Teaching English in rural schools an uphill task
S.P.Jindal
THERE has been a plethora of studies, seminars and observations regarding "what ails teaching of English in rural schools?" There is often a game of allegations and counter-allegations to find a scapegoat for fixing responsibility for the poor performance of students in schools of rural Punjab. But there can be no tangible improvement unless there is perceptible shift in the policies of the government.

• ADMISSION DEADLINE

Colleges to have eco clubs too
Vishal Gulati

IN order to widen the base of the green brigade in the country, the Ministry of Environment has directed states and the union territories to set up the National Green Corps (NGC) also in colleges and increase the number of the eco-clubs in schools.

This issue was discussed at a two-day workshop of NGC nodal officers and resource agencies held in New Delhi recently. The workshop was chaired by Ms Sushma Chaudhary, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Environment.

The clubs were set up throughout the country in 2001 under a scheme which was evolved by the Ministry of Environment. At that time the ministry had proposed to set up 100 clubs in each district. "Every state has been directed by the Ministry to set up 50 eco-clubs in colleges", says Dr Satnam Singh Ladhar of the Punjab State Council for Science and Technology (PSCST), who attended the workshop.

Like school clubs, college clubs will organise and conduct activities on environmental themes by holding seminars, discussions, awareness camps, rallies, and street theatre.All college clubs will be free to prepare environment-related programmes and implement these with the grant made available to them. Initially, the ministry will provide Rs 10,000 per club per annum.

The PSCST has requested the Director Public Instructions (Colleges) to identify colleges. Preference will be given to educational, professional and degree colleges, says Dr Satnam Singh. Regarding schools, the ministry has asked the states to increase the number of eco-clubs in each district from 100 to 150.

In Punjab, there are 1,700 eco-clubs with 85,000 members. With the Ministry’s guidelines, the number of clubs will go up to 2,550 with 1.25 lakh schoolchildren.

In Haryana, the number of clubs will increase to 2,850. The state government has decided to set up the clubs in the remaining high and senior secondary schools. The funds will be provided by the Pollution Control Board, says Mr T.P. Singh, Deputy Secretary, Environment.

In Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh, the number of the clubs will increase to 1,720 and 137, respectively. The Ministry has also increased its annual grant to a district from Rs 5,000 to Rs 25,000, says Mr Subhash Gupta of the Himachal State Council for Science and Technology.

The Metrological Department has accepted a proposal by the Chandigarh-based Environment Society of India to set up met observatories at district-level schools. "The endeavour is to motivate young minds to observe weather," says Mr S.K. Sharma, president of the society.

Under this scheme, the observatories will be set up in Panchkula, Karnal, Kurukshetra, Panipat, Faridabad, Gurgaon, Yamunanagar, Rewari, Kaithal, Sonepat, Jhajjar, Fathabad, Jind and Sirsa in Haryana. In Punjab, these will be set up in Bathinda, Hoshiarpur, Kapurthala, Sangrur, Gurdaspur, Ferozepore, Nawanshahr, Ropar, Fatehgarh Sahib, Muktsar, Moga, Faridkot and Mansa.

In Himachal Pradesh, Bilaspur, Dharamsala, Dalhousie, Keylong, Chamba and Hamirpur will have these observatories.

One teacher from the school will be given training to record temperature, wind speed, wind direction, rainfall and humidity. The report will be sent daily to the Regional Metrological Department, New Delhi. For this the teacher will be paid a monthly honorarium.

Members of the clubs will visit the observatory and help the teacher in recording the data.

Teaching English in rural schools an uphill task
S.P.Jindal

THERE has been a plethora of studies, seminars and observations regarding "what ails teaching of English in rural schools?" There is often a game of allegations and counter-allegations to find a scapegoat for fixing responsibility for the poor performance of students in schools of rural Punjab. But there can be no tangible improvement unless there is perceptible shift in the policies of the government.

That English has been introduced in schools of Punjab at the primary level is a welcome step, but mere ‘ introducing ’ of English is not going to pay dividends in the absence of a thorough apprehension of ground realities—vocational training of English teachers in these schools and the calibre of students they are to teach.

One of the major challenges faced by English teachers in rural schools is the fact that most parents of the children they teach are either illiterate or don’t find time to attend to the studies of their wards, a contrast with the overanxious parents of model school students.

Barring a handful of average students, who can be brought to the level of securing pass marks, the teacher is confronted with a majority of students who simply look blank and blink at almost every word written in their books or escaping the teacher’s lips.

They find it hard to pick up any meaning out of almost any sentence, big or small. For example, a class VIII student was asked to fill in the blank in the below given sentence :

"—————— hit the ball, (Supply a suitable subject)

The answer was:

"Suitable" hit the ball’.

Despite every means at the command of the English teacher, a majority of students are never at home with the concepts of time and tense. These students develop a phobia for English and resist learning.

Also, teachers do not always possess the required professional training. Nor are facilities available at most in-service training centres adequate to equip the teachers for teaching this Foreign language more effectively.

The system takes it for granted that anyone is competent enough to deliver the goods as far as teaching.

True, there exists a system of organising seminars for teachers in service. But whether for lack of funds or for reasons best known to the authorities, these programmes seldom become forums for updating professional standards.

No readymade theories, but a sound hypothesis may offer a solution.

The syllabi and the teaching-learning material of English should be oriented towards specific needs of specific learners of this language.

The mere introduction of English at the primary level is not a remedy in itself. It should be duly supplemented with a will to bring about a thorough overhaul and fortification of the available infrastructure for teaching English.