We all know that teachers have the most significant impact on student learning. For this reason, it is crucial to recruit and retain qualified teachers as we seek to build up the proficiencies of the next generation. However, the staggering shortage of teachers has created an imbalance, leaving schools with thousands of vacancies each year. Data has shown that this ongoing shortage is adversely affecting the education system in India.

Teacher Shortage in Rural India

Teacher shortages are defined as a diminished teacher-to-student ratio that affects access to education for many children. In other words, though positions are open, there aren’t enough candidates applying for them. But the shortage of teachers in government schools has reached alarming levels. Even some reputed private schools are struggling to fill their vacancies each year. In public schools, as teachers retire, they’re not being replaced fast enough by younger applicants. Because of this multi-generational gap in the workforce, students may not get the quality education they deserve. Many schools lack the infrastructure, resources and the required number of teachers. Studies show that this has resulted in more than 500,000 elementary schools nationwide lacking teachers, and 14% of high schools employed non-state certified teachers or contractual teachers. These are pre-pandemic numbers, with a recent study showing that a total of 19% or 11.16 lakh teaching positions in schools lie vacant in the country, 69% of them in rural areas.

Key factors contributing to the teacher shortage

Salaries and compensation

Teacher compensation impacts the supply and quality of teachers. Salary levels affect the distribution of teachers, which affects the level of schooling and the quality and quantity of individuals pursuing a teacher-training program and becoming teachers. Higher wages may also influence teacher attrition; teachers are more likely to leave low-paying positions than high-paying positions. Teachers who work in districts with low salaries may be less experienced or qualified than those who work in districts with a higher salary schedule.

Lack of Preparation

School districts and private schools alike have tried homogenising and easing standards for teachers because of surging demand for well-trained instructors. As a result, some school districts have had to hire graduates without the requisite certification or classroom experience. Complete preparation for teachers means more than just solid pedagogical knowledge. Increased confidence, support, and collaboration improves the likelihood that a teacher will remain in the profession.

Working Conditions

The different norms and rules of the school and treating teachers as professionals can play an essential part in decision-making for leaving teaching in a particular school or district. In particular, teachers’ feelings of being treated as professionals are strongly associated with the administrative support, resources, and influence over policy within schools. Education systems must pay attention to the fact that teachers are not held accountable for how they spend their time at school and have a sense of being heard.

Impact of Teacher Shortage

A shortage of teachers hurts everyone involved in our educational system. Not just students, but also teachers and the public education infrastructure itself. It is important to remember that this isn’t just about getting more teachers in classrooms or just improving teacher pay. It’s really about improving teacher quality, so the learning experience matches the rising expectations for student achievement in today’s world. The quality of teachers has a direct impact on academic achievement. Low retention rates delivered to the teaching profession reduce teacher effectiveness and morale, diminishing student learning outcomes. 

The teacher shortage makes it difficult to build a solid reputation for teaching and increase the profession’s prestige, both of which hinder the goal of professionalizing teaching. Moreover, the uneven distribution of teachers means that specific parts of the population are not receiving the same educational opportunities as others. The teacher shortage hinders sustainability and challenges the vision of providing a quality education for all students from a diverse range.

Ways to Redress the Teacher Shortage

A strong public education system is key to fostering economic growth and innovation in any state. Raising teacher pay is one way to cultivate a talented workforce to support it. When teachers feel a sense of belonging, they become more engaged and feel empowered to share their voice. On the other hand, teachers who feel uncared for and whose voices aren’t heard often “burn out” by leaving the profession.

In light of the widespread effects on public education and society at large, it is imperative to understand this crisis and address it immediately. To design policy interventions or plan institutional action, we must first understand the factors contributing to the growing shortage of high-quality teachers. Only then can we help the next generation of students across India realise their full human potential, and the entirety of their aspirations.

Square Panda aims to tackle this problem by leveraging technology and world-class training to transform under-resourced schools and Anganwadi centres into learning spaces. Know more about our work. Visit ecce.squarepanda.in

Look around. What do you see? 

Nine times out of ten, your eyes will land on a piece of technology, a device, or a machine that is changing the way we live.

Technology, and thus screens, are now an integral part of the world we inhabit. This is making its way into children’s lives to the extent that schools have begun to adopt technology-led teaching aids. Research into screen time usage shows that it boosts the development of young children in many critical areas. Data even suggests that children who spend an hour or two every day interacting with digital devices have higher social and emotional well-being levels than others.

There is tremendous value to ensuring children are digitally literate. But how do you use the educational and imaginative power of screens to engage kids? How can you turn screen time into positive learning time?

Here are four ways you can use screen time to your advantage.

