Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government is all set to launch a unique programme to impart training to mothers to improve learning process for children.
As per the scheme, mothers will take lessons in all the government primary schools in rural as well as urban areas of the state, sources said.
They will attend sessions at the schools once in two months to get training on how they can develop their children’s skills. They will acquire knowledge on mathematical calculations and different types of flowers, fruits, seasons, etc.
The headmasters and teachers of different schools will ensure that the mothers attend the meetings. Only mothers of children studying from Class I to III will attend this meeting. Guidelines regarding this exercise have been issued by the School and Mass Education department.
However, questions are being raised about the purpose of the programme as it is being launched ahead of the approaching elections. It is claimed by many that the proposed training sessions for mothers are intended to give an impression that the government is giving priority to women.
Sources said that State Project Director of Odisha School Education Programme Authority (OSEPA) Anupam Shah has issued guidelines to all the district education officers and district project coordinators on the role of parents in improving basic literacy and numeracy skills among the students of Class I to III. Therefore, meetings and training sessions for mothers must be held in government schools once every two months.
A child’s first teacher is the parent. The government will provide ways in which every parent can improve their child’s linguistic and mathematical skills. The government has given a detailed list of what will be discussed during the meeting with the mothers and the topics on which the mothers will be trained.
To ensure the attendance of the mothers, the school management committee will inform the headmaster about steps to be taken. Even a specific message has been given by the government to inform about this programme by forming a WhatsApp group. In the last two periods of the scheduled date, the mothers will meet and be trained on these issues. The teachers will show the children and the school handouts, learning materials and inform the mothers how it will help the children to acquire basic skills.
Mothers will try to spend some time speaking about their experiences with the children at the meeting.
The first meeting was to be held on September 9, but it was not possible due to the agitation of the primary school teachers. A meeting of mothers will now be held in all primary schools across the state in October. The schools have been instructed to send videos and photographs of the meeting in a specific format to the authorities. This meetings of mothers will be held in the months of October, this year and January and March, next year.
The OSEPA Project Director said that the National Education Policy-2020 has emphasised on increasing children’s basic linguistic and mathematical skills. The innovative programme has been taken up by the state in coordination with the government of India to strengthen this skill from the children.
By 2026-27, all children who have completed the third standard will acquire all these basic skills. No child will have difficulty in understanding the text in the next class. In basic literacy, a child can speak clearly, read without difficulty in recognising letters, understand, and express their thoughts and opinions in writing.
Similarly, in acquiring basic number knowledge, the child can know small and big, low and high numbers, and do mathematical calculations.
Notably, around 36,500 of the total 57,000 government primary schools in the state impart teaching from Class I to III.
