Thursday, December 17, 2009
Audio Interview- Role Play
Audio interview is a role-play exercise where Charu Sharma has acted as Paromita Vohra. The interview is about the change in the documentary film making in India and few challenges faced.
English Language in Government Schools
Students have a hard time communicating in English in Chintamani Taluk of Karnataka. “English an international language”, said Srikanth Reddy, a student of Government High School in Anoor, but learning English language is a problem to the students. Anoor is one of the 397 villages in Chintamani Taluk of Karnataka. Students in this taluk have an option to learn all subjects in English only from standard eight onwards. “Chintamani is educationally black, in rural side students have difficulty in learning English”, said Narayan Swamy, Principal of Anoor Government High School.
English language problem extends to the Chintamani town too where only four Government High Schools impart English education. 19 other Government high schools are located in rural side and only teach in Kannada. Around 8,000 students study in Government High Schools in this Taluk. Education Coordinator S. Apajireddy said, it divides the rural and urban people and emphasizes that lack of English education in the government schools are reflecting on the decreasing trend of admissions of around 10 percent every year. “Parents are not interested to send their children to government schools, all want private education because of English”, he said. English medium constitute only 32 percent of the students in Government Boys and Girls high School in Chintamani town. “This year our total strength is 1,152 students, only 400 studies in English”, said Subba Reddy, Principal of Government Girls High School.
Teaching them is one of the biggest challenges faced by the teachers. “Most of the children are aware of the alphabets only in the eighth standard”, said Jecintha G, English teacher. She also said that teachers should not be blamed on the failure of students to learn the language as not much importance is given at the primary level. There are more than 400 Lower and Primary High schools in Chintamani Taluk, students are taught in Kannada and have one subject as English Language introduced from 5th standard. This does not help the teachers in High Schools. “We are so confused on what to teach, should we teach them grammar or finish the portions or how to speak”, said Jecintha. Lack of qualified teachers is also another problem school face in this area. Mr. S. Janardhan, Principal of Government Boys High School said we only have 12 permanent faculties for around 1,400 students. Lack of English language in High school level extends to the Pre University Level too. Arts and Commerce sections are taught in Kannada in Government Boys and Girls High school in Chintamani Town. Teachers say students don’t want to opt for English as they don’t understand the medium properly.
Importance of English language to establish a career is understood by Government and society too. Government wants to expand the base of English Language students. “We are taking actions, different schemes like free mid day meals, free text books, free education are introduced”, said Manjunath K, Block Education Officer. The current steps taken by the government may attract students to join the school, but lot of work needs to be done to create a balance between English and the regional language.
English language problem extends to the Chintamani town too where only four Government High Schools impart English education. 19 other Government high schools are located in rural side and only teach in Kannada. Around 8,000 students study in Government High Schools in this Taluk. Education Coordinator S. Apajireddy said, it divides the rural and urban people and emphasizes that lack of English education in the government schools are reflecting on the decreasing trend of admissions of around 10 percent every year. “Parents are not interested to send their children to government schools, all want private education because of English”, he said. English medium constitute only 32 percent of the students in Government Boys and Girls high School in Chintamani town. “This year our total strength is 1,152 students, only 400 studies in English”, said Subba Reddy, Principal of Government Girls High School.
Teaching them is one of the biggest challenges faced by the teachers. “Most of the children are aware of the alphabets only in the eighth standard”, said Jecintha G, English teacher. She also said that teachers should not be blamed on the failure of students to learn the language as not much importance is given at the primary level. There are more than 400 Lower and Primary High schools in Chintamani Taluk, students are taught in Kannada and have one subject as English Language introduced from 5th standard. This does not help the teachers in High Schools. “We are so confused on what to teach, should we teach them grammar or finish the portions or how to speak”, said Jecintha. Lack of qualified teachers is also another problem school face in this area. Mr. S. Janardhan, Principal of Government Boys High School said we only have 12 permanent faculties for around 1,400 students. Lack of English language in High school level extends to the Pre University Level too. Arts and Commerce sections are taught in Kannada in Government Boys and Girls High school in Chintamani Town. Teachers say students don’t want to opt for English as they don’t understand the medium properly.
Importance of English language to establish a career is understood by Government and society too. Government wants to expand the base of English Language students. “We are taking actions, different schemes like free mid day meals, free text books, free education are introduced”, said Manjunath K, Block Education Officer. The current steps taken by the government may attract students to join the school, but lot of work needs to be done to create a balance between English and the regional language.
Product marketing of Self Help Groups
Stree Shakti Bhavans introduced to market the products made by Self Help Groups (SHG) in Karnataka is of no great help to the members. Currently Stree Shakti Bhavans covers up only nine percent of the taluks in Karnataka. “62 out of 80 Bhavans are still under construction. In total we have 185 taluks in Karnataka”, said Shashikala Shetty, Deputy Director of Women and Child Development.
Self Help groups in Golahalli Panchayat of Karnataka face problems due to poor marketing of the products. “Self Help groups deal in dairy, garment shops and tea stalls”, said Pushpalata, Anganwadi Teacher who closely works with the SHG members. She also said that SHG members here go for daily wages work in factories, as they do not earn much. There are total of 48 Self Help Groups in 22 villages in Golahalli Panchayat. The Self Help Groups generate employment to more than 1,000 women in this Panchayat. Lack of training provided in marketing their products is visible. SHG members have to market their products on their own; competing with others is not easy. “Whatever we produce, we don’t get the true value”, said Manjula, SHG member. Members also get de-motivated and do other work simultaneously.
Deputy Director said that the department conducts exhibitions for three days during special occasions to support the groups, but cannot target every village. “Department spends Rupees 10-15 lakhs for each Marketing Bhavan in Taluk Level”, she said. Currently only 18 Bhavans are completed in Karnataka. This does not provide a common platform for SHG’s to sell their products. According to the Annual Report (2007-2008) of Women and Child Development, 20 lakh members benefit from the Stree Shakti Scheme for Women Empowerment in Karnataka. M.Bindu, Project Director of Stree Shakti Scheme refuses to comment on the completion of the pending projects to support 1.40 lakh Self help Groups across Karnataka.
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