Mini Schools in the light of a new learning scheme

During the pandemic months when institutions were shut, Asha teachers ran this initiative on terraces. Will they get to be volunteer-teachers in the template offered by the government?

“Illam Thedi Kalvi” scheme has parallels with “Mini Schools”. When schools were shut down, the latter were being run by a voluntary organisation to fill gaps in learning resulting from children’s long absence from the classrooms. Voluntary organisation Asha for Education was running the Mini Schools for students of government schools with the classrooms being the terraces of its teachers’ homes. In fact, they are yet to roll back this programme.

For context, Illam Thedi Kalvi with its evening classes — with one volunteer-teacher for every 20 students — has kicked in with the schools having reopened, from the lower classes up. This government programme is expected to be run for six months, serving as a supplementary learning opportunity that would help make for lost time.

In the months since the Coronavirus outbreak, Asha for Education could run these Mini Schools as it was working closely with government schools prior to the pandemic.