Preparing Khanajarpur village students for RGNV Entrance Exam!

This post is about the teaching classes conducted in Khanjarpur village by me and my friends (Saurav, Tuhin, Deepak, Akhilesh and a bunch of 1sy year students of IIT Roorkee). The classes were conducted to prepare 8 students studying in 5th class (Ashwani, Prashant, Farmaan, Parvash, Rajat, Rashid, Sonam and Ayesha) for the entrance exam of Rajiv Gandhi Navodaya Vidyalaya, Shikarpur (Roorkee, Haridwar District).

About Rajiv Gandhi Navodaya Vidyalaya (RGNV):

RGNVs have numerous branches in India which are fully sponsored by Indian central government. The schools admit students on the basis of entrance exams every year. The exams are conducted for the admission in 6th and 9th classes. Once a student is selected, he becomes eligible to study in the school till his 12th class without paying anything for his tuition fee, books and school dresses!

All schools are wonderfully equipped with teaching and sports facilities. The school in Shikarpur near Roorkee has a sprawling campus with two hostels, one for boys and one for girls. All classrooms are maintained beautifully where students are also encouraged to use their creative skills for displaying posters and writing quotes on the walls.

Genesis of the idea:

During my undergraduate studies in IIT Roorkee, I was in regular touch with RGNV school. I visited the school two-three times for guiding its students regarding engineering entrance exams. After talking to the school authorities and teachers, I realized that poor children in the villages can benefit a lot from such schools provided they clear the entrance exam. This clicked my mind and I decided to teach Khanjarpur Kids for this entrance exam which was going to be held on 15th Marsh, 2009. The classes for the program began on 12th January, 2009.

The beginning:

The program started from the government primary school, Khanjarpur where I screened eight 5th class students after having one hour long interaction with them. During the interaction, I tried to judge students' intellectual level by making them solve some basic mathematical and logical problems.

I would now like to introduce those eight students one by one:

Ashwani:

Father's Occupation: Construction Worker
Mother's Occupation: Lives in Gurgaon away from Ashwani and his father
Total number of Family Members: 2
Daily Family Income: Around 100 Rupees
As a student: Sincere and Hard working; stood first in fourth class; Good IQ
Career Ambition: To be a government Employee (Before I met him); to be an Engineer (After I met him!)
Category: Scheduled Caste

During initial talking with Ashwani's father, he was not ready to send his son to RGNV as the school required Ashwani to stay in a hostel, which, for his father, meant getting apart from the only other member of his family. Gradually after knowing more and more about the school, he was convinced to send Ashwani to the school, and allowed him to appear for the entrance exam. Today both of them are eagerly waiting for the result!

Prashant:

Father's Occupation: Worker
Mother's Occupation: House wife
Total number of Family Members: around 5
Daily Family Income: Around 200 Rs.
As a student: Sincere and Hard working; stood second in fourth class
Career Ambition: To be an Engineer (After I met him!)
Category: Scheduled Caste; though the certificate was not provided by his father for the exam

Prashant was my favorite student before Ashwani joined the club! He was hard working with quite impressive IQ. Sometimes he used to solve logical reasoning puzzles faster than me!

After studying for first one week, Prashant stopped coming for the classes. To find the reason, I went to his home. There I realized that he and his father was not ready for him to go to RGNV- Shikarpur. The reason was the usual one that Prashant would not be able to stay in the hostel. On the other side, his mother was absolutely fine with the idea of sending Prashant to RGNV. Finally after a few days' of family arguments, his father won, and Prashant stopped coming to our classes. Then he again started going to his previous tuition where he was studying since his childhood.

When the idea of convincing Prashant's family did not work out, we tried to find other ways to prepare him for the exam. Finally we all agreed to talk to his tuition teacher and ask him to prepare Prashant for the exam. To evaluate his regular performance, we asked him to appear for weekly tests on every sunday.

When we were filling the form for the test, Prashant's father did not even cooperate with us. He did not provide the document certifying his Scheduled category status. This is definitely going to
affect Prashant's result who finally appeared for the test as a general category student.

One thing that used to make me angry about Prashant is he used to take a lot of chances during the practice tests. He was very lazy in solving the questions and getting the answers even when he knew how to solve them! This propensity might now cost him a lot in the final exam. Well, let's wait for the result and see what happens. Fingers Crossed!

Farmaan:

Father's Occupation: Worker and milkman
Mother's Occupation: House wife; also takes care of cows at home
Total number of Family Members: around 6
Daily Family Income: Around 200 Rs.
As a student: Sincere; Average IQ
Career Ambition: N/A
Category: Scheduled Caste; though the certificate was not provided by his father for the exam

Farmaan is a kid who was not really sincere during the start. He used to be very careless about the study, but when he realized what were the classes all about, he became quite serious and started studying like never before! But all this cost him one whole month!

For the next one and half month, he always did his home work on time and became regular for the classes. Well, I am sure this hard work will get reflected in his final result! Anyways, all the best Farmaan!

