Clara Lewis I TNN
Mumbai: Civic authorities should listen when their teachers speak—it could bring the corporation worldwide recognition. Unfortunately, the BMC’s elected representatives as well as municipal commissioner Jairaj Pathak refused to listen to its teachers and rejected a project that they had designed to teach adolescent girl students about the importance of health and hygiene. But last month, the same project won the Commonwealth Education Good Practice Award. It was presented at the Commonwealth’s 50th celebration in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The unique project was prepared by primary school teachers and executed by the teachers’ union and completely funded by them. “The need to teach hygiene and sanitation came up because our primary school teachers found a lot of absenteeism among slum girls who had attained puberty. Many of them are completely ignorant about the physiological changes an adolescent undergoes,’’ said Ramesh Joshi, secretary, Brihanmumbai Mahapalika Shikshak Sabha. It was in 2004 that the union decided to take up the issue of teaching hygiene and sanitation to girl students. A survey conducted by the union in 10 civic schools revealed that the puberty age had dropped to 8-9 years and the dropout rate among them was high. Besides the burden of household work, there was lack of dialogue with parents and complete ignorance about biological development. “They avoided talking about their problems. There was also lack of information about reproductive health,’’ said Joshi. The aim was to educate one lakh girl students. “We formed a team of 10 co-ordinators (primary school teachers) who were trained by gynaecologists and sociologists on ways to educate the girls,’’ said Joshi. Every coordinator had 10 educators under him. Each educator had to train 1,000 girls. After training the educators, the union approached civic officials, other teachers and convinced them that it was about hygiene and sanitation and not sex education. Next, parents were taken into confidence and only then was the workshop introduced. The union published booklets to explain the physical and mental changes during adolescence. The teacher educated the girls about nutritious food, gynaecological diseases and cleanliness. Students were encouraged to write their questions and doubts and drop them in a box without identifying themselves. These queries were later answered in class. The teachers’ union conducted these workshops in 300 private and 800 municipal schools in the city. It was also conducted in parts of the state as well as in Rajasthan, Gujarat, AP and Kerala. “It’s been four years that we started these workshops in municipal schools. Last year, we again approached the civic education department to allow us to do it. Officials, elected representatives and the municipal commissioner Jairaj Phatak flatly refused,’’ said Joshi. The award, he added, was a recognition of their efforts to change the face of public education.
WINNERS TAKE IT ALL: Project director Ramesh Joshi (sixth from left) and others who received the Commonwealth award from Malaysia’s deputy PM Muhyddin Yassin at a programme in Kuala Lampur
Mumbai: Civic authorities should listen when their teachers speak—it could bring the corporation worldwide recognition. Unfortunately, the BMC’s elected representatives as well as municipal commissioner Jairaj Pathak refused to listen to its teachers and rejected a project that they had designed to teach adolescent girl students about the importance of health and hygiene. But last month, the same project won the Commonwealth Education Good Practice Award. It was presented at the Commonwealth’s 50th celebration in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The unique project was prepared by primary school teachers and executed by the teachers’ union and completely funded by them. “The need to teach hygiene and sanitation came up because our primary school teachers found a lot of absenteeism among slum girls who had attained puberty. Many of them are completely ignorant about the physiological changes an adolescent undergoes,’’ said Ramesh Joshi, secretary, Brihanmumbai Mahapalika Shikshak Sabha. It was in 2004 that the union decided to take up the issue of teaching hygiene and sanitation to girl students. A survey conducted by the union in 10 civic schools revealed that the puberty age had dropped to 8-9 years and the dropout rate among them was high. Besides the burden of household work, there was lack of dialogue with parents and complete ignorance about biological development. “They avoided talking about their problems. There was also lack of information about reproductive health,’’ said Joshi. The aim was to educate one lakh girl students. “We formed a team of 10 co-ordinators (primary school teachers) who were trained by gynaecologists and sociologists on ways to educate the girls,’’ said Joshi. Every coordinator had 10 educators under him. Each educator had to train 1,000 girls. After training the educators, the union approached civic officials, other teachers and convinced them that it was about hygiene and sanitation and not sex education. Next, parents were taken into confidence and only then was the workshop introduced. The union published booklets to explain the physical and mental changes during adolescence. The teacher educated the girls about nutritious food, gynaecological diseases and cleanliness. Students were encouraged to write their questions and doubts and drop them in a box without identifying themselves. These queries were later answered in class. The teachers’ union conducted these workshops in 300 private and 800 municipal schools in the city. It was also conducted in parts of the state as well as in Rajasthan, Gujarat, AP and Kerala. “It’s been four years that we started these workshops in municipal schools. Last year, we again approached the civic education department to allow us to do it. Officials, elected representatives and the municipal commissioner Jairaj Phatak flatly refused,’’ said Joshi. The award, he added, was a recognition of their efforts to change the face of public education.
WINNERS TAKE IT ALL: Project director Ramesh Joshi (sixth from left) and others who received the Commonwealth award from Malaysia’s deputy PM Muhyddin Yassin at a programme in Kuala Lampur
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