Make Screen Time Interactive

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends adults co-view, co-play, and co-engage with children when they are using screens. Screen time doesn’t have to be bad, just as long as you help them engage with what’s on the screen. And for this to happen, you have to be active yourself. You can increase the interactive nature of screen time by:

• Watching videos and asking related questions (Did you like this character? Why do you think he looks like that?)
• Introducing them to learning games with highly interactive apps

Encourage Educational Entertainment Or Edutainment

A study by health scientist Taren Sanders has linked educational screen time to doing better in school. Balancing screen time so that children can enjoy it from an educational or playful perspective is a prudent choice. Also, such apps and games are often based on research and are very intuitive to young children’s needs. There is a bevy of carefully designed instruments that offer crucial skill development; pick toys, games, and apps that are labeled edutainment or educational.

Weave Positive Habits Into Screen Time

Introduce positive habits while children are using screens. Teach them how to handle devices responsibly and safely, including starting, charging, and shutting down the devices. Encourage them to self-regulate the time they spend in front of screens, too. This way, you show children how to develop good online etiquette that keeps them safer when they begin using personal devices. At the same time, you are helping them become more independent as they play and learn.

Join In The Fun Yourself

One of the best ways to make screen time memorable and beneficial is to join in and play with your young learners. Teach them how to use devices, watch YouTube videos with them, and play edutainment games alongside them. Of course, you don’t necessarily have to oversee every single moment of their screen time. Children need the freedom to explore on their own as well. However, letting them know you are available to play with them goes a long way towards keeping kids happy and making sure their screen time is positive.

What are your views about positive screen time? How can edtech help support teachers in the classroom? Comment below.

Student-centric, playful learning experiences are an essential component of learning. At Square Panda, we are committed to innovatively impacting education. Know more about our work: ecce.squarepanda.in

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Language-communication is a vital part of learning communication. Learners constantly acquire new words, phrases, and aptitudes as they develop their communication skills. Furthermore, learners develop their communication abilities through an environment that promotes speech or oral fluency and comprehension. As such, storytelling is a vital aspect of improving verbal communication skills.

To become truly proficient in a language, learners need to seek opportunities to use the language through real-life activities. This includes getting involved in various storytelling events, which puts learners in an upbeat mood, motivating them to communicate more effectively to demonstrate a satisfactory level of proficiency even under challenging situations.

Importance of storytelling

Since the dawn of time, stories have been used as a way to pass on beliefs and traditions from one generation to the next. They say a picture is worth a thousand words; sometimes a story is too! 

Educators should consider several factors when selecting stories for the classroom. The stories chosen should appeal to their students, be appropriate for their purpose, and provide opportunities to practice the language. Storytelling serves as a practical educational resource because of the engaging and captivating nature of the activities. Words can be strengthened by using a variety of sentences to make a story. It provides children with the opportunity to have fun while practicing their English. It helps develop language skills, learn English words and expressions, refine their speaking and listening skills, and practice reading aloud.

Here’s how storytelling can help develop English proficiency:

• The purpose of storytelling is to enable children to enjoy hearing English in a dynamic and often stylistic way. It is very participatory and immersive, giving the children an awareness of rhythm and structure. In addition, storytelling can be a very effective method for introducing new vocabulary and phrases.
• Accustomed to short bursts of language in the classroom, students are hungry for more stories. As they listen to you include some details about characters or setting or give some background information on context, they become motivated to do the same thing when speaking in English. 
• When children tell stories in English, they learn to describe intonation patterns, natural expressions, phrasing, and interactions between indigenous speakers. For older young learners, the activity gives them practice retelling stories or paraphrasing or rewording them.
• The use of stories also allows young learners to link their reading experiences in the classroom to those at home. For example, students have books at home, which can be read with a parent or other family member. In addition, the child can identify household vocabulary, which will ease the understanding of the English language within their household.
• Storytelling is one way that teachers can inspire language learning through discussion and activities. Moreover, parents can help their children at home by reading stories in English, especially ones with interesting characters who do unexpected things or someone who solves a problem.

Upskilling teachers

A key factor to ensuring that learning loss does not have far-reaching effects is well-designed training programs for educators. Teachers, Anganwadi workers, and other educators lie at the heart of early childhood education. Simply put, we need to upskill our educators to use appropriate 21st-century skills, such as song, dance, and storytelling, among others, systemically and inclusively to improve the quality of learning imparted to our nation’s young learners. 

Adding storytelling tactics to a teacher’s established array of teaching skills can boost student engagement and retention of their material. Through committed practice,  teachers can become master storytellers in their own right, expressing content in their own unique voices and helping a whole new generation of little learners achieve their full potential. 

Square Panda India’s programs focus on the art and strategy of using exciting stories to help students understand new concepts at a deeper level. Our programs give teachers a solid foundation in delivering joyful education that engages and connects with students and inspiring change that impacts communities. 

To know more, visit ecce.squarepanda.in

School closures were a bittersweet solution to battle COVID-19. While the intention of this was to stem the spread of the pandemic, recent studies show that it has had alarming consequences for students, who have made little progress after schools closed. In addition, remote learning has significant limitations in the Indian context as students missed out on school resources, social interactions with peers, and learning in a classroom environment, leading to children experiencing learning loss.

