The HLS program is a good example of how making a home environment conducive to learning can advance opportunities for children, their families and their communities to empower themselves.
In the year 2020, when COVID-19 induced lockdown closed the classroom doors overnight for children, Aman – a 4th grader in the Phagi block of Rajasthan completely went into a shell. He would spend the entire day playing outdoors so that he could avoid studying. Thousands of children like Aman suddenly lost access to the learning spaces, leading not only to their learning loss but also affecting their physical and mental health. Cut to June 2022 when the schools reopened, Aman’s teachers were surprised that he had returned to school as a transformed child. He was actively participating in class activities and supporting his classmates to learn. This transformation, in times as uncertain as the pandemic, was a result of a simple intervention – altering Aman’s home environment.
Home as a Learning Space (HLS) is an innovative initiative that is currently transforming the lives of young students like Aman in remote areas of Rajasthan and Jharkhand.
Room to Read (RtR) and UNICEF started this initiative across Phagi Block, Jaipur (Rajasthan) and Sonua and Chakradharpur blocks, West Singbhum (Jharkhand). Through the HLS program, comprehensive learning kits were provided to 30,000+ primary school children, from 25,000 families across the two states. It enabled parents to engage more closely with children’s learning process, facilitating learning continuation at home.
The program was initiated as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which affected children in marginalized communities the most. Many parents in these communities have low levels of literacy and are often engaged in livelihood-generating labour, leaving them with little time to support their children’s education. While in Rajasthan, a volunteer-led model was implemented to reach out to parents and communities, Jharkhand followed a teacher-led delivery, wherein government school teachers with support from local education officials motivated parents to continue learning for their children at home. As these children lacked the support to continue learning at home, the HLS program made it possible to continue such engagement even when the schools reopened, maintaining parents as active contributors.
The program included printed and digital learning resources for both children and parents, weekly learning plans; structured outreach by government education officials and volunteers; and regular monitoring and support activities. Given the socio-linguistic diversity in Jharkhand and Rajasthan, HLS resources were specifically designed in Hindi, engaging community volunteers and school teachers through a multi-modal approach for making home environments conducive to unfettered learning even during the pandemic. The materials focused on skills such as listening comprehension, oral, preparatory reading and writing, and cognitive skills that build a strong foundation for literacy acquisition in children. Children were encouraged to identify and use locally available resources i.e., things around the house, plants and flowers grown at home etc. Room to Read provided additional learning resources supplied through government schools, cluster resource centres and pre-existing WhatsApp groups.
The program design was simple, attractive, and age-appropriate, with a blended approach that kept children engaged and interested in learning at homes and schools. An internal monitoring report from Room to Read suggests that 90% of the parents supported their children to complete worksheet activities at home, thus, increasing parents’ ownership of their children’s education.
A mother from Rajasthan shares, “Even if I am not finished cooking, children come to me at 7 pm and insist that I leave everything and help them study…before this calendar program, they spent their entire time just playing around…they are now more interested in doing the learning activities.”
In Rajasthan, 172 volunteers (30% female volunteers) were the backbone of the program. Holding “Mohalla classes” every Sunday for parental awareness and practice. The volunteers demonstrated learning activities to set an example of how to proceed with the exercises in the workbooks. In a month, two Sundays were allocated for Grades 1-3 children and their parents, while the other two Sundays were reserved for Classes 4-5. Volunteers made home visits twice a month to support and motivate parents to undertake the activities mentioned in the calendar. This way, the volunteers ensured that wider community engagement and knowledge sharing took place. In turn, participating in the program raised their self-esteem within the community.
“Earlier, no one knew us in the village as such…now households recognize us and respect the work that we are doing…. Children also see us as their well-wishers and friends. They also ask us many questions if they learn something new at home or school. They expect us to know much more than their parents.” shares a volunteer from Rajasthan.
After six months of project implementation in Rajasthan, Room to Read’s internal monitoring report indicated that 80% of parents regularly read stories and showed picture cards to their children, based on the content received from school.
In Jharkhand, the teacher-led model exemplified the persistent efforts and strong leadership by school teachers, beyond their regular academic and administrative duties. Pushpa Devi, a head teacher in a Jharkhand school, was successful in implementing HLS in her school by encouraging the teachers to keep the last hour of school as the activity hour. The HLS learning kit was made a part of this learning hour. Pushpa Devi also motivated parents to take up activities at home during parent-teacher meetings. The teachers were pleasantly surprised to see increased engagement of parents in children’s school activities after the schools reopened. Teachers also mentioned that parents were eager to learn about ways to improve their child’s academic performance, which was earlier not that pronounced.
The impact brought about by the HLS project is in congruence with the NIPUN recommendation that calls for active participation of the community and family members in the child’s learning process. The variation in delivery models in Rajasthan and Jharkhand offered important insights for the state government to scale up the good practices. In Rajasthan, the Department of Education has plans to regularise volunteer engagement to support different education projects implemented in schools. In Jharkhand, the Education Department has already translated the parent activity calendar into five local languages (viz. Kururkh, Khariya, HO, Mundari and Santhali) and printed those for distribution to over 27 lakh children. This continued involvement of parents in children’s learning and school functioning at large will enable the states to move closer to their NIPUN goals. The HLS program is a good example of how making a home environment conducive to learning can advance opportunities for children, their families and their communities to empower themselves.
(This article is authored by, Ratul Chowdhury, Senior Manager, Learning and Innovation, Room to Read India)
