A novel method of teaching

A primary school teacher in a village near Thuraiyur prepares letters of the alphabet, shapes and other learning material from dosa batter and roti dough to teach children. It is a method of visual le

A primary school teacher in a village near Thuraiyur prepares letters of the alphabet, shapes and other learning material from dosa batter and roti dough to teach children. It is a method of visual learning that parents of her students can afford, she says.

Students of the Panchayat Union Primary School, Melakunnupatti, have missed 18 months of learning. There are 34 students enrolled in the school, of which some of them have never seen a classroom or a teacher. While online classes are not a viable option for these students whose parents are daily wage labourers, the government’s Kalvi TV too has not proved to be helpful.

For students of Class 1, the video classes are aired at 1 p.m. ‘Most houses do not have TV sets. If any, the parents do not have the funds to pay for cable connection. Wherever it is available, the children are not watching without the involvement of their parents, said Nageswari Sasikumar, a teacher at the school.