A silent revolution in primary education, which began in Tamil Nadu (pop. 62 million) in 2003 when Activity Based Learning (ABL) was experimentally introduced on a modest scale, is making waves in this southern state. Since then, 37,486 corporation, panchayat, government and aided schools have implemented this pedagogy transforming the way 6 million primary school children are taught and learn in classrooms across the state.
ABL is a flexible, child-centric pedagogy which allows children to study at their own pace and employs child-friendly teaching aids to encourage self-learning. The result of a UNICEF supported initiative designed and tested by the well-known Rishi Valley School, Chittoor, Andhra Pradesh in the 1990s, ABL has proved very effective in attracting out-of-school children into classrooms. Which is probably why it is being supported by the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (‘Education For All’) wing of the state government.
Under the system, the curriculum is supported by self-learning materials comprising attractive study cards for all subjects. Classrooms are not age- specific and students of classes I-III sit together in one classroom, organised into mixed age groups but with every child studying independently and teachers acting as facilitators.
Though successful in improving learning outcomes in primary classrooms, this novel pedagogy has run into rough weather two years after it was introduced in all state-run schools. In July, primary school teachers’ associations staged protests demanding withdrawal of the ABL system on the ground that there are flaws in the pedagogy. This has prompted some anxious parents to take their children out of government schools and enroll them in private institutions. Dismayed by these teacher agitations, the Tamil Nadu state government’s school education department appointed a committee comprising V. Vasantha Devi, former vice-chancellor of the Manonmaniam Sundaranar University, senior educationist S.S. Rajagopalan and R. Jayakumar, physicist at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, University of California, to conduct an independent review of ABL. The committee, which submitted its report in August this year, visited ten corporation and some suburban schools where the pedagogy has been operational for over three years.
The committee’s report commends the ABL system for breaking traditional hierarchies within classrooms and recommends its continuation, while making several useful suggestions for improvement. It opines that ABL can work successfully only if class strength does not exceed 30. Moreover it says the pedagogy is less to blame than unavailability of learning materials; lack of teacher emphasis on group work; static rather than dynamic learning materials and that often activity cards have not been field tested before being introduced. The report suggests that teachers re-visit the fundamental concepts of ABL.
The committee’s findings have shocked SSA administrators who believe that the ABL system is working smoothly in all schools. “There are some factual errors in the committee’s report. ABL has improved the quality of education by addressing diversity in classrooms and motivating students to learn. It’s a model that other states can usefully emulate,” says M.P. Vijayakumar, chief architect of the ABL system, and former state project director of SSA.
While acknowledging the novelty and promise of ABL, independent educationists and education NGOs also accept that the pedagogy needs to be tweaked. “Activity-based learning is an excellent concept and a great improvement on traditional rote learning. Therefore it’s important to sustain it until it takes root. But this requires political will as well as the cooperation of teachers, parents, civil society organisations and educationists,” says Dr. Balaji Sampath, founder of AID-India, a Chennai-based NGO.
Quite clearly, these teething troubles need to be addressed without questioning the proven superiority of ABL pedagogy. By actively involving children in the learning process and making lessons enjoyable, ABL has not only improved learning outcomes but also stemmed the flow of school drop-outs. Most importantly teachers, slave to chalk-n-talk and rote memorisation conventions, need to welcome this and other pedagogies which reduce their workload while stimulating genuine learning in their classrooms.
Hemalatha Raghupathi (Chennai)