“Neha, let’s celebrate New Year with the KGBV girls”
It was that one fine day when Jay sir suggested we visit the KGBV schools and celebrate New Year with the girls. An excellent way to start the New Year, it was decided that some people from the lab could go to Telangana and some to Gujarat. Neha and Adithi sought permission to visit Telangana KGBVs from Dr. Shirisha ma’am, State coordinator for Telangana KGBVs, and Rashmi along with Swati, Vinod and Nihar bhaiya coordinated for Gujarat visits with Ms. Disha ma’am, Coordinator for Gujarat KGBVs. We reached Hyderabad on the night of 29th December. Our visits were scheduled in 5 KGBVs from 2 districts: Kismatpur and Moinabad in Rangareddy district and Raghavapur, Bejjanki and Mirododdi in Siddipet district. The next day, we reached the first KGBV - KGBV Kismatpur at around 10:15 a.m. We were accompanied by Mrs. Sujatha ma’am, Gender and Equity Coordinator (GECO) of Rangareddy district, The school Special Officer (SO), Mrs. Renu welcomed us and took us to a classroom. A few girls of class 6-8 were sitting there. Activities done in the Curiosity sessions were displayed on a table. We talked to the girls and asked questions about those activities. They were able to answer but with a few errors though. For example: We asked them about the straw whistles that they held in their hands. A straw whistle is a toy with a V-shaped cut at one end, producing sound when air is blown to vibrate the flaps.
The following conversation ensued:
Neha: Why is sound coming out of the straws?
One of the girls: Air vibrates and sound comes.
Neha: If you cut this straw and then blow air, observe the sound. What is happening?
*Blows the long straw* Sound is less, *Blows the short straw* Sound is more.
We explained the reason behind the difference in the sounds. We were surprised to find out that the girls could understand and speak Hindi as well. We had initially thought that only English would work in Telangana but now we felt hopeful to use a mix of Hindi and English in our sessions. One of the girls then showed us the notebook that they maintained for the online sessions. It had details about activities, pictures, and brief explanations of the Math/Science involved. After talking to the girls, we took a round of the school. The school was from grades 6-10, and had two dormitories with a bunk bed system. To ensure safety from the fan due to bunk beds, a metal mesh was installed between the fan and the bed. It was interesting to see how students used these mesh for storing some food and books.
After a round of the school, we did a few activities and demos from our Curiosity box. We did a newspaper tearing activity to discuss fibre alignment, an anti gravity funnel to discuss pressure and air flow, and a syringe machine to discuss the effect of force on area when pressure is constant. Connecting it to their daily lives, we discussed why school bags have thick straps. To this one girl raised her hand and replied:
“If bags have thin straps, pressure is more but with thick straps, less pressure on shoulders.”.
The girls were trying to connect with the concepts. We then made the 3-in-1 toy which is made using 2 straw pieces placed at some angle to each other. It produces sound from one side, sprinkler from the second and a fountain when inverted. The girls participated keenly in the process. Once the toy was made, girls got busy playing with the toy. One curious girl came to Adithi and asked her why from one side, sound was coming while water from the other. Adithi asked her to think and the girl after some thought replied - .
“Pressure. Water comes up in the pipe from the glass.”
It was interesting to see how the girl was able to relate the pressure concept discussed before the making session. While Adithi engaged in making and working of 3-in-1, Neha continued talking to the teachers. The Maths teacher had been there in this KGBV for 10 years. Upon asking if she never thought of going to some other school, she replied:
“No ma’am, I love being here. KGBV is making the lives of these girls. One girl is in your state, she is studying at NIT (NIT Jalandhar), her sister is here. If you see that girl, her father and mother separated and the girl stayed with their aunt. She brought her here and she is now studying. I feel happy being here”
We concluded the session at around 12:15 p.m., offering suggestions like printing the homework out and pasting it on the notice board for everyone to attempt in their free time. We also asked them to make a Curiosity corner to showcase the activities done during sessions. After a few more interactions and pictures, we left the school and started for KGBV Moinabad in the same district.
We reached the Moinabad KGBV at 1 p.m. The SO ma’am, Mrs. Harisha, welcomed us along with her teachers. This KGBV had girls from grades 6 - 10. The girls were seated in a big room with a display of Curiosity activities on the table. During our conversation, we realised that the girls from Grades 6 and 7 were not able to communicate either in English or Hindi. The senior girls were able to communicate and understand but the younger girls struggled. We did a few activities with them from the Curiosity box and gave them some puzzles. We tried explaining the instructions using very short English words, but it was challenging. For example:
The instructions we gave were like:
This - a square. On it, small squares - some black and some white and some with crosses. Fold - so that on one side, black square and on the other - white. Cross squares go away.
This made us realise that using very short broken English phrases can be much helpful than using long sentences.
Surprisingly, when we suggested making a Curiosity Corner, the teacher said that they already had one. We went to see it and they had put all the activities on the table. In fact, they even had a bucket nearby to show which objects sink or float based on the knowledge gained from the density session.
