KOCHI: ‘I saw a chameleon laying eggs today...’, ‘It was a holiday today. I got busy with my mother saving the chilli plants from caterpillars...’ Students studying in Class I of schools under the General Education Department are now reading and learning from the diary notes of their seniors studying in Class II.
These little budding writers are Adi Dev of Class II of SVUP School, Muttathi, Payyannur, and Nanditha M S of Class II of GLPS, Kizhakkambalam in Ernakulam.
These notes were written by the students when they were in Class I last year after the schools implemented the Samyuktha Diary, a project launched by the Samagra Shiksha Kerala (SSK) to improve and develop students’ language skills from a young age, is reaping dividends.
The initiative has not only been able to improve Malayalam writing skills but also awaken the hidden writers in them.
Saija S, a teacher who is a member of the textbook committee, tells TNIE, “The decision to include the works of the students was to motivate them to keep on writing the journals. It would also motivate other students to take up writing seriously.” However, not all schools in the state have implemented the initiative. “So, a few works of the students were selected and published in the textbooks so that other students get motivated in joining the initiative,” she adds.
Expressing her happiness over her student’s diary note getting published in the Malayalam textbook, Sathi T V, Nanditha’s former class teacher who played a pivotal role in the little writer getting acknowledged, says, “It came as a surprise for me. I used to send the writings of all my students to a WhatsApp group of resource persons. I was told that one of the writings had been selected for a blog. However, it was only after the textbooks arrived that I saw Nanditha’s diary note.”
She was all praise for the Samyuktha Diary initiative. According to Naseema, the class teacher of Adi Dev, it should be noted that these diary notes are not just about mundane things. “The students write about the things that come across in their day-to-day life in their surroundings. In the case of Adi Dev, it was the chameleon laying eggs. Something that we never notice,” she says.
Speaking to TNIE, both Adi Dev and Nanditha expressed their happiness and excitement over the inclusion of their writings in the textbooks that are now being read by their juniors.
“I was so happy and excited when my teacher showed me the textbook. Though writing the notes initially was very difficult, as days and months passed, I got better with the help of my mother and teacher. All of us are still writing diaries and submitting our notes with the teacher even in Class II,” says Nanditha. For Adi Dev, it was double happiness.
“My writing had earlier been published in Eureka magazine. Now it has been published in the Class I Malayalam textbook too,” says an excited Adi Dev.