Broadly their areas of work are: with schools and community. They are involved in educational programmes through publication and research. Their educational publications include textbooks for children up to class 5 on all subjects, and from class 6 to 8 on subjects as sciences and social sciences. They regularly conduct training for teachers to use their material in the school practices. Their periodical publications include: •
Chakmak, a magazine for children of the age group up to 14 in Hindi. (Chakmak is a stone that was used by light fire by tribals in central India). •
Shaikshik Sandharb, A bi-monthly publication for teachers and adult readers (available for free download). •
srote, a weekly science feature service • Many other publications for children and teachers. They are also involved in community activities as clubs for students; health programmes for adolescent girls etc.
Curriculum, Research and Material Development (CRMD) Subject matter and pedagogy employed to teach these are the two important cornerstones which determine good quality education. This however has remained a challenge in Indian education. Eklavya has tried to address both these along with reforms in examination and teacher training from the mid 1980s to 2002. With the coming in of
National Curriculum Framework (NCF 2005) (NCF (2005)), much stress has been put on the child and the local in the construction of knowledge. This has led to renewed efforts on text-books both at NCERT and SCERT level. Eklavya has partnered with NCERT and some SCERTs in such efforts. Our efforts on educational change are guided by the dynamism of the subject matter, social realities and pedagogy. The group is organised on the basis of three subject areas Science, Social Science and Mathematics.
Human Body The Human Body module was started in 1986 at
Dewas based on input from the community, teachers and students in developing a primary school health curriculum. The module primarily was tailor-made for the community in the sense that their health problems and the practices they follow were fully taken into account. Another feature of this programme was that adequate spaces were provided to incorporate women's voices on health. They discussed about the various social problems that affected their physical and emotional well-being. Another aspect of this programme was the development of a life-size human body which was used for demonstrations and better understanding of people on the various aspects of health. All these findings were finally cumulated into an adolescence education program which consisted of teacher training and workshops for all school students. A variety of topics such as reproductive health, nutrition, domestic violence, primary healthcare, alternative medicine, personality development and mental health were covered under this program. A set of posters was developed on human body with the labels of the name of the organ along with its functions. Today this has been developed into a flex chart called "Sharir Ki Tasweer". Further a series of booklets named "Tan Man Shrunkhla" or "Body Mind Series" was developed. This mainly focused on topics such as skin, digestion and nutrition, and on muscular-skeletal, respiratory, cardiovascular, urinary, reproductive, endocrine and immune systems. Forward integration of this program was done with the help of various workshops, research and publication.
Social Science Programme Eklavya started its social science program in 1986 as an experimental project in 8 schools in
Dewas,
Hoshangabad, now Narmadapuram and
Harda district of
Madhya Pradesh. The primary objective of this program was to strengthen the conceptual analysis of social science and at the same time develop the ability to critically view the social processes and realities around them. As a part of this programme children were seen as active participants in class-room dialogues and transactions wherein ample room was given to include their views and experiences. Children were taught the skills of comparing and assessing the information given to them so that they would understand the differences between the realities of their time and place with the realities of another time and place. The curriculum was based on two central themes of changing dynamics of society and continuity. The programme aimed at making students realise that the change in society was the result of the interests and roles of different sections of the society as they evolved over time.
High School Science Programme The main objective of this programme was to make learning of science as close to the learner as possible. For this purpose an entirely activity-based science curriculum - Bal Vaigyanik, for middle school was developed in the 70s. There was a need felt to extend this to beyond class 8 to include classes 9 and 10 as this was the period when children could learn everything possible about science as after class 10 they would choose different streams. When Eklavya started this work in 2007 the necessary momentum for this task was provided by the formulation of
NCF (2005) and subsequent textbook writing exercise in 2005. Eklavya created a science curriculum with emphasis on classes 9 and 10. Bal Vaigyanik was working on developing specific skills among children – the ability to measure, tabulating the data in a meaningful manner, drawing inferences, generalizing, etc. The underlying assumption behind this was that it is not important for them to memorise all the content but to develop certain skills and understand certain key concepts necessary to make a foundation so that they can understand the world around them. Activity-based science curricula were first tried out in the US and UK, hence a lot of studies were carried out there to understand how children learn. An important finding that came out of this was children do not unquestioningly imbibe the lessons in the Science class-room, they process all the new information on the basis of what ideas they have already learnt. The curriculum was accordingly developed in a manner conducive to the learning of science by students. It was also felt that the nature of Science as a method of enquiry and the
philosophy of Science should also be conveyed to the students. With these points in mind Eklavya's team started working. Some concepts which were felt to form the foundations of all modern Science were selected and it was decided to develop stand-alone material for each of these concepts / topics in the form of modules. The topics selected for the first round of work were – Light (Optics), Evolution, The Cell Theory, The Atomic Theory, Motion & Force, Heat & Temperature and Electricity.
