A Village Community based Accelerated Reading Programme of Calcutta Foundation - Inspiration-Pratham (CIP) in West Bengal
Lives Touched
2006 - 2007
6 Districts : North 24 Parganas, Hooghly, Bankura, Dakshin Dinajpur, Cooch Behar, Darjeeling and West Bengal
The Story
Calcutta Foundation-INSPIRATION-Pratham (CIP) teamed to pilot a ‘Village Community Library’ based accelerated reading programme titled ‘Esho Padhi Esho Kheli’
- The Focus : Improving the quality of Primary Education
- The Goal : EVERY CHILD CAN READ WELL
The Rationale
- Books and reading go together
- Ability to read is a fundamental skill – impact formal learning
- Library is a storehouse of books and information
Highlights
- 30 Community Libraries functional – “Storehouse of books for graded learning”
- Children exposed to the world of books –“Books as PALS rather than FOES”
- Enhanced reading and writing skills of every child – “Graded Reading from letters to word to sentence to paragraph”
- Strengthened the thinking and learning abilities of every child in the community – “Read to Comprehend”
- Children mainstreamed and retained with the institutionalized system of education – “Reduced drop out “
- Enhanced support and partnership in the community for children’s learning – “Education a Priority “
- 70 Local Volunteers as Librarians –“ Development of local Resource “
Change Makers
Most parents located in and around Manasha Manir in Dule Para of Phulkusma Colony of Phulkusma GP, Raipur Block used to work in brick kilns. When they left for the day’s work it was a routine affair for the eldest sibling of the household to babysit all the younger ones. Consequently, education and schooling were pushed to the background. However, when this Community Library started functioning every afternoon, the children got the opportunity to attend a joyful learning experience and develop a love for reading. The seeds of a budding relationship between books and the children was sown and nurtured.
Madhupur High School under Cooch Behar II Panchayat Samity of Cooch Behar District was run with 40 children enrolled in different grades. We mainly interacted with children of Rajbanshi and Assamese migrants in the locality.
Parents were reluctant to send their children to school and drop-out rates were high. The reading acceleration through Community Library Approach and joyful learning pedagogy led the children to enjoy learning and gradually inculcated a love for learning . Their attendance graph in school grew upwards and as many as 90% of the students gradually turned ‘regular’. In the words of the Pradhan Cooch Behar II GP “Not only has this drop out percentage decreased from earlier but the love for reading has been found among children”.