Parvash:

Father's Occupation: Worker
Mother's Occupation: House wife
Total number of Family Members: around 5
Daily Family Income: Around 150 Rs.
As a student: Very good IQ, but not a sincere kid!
Career Ambition: N/A
Category: General Category

It is very hard to find Parvash in his class during school times, but you can always find his bag there because Parvash is on the run from the school enjoying with his friends! He is always doomed at the end of the day when his school ma'am refuses to return his bag and punishes him.

On the positive side, Parvash is guy with very good brains. He solves the puzzles instantly and accurately. But being a cool-minded careless person can cost him a lot. Well the result will say the rest! Keep waiting!

Sonam:

Father's Occupation: Politician
Mother's Occupation: House wife
Total number of Family Members: around 4
Daily Family Income: Who knows!
As a student: Good IQ; Sincere
Career Ambition: N/A
Category: General Category; falls under rural quota and girls quota as well!

Sonam joined the club very late, only for the last 20 days! Well, my friends Saurav and Tuhin did the good job, and prepared her very well for the exam. Now since she falls under rural as well as girls' quota, she has very strong chance of clearing the exam.


Ayesha:

Father's Occupation: Worker
Mother's Occupation: House wife
Total number of Family Members: around 6
Daily Family Income: N/A
As a student: Good IQ; Sincere
Career Ambition: N/A
Category: General Category; falls under rural quota and girls quota as well!

Ayesha never really joined the club because of her fractured leg. The fracture was removed on first week of march, so she could only appear for two-three tests.

I cannot say anything about her selection because she falls under two quotas as well. And this advantage might compensate for her lack of preparation.

Rajat:

Father's Occupation: Worker
Mother's Occupation: House wife
Total number of Family Members: around 5
Daily Family Income: Around 200 Rs.
As a student: Very bad IQ; Insincere!
Career Ambition: N/A
Category: General Category

This guy was a result of my wrong selection on the very first day in the school! During the whole two and half months classes, I was not even able to teach him division properly! Sometimes during the classes he used to create disturbances, forcing me to throw him out of the classes.

Well, in the end he appeared for the exam, and I am sure only a miracle can make him clear it! And yes I am not acting like a pessimist here, I am acting like a realist instead!

Rashid:

Father's Occupation: Worker
Mother's Occupation: House wife
Total number of Family Members: N/A
Daily Family Income: N/A
As a student: Bad IQ; Insincere!
Career Ambition: N/A
Category: General Category

Again a wrong selection! He was also thrown out for a couple of times.

He also appeared for the exam, and I am waiting for a miracle to happen!

Bharat Darshan- ASER Participation!

I got the opportunity to experience real India during my ASER (Annul Status of Education Report) participation. The annul survey is conducted by Pratham, an NGO dedicated in education sector, for the government of India. I was given a task to survey three villages of Bhagwanpur block of Roorkee tehsil, Uttrakand.

The visit proved to be quite enlightening, and I enjoyed most of it by experiencing the open fields, eating sugarcane, playing with children and talking to villagers. On the other hand, the miserable condition of the schools, myopic attitude of villagers and racism made it a little depressive.

Talking about the schools, I was literally shocked to examine the way things were. I hardly found two or three teachers who were seriously teaching the students, while others were either engaged with the mid day meal, which was not even edible, or in gossip. Many of them marked students present on the attendance registers, while the classes were having a few bags only. When I asked for the time table, one teacher showed me some charts drenched with dust and worms. Some schools, not even having electricity connections, were bestowed with the computers, and some of them were facing a serious shortfall of teachers. In one school, I found a teacher who was running it alone for the last seven years! School were having inoperable hand pumps, making the drinking water inaccessible within the school premises.

The condition of villages was even worse. Urchins attending nature’s call on roadside clearly showed the poor sanitation facility available. Some villagers were using school’s premises even for sanitary purposes!

During the survey, a few villagers expressed their dissatisfaction against government’s attempts for improving the education status.

Additionally, I would like to share one shocking experience with you. It happened when I conducted house to house children testing. A lady approached me and told me that she was the BHOJANMATA of the village school. I would like to narrate further conversation in the direct form:

Lady: Sahab ji, ham gaon ke school main pichle 4 saal se kam karte hain aur hamen keval 250 rupiya mahina milta hai. Ye bahut kam hai. Kya aap hamari salary bada denge?

I: dekhiye main yahan sirf survey karne aaya hun, main aapki salary nahin bada sakta, mere haath main kuch nahin hai.

Lady: Sahib ji aap to bade officer honge, aap to salary bada hi sakte hain. Kya mujhe aapko bhi ragging deni padegi?

This sentence is the most depressing sentence I have ever heard in my life!

Me: Nahin nahin aap aisa kyun kah rahi hain, main aapki prathna ko bade sahib tak pahuncha dunga. Vo aapki salary jaroor bada denge. Aap chinta mat kijiye.

So this is the condition of our India, where women are forced to compromise with their character to live in! We have to think seriously on these kinds of issues, and have to create an environment worth living for them.

During my observations, I realized that although the government is introducing new plans for the improvement of primary education, most of them fail on the ground level due to corruption in the system and lack of enthusiasm in the authorities, teachers and parents. We seriously need to find ways to deal with these two important issues, only then we can expect our India to grow exponentially.

Introducing Disha..

Disha- A name I give to my social initiatives! Through this blog, I would love to share my experiences on the ground!