Day 1: 14th February, 2013
I went with my batchmates to a government girls’ school in Neemrana as part of the Social Action Project course. I was very keen about teaching the young children basics of Computers. The children happily studied the subject for 3 hours when I was teaching them. I had also taken some IT learning material print-outs for the children and distributed it among them. They were very enthusiastic about the subject. I explained to them the basics of Computers, its significance in our daily lives and a practical session to sum it all. The children liked the subject and my teaching very much. They were all smiles during the lecture and the practical. Seeing their happy and satisfied faces, I felt a deep sense of emotional gratification. I wish every college starts such type of a course as I found that there is a scarcity of teachers in these government schools, they need more voluntary people like us to erect an army of educated minds who will determine the future of our nation.
Topics taught: RAM, ROM, Paint, Input-Output devices, CPU, ALU, CU, Hardware, Software, MS Word.
Day 2: 21st February, 2013
I went for the second time to the government girls’ school to teach Computers to standard eight students. This time I taught them about the World Wide Web/Internet. I had taken about 20 sets of the learning material print-outs for distributing it among the students. The students had come prepared this time as they had revised what I had taught them during the previous visit. I also took a short quiz to test their level of preparedness. The girls looked so happy when they saw us again this time. In fact, they even insisted that I should come every day to teach them. They were ready to study even after the 3 hours of the teaching that I imparted to them. The session went very well. A teacher from the school was also present in the class this time to learn about Computers. These are the topics that I taught: Internet. Evolution of Internet, Browser, Multimedia on the Internet, MS Word (continued), links, basics of HTML.
Final Report
This was my last visit to the Neemrana school to teach the young kids. This time I took a test on the basics of Computers based on my previous lectures to them. It was a one hour comprehensive test. The girls had come well prepared for the test as I had notified them about the upcoming test well in advance. There were 10 questions in the test. Each question carried 10 marks. I wrote all the questions for the class on the blackboard. After the test, I taught them English grammar, the topics were Nouns and Pronouns. I distributed worksheets in the class, for them to complete a grammar exercise in the class itself. In the meantime, I checked their Computer test answer sheets. The performance of the class as a whole was good. Still, I told the girls to study more and improve. I distributed chocolates to the girls as a gesture of my appreciation of their good performance in the test. Their faces lit up instantly. It was a very emotional moment for me to see their happy faces and improved performance in Computers as a result of my teaching. The girls have been hooked up with their interest in Computers. I am sure they will study more about it from other sources as they love the subject now. The girls did not want me to leave the class. They requested me to teach more, but I could not as the stipulated time for the class had elapsed. The whole experience of Social Action Project has been a very joyful and gratifying one for me. I wish all schools and colleges of the nation start an initiative like the “Social Action Project” as it would contribute a lot in helping the young minds of the country to utilize their time in something fruitful i.e. education. There is a dire need for such initiatives because of the fact that most of the government schools of India are under-staffed. There is a rampant scarcity of teachers in these schools. I hope my effort of teaching these young girls goes all the way forward in contributing to India’s growth.
ऋभु वशिष्ठ (Ribhu Vashishtha) 