Delving into the data reveals that students performed poorly while studying from home, and it was little surprise to see that children in rural areas were most affected. Nearly half of grade school children in India’s rural areas were unable to read more than a few words, and the gap between digital natives and those who live in rural areas continues to widen. It is a matter of concern to see that only 8% of students in rural India regularly accessed online education mediums, while 37% gave up studying entirely.

For many of these children and communities, education is an enabler that gives them the opportunity to improve their life circumstances, and school closures have stymied learning. Given that about half of the households in rural areas have no smartphones, the lack of online learning starts to add up. But even among households that have some kind of digital connectivity, only 15 percent of rural children are studying online regularly, as opposed to 31 percent of urban children.

Although state governments have made considerable efforts to improve internet connectivity, the lack of digital devices and digital literacy have adversely affected remote learning. Moreover, poor governance within government bodies, pre-existing capacity deficits in schools, and lengthy lockdowns have compounded India’s learning lacunae.

Impact of Learning Loss in India

The impact of learning loss in rural areas is more significant as opposed to the loss felt by students in urban areas, where resources are readily available. Moreover, as literacy rates are low and schools remain understaffed, the effects of learning loss in students extend beyond academic outcomes to psychological well-being and social-emotional adjustment.

Almost 1.5 years have elapsed since students learned in proper classrooms. Up to this point, the students in the current class only had minimal learning from the previous grades, and there have been learning regressions, to the extent that they’ve forgotten most of what they learned from the previous grade. Some reports have also shown a decrease in their ability to read with understanding and perform mathematical tasks. These abilities are foundational. Therefore, their absence will impact not only other skills, but also a child’s conceptual understanding beyond the subject area where the deficit occurred. 

Surveys have also revealed that over 48% of children in rural India are unable to read even a few words — an indication of the extent of unmet needs of children. These children have lacked necessary learning opportunities due to a growing number of schools that are either shuttered, too far away, or curriculum that doe not match their learning needs.

The prolonged lockout has hurt the education of many children. A significant challenge for children has been attending school and interacting with other students outside their immediate social circle. Given how much parents have been affected by difficult economic conditions, education is often their only hope for their child to have a better life in the future. Parents are eagerly waiting for their children to go back to school. Reopening schools with preventive measures have been all the more imperative to mitigate learning loss due to covid. 

To bridge the learning gap caused by school closures, the parliamentary panel has suggested reopening schools with the following measures:

• Conduct vaccination programs for students and school staff
• Conducting classes in two shifts or alternate days to control crowds
• Stepping up preventive measures of maintaining physical distance 
• Mandatory wearing a mask and frequent hand sanitization
• Thermal screening to test infected individuals

Along with this, schools should be subjected to frequent inspections by COVID administrators to ensure strict adherence to hygiene, COVID protocols, and facility maintenance. The good news is that many schools are now reopening or planning to reopen, which will help redress educational setbacks. 

Mitigating Learning Loss

To help improve the quality of education delivered, it is essential to open schools and invest in tomorrow’s educational standards. We believe that a holistic approach is needed to help alleviate learning loss among students.

• Embracing Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs)
  
  PPPs in education can play a critical role in the Indian context, serving as innovation centres for deepening access to and improving the quality of education. More critically, as they are run in government infrastructure with tightly monitored processes, pre-defined and measurable outcomes, and stringent performance metrics, they are replicable across the board. A Public-Private Partnership offers specific knowledge, expertise, and technological innovations that draws on the best of both worlds to make education affordable, increase accessibility, improve efficiency, and deliver speedy execution for better outcomes.
  
  At Square Panda India, we strategically collaborate with government and impact organizations to create a holistic impact across the education ecosystem by building learning programs, opening learning centres, and creating access to advanced learning tools. 

• Upskilling Teachers
  
  The pandemic has caused a pivot to a digital or blended model of education, which neither teachers nor infrastructure is wholly prepared for. Simply put, educators across the nation are at different levels when it comes to technological literacy and competency, and so we need to coach educators on the use and role of technology in driving optimal learning outcomes. 
  Empowering our teachers, Anganwadi workers, and other educators on the optimal use of technology to deliver an effective education is a must, since they hold the key to unlocking our student’s potential. Only then will it be possible for each student to receive a similar quality of education wherever they are. It is also essential that we focus on improving the digital and human capital infrastructure of government schools, if we are to achieve 100% literacy in India.
   