Around 3 p.m, we left for a meeting with Smt. A. Devasena ma’am, Commissioner and
Director of School Education, State Project Director, Samagra Shiksha. She has been the
driving force behind the Curiosity Program in Telangana. We shared snippets from online
sessions and our school visits. She was very happy to see the girls’ participation and asked us
to regularly update her with their work. Later at 6 p.m., we started for KGBV Raghavapur in
Siddipet district for an overnight stay. We were accompanied by Mr. Nagaraju sir, Faculty
SCERT, another driving force in implementing Curiosity Program in Telangana.
We reached Siddipet around 9:30 p.m. A group of girls dressed in traditional attires along with SO - Mrs. Kavitha ma’am, teachers and GECO Siddipet, Mrs. Mukhteshwari ma’am was
waiting for us to welcome us. After dinner, the girls performed a beautiful tribal dance and sang songs, followed by cake-cutting to celebrate New Year. Next morning, we took a round of the school. The building was huge as there were around 300 girls from Grades 6 to 12 and there were labs also. We interacted with the girls, talked about the sessions and saw their work. We asked about the making of the 5 dolls, an activity from the session on polygons. They could not explain clearly what angle will be needed to make a pentagon for 5 dolls. During the interaction, we observed that mostly girls from Grades 8-10 were answering while Grades 6-7 did not speak much. They were not really able to understand the language. We did some activities and garnered the most interest in doing the Card sort activity in which A-Z cards have to be arranged in ascending order. It was interesting to observe that despite language being a barrier, the girls wanted to see and participate in what was happening. We did a few puzzles with them and finally at around 12:15, we left for KGBV Bejjanki.
At Bejjanki, SO Mrs. Shwetha and the girls welcomed us. As we entered the school, we saw a
table with all activities. Besides the sessions, they also had activities from our D20 series. Upon questioning what they had made, one girl happily remarked that the punched cards Diwali video was about Happy Diwali but we have made the cards for Happy New Year. .
They sorted the cards in front of us and looked happy. We further asked about the making of dolls and another girl explained the process. This was one KGBV which we had specifically suggested a visit to as they have been regularly doing the homework and sending their work to us.
We toured the school after lunch, we sat in the open area and talked about the girls’
experiences with the program. Grade 6-7 girls were also interacting here, though little less than the older ones. It was interesting to see the older ones volunteering on their own to translate into Telugu for everyone to understand. We played Kaali peeli billi game with the girls. It is a group activity where children call out a number but multiples of 3 are replaced by kaali billi, multiples of 5 by peeli billi and of both by kaali peeli billi. The girls knew the tables but were finding it a little difficult to apply it in game form. We realised that they were also not able to relate to the words ‘kaali billi’ and ‘peeli billi.’ So we suggested using common words. After the game, we did the handcuff puzzle linking two students with threads and loops. The challenge is to untangle the ropes without removing the handcuffs or breaking the threads.. It was interesting to see how they were trying to figure out the directions the thread was going in and follow it by performing different actions like turning back, sitting down and passing through the loop etc. Once we felt they had tried enough, we gave them the solution and asked them to help their friends who were left. We left the school at around 3:15 p.m. for our last KGBV visit.
At 4:00 p.m. we arrived at Mirododdi's KGBV. This KGBV had 350 girls from Grades 6 - 12.
They had separate buildings for school and hostel. Welcomed with greeting cards, one card's folding design caught Adithi's eye. It had flaps made using paper folding that could be widened/narrowed as the greeting opened or closed. Using it, she prompted the girls to
measure paper angles with the paper protractor made in one of the sessions. As she asked the questions, the girls answered immediately, whether right or wrong. It was interesting that the girls were replying here with whatever they thought of.
Adithi asked a girl about the making of paper dolls, and the girl sweetly responded, "I can
show." As she started doing it, it was amazing to see that she was fluently explaining it as well. Among the activities on the table, we saw an A0 sheet. We were surprised because in the first session, Neha had only shown the sheet but had not asked them to make it. When we asked them the meaning of 4 in A4, some girls replied that the 4 means opposite sides are equal. We think they were trying to relate it to a rectangle. Adithi folded the paper, showing A5 also has equal opposite sides. We then explained what the numbers represented in A series by using their A0 sheet.
After seeing the activities, we asked if all the things /activities were made specifically for the visit. To this, they replied that some were made before and some were made the same day, but still the interesting part was that one or two girls out of every group was able to explain the activities. Another surprising thing was that the girls knew how to solve the handcuff puzzle. This showed the interest of their teacher, Mrs. Saraswathi ma’am who is putting extra efforts in ensuring that the girls know the Math and Science behind the activities. Finally after a few more conversations, we concluded our visit.
This marked the end of our KGBV visits to Telangana and we returned to Hyderabad at around 9:30 p.m. Before visiting the KGBVs of Telangana, we had less interactions with the teachers and girls in the online sessions and we were not sure if the activities were being understood or not. But the visits have given us hope that some things are definitely happening in all the KGBVs. Despite the language barrier, the things are being tried out and being done. Girls also want to connect, talk and share their experiences. It is interesting to note that after a run of only 6 sessions, it has been a very positive experience, giving us hope for making the future sessions more effective and impactful.
Author : Neha Garg & Adithi Iyer.
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