EQUIP Project

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EQUIP Project

• Krishnagiri District

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Problems addressed

• 50 children in 5th standard cannot read a
  paragraph in Tamil. 10 cannot even identify
  letters.
• 50 children in 5th standard cannot even subtract
  two 2-digit numbers.
• Science education is just rote memorization no
  concepts, no experiments, no connection with the
  real world.
• Many 4-year-olds in balwadis cannot even match
  two identical pictures - something even
  1-year-olds in middle class families easily do.

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Reasons for this state

• No School Focus on Basic Skills Focus on exam
  mark textbook memorization and not on ensuring
  basic skills.
• Lack of Learning Resources No access to learning
  resources. Schools and teachers have no
  libraries, no reading materials, no activity
  kits, no science experiment materials, etc.
  Balwadis have no learning aids or even simple
  toys.
• Ineffective Methodology Teachers lecture and
  read out from books. There is no focus on
  activities or even demonstrations in class. No
  avenues for children to think independently or to
  work in groups or to learn by doing. Poor
  training of teachers. Teachers are not trained
  in practical ideas nor on good teaching
  methodologies.
• Low community involvement Low community interest
  and involvement in education. Poor children have
  no access to a learning environment at home.

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Two Pronged Implementation Strategy
Create Community Learning Initiatives We
mobilize village volunteers, train them and start
village libraries, childrens learning centers,
form science clubs, math clubs, sports clubs,
etc. We also get the community volunteers to
both help schools improve as well as to
pressurize schools to deliver quality.
Improve Learning Quality in Schools We work
with teachers to bring about measurable
improvements in specific learning skills like
reading, maths and science. We train and motivate
teachers, provide teaching learning materials and
change classroom practices through regular visits
and practical demonstrations.
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Results So Far

• Primary Education
• Improving Reading Skills of Children
• Improving Basic Math Skills of Children
• Pre-primary Education
• Visual Recognition, Counting, Motor Skills and
  Sensory Skills
• Pre-reading and pre-writing skills
• Secondary Education
• Science Education
• Math Education
• Life Skills and Health Education
• Community Initiatives and Community Learning
  Centers
• Village Libraries and Childrens Clubs
• Science and Math clubs
• Support Centers and Summer Campaigns

450,000 children in 7300 schools improved their
Tamil reading skills through our Padippum Inikkum
Reading Campaign. Across 5 districts, children
who can read went up from 54 to 85 within 5
months of our starting the reading campaign!
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Padippum Inikkum

• Group activity based reading program
• Aim Is to bring rapid improvement in reading
  levels of a child
• Structure
• Initial Evaluation and Categorization into 5
  levels
• Everyday 1hr level specific activities
• Child-to-Child reading methods
• Reading materials and story boards to make it a
  fun event

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Impact of PP

• Reaches about 4,50,000 children
• Teachers are taking more active participation in
  these activities

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Arivial Anandam

• Do-it-yourself experiments for children
• Low cost science experiments as a means to teach
• Encouraging a child to think and come up with
  their own experiments

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Impact of AA

• 1,30,000 Children in 900 schools are benefitting
  currently
• Children are able to relate real world science
  phenomena and able to quote it in their answers,
  instead of memorizing and repeating the books

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Eureka Public Library

• Community based learning using Library in a Bag
  concept
• Aim is to use this as a booster to Padippum
  Inikkum program
• When community involves, the schools feel
  responsible to deliver better quality education
• In addition to library style learning, additional
  activities with games, fun events and activities
  etc.
• Encourage formation of children clubs

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Impact of EPL

• This is still in experimental phase
• 90,000 children in 2000 villages are using this
  right now
• Several constraints to implement the program..
  e.g. finding volunteers in villages is hard
• Providing reading materials appropriate for the
  age and sufficient amount is difficult

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Proposal
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Krishnagiri District
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Relevant Statistics

• 10 blocks
• 1100 schools targeted
• Fulltime staff and a district level coordinator
• Aser 2006 SURVERY in Krishnagiri district
• Children (std 1-2) who cannot read alphabets
  48.8,
• Children (std 1-2) who cannot recognize numbers
  - 68.9
• Children (std 3-5) who cannot read std-1 text
  54.4
• Children (std 3-5) who cannot do subtraction
  59.1

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Reading Stats
3rd-5th Std Children in the District
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Refer to word Doc. Proposal line items