  
• Innovative Solutions
  
  The pandemic has been a double-edged sword for education. Even as it cut short learning years and eroded knowledge bases for students, it caused educators and administrators to move existing classes to a digital medium in order for it to be accessible. This fully remote or blended learning model can maximize student learning, but in order to do so, we will require a research-based understanding of the optimal amount and mix of learning activities for diverse sets of learners. 
  Blended learning is the right segue for this, allowing students to re-enter classrooms, explore learning material remotely, and ask their queries through a virtual medium, such as websites, email, video, or chatbots. As students get more comfortable in this new normal, the degree of self-paced, asynchronous learning will rise. Connecting the virtual and physical worlds can achieve remarkable outcomes if paired with inclusive, research-derived, and technology-enabled learning models. This is aligned with the objectives of NEP 2020, which looks to embed technology across the education ecosystem through platforms such as DIKSHA/SWAYAM.
  
  
• Tailored Learning Experiences
  
  Each of us understand that each child is unique, but we don’t often tailor their education to reflect this. By embracing the latest technological advances, such as AI and Machine Learning, to provide personalised learning paths, students can be fully engaged in the learning journey. 
  Founding education experiences in a data-driven approach has other benefits too. Educators will find that they can tailor curriculum to match a student’s pace of learning; policymakers too can leverage this approach to pursue an evidence based approach to policymaking as well. Doing so can drive improved learning outcomes at scale. 

Technology too can be a key lever. For instance, AI allows for the identification and tracking of “knowledge points” that accurately reflect an individual’s “knowledge state” for any given subject. This allows for a world of personalised learning experiences and content formats that deliver essential knowledge as per each student’s unique requirements. Embracing innovations such as these, and more, could be key to building a better, more literate India where everyone reaps the rewards of a world-class education.

Our multifaceted programs help each stakeholder of the Indian Education System – educators, students, Anganwadi workers, and the Government – reach their learning and developmental goals, leveraging technology and data to create replicable and scalable models of intervention. Click here to better understand how we’re creating long-term change centred around the most pressing challenges across India’s education landscape.

When society makes failure synonymous with all things bad or something to avoid at all costs, children are learning at an early age that their worth is tied to the success of their actions. Failure can be scary. Failure is a part of life, whether it’s a 5-year-old finger-painting a masterpiece or a 55-year-old failing to use a new computer program. It doesn’t matter if the failure was avoidable or not, failure will happen to the best of us. 

But how do we help kids deal with these failures? How do we teach them that failing is okay and that they should try again?

It’s hard for most educators to cede control of their children. But allowing them to make mistakes and stay safe is vital in the learning process. Here are some ways you can help your child learn to fail safely:

Emphasize their growth mindset

A growth mindset changes the way the brain reacts to failure, and it helps children learn from their mistakes. They don’t interpret failure as a reflection of their self-worth, and quickly bounce back to recover from their mistakes. Failure is inevitable. That is why it’s so important to encourage your children to embrace a growth mindset. When kids feel empowered to improve, that’s when they’re most likely to succeed — and with a growth mindset, they’ll be more open to trying new things and embracing challenges.

Let them fail

Since the time our children were infants, we’ve offered them a safe, secure life. When they fall, we rush to their side and make sure they’re okay. We go to great lengths to avoid adversity and challenge because we want to protect them from experiencing hardship or failure. But shielding children from adversity isn’t the same as protecting them. It’s essential to allow your child to experience failure. Without difficult situations to navigate, kids won’t develop critical problem-solving skills—and nobody expects a baby to ride a bike without training wheels. Teach them how to cope with failure, so they don’t fear it — and make sure they earn prizes when they overcome a challenge.

Share your experience

Children like to emulate what they see. You can model positive ways to handle setbacks and challenges by being open about your struggles. You can point out that when we fail at something, we often learn from it and even get better for having tried. Likewise, when you learn to fail forward, your kids will learn from painful experiences and grow from mistakes.

Kids can be a little unrealistic in thinking their ideas and plans will always lead to a remarkable life. So you need to teach them that it’s okay if things don’t always work out the way they think.

Empathize with them

By meeting your children with empathy when they fail in front of their peers, you’re modeling that emotion for them. They can see what it looks like when someone is hurt or disappointed and find the words to express those feelings. This doesn’t mean they should be immune from all criticism. But it does mean that if they make a mistake, it’s okay, and the sooner you teach them that, the better!

Final Thoughts

Learning to fail can be painful at first, but it is an essential part of the learning experience, for children will only succeed in life if they can acquire the knowledge and skills needed to handle whatever life throws their way. Our young learners need to know that failure is an integral part of the learning experience. Else they may become afraid of trying anything new for fear of doing it wrong. 

Educators and parents can be a key part of bringing in this cultural change. Educators can design and build schools, pedagogy, and curriculum in a manner that encourages students to learn from failure. This can truly prepare students for transformative success.

Parents too are an essential cog of the learning experience. By providing a nurturing environment, they can be a much-needed guide to children. So that they learn that getting it right at the first time of asking isn’t essential, and that it is more important to do the right thing. The best education doesn’t necessarily come from the classroom. But from how adult role models teach kids to be resilient in the face of whatever life throws their way. 

