Tour Report of Balurghat
concluded on
Subir Mitra went to Balurghat on 22/6/08 with a two fold mission, firstly to
inspect the two primary coaching homes situated there, Aalo
23 & 24 & secondly to discuss at length with Balurghat
coordinator Mr. Biplab Adhikary
about the possibility to set up a library for poor students of Balurghat & adjoining localities similar to the one
running in the village of Dhulai in Bankura.
At
first I want to share my opinion about Aalo 23 &
24 Primary Coaching Homes.
Aalo 23 is conducted in the residence of the teacher Ms. Lipika
Das. It is located in the
Class III:
1. English: Learning to spell
English words, sentence making, lessons to improve competency in pronunciation,
finding the odd one out etc.
2. Bengali: Questions given
in exercises at the end of the lessons, word meanings, elementary concept of
noun, verb, adverb, opposites, exercises like fill in the blanks from the
contents of the text etc.
3. Arithmetic: Spelling
numbers, arranging a given series in ascending & descending order, simple
additions, subtractions using carry, multiplication as well as division.
4. History: History of the
Ancient period, Stone Age, How man learned to form groups & started living
in caves.
5. Science: Animate/Inanimate
objects – distinction between them with examples, differences between a village
& city or town, getting acquainted with some common plants & animals,
parts of plant, soil & its kinds.
6. Geography: Elementary idea
about land, water, air similarities & dissimilarities between human beings
& other animals, what we shall do to keep our environment clean ?, neighbours of India, states in India, idea of continents
& oceans.
Sanju Mohanta is a student of
class III studying in
In Bengali he was very fluent in word meanings &
could identify from a list of words which represents an object, which is a person,
which is the name of a place , which one expresses quality, which is the name
of a season etc. He was also asked few opposites which he could answer
correctly.
In Science he could answer
correctly questions like distinguish between animate & inanimate objects,
define an inanimate object, names of the parts of a plant & names of fishes
without scales.
In Arithmetic he was given a
4 X 3 digit multiplication to perform. Sanju could do
the sum correctly.
Snigdha Das is another student of
class III. Her father is a shopkeeper & she studies in Avijatri
Vidya Niketan.
In Science Snigdha was asked about the differences in the environment
between cities & villages, definition of animate objects, definition of
reptiles & Are whales & lobsters fishes? Almost all were answered
correctly except that Snigdha was not too proficient
while defining animate objects.
In Bengali Snigdha was good in telling word meanings & opposites.
She could also identify which words in a given list are adverbs.
From History Snigdha could not answer how did ancient men look? She was
also asked how did ancient men protect themselves? advantages of people living
in groups. These were answered correctly. She was asked to write a composition
on the beauty of a village. The composition was pretty average.
Another student of class III,
Mrinmay Mondal too was
asked during the course of inspection. Mrinmay’s
father does paint works & he studies in
From Geography Mrinmoy could answer questions like what is water vapour ? What is an environment? How does sound pollution
take place?
He was asked to perform
integer division which he did correctly.
Let us now have a look at how
students of class IV studying in Aalo 23 have performed.
At first let me briefly state
the syllabus that has been covered till date of visit starting from the
beginning of the academic session.
1. English: Concept of vowels
& consonants / Parts of speech like nouns, Verbs, Pronouns/Matching pictures
with words they mean/Elaboration of Noun like proper & common/names of
flowers/birds/animals/fruits/months/seasons.
2. Science: Vertebrates &
Invertebrates/Description of the structure of a vertebrate like Rohu/structure of an invertebrate like Earthworm/flowering
& non flowering plants.
3. Bengali: Opposites/Chalit Bhasa & Sadhu Bhasa/Sentence making
/Paragraph writing / Questions based on textual prose & poetry.
4. Arithmetic: Arranging a
series in ascending & descending order / Simplification / Factorization / Fractions
/ Problems on time / Decimal additions & subtractions.
5. History: History of
Ancient Age/How factories were set up/History of Greek & Roman Empire.
6.Geography: Be familiar with
the states of West Bengal/Physical Geography of West Bengal – Mountains,
Plateaus, Plains & Rivers.
The first student who was asked
from class IV was Babai Debnath.
His father owns a small shop & Babai studies in
From Science he answered
questions on names of vertebrate & invertebrate animals/What is spinal
cord?/Names of any four insects/Body structure of an earthworm/Where does an earthworm
live?/Why an earthworm is called a farmer’s friend?
In English Babai was asked to answer an exercise on the positions of
different months in a calendar year. He was also asked about vowels &
consonants, names of fruits & animals, all of which were answered correctly.
From History Babai answered where did ancient men live ?/In the ancient
age what men used to build in order to survive ?/from where did humans first
extract iron?
In Arithmetic Babai performed division & simplification correctly.
Another class IV student who
was asked is Subhojit Sarkar.
Subhojit is a son of a bus conductor. He studies in Avijatri Vidya Niketan. He could not answer questions like Ubhachar kake bole?/What are
mammals?/What are Reptiles?(answered but not satisfactory). He was also asked
about the structure of the body of an earthworm which he answered correctly. He
also told the definition of flowering & non flowering plants correctly.
