Jharkhand teacher paints village walls with the alphabet to help students learn during the lockdown

Shyam Kishore Gandhi, Principal of Bankathi Utkramit Madhya Vidyalaya in Jharkhand, has often used innovative ideas to keep the students in his village engaged. His most recent initiative has been to paint the walls of the village with various innovative illustrations. With the lockdown impacting the children’s education, especially those who attend Anganwadi centres, Gandhi painted the walls with English and Hindi letters, and pictures of fruits, animals, and vegetables for the children to continue their learning. Many students were forgetting what they were taught after being several months away from the classroom.

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He told The New Indian Express that the main objective is to help children get admission directly into primary schools without going to Anganwadi centres, despite losing a year. Gandhi said the paintings help the children recall their previous lessons. “This method is proven to be beneficial in increasing the memory power of primary students as they fastly recall pictorial lessons even while playing on the streets in their village, " he said.

Walls have been painted with such illustrations in more than 30 places in Kathi Para Tola in Bankathi. “I had to invest a total of Rs 6,000 from my own pocket just for the sake of the future of my students," he said to the daily. Gandhi will also be painting walls in the remaining eight tolas in the village. The initiative has been received positively by the locals in the village.

This is not the first time Gandhi has gone the extra mile to help his students. According to a PTI report in Outlook India, Gandhi put up several loudspeakers across Bankathi village where his Upgraded Middle School is located, and classes were being held for two hours every day since April 16, as online learning is a challenge for many in the area.

The students sit near the loudspeakers, which have been set up across the village and attend classes.

"Louder speakers are put up where the number of students is more. Five teachers and two para teachers teach over the mike from the classroom. There are 246 students from Class I to Class VIII, and 204 of them don't have mobile phones," Gandhi said. He said the classes start at 10 am daily.

"If the students have any doubt or want to ask any question, they can send their queries to me from anyone''s mobile phone and we explain it the next day," he added. Gandhi said the model is working and students are grasping well what is being taught.