Know of an inspiring educator or educational story that encourages life-long learning in students? Send us a message at marketing@squarepanda.in or comment below, and we’ll feature your story!

*While the article lists guidelines for young learners, they could apply to adult learners in teacher training sessions as well.

As the Government of India takes several steps to ensure an independent future for the country, we support the cause by coming up with these guidelines, which help children across grassroots levels become self-reliant learners.

1) Avoid Overwhelming Learners: Refrain from assigning a significant workload for the home or for after-school hours as much as you can. This is because young children learn best when they work with bite-sized units of knowledge at a time. Starting small (e.g., introducing only a few letters at a time) and repeating the lessons in a fun way (e.g., making tunes with the letters, playing letter games) will provide better learning outcomes for the classroom.

2) Repetition Is Key: First, introduce your learners to the concepts and then repeat with higher-level tasks or different contexts. We recommend including context wherever possible, as this helps children remember their lessons more clearly. For example, if you’re teaching children letter sounds, teach them how to use them in words. If they’re learning words, then teach them how they’re used in sentences and if they’re learning sentences, then learn to make stories with them. Educate parents on the importance of giving context, as they are equal partners in the early childhood education process.

3) Meaning Matters: As with contextual learning, associating meaning to the lessons taught increases retention. In an early years’ classroom, stories are one of the best options to assign meaning to lessons. For example, if you are teaching vocabulary, link words to respective images via picture books. If sentence comprehension is the end goal, use stories to check students’ understanding of statements, story sequence, and character development. 

4) Don’t Be Afraid To Play: Once you’re done with a lesson, expand on what you’ve learned by playing games. E.g., if you have learned to rhyme, then brainstorm more rhyming words with your students. If you have studied the word families or opposites, think of other words in those families and other word families. If you have read a story, think of alternative endings, discuss what happens, think of background stories for the characters, draw the characters/story sequence, or enact the story in a bit of play. If simply brainstorming is not fun for your learners, then add a ‘speed’ element and race the clock. In short, encourage children to discuss and expand on what they have just learned. This helps them engage with the material more and remember the lessons better.

5) Switch Between Oral And Print Tasks: Try the same tasks with and without print. For example, if you have taught children to write rhyming words, try to play around with the identical/similar rhymes verbally.

NOTE: Oral tasks don’t require children to know the alphabet. So, if your students only know the letters A, B, C, D, there’s still nothing stopping them from orally rhyming other sounds.

6) Make Learning Interactive: Instead of making students sit and repeat words or answer questions, allow them to watch, listen, touch, and feel the material they are learning. This helps them engage much better and pay attention, and internalize a concept by remembering how it sounded, looked, felt, and what it meant.

7) Build Interest In Learning: Keep boredom away by getting students interested in whatever they’re about to learn, even before the lesson starts. E.g., make reading more enjoyable by teaching them about books and print; make them realize that print has a meaning and that stories can come out of books. Expose them to exciting stories with characters they like. Read books around them, even your own books, so that they are intrigued and curious about it. If you’re reading on multiple devices, focus on the stories and how interesting they can be on such mediums.

8) Start Easy And Scaffold: Avoid teaching complex concepts before easy ones on the belief that more straightforward learning will come more easily to children after they master tough topics. This becomes demoralizing to children and could even hamper learning in the long run. Instead, start with a simple topic that children will succeed at. Their success determines how their lessons proceed and their attitude towards learning. Once they have mastered simple concepts, gradually increase complexity, one step at a time in a gradual, scaffolded manner.

9) Bright Colours: There is a reason many early years’ classrooms and learning centers have pops of color and elements of play everywhere. For young children, color is infinitely more attractive than simple black and white designs. So dress your learning materials with the same color to catch students’ attention. Add little splashes of color, use cute characters, and lean on adorable props or games for some fun with learning.

10) Language Immersion: Most Indian children are bilingual or even multilingual, learning English in addition to their native languages like Hindi or Marathi, for instance. Using native or fluent speakers for instruction helps children develop correct tonality, pronunciation, and speech clarity. 

We believe turning young children into lifelong readers and learners is a delicate task that requires wholehearted support from the entire learning community — teachers, educators, parents, Anganwadi workers. Square Panda India’s suggested guidelines are intended to usher early learning stakeholders towards building a foundation for learning right from the early years.

See our efforts towards building an impactful educational landscape in India: https://ecce.squarepanda.in/

What makes a teacher? 

Is it age? Experience? Or the ability to impart learning in a manner that stays with the student forever?

Teachers at all levels have the power to turn the tide and transform the Indian education system into a multidisciplinary, holistic, progressive, and skill-focussed landscape. They mould our children, and thus, directly impact their futures and the future of the nation.

Given the very special occasion we celebrate tomorrow — Teacher’s Day — we decided to compile the stories from our Behind Every Step series that feature an educator at the helm. 

