Sivasri Charitable Trust – Sikshana Foundation

2013 Site Visit Report

Sudhi Gulur

I visited 2 of the Asha Seattle chapter funded schools in Kanakapura Taluk during my trip to Bangalore in August 2013. Prasanna Vadayar, the CEO of Sikshana Foundation coordinated that visit and came along with me to the schools. At the first school we went to we met 2 of the teachers who showed us the computer lab and the software used by the students in that school. We were then introduced by the teachers to the students in one of the classrooms. When asked by Prasanna how many of the students in the class had been selected to visit New Delhi as part of the Sikshana program 3 students raised their hand. This is a wonderful incentive for students to go on an all-expenses paid trip to New Delhi if they are selected in a state-wide competition. The 3 students shared their strategies for preparing for the selection process.

Prasanna then asked the class if they are using the diaries provided by Sikshana. The diaries are provided to students in Sikshana sponsored schools and enable the students and teachers to monitor the progress of the students.

The diary allows the students to capture their reading and writing history along with the daily learning and homework.

The diary also features an “extensible” dictionary, career option sections. Students are encouraged to extend their workbooks with new words and new career options they discover/learn about.

The diary also features a “My Learning Tree” incentive model derived from the “rewards” concept in computer –based educational games where the players are rewarded when they complete certain activities. The “My Learning Tree” page in the diary features several sections of a tree where students can earn stickers as they demonstrate proficiency in topics (e.g. Kannada words, English words). As a visual tool it is a very powerful incentive for the students to make progress to complete the entire tree. To complete the tree the student must not only demonstrate proficiency in the different topics but also (1) help 2 other students be successful in those topics and (2) involve parents in their progress at school. As the student progresses up the “learning tree” they will need to demonstrate higher-level learning skills.

The Sikshana Star badge program continues to be popular with the students. This is another incentive program, launched by Sikshana, where students can earn star-shaped badges of different colors based on the categories (academics, extra-curricular activities and personal/school hygiene).

We then proceeded to the 2nd school. This was the same school as the one I visited last year. Here we went into 2 of the class rooms and interacted with the mentor, teacher and the students.

The library at this school was a rack of books (shown in the image above). There was a box for writing supplies outside the principal’s office. Students who did not have a pencil or an eraser could borrow it from the box and return after use. Sikshana also pays for the injections for one of the students with a medical issue at this school. Outside the class room several students shared with us examples of their good handwriting skills in English.

We bid goodbye to the students and the teachers. I handed over a packet of candies that I had taken along to be distributed among the kids at the school. I also handed over a packet of pencils, erases and crayons to Prasanna to be used as a gift for redeeming Sikshana stars. On the drive back to Bangalore, Prasanna shared updates on the Gurupuraskar program for 2013, the information technology programs that they are working on (1) to gather better analytics about the different schools/districts and (2) e-books infrastructure to enable teachers to augment digital content with photos/videos taken with their mobile phone. Every year Sikshana continues to raise the bar and introduce innovative ideas to encourage learning in students at the government run schools with tangible results.