it in the Ecosystem and Health and Disease module. Being a fast learner, he picked up everything quickly.
We are hopeful that Mr Zirkima will implement at least 2 science modules. It is always a joy to work with such self-driven and motivated teachers!
Rafikh Shaikh,
Senior Research Associate,
Science Team,
Centre for Education, Innovation and Action Research,
Tata Institute of Social Sciences
