Page 9 - Teachers of India Stories

Indu Tatia

’m Indu Tatia, a volunteer
Math Teacher with Spark-
IA-Change Foundation
(SAC), an NGO providing
educational support to chil-
dren from low-income back-
grounds. As we are all aware,
the world is facing a pandem-
ic, and with schools closed
across the globe, educators
are facing a host of problems in reaching out to learners. At SAC, with
our garden centres shut, we quickly moved to online platforms. Online
Learning, which seemed a misty prospect before Corona hit us, seemed
here to stay. Many students were unable to attend online classes - poor
connectivity at their homes, lack of devices, no money for recharge, one
phone to be shared among many siblings were but a few reasons. When
many kids in my group moved to villages with no internet connectiv-
ity, I had smaller groups to teach. This gave me the opportunity to get
to know the kids personally, to understand what subjects they enjoyed
learning.
I now started doing “Mental Math” with real-life examples in the online
classes, and it was a joy to see them so excited to solve something dif-
ferent from the regular school stuff. Online classes became my window
to the outside world, given there was no other socialising possible due
to the lockdown. Laughing with them, their joy, became my therapy as
well.

This situation also forced me to become more innovative in my methods
of teaching, to ensure knowledge flows from the teacher to the taught
in the right manner. The learning modules provided by SAC, aid us to
bring out the infinite potential and goodness in students through per-
sonal and peer learning. I have also requested parents to participate and
be involved with their children’s learning journey as it is only through
the positive collaboration of all stakeholders that education can be truly
revolutionised.