Teaching students the ‘smart’ way

Vaishak, a Class VII student of Dakshina Kannada Zilla Panchayat Higher Primary School in Perabe, Puttur taluk, enjoys sitting in the smart classroom to learn mathematics. He learns his lessons from digital and visual teaching aid using the smart classroom.

He said the mathematics is easy to understand and learn through the smart classroom. While some of the students enjoy spoken English class in the classroom, where they too interact while learning the language.

This is possible as Perabe School has smart classroom powered by solar energy, an initiative by an NGO and Selco Foundation with an intention of improving the quality of classroom education. Here the digital educational contents and digital tools are dependent on solar energy.

Two solar panels are placed on the rooftop of the school, which provide energy to the smart classroom.

Speaking to DH, Headmistress Hemalatha said Youth For Seva, an NGO in Bengaluru, had given Rs 50,000 to the school to improve quality of education in the rural school and the Selco Foundation paid the remaining Rs 39,000 towards the installation of smart classroom in the school.

The smart classroom is used by the students from Class V to VII. The students have at least two classes in a week using the smart classroom.

The content for the smart classrooms is inbuilt and
designed based on the Karnataka state syllabus textbooks, she added.

Hemalatha said the lessons in science, mathematics and English are taught for the children.

According to teachers, the initiative has changed the nature of classroom into an interactive one with more participation from students. Students enjoy learning the subjects in the smart classroom.

Further, curiosity of the students has increased as they learn through activities in the smart classroom.

It has also helped them to visualise and understand the concept in the syllabus through drawings, pictures and so on.

Another teacher said, “the spoken English is enjoyed by the students. There are a few games inbuilt in the system, which make children also to be a part of the game while learning in the classroom. In fact, students demand smart classroom,” the teacher said.

Hemalatha said, “We can also download a few content from internet and use it as an additional input for the classrooms through smart class.”

At present, the school has 58 students pursuing their studies from Class I to VII. The number is likely to go up next academic year as after the smart classroom is introduced in the school the parents are curious to know about the system.