From Geography Subhojit answered questions like Kind of Governance in
In English the student could
not tell what Mumbai & Chennai stand for, however he could tell names of
seasons.
In Arithmetic he was asked to
perform simplification. The answer was incorrect.
Sneha Sarkar is another student
of class IV from
From Geography Sneha was asked questions on the plain
From Science: Sneha could not answer what are mammals? What are reptiles?
Now the Class V syllabus completed till the date of visit.
1.English: Usage of
vowels/Fill in the blanks with has & have/What are Alphabets, Vowels,
Consonants & Semi Vowels?
2.Bengali: Word
meanings/Sentence making/Parts of speech/ Questions on textual prose &
poetry.
3. Science: Parts of a plant
& their respective functions.
4. Geography: History of
5. History: Expansion of
Trade, Discovery of unknown places, Establishment of colonial states by Dutch/Portugese/British.
6. Arithmetic:
Simplifications/Conversions in metric system/L.C.M./H.C.F//Odd & Even
numbers/Conversion of mixed to improper fractions.
Only one student of class V
was asked. He is Biswajit Soren.
Biswajit’s father is rickshaw puller & he studies
in Balurghat Lalit Mohan Adarsha Vidyalaya.
From Geography Biswajit answered questions like which is the largest
continent/ meaning of archaeologists/ Which country did Hiuen
Tsang belong to?
But Biswajit
could not answer the following questions like During whose rule Tsang visited
From History Biswajit answered questions like In which century Crusade
started in
Biswajit could satisfactorily use has / have to fill in the
blanks in a given passage? In Bengali he
correctly told the opposites.
In
Arithmetic he was asked to convert cm to km & gm to kg which he could not
do correctly.
Aalo 24 Primary
Coaching Home:
Let us now review the
performance of the kids of Aalo 24. Aalo 24 is held in Charu Villa , Vill. Mongolpore, where
previously Aalo 3 & 15 were conducted . The
teacher is Mr. Pranabesh Das
Chowdhury. He was found to maintain the attendance
register, QSR & notebook properly. In all 12 students have enrolled in the
home out of which 10 were present during inspection. Among those enrolled 7 are
girls & 5 are boys. 3 students study in class III, 1 in class IV & rest
in class V.
The syllabus that has been
covered till date for classes III, IV & V is similar to the one that has
been completed in Aalo 23.
Let
me now review the performance of the students of Aalo
24.
Subinoy Tirki , son of a van
puller & studying in Lalit Mohan Adarsha Uccha Vidyalaya is the first
student whom I asked.
From science he was asked
questions from root system of plant . Subinoy’s
answers were extremely poor.
In English he could
satisfactorily use has/have in the empty blanks in a given passage. In
arithmetic he was asked to perform division of fractions. He did that
correctly.
Next I asked Panchami Das. Her father is a
rickshaw puller. She is a class IV student from Asutosh
Balika Vidyalaya. From
Bengali Panchami could tell word meanings, make
sentences & tell opposites.
From science she could answer
questions on functions of a leaf, what are the ingredients that a plant needs
to prepare its food.?/ The name of the process by which plants prepare food .
However she was unable to answer questions like Patrorandhra
ki? / Patra mool ki?
She
was also asked to use has / have properly in given passage which Panchami did
correctly.
In
arithmetic Panchami correctly performed subtraction
of Improper fractions.
Next student who came to
answer was Sanjit Urao. He
is also a student of class V from Lalit Mohan Adarsha Uccha Vidyalaya.
From science Sanjit answered questions on parts of a flower / What is an
incomplete flower? / but was unaware of the functions of calyx & corolla.
In
Bengali Sanjit could tell synonyms ,opposites &
make sentences too.
In English he was asked to
fill in a passage with names of months in the calendar order. The student could
not complete the passage properly.
In arithmetic Sanjit was asked to perform metric conversions. Sanjit correctly converted from Hm
to Km but was unable to convert gm to kg..
Next student whom I
interviewed was Moumita Das
Cowdhury. Her father owns a small business & she
studies in Asutosh Balika Vidyapith.
From English Moumita was given similar exercises like Sanjit. Her conception was good & she made all correct.
However
in Bengali she could not tell synonyms. But she told the opposites correctly.
In science she could not
answer questions on parts of a leaf . However she was able to answer questions
related to photosynthesis.
Moumita
satisfactorily performed subtractions of mixed fractions.
Next came the turn of Barnali Debnath. Barnali again is astudent of
class V studying in Asutosh Balika Vidyalaya.
From Science she was asked
primarily questions on parts of a flower, majority of which she could not
answer.
In
Bengali she could answer the word meanings correctly , however was poor in
sentence making.
From English she was asked to
work out exercises similar to those
given to Panchami . Barnali
satisfactorily answered all.
In arithmetic Barnali did 1 sum correctly
but another was wrong. She was asked to perform additions of mixed
fractions.