A young child of only ten, a corporate-trailblazer-turned-ECCE educator, a historical legend, a counsellor, and many more — our series highlights every person who has been responsible for helping others acquiring knowledge and skills, including parents, Anganwadi workers, and more.

About Square Panda India’s ‘Behind Every Step’ series: For every child who learns something new, there is a person behind them, supporting them as they take new steps along their educational journey. Each week, we showcase a new and inspiring tale from everyone who teaches, including educators, children, parents, and other stakeholders across the education landscape.

Have an inspiring educational story or know someone who has been a part of path-breaking work? Contact us at marketing@squarepanda.in or comment below, and we’ll feature your story in our upcoming Behind Every Step post.

STORY 1: Savitribai Phule

The very first teacher to set an example was born in a time when women teachers were practically non-existent in India, and the caste system held sway over such matters. See how this brave woman turned the tide for education in Maharashtra, and indeed, India: Read More >>

STORY 2: Chitra Chaugule

After becoming a teacher through fateful circumstances, she fell deeply in love with this profession. See how Chitra Chaugule’s journey saw her swap a corporate job for impacting early education: Read More >>

STORY 3: Unnati Thakkar

Inclusivity in education is her passion, as Ms. Thakkar came to realise. To think, she almost chose a completely different career for herself! Read about her story: Read More >>

STORY 4: Vaishali Nandoskar

Education is about the school, teachers, AND parents, as this mom and dad realised. See how they support their child’s school learning – at home – to help her gradually choose her own independent path in life: Read More >>

STORY 5: Veronika Brighteen

As we celebrate teachers, let us also acknowledge the little ones doing their own teaching. Like 8-year-old multilingual Veronika, who helps her Amma and her little brother learn different languages. Get inspired by her efforts: Read More >>

STORY 6: Saanvi Sinha, Grade 3

Meet yet another young learner-turned-teacher, who is using school closures to guide herself in her studies. This little learner has discovered a love for writing and uses that to alleviate her boredom, she says. Read her story in her own words: Read More >>

STORY 7: Meenal Gawlani

See how one person’s determination to leave the world a better place resulted in an inspiring tale of education, mentoring, and giving back to society: Read More >>

STORY 8: Lokesh Sharan

For teachers, it is not about the money, but the learning they can impart to their students. Read this tale of an extraordinary person striving to teach children for the cost of just one rupee: Read More >>

STORY 9: Jyoti Pande

Being a teacher is about more than teaching, as this story demonstrates. Especially an early years’ teacher. They have to be teachers, guides, life coaches, disciplinarians, and peacekeepers too. We hope Ms. Pande’s incredible story guides your own actions while teaching younger generations. Read all about it, here: Read More >>

STORY 10: Yogendra Bangar

For our final pick, we chose the tale of a school where no student is below 60. Curious? Click this link to read about Fangane village’s Aajibaichi Shaala: Read More >>

Teachers have long been the most crucial part of the education sector in India. Their efforts have doubled over the past year, and they have adapted to new styles and modes of teaching despite being unfamiliar with it themselves. We take this opportunity to thank every teacher for making sure childrens’ learning never stops.

There is a major change sweeping across the educational landscape in India. It has been on the horizon for a long time, with the lockdown and subsequent school closures giving it an impetus. We are, of course, speaking of the proliferation of technology and digital tools in education, for both educators and learners. This departure from the norm has laid bare the structure of our current educational system, and has forced us all to reevaluate it from the foundational levels itself. And educational technology is making this mission a reality.  

The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 underscores this point. This ambitious document reiterates that the key to a strong future lies in equitable education, and one of the best means to reach this goal is by leveraging technology.

Under the Digital India campaign, the Government of India is encouraging several ICT initiatives like National Digital Library, e-Yantra, Virtual Lab, and so on, to impact both students, teachers, and other educators. Supporting these initiatives are the numerous edtech organisations that are growing at a fast pace in India, particularly since the pandemic began.

*Square Panda too has been at the forefront of the digital education revolution since our inception, and is one of the education companies innovatively impacting learning for teachers and students alike. Learn more about us at ecce.squarepanda.in.

Technology is blurring the lines between the privileged and under-priviledged, and making education accessible to all.

How Technology Shapes Education

Technology has profoundly changed the way education works in India. This change ripples over every person in the educational system, bringing a marked difference in how every aspect works.

Learning becomes more effective

India’s multilingual population creates complexities in the educational offerings. Contextual changes also influence the way education is imparted. With educational technology, the entire ecosystem — educators, Anganwadi workers, administrators, parents, and the children — is exposed to global best practices, which can be adapted to the Indian curriculum and learning styles. Technology-enabled learning can bring about a transformational change for children, and even enhance or supplement classroom pedagogy. Teachers, educators, and caregivers gain the opportunity to become more collaborative and extend learning beyond the classroom. They could even create learning communities with various stakeholders across India.

