In its attempt to universalise 8 years of elementary education, there has been a considerable expansion in schooling facility and enrolment. However, research indicates that a majority of children,
predominantly from socially and economically disadvantaged backgrounds,
are barely able to read, write and calculate after even 5 years
of primary schooling.
Most children attend elementary school in
which the medium of instruction is one of the many Indian regional
languages. It is important to ensure that students acquire appropriate
literacy, numeracy and other cognitive skills. Empowering them
with a good quality elementary education entails that they also
acquire a basic proficiency in English. Unless the quality of
learning of our disadvantaged urban, rural and tribal children
significantly improves, they will be unprepared to meet the challenges
of the future.
Issues / Needs we address
Towards improving the quality of elementary education
that disadvantaged children receive, the CLR focuses on the following
content areas :
Teaching and learning of first language
- Home
language vs. school language
- Process of literacy learning; place
of oracy
- Reading with meaning
- Writing independently
- Evaluation of learning attainment
Teaching and learning of
mathematics
- Teachers' own conceptual understanding and competence
- Building
conceptual understanding, problem-solving and computational
skills of learners. The place of experiential learning
- Relating
mathematics to everyday life
- Evaluation of learning attainment
Teaching of
English as a second language
- Significantly enhancing the teachers'
limited knowledge of the English language.
- Providing
teachers with practical and effective methods of teaching English
to students, whose background and exposure to English is very
limited.
- Giving opportunities for students to listen
to spoken English, and to be able to respond in English, as
well as acquire basic reading and writing skills.
- Providing
instructional and supplementary learning materials in English,
which are relevant to the Indian context, and appropriate to
the backgrounds and interests of mainstream elementary school students.
CLR ACTIVITIES IN ELEMENTARY EDUCATION
Inservice Training of Trainers, Teachers and
Instructors in Teaching Literacy and Numeracy Skills
Teaching of English as a
Second Language
Training Materials / Videos
Teaching-Learning
Materials
Audio-Visual Series for Environmental Studies
Consultancy
Advocacy Activities
Examples
of Agencies Requesting CLR Technical Support
Documentation
