Unlocking Saunskriti’s Potential

In Chandrapur, Maharashtra, lies Bhadravati, an area known for coal mines and agriculture. Nine-year old Saunskriti Bhavane studies at the ZP Primary School in Waygaon village, Bhadrawati. Despite being in Grade 4, she struggled with basic literacy. Mahesh Sorte, her teacher, sought help from CEQUE's Teacher Innovator Program (TIP). 

Saunskruti's background revealed that she was the first girl in her family to receive an education, living in a simple home with her parents working in cotton fields.

Teacher Sorte and CEQUE’s instructional coach Yogendra Katkar devised a plan to assist Saunskruti. They gradually introduced her to speak in class and broke down lessons into smaller components. The differentiated instructional plan included getting Saunskruti to first feel confident in expressing herself in class. For this Teacher Sorte introduced a variety of stories and gave her opportunities to predict what might happen in the story and retell it in her own words. This was followed by introduction of letters and words with specific emphasis on vocabulary that she brought from home.

This approach helped her gain confidence and engagement. With their support, Saunskruti progressed from struggling with basic words to reading, paraphrasing, and eventually writing lessons in the classroom. She even translated a lesson into Hindi and directed a play, displaying remarkable progress.

Saunskruti's parents expressed gratitude for her transformation, as she started studying at home and teaching her younger brother and sharing her progress with her grandmother.

Sorte highlighted the impact of TIP and CEQUE's strategies in aiding students' learning during challenging times, emphasizing Saunskruti's significant improvement. Saunskruti's dreams have grown – she now aspires to become a singer or join the Army. Her journey showcases the transformative power of education and dedicated teachers.

Need of Funds:

CEQUE envisions a world where every child receives a quality education. Its flagship Teacher Innovator Program (TIP) upskills teachers from government schools to adopt innovative teaching methods to improve student learning of the most underserved and marginalized children. These teaching methodologies equip the children with 21st-century skills of inquiry, reasoning, critical thinking, and collaboration. TIP aligns with SDG#4 on Quality Education, which aims to “ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all. Today, CEQUE is working with over 2,700 teachers reaching out to over 40,000 students across 3 states Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka, in India.

There is a learning crisis in India. Children (in government schools) are not learning. A World Bank report (2019) stated that 55% of India’s children face learning poverty, pre-Covid. That means they are unable to read a grade-appropriate text by age 10, likely shutting the doors of learning forever for them. It is estimated that this has risen to 70% in low and middle-income countries. ASER 2022 report states that children’s basic reading ability has dropped to pre-2012 levels, reversing the slow improvement achieved in the intervening years. These drops are visible in both government and private schools in most states and for both boys and girls. Children’s basic arithmetic levels have declined over 2018 levels for most grades. But the declines are less steep and the picture is more varied than in the case of basic reading.

Children are the future citizens who will contribute to the nation’s economic growth. Given the above, if India has to reap the benefits of its demographic dividend, there needs to be a renewed focus on improving the quality of education. The NEP reforms and the NIPUN Bharat initiative have laid the foundation. CEQUE’s programs align with the government’s vision of all children having achieved foundational literacy and numeracy by 2027.

We all know how important it is to have a good teacher, who imparts the learning. Every child deserves a great teacher! To that end I have been supporting Centre for Equity and Quality in Universal Education - CEQUE a Mumbai based NGO. 

We aim to raise INR 5,00000 towards our flagship Teacher Innovator Program. Your contribution of INR 20,000 will support a single teacher in rural India to provide quality education to 20 children.

Join the cause and support us to improve the quality of education for many more children like Saunskruti. Together we can help them achieve their dreams!

Donate to this fundraiser by the Centre for Equity and Quality in Universal Education on Give, India’s largest and most trusted online donation platform.