Though the broad contours of SPACE 2012 of Narketpally and SPACE 2013 of APREIS were the same the two interventions were different in several aspects. First, the level of intervention was different for the two; SPACE 2012 was meant for the classes 1 to 5 whereas, SPACE 2013 was meant for the classes 5 to 9. Second, there was no issue on account of the medium of instruction in Narketpally schools; they were all ordinary government primary schools. Third, the major challenge in Narketpally was to help the teachers to overcome their fear of English and make them feel uncomfortable with English. Unlike the teachers of Narketpally, English teachers of APREIS schools had manageable communication skills in English but the challenge was higher; on the one hand, to change the mind set of these teachers and make them receptive to the new pedagogy and on the other, develop the communication skills of teachers handling other subjects in these classes. In addition to these there was a positive factor that made SPACE 2013 distinct from its predecessor: whether regular teachers or guest teachers, they were there for all classes and all subjects whereas, multilevel and multi-grade classrooms were characteristic of Narketpally primary schools.
The objective of launching the programme in the select schools of APREIS was not merely to help the schools with producing 100 % pass in the examination. Most of the APREIS schools were consistently achieving this acclaimed result. Then what was the situation that made the intervention legitimate in the first year of its launching in 2013 and extending it to consecutive years?
Firstly, the state curriculum of Andhra Pradesh (prior to the bifurcation of the State) had undergone a thorough revision in the year 2011 in tune with the norms of NCF 2005 which necessitated a paradigm shift in the established classroom process. Most teachers were not fully aware of its significance from the perspective of the curriculum reformation initiatives of the State and the imminent changes in the examination pattern for SSC 2015.
Secondly, even in those schools that produced 100% pass results, the marks /grades students scored in English did not in any way reflect in their ability to use English as a second language.
Thirdly, three schools under APREIS – APRS Savaii in Nalgonda, APRS Tadikonda in Guntur and APRS Kodigenahally in Ananthapur had been labeled as residential schools. TREIS had to work for bringing about qualitative changes in the overall ambience of its schools for making schools visible to the outside world for which certain benchmarks of excellence were to be created and sustained.
Above all, the past glory of these schools which, had the privilege of their celebrated alumni consisting of hundreds of IAS officers, doctors and engineers had already faded out and the graph of quality learning had been fast falling down. This was due to the multifaceted and cumulative negligence for years on the part of successive governments, administrators, principals and teachers. To make the situation worse, the medium of instruction had been changed into English without providing the essential infrastructure including respectable classroom and hostel facilities and above all human resources. Teachers who were well-qualified and experienced had been left with no option other than explaining the contents of the textbooks in mother tongue and had made the learners rote-memorize questions and answers. Over a period of time, majority of students had bid good bye to textbooks and were depending solely on question banks produced by market forces.
APREIS had to take up the challenge of professionally empowering all teachers. On the one hand they had to be proficient in English language as well as language pedagogy, which would in turn lead to bridging the gap between the apparently satisfactory grades the learners score and their ability to perform language skills. These objectives authenticated the launching of SPACE 2013. However, only students of classes 5 to 9 had been brought under its umbrella as the curriculum reformation had not been up-scaled to class 10.
A 5- day was conducted at TSRS, Savaii for all English teachers of APREIS schools irrespective of whether they were regular teachers, CRTs or guest teachers. The following were the major objectives of the workshop.
- To critically examine the most common teaching-learning practices prevailing in the English classrooms
- To orient teachers on the theoretical underpinnings of the revised curriculum and textbooks
- To experience the modular mode of classroom transaction in the constructivist paradigm
- To get familiarized with the academic standards of SCF 2011, revised textbooks, and teacher’s handbooks
The characteristics of the training programme
Participatory and experiential mode of training
Tryout sessions involving class 9 students of TSRS Savail
Multimedia training
Display of children’s products emerged in the workshop
Monitoring and OSS