DPEP makes the grade in district

By J. Ajith Kumar

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, JUNE 28. Despite a raging controversy over its continuance and the uncertainty over its fate, caused by the recent change of guard in the State, the District Primary Education Programme (DPEP) seems to be going full steam ahead in the elementary schools in the district.

The experimental and child centred-pedagogy, introduced in the primary classes in this district five years ago, aimed at the qualitative improvement of fundamental education, has started yielding positive results as could be experienced on a visit to some of the schools where it was being practised.

The DPEP's main objectives of providing access for all children to primary education according to the national norms, of ensuring retention for all children in primary classes and of effecting a substantial improvement in quality of primary education, were slowly but surely being accomplished.

The results of DPEP interventions in all areas of primary education were already there to be seen and felt. The lessons learnt over the years by the project functionaries have been introduced in all stages of the various programme components.

The concepts of community participation and mobilisation have been institutionalised as an integral part of the programme.

However, there was no denying the fact that a lot of misconceptions and wrong notions had been created about this ambitious project, perhaps by those who were opposed to changes, said Mr. P.K. Sankarankutty, media officer, DPEP, who escorted a team of journalists to some of the schools in the Parassala Educational Sub-district bordering Tamil Nadu. The feeling that DPEP was `all play and no work' had taken deep roots in the minds of the people and it would take some more time before they were removed, he added.

Activity-based classroom was one of the new concepts practised under the programme. The most critical component of DPEP was capacity building and empowerment of teachers, to realise the objectives of universalisation of quality education and achievement, explained Mr. G. Velappan, DPEP programme officer for Thiruvananthapuram district.

A variety of activities have been under taken under the project, as part of the pedagogical renewal process. These interventions have enabled to transform, streamline and accelerate entire classrooms to become interactive centres where the teacher designed and implemented activities taking into account the individual differences as well as needs of children, he observed.

Just as the educational needs of physically handicapped children or those with learning disabilities were taken care of under the Integrated Education for Disabled, a programme initiated under the DPEP, emphasis has been given to the need for the girl child's education as part of the universalisation of elementary education.

Since a large number of children remained out of school in certain deprived pockets, mainly in the tribal and coastal belts, a new strategy of Alternate Schooling was being implemented under the DPEP. The Multi Grade Learning Centres set up under this system have been found to be functioning fairly well in this district.

The DPEP system has evaluated the status of English learning in classes four and five under the conventional system and found that the teaching of English ignored the innate potential of the child. This has been resolved through the Cognitive Interactionist Approach which encouraged non-conscious acquisition of the language, under the new curriculum.

Even though parents of most children of the DPEP schools have almost got used to the drastic changes brought about at the primary level and have begun appreciating them, there were also those who strongly opposed the grading system for children under the programme. ``They seem to advocate the conventional system of awarding marks and ranks in the examinations rather than the grading system under the DPEP,'' said Mr. S. Viswanathan and Mr. S. Sasidharan Nair, teacher trainers at the Block Resource Centre, Parassala.

They were of the opinion that the paradigm shift from the conventional examination system wherein only a child's memory power was put to test, to a continuous and comprehensive evaluation of the students by teachers was one of the most constructive changes brought about by the DPEP.

If overall development of the personality of the child was the main objective of education, then DPEP could well be described as a step in the right direction, observed a parent of a student under the DPEP. The child could think, act and learn in a free atmosphere and also develop the talents latent in him, this parent said with a ray of optimism in his eyes.

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Section  : Southern States
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