Multilingual Programme Multilingualism in education has gained momentum in the past two decades. Studies have established that multilingual learning leads to enhanced analytical skills, cognitive abilities, language proficiency and scholastic achievement in children. Language is also integrally related to thought and the identity of a person. Multilingualism and Multiculturalism are interrelated and its history and culture go a long way in developing the language better. It has been learnt that if a child is exposed to say four languages simultaneously, then the process of learning all four languages will be similar for the child. After two decades of working at developing proficiency levels in two major languages Hindi (regional) and English, it has now being understood that it is possible to learn new languages at the same time nurturing the home language. Therefore, this program aims at including multi lingual books, reading and reference material in the curriculum along with different activities and facilitating teacher proficiency in multi linguality. The team at Bhopal currently works with 6 schools (government, private, girls, community and informal / parallel teaching school) to observe the language usage in class transaction, to collect, document, analyze and decode resource material from class and communities the students live in and finally to reach a module in a multi lingual classroom.
Mathematics Programme The target group for maths learning in Eklavya has been primary and upper primary students. The aim of curricular research and material development at Eklavya is to make learning of maths fun, meaningful and relevant to the students. Teaching and learning of maths has more often than not kept more students out of it than in it. Hence all efforts have been directed towards making mathematics more accessible to students in terms of real understanding and application of concepts. For this purpose both national and international works have been referred to. One of Eklavya's first engagement with primary school maths have been under the primary education project PRASHIKA. This project accommodated the socio-economic conditions and cultural traditions of learners. It sought to integrate mathematics and language learning, bringing them together through an exploration of the child's environment. Today, in context of the work already done,
NCF (2005) and
RTE 2009, the work of the mathematics team can be characterized under the following broad areas:
Organising an Urban Resource Centre in Bhopal Eklavya has immense experience working in rural areas, however not much work has been undertaken in the urban areas. Hence it was decided that an Urban Resource Centre be set up in
Bhopal. The primary objectives of this resource centre are (a) improve the quality of education in government schools (b) provide support to other organisations in the field of urban education for the poor (c) to research into multilingual education (d) to develop a resource space for teacher's library, workshop, seminars, etc. and (e) developing and conducting courses in teacher education.
Organising resource centres for children, teachers and the community Community based learning centres (Shiksha Proshtna Kendras) have been set up by Eklavya in 5 districts of MP. (Betul, Harda, Narmadapuram, Dewas, and Ujjain). These centres provide an additional academic support to government school students. These centres also pave way for the community to get involved in the managing the education of their children and get acquainted with new educational ideas.
Collaborating for Curriculum Development and Teacher Education Eklavya has been playing an active role in development of NCF(2005) and in the development of National Curriculum Framework for Teacher Education (NCFTE) (2009). It has also developed a model Ded syllabus based on it. Eklavya has also provided support to
government of Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Rajasthan and
Andhra Pradesh in their curriculum and text book development. Eklavya collaborated with
TISS to conduct MA in elementary education programme.
Riyaaz Academy for Illustrators It is an initiative which has been started by Eklavya in collaboration with Atanu Roy with the objective of nurturing and grooming the professional skills of students interested in illustration. Currently the academy offers a one-year certificate course in illustration.
Library Project Initially 5 rural government schools each in five blocks were chosen where Eklavya staff would initiate library and creative activities and attempt to bring out a wall newspaper every fortnight in each school. This provided the initial experience of setting up the school library and next year the programme was focused in a few areas - about 200 books were selected and distributed among 28 middle schools of Ujjain rural block of
Ujjain district and 22 schools of Makhan Nagar block of Narmadapuram district. This was done through a memorandum of understanding with the Madhya Pradesh State Education department. Books were selected that helped children relate with their own experiences and environment, promoted imagination, problem solving and decision making skills.
Siksha Protsahan Kendra (SPK) Over the course of time the organisation has spread into other arenas of education. Eklavya had realised earlier on, that school based curricular programmes alone would not be enough and that they have to be reinforced with out-of-school support programmes. This led to initiatives in setting up children clubs at the local level around library activities, theatre, discussion forums etc. From 2007 onwards, our focus was on involving the community through creating a learning environment for children in rural areas by setting up of Shiksha Protsahan Kendras (SPK) especially for first generation learners. This is a supportive structure for first generation learners at the primary school level who do not have educational support at home for their sustenance in school. The SPKs help foster linkages between schools and community thereby making schools more accountable in terms of quality and efficiency. Currently there are 60 SPKs functioning in
Narmadapuram,
Harda and
Dewas districts.
Publications Books Published books cover a diverse range of topics, including: • Science Modules • Picture Stories • Folktales • Poems • Activity books • For Problem-solving • Educational Classics • Primary Education Programme • Social Science Programme • Fundamental Right & Duties in Our Constitution • People's Science and Development Issues
Sandarbh A bimonthly magazine for school teachers on science and education, Sandarbh means "context", and carries articles on various topics in Science and Education. These articles are meant to be a resource primarily for middle and high school teachers and students, who teach and learn in Hindi. The articles are usually in an informal style, and as far as possible are free of jargon. The magazine also serves as a means of communication between teachers across the country who write about their classroom experiences, activities and experiments that have worked and failed. Articles submitted to Sandarbh are often in Hindi, though many of them are in English and other languages as well, and are translated for publication.
Srote A monthly compilation of news and features in science and technology. These articles are part of a weekly service that provides newspapers and magazines.
Chakmak A monthly science magazine for children that also includes literature and art topics. Created for children 11–14 years old. ==References==