Redesign Nali-Kali programme, school teachers tell government.Teachers across the State are demanding the government to redesign the ambitious 'Nali-Kali' programme implemented under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA).
The programme, implemented from classes 1 to 3 only in government schools, promotes multi-grade teaching.This means that students of these classes are collectively taught in a single room.This has adversely affected the quality of teaching in government schools and student enrolment has dropped, say teachers. Karnataka State Primary School Teachers' Association submitted a memorandum to the State government seeking the withdrawal of multi-grade teaching. In the wake of this demand, the Department of State Education Research and Training (DSERT) held a state-level meeting with teachers recently.
*What is Nali-Kali?
Under this teaching method, students of classes 1 to 3 are taught collectively in a single classroom. The students are grouped in three different circles, based on their learning level. Separate books are used for each class and learning is activity-based. What is different in this method of teaching? For example, a class 1 student will begin learning lessons in the order of chapters in the textbook. The student will also perform activities as given. He will go to the next lesson and the next activity, only after learning the previous one. There is no pressure on the students to complete the lessons at the same time. The student is also given a card to mark his progress. After completing each lesson and activity, and after the teacher corrects the same, the student will mark his progress in the card. Once the academic year is over and when the student goes to class 2, he might still have some chapters from class 1 to learn. He will move on to the class 2 textbook only after completing activities of the class 1 book. While taking this extra time, the student will not feel left out as he is sitting with the same set of classmates from the previous year but in a different circle. More over, a student who has progressed ahead of the rest will help the rest of them learn concepts in which they have fallen behind. Nali-Kali was implemented across schools in the State from the academic year 2009-10. According to the SSA website, it was first introduced in 1995 (with the support of UNICEF) in HD Kote taluk on a pilot basis. This, after 15 teachers from the taluk visited Rishi Valley, Madanapalli, in Chittoor district. What's wrong? Children are definitely finding it easier to grasp concepts through activity-based learning, according to the teachers. However, teaching quality has taken a hit as too many children are clubbed in one room. "The main issue is that there is a shortage of staff in government schools and a single teacher is left to manage more than 50 to 60 students. Activity-based learning needs individual attention and quality will drop if the class is crowded," a government school teacher in the City explained.
Basavaraj Gurikar, President of Karnataka State Primary School Teachers Association said: "Nali-Kali is a mask for staff shortage. Earlier, schools were forced to adopt multi-grade teaching due to a scarcity of teachers. The same plight continues." He emphasised that their problem was not activity-based learning but only multi grade teaching. As of now, there are no proposals before the government to redesign the programme. "The very purpose of Nali-Kali is multi-grade teaching. We are looking at strengthening the District Resource Group (DRG). and the taluk group. We will give more training to teachers for its effective implementation," said Jayakumar S, Director, DSERT.
