SAMBALPUR: Education is not always about books. In Bargarh’s government schools, a unique initiative ‘Vijeta’ is helping students of secondary grades develop holistically. The special school intervention initiative launched by the district administration on August 15 this year, is being implemented across 90 government schools transformed under the 5T initiative of Odisha government on a pilot basis. Under it, free periods have been created in the school calendar to allow the students of Class VIII and IX to participate in other activities without hampering their curriculum-based learning. It has been kept optional for students of Class X.
The periods have been named ‘Zero Periods’. During this, students are being engaged in different extra-curricular activities for two hours in the second half of every Friday. Activities include quiz, debate, extempore speech, elocution, painting, drawing, singing, dancing, one act play, art and crafts, science modelling, among other things.
Since activities are a must for all students of both the grades, those not participating in any of the activities are engaged in house board decoration, civic activities and gardening.This apart, on Mondays and Wednesdays, there are dedicated periods for science lab activities and e-library for students of both the grades.
Bargarh Collector Monisha Banerjee said the students in government schools usually lack holistic development because the education system is mostly curriculum-based. “As a result, while the students passing out are academically strong, they are still under-confident as they fail to hone other skills. We have seen many students in these schools who are outperforming in many activities other than just academics. Through Vijeta, we intend to involve them in extra-curricular activities which will polish their other abilities,” she said.
Considering the positive outcome of the initiative, the administration is now planning to expand Vijeta to 199 more schools transformed under 5T. Teachers who conduct the activities have been trained by the resource persons from the local community. “This is what makes it different for other such school intervention programmes,” said the Collector.
For the initiative, the district administration is collaborating with CMCA, which is providing leadership and community training, and Maker Ghat that trains students in science experiments.“Attendance in these schools has increased remarkably after the implementation of Vijeta. Because of the initiative, the students have developed a sense of ownership towards their schools. Besides, it has bridged the gap between the students and teachers. We hope it will also help reduce the dropout rate” said Banerjee.