NISA, TRSMA and Varthana Foundation unveiled School Unlocking Program

• Under School Unlocking Program,  self–study material in English and Maths is provided free of cost to 10,000 students in 16 budget schools in Telangana.
• The material aims to serve as a bridge between pre-pandemic learning and the current learning level
• Learning should not be hindered either due to pandemics or any other reason, said many speakers.

Hyderabad, October 02, 2021: National Independent Schools Alliance (NISA), Telangana Recognised School Management Association (TRSMA) unveiled School Unlocking Program with the support of the Varthana Foundation in a function held on the eve of Gandhi Jayanthi at Pragati Vidya Niketan High School, Amberpet, Hyderabad. They have also unveiled the portrait of Mahatma Gandhi, father of the nation and paid their respect.  

Schools have reopened but not many children are turning up. Several budget school students and students in rural areas are unable to pursue their online classes due to many reasons. As a result of which children are suffering from learning loss. These Study Material/ Worksheets are aimed at bridging the learning students suffering for the past 18 months, said Mr Madhusudhan, General Secretary of TRSMA.

The material will benefit 10,000 students of 16 budget schools in Adilabad, Karimnagar, Mancherial, Medchal, Ranga Reddy and other districts. It is the material worth ten lakh. The material will help students revise and relearn concepts from previous grades by gradually increasing the rigour level. They are based on NCERT learning outcomes using the 5E Mofrl—Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate and Evaluate. 

The material will help kids revisit concepts at their own pace. It is an adaptive learning system.  

The longer the child stay out of school, the more vulnerable they become. Parents and teachers play an important role in supporting children to catch up on the learning they have missed, informed Mr Y. Shekar Rao, President of TRSMA

Learning should not be hindered by the pandemic or based on access to technological infrastructure, said COO, Varthana.  

According to Mr Bhaskar of Varthana Foundation, if a child misses classes for even a few months can put children up to 2 years behind their peers in learning levels.  

For the past 18 months, we saw school leaders, academia and parents come together to ensure that their learning doesn’t stop. Unlocking is one such effort that supplements the students’ learning process. Under these initiatives Maths and English self study material I NCERT syllabus was prepared for students of Class 1 to 8th classes. This material is only in English. Together with these books, they are also given a link and access to the App. So that students read those books and access videos using the link. So that kids will have better learning. This initiative is aimed at students of the budget school, 

Telangana has 11000 private schools of which 80% are budget schools. This initiative will help poor students who are neither attending classes nor accessing online classes due to various reasons.  

The Unlock Learning initiative has brought out self-study material in English and Mathematics initially, to begin with. The reason why these two subjects were chosen according to Mr Madhusudhan, two are critical subjects. And their learning assessment happens mostly in these two subjects. 

If this initiative works well, we may bring out material in other subjects as well, they said.   

They have also planned to bring out material in other subjects if this initiative is accepted well. 

NISA is a platform that brings together Budget Private Schools (BPS) from across the country to give them a unified voice to address their concerns about regulatory challenges and to facilitate their quality improvement. As of today, NISA represents 20 states, 41 state Associations, 65000 Schools, 22 Million Children. 

TRSMA is a family of 10,000 schools 30 lakh students and 2 lakh teaching and non-teaching staff and the state body of NISA.

Varthana Foundation is a CSR wing of Varthana, a non-banking finance institute that finances schools.