Innovation is bringing new solutions to age-old problems

Blended learning or hybrid learning models. Online assessments. Digital tools and apps. 
The above solutions have been around for a long time, and the debate on whether they can be used in classrooms has been raging for just as long. New techniques and ideas have augmented these solutions, creating more viable alternatives acceptable for learners both young and old. Advancing Artificial Intelligence (AI) research will bring more such innovations to address existing challenges in the educational system.

Tasks are being streamlined

Courses are using more tech-based aids. Lengthy curriculum is being broken down into bite-sized modules. Rote learning is making way for experiential learning methods. And best of all, teachers find that their efforts need not be put towards administrative duties quite as much as before. World-class tech platforms ensure a seamless transition to online systems that streamline most administrative functions.

As we blossom into a digitally empowered society, the symbiotic relationship between technology and education will play a critical role in this transformation. A new culture of learning is emerging as we reevaluate  traditional systems, and our pedagogy continues to evolve. The advantages technology brings to education are unparalleled. Technological advancements have already changed the game for India’s educational landscape, and it remains to be seen how such innovations can raise our vast ecosystem to new heights.

Picture this. ⬇

Multilingual early learning classrooms boast a diverse group of learners. At least half of them are introduced to English as a subject. Most such children have a completely different home language than English. And most of their everyday environments are devoid of any English literature whatsoever. In some cases, even in environments not devoid of the language, these children are too young to have gained much exposure to English. Most have only learnt their native language correctly, and English then becomes a ‘second language.’

In this scenario—which holds true for most young learners across India’s early learning landscape—learning a new language, be it English or a regional language, is most fun through stories. While the languages themselves may be vastly different, with cultural, linguistic, and other distinctions, stories themselves are universal. These stories become a relatable bridge that help kids understand this new language in a familiar light. Additionally, stories for younger children tap into the main emotions all children will be able to identify — surprise, hunger, joy, anger, and even sorrow.

HOW STORIES BENEFIT ENGLISH LANGUAGE ACQUISITION

*and any other second-language acquisition

• When children listen to stories, they build their oral language skills. When they begin reading, they build their emergent literacy skills. They gain exposure and are able to practice sounding out letters and words—and later, sentences—in English. This is one of the most important steps in learning a new language — simply observing the language and allowing the brain to pick up patterns in the background. Once this initial process has been accomplished, the brain adds observations to specific types of patterns, like what some groups of words look like or sound like (i.e., word families), how sounds come together to form words, and how words can be split up into individual sounds. Every observation affects children’s perception and processing power of the language.
  *What are word families? ‘Word family’ can refer to any grouping of words based on a particular pattern. Square Panda’s educational games refer to word families that have the same ending sound and spelling, like SAP-NAP-TAP and MAT-SAT-PAT.
  *Why teach word families? It helps a young brain process information faster when there is a certain pattern to the knowledge they are exposed to. Word families are one type of pattern that helps children process words in their head more easily.

• A fun tale that is accompanied by clear illustrations and pictures—as found in most books for young readers—are crucial to develop comprehension skills. For children who have been exposed to vocabulary and words in their native language, these images give them meaning and context. For instance, vocabulary instruction for English language acquisition would include explaining the fact that ‘tree’ means ‘पेड़’ and ‘home’ means ‘घर’. However, their memory would struggle under the weight of too many new words being taught at the same time, especially if there is little repetition of certain vocabulary. Instead of stand-alone words, when children are exposed to a new language via stories and pictures, the context and narrative helps them remember new words more clearly.

• The above narrative also taps into another basic characteristic of stories—a good story is always emotionally engaging. When we are emotionally engaged with a story, it automatically hammers a place for itself in our memory. This is why the plotline of the Aamir Khan movie “Lagaan” is at the tip of your tongue, but you might struggle to remember the year the Constitution of India was adopted. This also means that children learning English find it much easier to remember a brand new language when presented in the form of an emotionally engaging story.

NOTE: ‘Emotionally engaging’ differs as per the age. A 34-year-old might like to read about the future of education in the age of AI, but for a 4-year-old, a little animal trying to find somewhere to nap is the most engaging story of all.

• Stories have also been shown to help children develop social cognition a.k.a. emotional intelligence. This refers to having an understanding of others in society and behaving in an accordingly cooperative way. For instance, stories can help children develop empathy, i.e., understanding that others are also people with feelings and emotions, thoughts and experiences. They merit being treated in a caring and respectful way. This concept of emotional intelligence—while basic and natural on the surface—is a complex idea that children have to develop and is not something they are automatically born into. Stories with a ‘moral’ at the end, characters that exhibit characteristics like kindness, thoughtfulness, and caring, all help children develop this understanding.

