In the context of Covid-19 pandemic, a response to the temporary closure of schools across all our working areas in 8 states of India was designed & developed. It was recognised that the current situation wherein most students in rural areas are without digital devices and internet connectivity required an approach where students continue to learn meaningfully within their existing environment. Therefore, the importance of community taking ownership of every child’s learning within their village became paramount and was reinforced during the pandemic.
IEC connected both virtually and through on field meetings with Panchayat Members and School Management Committees to facilitate interactions wherein community members could discuss solutions for ensuring provision of learning resources for every child. The role of volunteers from within communities was also realised as an enabling factor through which children could continue to get guidance and mentoring.
Regarding the access to learning resources, it was recognised that children would engage if the resources were connected with their immediate environment. This was built on the belief that children are learning continuously through their environment and learning happens when children are able to connect what they know with a new experience. Therefore, through virtual meetings with teachers at cluster level, a careful analysis of school textbooks and state defined learning outcomes was done for identification of concepts for the learning resources. Concepts such as ‘Agriculture’, ‘Food’, ‘Family’, ‘Monsoon’, ‘Markets’ were chosen and different sub-concepts were elaborated upon to develop skills of observing, creative thinking, comparison, reading, writing, numeracy etc.
This process validated the applicability of IEC’s approach to learning and education in any given context. The focus on integrated learning was discussed in detail with teachers who reflected on the need for designing of contextual learning resources for students to engage and learn meaningfully. More than 10,000 workbooks were printed and distributed in selected clusters across Meghalaya, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.