1. ACTIVITY BASED LEARNING Tamil Nadu
Amukta Mahapatra Director
SchoolScape, Centre for Educators

2. Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan Education for All Movement
In line with MDGs & other international & national commitments
CRC, Constitution of India, RtE
A central-state programme

3. Indirect Preparation NEP: 1986 Mass Training of Teachers
DPEP: 1994 – 2001 Textbooks Reworked
Joyful Learning: 1995 – 2000 Teacher Active
Professional Development of the Teacher Educator (DIET Faculty Training): Participatory & Constructive Approach
Visit to Rishi Valley satellite schools

4. ABL Incubation in Chennai Corporation
2003: schools with photocopied materials for Classes 1 & 2 to
2006: 265 schools for Classes 1 to 4
almost 50,000 children
with printed and 3 D material reaching
the most disadvantaged communities of Chennai

5. Scaled Across State June 2007
Reaching approx: 37,500 schools
1.2 lakh teachers
50 lakh children
Support by Chennai Corporation teachers and BRTs
Classes 1 to 4 with printed TLM; 3D materials given in phases
Baseline Survey
84% of children are with the government schools in the state

6. An ABL Classroom

7. Teacher at head of Class

8. Where is the Teacher?

9. Transparent Curriculum

10. ABL Addresses Issues of:
Children not Learning
Teachers not Teaching
Dominant Role of the Teacher
Multi-levels of Learning
Lack of on-site support for teacher
Absenteeism of Children

11. ABL Base Year Surveys June 2007 and April 2008
Classes II and IV
Review of classroom processes & learning environment available to the child
Assessment in Tamil, Maths and English
Reading skills in Tamil for Class II &
both Tamil & English for Class IV

12. Tools Administered School profile format (Format A)
Schedule for classroom observers (Format B)
Questionnaire for teachers to write in (Format C)
Child Interview schedule (Format D)
Achievement test papers for Class II & IV in Tamil, Mathematics, English
Reading test sheets for Class II in Tamil; Tamil and English for Class IV

13. Key Findings 2008 Average Achievement Class II Class IV
Tamil % %
Mathematics % %
English % %
The figures revealed that as compared to the baseline study there was an increase of nearly 25% to 29% in all three subjects in both the classes.

14. Key Findings
Gaps in achievement narrowed down: within gender, location and social groups
Baseline: significant difference in achievement
boys and girls
urban and rural children and
children from different social communities
2008:
in Tamil achievement no significant difference found between rural and urban children and among the children of different social groups;
in English achievement, no significant difference between rural and urban and among boys and girls.

15. Achievement by Gender, Location and Community - Class IV
Groups
Tamil
Mathematics
English
Baseline
End term
Boys
34.99
61.23
36.65
65.81
26.07
51.60
Girls
38.45
66.25
39.14
60.97
28.20
52.99
Rural
35.67
63.01
37.06
63.58
26.36
53.24
Urban
41.13
65.06
42.70
58.32
31.29
44.16
SC/ST
33.60
61.01
36.38
60.75
25.60
50.28
MBC
33.20
62.18
37.07
62.11
24.12
49.95 BC
43.47
66.51
40.33
66.43
31.92
57.62 OC
46.15
68.67
50.57
47.80
34.88
47.00
 Significantly improved;  no improvement
Mean achievement of children improved significantly in all groups and in all subjects
Maximum improvement observed among SC/ST and MBC children in all three subjects

16. Quality of Achievement during Baseline & End term– Class II
Percentage of basic (low) achievers children reduced by 34% to 40% in all subjects
Percentage of children who scored very high and excellent increased during end term in all three subjects

17. Summary
Average achievement of children in both the classes and all subjects increased significantly
Gaps in achievement within gender, area and social groups narrowed down
More children shifted from low achievement range to very high and excellent achievement range
Inter and intra district variations reduced in both the classes
Number of children who could read Tamil and English fluently increased substantially in both the classes

18. Classroom Environment
Baseline 2008
Children sitting in rows % %
Children sitting in a circle % 81%

19. Teaching and Learning materials
Baseline 2008
Supplementary reading materials
other than textbooks 40% 80%
Materials found to be
challenging % %

20. Availability of Materials Baseline Findings
40-50% of classrooms were lacking Tamil, Maths and English materials. Students felt that all materials were lacking in most classrooms.

21. Understanding Lessons
Baseline 2008
Children’s understanding
of the lesson being taught
was “high” % %
Teachers gave explanations
with examples % 50%
In addition, it was observed in 2008 that 97% of teachers provided an informative introduction to the lesson

22. Child Participation
Baseline Findings
Students were rarely or never observed asking the teacher a question in almost half of the classrooms
Teachers frequently silenced the children - 66% of the classrooms
2008 Findings
Teachers asked relevant questions - 54%
Children were encouraged to ask questions - 48%
Teachers encouraged children to volunteer answers to questions - 49%
Slower learners encouraged - 57%

23. Lessons for Education Community
No branding by individuals or organisation
but a seepage of ideas
Involvement & participation of people from teacher to minister
Fundamental change, not incremental
Stage by stage growth with direction
Continuous review
Mix of centralization & ground-up

24. Ref: http:www.ssa.tn.nic.in 2009
Presented by
Amukta Mahapatra
Ref:
2009
“Feet on the ground, eyes on the horizon, and with heart in the sky”