PATNA: Don’t be surprised if students greet you with ‘good morning’ rather than ‘namaste’ in the remote areas of Madhubani these days.
They are not discarding their culture, nor simply following the latest Western trend. The pupils and teachers of government high schools in Madhubani are honing their English as part of a spoken English and capacity building programme.
The project has been initiated by the State Council for Education Research and Training (SCERT) in four districts – Madhubani, Darbhanga, Banka and Bhagalpur. British Lingua, a Delhi-based institute, has been entrusted with the task of training teachers who, in turn, will train the students
The objective of the project is to enable students to compete with their more privileged counterparts in English-medium schools and in bigger cities.
The impact of the training can be seen among students of class IX of Shri Baboola Yadav Plus two school in the remote Ekdara village under Khajauli block Madhubani district.
Teachers have taken the skills learnt during the capacity-building programme into the classroom, which has produced, as one of the teachers said, “a miraculous turnaround in the standard of English amongst the students.”
In these select schools, not only spoken English skills are taught but a raft of activities are included into the scheme, including storytelling, poetry, publishing, conversation, manners and creative analysis.
The basics, too, are covered in an interesting and stimulating way; grammar and sentence structures are shown with the use of clear day-to-day examples.
SCERT director Hassan Warris has also praised the training programme and the outcome for both teachers and pupils. He told TOI that the impact was decidedly encouraging and added, “Students are now conversing in English fluently and holding group discussions.”
“A visit to any classroom shows the standard of manners and etiquette that the pupils are adopting as a result of their improved communication skills,” added Warris. So far, nearly 300 teachers have been given training.
“We have decided to include this project in all secondary and plus two schools located in 38 districts of Bihar,” Warris told TOI.
British Lingua MD Birbal Jha said that he, too, was gratified to see the impact of the training on the personalities of the teachers and pupils. “English is a must when it comes to enhancing employability. The project is really pushing Bihar to the forefront of development goals in India,” he added.
Read more:Â Novel SCERT project for English teaching – The Times of India