The last student who was
asked is Rupali Tiga . Rupali could not answer a single question that was asked to
her.
My general suggestion to both
the teacher’s of Aalo 23 & 24 as well as to the coordinator was to improve
the in house décor of the coaching home to the maximum extent possible. I asked
Ms. Lipika Das to do the
following:
1. Put a fresh coat of colour on the black board.
2. Buy new mats for the
students to sit on.
3.Hang some necessary charts
& displays on the walls of the room.
4. To arrange a chair for her
on which she has to sit & teach her students.
Similar instructions were
given to Mr. Das Chowdhury except that he does not have to colour the black board. Mr. Adhikary
was also asked to repaint the sign boards of the two homes.
My findings indicate that Aalo 23 has put up a better performance compared to Aalo 24. There may be several underlying factors for this.
In general we are observing for the last
one year a declining trend in the performance of the Primary Coaching Homes.
The teachers themselves have to design a technique to improve the performance of the homes. The
authorities of the foundation will surely contribute to the decision making
process by providing their valuable inputs. But one thing has no substitute.
That is sustained efforts on the part of the teacher. I hope that it won’t be
too long for Aalo 24 to improve & move with the
same pace as Aalo 23 because there will be surely no
short of efforts on the part of Mr. Das Chowdhury.
*****
Report
on the proposed book bank to be set up in Balurghat
1. Name of the Library: Not yet been decided. Subir
Mitra suggested Mr. Adhikary
to dedicate the library in the memory of some body amongst his beloved ones who
has deceased. ( Of course this decision has to be endorsed both by Dallas &
India Boards)
2.Location of the Library: Primarily decided that the library will be set up in Charu Villa , Vill. Mongolpore , Balurghat , very
near to the residence of Mr. Adhikary. This is the same place where Aalo 24 is conducted at present. Subir
Mitra requested Mr. Adhikary to obtain a NOC from the landlord regarding
setting up a library there. Furthermore the landlord must be intimated that Lily
Foundation will not pay neither any rent for accommodation nor any cost for
electricity if the said premises are utilized for the library.
3. Librarian:
Mr. Pranabesh Das Chowdhury will play the role of librarian. Subir Mitra informed Mr. Das Chowdhury that he has to
render his services absolutely free. No honorarium will be paid to him for
discharging his responsibilities. Furthermore once he takes charge he cannot
express the desire to withdraw within a very short notice. If at all he
withdraws he has to give Lily a proper notice & time to search for a
suitable replacement.
4. Number of days in a week the library will remain
open: At the onset the library will
remain open for two days. One is Sunday. The other one is yet to be decided.
5. Timings :
Decided.
6. Which classes the Library will primarily cater to : The proposed library will primarily cater to the
students of classes IX to XII. Because during these four years the students
have to appear in two important public examinations & they need many books
( text as well as references) for consultation & preparing notes which will
eventually help them to score good marks in the examinations. But obviously
poor students who cannot spend money to purchase books will be the target ones.
Furthermore since Balurghat has record number of
Smile scholars they too will be benefited by this attempt. Moreover books for
graduation classes will be also kept in the library.
7.Initial requirements for setting up the library: Few chairs and /or two or three benches for the
students to sit & consult the books before they borrow, a table & a
chair for the librarian & finally a steel book shelf for keeping the
books. Biplab da & Mr. Das Chowdhury have been asked to obtain a price quote for the
said items which they will submit to office by mid July.
8. Preparing a Catalogue: Subir Mitra has suggested to
prepare 1. A Master Catalogue which will
contain details like Serial No. of the book, book name, author’s name, Edition ,Publisher’s name & address ,
price & date of purchase, the total number of copies the library has in its
possession. 2. Two or Three Student’s catalogues: These will contain details
like Book No. Book’s name, author’s name
, edition & publisher’s name. The
master catalogue will be for librarian’s reference & the students will
refer to the student’s catalogue for borrowing their books.
9. Issue Period : For classes
IX To XII the books will be issued for one complete academic session
whereas the books of graduation classes
will be issued for a maximum period of 2 months.
10. Who will be issued books
& how? Firstly a form will be
designed in Bengali for the students who wish to become members of the library.
The form will contain all important details of the student including a photograph.
Further more there will be a declaration section in the form which has to be
signed by the Head Master of the school or Panchayat Pradhan or Councillor endorsing that the student belongs to a poor
& needy family. Otherwise the borrower has to submit an Income Certificate
signed by any competent authority. The form can be distributed free of cost
else a nominal amount of Re. 1/- can be charged for the form. Furthermore the
student has to sign a promissory note printed in the same form where he vows to
pay the price of the book if it is lost of severely defaced while it is in his
possession. Once the student submits the form it has to be checked carefully
& thereafter a library card will be issued to the student from the book
bank bearing his photo & other
relevant details by charging an annual fee of Rs.
10/- . Every student who becomes a member of the book bank has to pay an annual
membership fee of Rs. 10/- .The money thus collected
will be utilized for the maintenance of the book bank.
****