BUILDING A READING HABIT AS OPPOSED TO A SIMPLE READING LESSON

A reader can aptly describe the joys of sitting down with a book. How the words can take people to unexplored lands, how the thoughts expressed can encourage innovative thought, and how each new book inspires and uplifts people. This is not all that reading offers. A regular reading habit can enhance vocabulary, strengthen memory, decrease stress, and strengthen the connections in your brain in multiple ways. Bringing stories into the equation early on in a child’s life helps adults nurture the reading habit, turning these pre-readers into lifelong readers.

WHY SHORT STORIES ARE BETTER FOR EARLY LEARNERS

For children, most of whom have short attention spans at that age, short stories can optimise the learning process by hitting the balance between fun and tiring. Remember, most of them are just beginning to learn through the simple act of reading or listening to a story. As they start to explore various concepts like comprehension, social cognition, and patterns, short stories help them stay challenged and yet, not overwhelmed with too much information.

HOW SQUARE PANDA TEACHES CHILDREN FOUNDATIONAL LITERACY

An interpretive story forms the base for all of our educational games and apps. Two main characters, Panda and Cameo, are joined by a host of other animals accompanied by mini-storylines, for the purpose of driving learning through gamification. Each part of our curriculum is well-suited to engage a young brain, and adapts as per their individual learning levels. We carefully designed each part of our offerings with the understanding that children learn best when they are engaged, and there is nothing more engaging than a story.

To know more about our programs under the Aarambh initiative, visit our website ecce.squarepanda.in.

Reading is a gradual process, and not every learner acquires this skill the same way, or even at the same pace. Reading itself is not an innate skill and needs constant practice to develop. This does not take into account the natural affinity children develop, which could attract or repel them towards reading. As a guest speaker in Square Panda’s expert-hosted webinar mentioned:

To that effect, we offer several suggestions that inform the teaching of early childhood educators, to turn their students into fluent, confident readers for life.

1- Make Reading An Everyday Activity: Incorporate reading into the daily routine, as much as your curriculum allows. Set aside a specific time for reading, and encourage active participation from each child. The practice of reading to them and having them read to you is important to develop a happy and healthy relationship with this skill. For younger readers, start in increments for only around 10-15 minutes a day. As an added incentive, you can set up a small reading corner for kids, filling up this space with colorful chairs, tables, pillows, and of course, books. 

2- Find The Right Literature: A well-developed reading habit reaps rewards for a lifetime, but only when children adopt it willingly. If children are obliged to read books they don’t like, their reading habit will be over before it even begins. Give your little learners every reason to like reading; invest time in finding each child’s preferred book, series, or genre. To start with, you can introduce children to a wide variety of stories and books, allowing children to develop an affinity for various styles, themes, and genres.

3- Reading From Your Surroundings: Reading does not only always have to be out of books and literature; it can be wherever you find inspiration from. Words and letters are all around us, and all we have to do is point them out to children. Create a mini-restaurant and help students read off the menu, play a cartoon clip or song that features letters and words and ask children to repeat it, or help them read out posters and kid-friendly advertisements. Let your imagination run wild, and let it do the work of developing your students’ reading habits.

4- Adding Fun To The Reading Process: Mix elements of gamification and fun into the traditional reading process, for added engagement.

• Enact scenes and read dialogues in special voices. Children can be assigned voices for characters too, once they develop basic reading skills.
• Humanise characters in stories. Add backgrounds to them, help children understand the morals and learning at the end of each read, and ask children their thoughts about the story. Not only will they reflect on the book they have read, but they also simultaneously boost their ability to speak with confidence.
• Experiment in some engaging and fun reading games. There are numerous interactive edtech apps and physical books specially designed to entice young learners. Anticipating a new experience with each book could further encourage children to be present for reading time.

5- Engage In Reading-Adjacent Activities:  To encourage children to develop a true love for books, educators can guide children towards various reading-parallel activities. They can create DIY books (LINK to DIY Book Activity-not yet uploaded on YT), author their own comics, and even design bookshelves. The act of creatively exploring books and not necessarily reading them reduces the pressure children feel to love books, and allows them to choose reading activities at their own pace.

6- Going Beyond Reading: Enliven the reading experience further by incorporating additional activities (both digital and physical), competitions, and even rewards (new colourful additions to the reading corner, book-shaped keychains) that celebrate books and reading.For instance, reading games for kids like finding the rhyming words from a particular sentence, identifying the right sound for an action, or matching an image to a word, are simple to come up with, don’t require a lot of props, and are easy to play.

*Download this PDF for fun games and activities to boost reading readiness skills in the classroom.

Not every child will develop a love for reading, but that does not mean children will not become readers. Nor does it negate the essential nature of the reading skill itself. The learned activity has the potential to make or break a child’s future and influence their success in many ways. Let us do our part to ensure no child is left behind because they cannot read.
One of Square Panda India’s core functions is to develop early literacy in children across our nation. See our efforts towards this cause: ecce.squarepanda.in.