Grade Appropriate Learning

Uttarkahnd is known as Education hub, as India's best schools and training institutes are located in the state. The State’s literacy rate has increased from 71% in 2001 to 79.6% in 2011[1] which is higher than the national literacy rate of 74%.  However, the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER)[2] has been tracking achievement level of students on a nation-wide basis for some years now, and findings for Uttarkahnd are not positive. Amongst Class 5 children, only 59% (51% in government schools and 70% in private schools) could read a Class 2 level text book. This indicates considerable deterioration from achievement levels in 2009 (68% overall, 62% among government and 80% amongst private school children). Similar results are visible in Maths: in Class 5 children only 32% (29% in government and 50% in private schools) could do division. In 2009, the corresponding percentages were 43, 41 and 60 respectively. It is evident that children’s learning levels are deteriorating, instead of improving.

 

With this background in mind, the structure of our program focuses not only on developing basic literacy skills through activity based learning in children, but also focuses on increasing curiosity, problem solving skills, critical thinking and life skills development through our library, sports for development and ‘We learn English’ Program. The idea is to increase engagement by providing quality education to the students, which in turn will lead to increased attendance and enrollment in government schools.

 

Himmotthan program has come a long way from appointing para-teachers in the initial years to ensure that the schools are opened regularly, to reaching a stage now where child-centric teaching and learning approach and innovative teach learning methods are used in schools through them. For the first half of the day, Para teacher's teach basic literacy to class 1 and 2 through activity based methods and for the second half of the day, they run the library program and the We Learn English program with grades 3,4,5 on alternate days. Once a week, the sports for development program also runs as a pilot in 20 of our 65 schools. Besides, they also contribute immensely in working to build a safe and joyous culture in the school they are working in by teaching without using force and building teacher student relationships.


[1] Census 2011

[2] A nationwide survey conducted by PRATHAM, 2012

 


Assessment

Annual Status of Education Report or ASER is a standardized test to assess children’s basic learning levels in reading and arithmetic. ASER is a floor level test. It does not assess children using grade level tools. This year we conducted the ASER test as a baseline in Oct 2016. To measure the progress, we conducted a similar end line in the month of March 2017

Reading and Reading Comprehension (Hindi)


Reading & Reading Comprehension Assessment Scores (Grade wise)

% Children by class and READING Level (All Schools)
Category Class I Class II
Not even letter 31% 12%
Letter 50% 30%
Word 9% 14%
Paragraph 3% 8%
Story 3% 12%
Comprehension 4% 23%

How to Read this Table

Each cell shows the highest level of reading achieved by a child. For eg. In Std. II only 12% of total students tested cannot even recognize letters, 30% can recognize letters, 14% can read words, 8% can read a simple paragraph, 12% can read a story and only 23% can read a story with understanding or comprehension.


Math Assessment Scores (Grade wise)

% Children by class and READING Level (All Schools)
Category Class I Class II
Beginner 22% 11%
No. Recognition (1-9) 63% 39%
No. Recognition (10-99) 14% 33%
Subtraction 1% 17%
Division 0% 0%

Each cell shows the highest level in arithmetic achieved by a child. For eg. In std. II, 11% of the students tested cannot even recognize numbers, 39% can only recognize numbers from 1-9, 33% can recognize numbers upto 99, 17% can do subtraction with borrowing and no child can do 1 digit division. For each class, the total of these exclusive categories is 100%.

Himmotthan Head Office

193, Vasant Vihar, Phase-2

Behind Shri Guru Ram Rai Public School

District-Dehradun

Uttarakhand, India - 248006

Contact Number : (0135)- 2760728, 2761796


Himmotthan WATSAN Office

41, Vasant Vihar, Phase-2

District-Dehradun

Uttarakhand, India - 248006

Contact Number : (0135)- 2762966


Himmotthan Regional Offices
1. Kumaun Region-Almora

(Mohalla Talla Galli, Jakhan Devi, Almora, Uttarakhand India, 263609)

2. Garhwal Region Office- Chamoli

Near Petrol Pump, Gopeshwar,District Chamoli, Uttarakhand, India

3. Garhwal Region Office- Jadipani

Gram Saud, Jadipani, Chamba Block, District Tehri Garhwal, Uttarakhand, India

 
4. Himmotthan Society/Tata Trusts PMU Leh

C/o Advocate Otsal Wangdus near Postal Colony
Housing Colony Leh - 194101 (Ladakh), India
Tel: 01982-253553

 
Designed and Developed by MIS UNIT HIMMOTTHAN