Government schools across India, especially in small towns and villages, lack basic facilities for students to hone their skills to their maximum abilities. However, a Tamil Nadu teacher from a small town decided to end the trend by selling off her jewellery to provide international standard education to her pupils. Meet Annapurna Mohan, a government school teacher from TN's Villupuram, who sold her jewellery, to raise funds to give her classroom an international look. Now, the students of class 3 in the school have access to facilities like an interactive smart board, piles of English books and furniture, to name a few 'comforts' common in many private schools of the country.
Her efforts have not only won the hearts of her students and guardians, but social media is hailing Mohan's noble works as laudable and something rare in the Indian education system.
Mohan is also trying her best to make sure that her students speak fluent English and teaches them spoken English on a daily basis. Generally, in most government schools across India, students are taught English from Class 5 onwards only. Before that they are taught in local languages. Thus, they remain far behind their peers, who study in private schools, when it comes to spoken and written English. Moreover, when they step out of their schools and colleges, and try to find jobs in the competitive market, most of these government school students fail to get jobs as they are not fluent in English. 'I tried to create a good environment for English in my classroom. I conversed with my students in English from the beginning of the class till the end. In the beginning, some of them didn't understand it, but in time, they began to respond,' she told News Minute. In order to make her classes lively and interactive, Mohan started converting each lesson into a short skit. Her students started enacting them on a daily basis. Mohan uploaded her students' performances on Facebook that garnered enough support and praises.
'I uploaded a video of a skit on my Facebook, and a teacher saw that and sent a money order of Rs 10 for the student in the video. That student was excited upon getting the money order. And then that student started doing well after being appreciated,' she added. 'I decided to do it by myself because I did not want to burden anyone. Doing it myself also helped to get it done more efficiently, as I did not have to rely on anyone else,' said Mohan. Teachers like Mohan not only deserve applauses, but accolades too, who in spite of all odds are trying their best to provide world-class facilities to students. Moreover, government agencies need to look into the loopholes that plague public school education system across the country.
Read more at: http://www.oneindia.com/india/meet-tn-teacher-who-sold-her-jewellery-provide-internation-2414541.html
