BARGARH: Trees are the new blackboards in Pujharipali village under Paikmal block of Bargarh district. Every tree in the village carries a lesson - be it alphabets, maths, science or geography - and turns into an open air classroom anytime the kids gather around and Subash Chandra Sahu spots them.
In the pandemic-gripped world where formal education became the biggest casualty, the teacher in Sahu did not allow him to bow down to the adversity and instead, drove him to innovate and ensure the village's children did not lose out on studies. With schools closed, the cluster resource coordinator (CRCC) of Lakhmara panchayat continued holding classes in open spaces for children.
However, finding teaching difficult in the absence of a classroom and blackboard, he hit upon the idea of painting trees and holding classes under them. In the last three months, Sahu painted several trees with study material of different subjects.
"The lockdown brought learning to an abrupt end. While interacting with students, I found that they were losing touch with the syllabus", said Sahu, who wanted to maintain continuity in the teaching-learning process.
The teacher hired a painter at his own expense and along with him, began painting alphabets, numbers and names of months, rivers and sea, districts on the tree trunks. He also hung charts and pictures on the big trees to make them attractive for the students.
"Children tend to learn from what they see. My purpose was not only to cover their syllabus but also to make learning interesting for them. The kids were intrigued by the colourful trees and the novelty of learning from them. They have shown greater interest and are attending classes with zeal", Sahu said.
He has, so far, painted 22 trees in the village but the initiative has not been without hiccups. Villagers mocked him when he began painting the trees. For them, it was an unnecessary exercise. But today when the children are willingly gathering under the trees to study every day, they have started appreciating his efforts.
Each of his class is attended by 20 to 30 children and he ensures that every child follows the Covid-19 guidelines of wearing a mask, sanitising hands and maintains a safe distance from others in the class. He provides them disposable masks every day.
He tries to make the classes as interactive as possible. After the class hours, he goes round the village putting up posters and chart sheets on various lessons outside the houses of children so that they can keep learning something new during their leisure time.