Muktangan's outreach
Muktangan undertakes outreach initiatives, in addition to the running of its schools and its in-house teacher education programme. These initiatives take shape through special projects and workshops designed to help roll out Muktangan’s educational model and to spread understanding of its benefits.
Current outreach projects
Darjounnati – Building Educator Capacity in partnership with the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai
Muktangan is committed to making quality education free and accessible, a commitment which stretches far beyond the Muktangan schools. In 2018, Muktangan scaled up some elements of its programme in partnership with the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM). During its first phase, the project aimed to equip teachers from these schools with pedagogic and process skills to enable them to be independent thinkers and planners able to facilitate the development of 21st century skills among their students.
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The interventions focused on sharing innovative pedagogy rooted in constructivist teaching philosophy, lesson design techniques using varied learning aids, and techniques to assess learning outcomes and track the evolution of 21st Century Skills.
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Muktangan was assigned 25 MCGM schools in and around under-served communities, 15 of which consistently availed of the leadership and pedagogical support provided through the academic year.
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Subject-specific workshops were conducted, twice a month for 87 Primary teachers, grades 1 to 4 along with two supported orientation workshops with the Head Masters of these schools.
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40 Preschool teachers and auxiliary staff from those same 15 MCGM schools were supported with a child-friendly developmentally appropriate curriculum and a consistent Daily Routine
The impact of this year-long intervention has been positive with more than half of the teachers (55%) now implementing a child-centred approach when formulating lesson plans. Some specifically incorporate components such an activity-based pedagogy in combination with daily observation as a part of formative assessments. The teachers also now find themselves more capable of using the full range of teaching-learning material provided to them by the MCGM.
Tata Institute of Social Science Partnership
Muktangan is currently working with the Tata Institute of Social Science, School of Vocational Education (TISS-SVE) as a knowledge partner to re-design the entire content of its Bachelors in Vocational Education course for Early Childhood Development.
The three-year course includes:
Year 1: Diploma in ECD
Year 2: Advanced Diploma in ECD
Year 3: Bachelor of Vocational Education in ECD
Muktangan completed the re-design for Years 1 & 2 in 2018-19 and the programme was run through 13 centres across 5 states in India. This year having completed the last leg of the project we are now proud to share our National Impact!
Year 1 of the Muktangan re-designed curriculum has already been implemented in thirteen of the TISS-SVE with 161 student teachers with admissions to Year 2 currently underway.
Recently concluded outreach projects
Early Learners Development Program ELDP
Anganwadis are rural child care centers set up to combat malnutrition and also including daycare and a very basic education component.
Aim: To implement a sustainable model of quality preschool education to 271 Anganwadi in the Palghar district of rural Maharashtra.
Inclusions: Regular Educator Capacity Building in terms of skill development, Active Constructive Curriculum, Child-friendly preschool environment, Daily Routine Tool Kits https://toolkits.muktanganedu.org/
The Project: Early Learners Development Program (ELDP) was concluded this year. The community-based model of capacity building for Anganwadi [Rural Preschool} workers was aimed at bringing about a sustainable change in the way preschool education is delivered in rural Maharashtra. We developed 22 facilitators provided by our on-field partners the Learning Space Foundation (LSF) into master trainers who cascaded our model down to 501 Integrated Child Development Services ICDS Anganwadi workers. During its course the program has provided 6,764 children in rural Palghar with developmentally appropriate education and the model's sustainable nature will ensure it impacts many more in the future.
English Language Development for Vernacular Primary Schools ELD-VPS
Zilla Parishad [ZP] Schools are rural public schools that teach English as a third language and many at times will not have teachers qualified/skilled to teach it
Aim: To implement a sustainable model for pedagogic skill development [English Language] among educators from 128 rural primary schools in the district of Bhiwandi [Maharashtra]
The Project: Under The English Language Development program for Vernacular Primary Schools (ELD-VPS), we supported facilitators from 18 clusters in the district of Bhiwandi with pedagogic skills for English Language teaching and learning. These facilitators then conducted ongoing training workshops and provided in-classroom support to 138 primary grade teachers from 128 Zilla Parishad schools over a three year period. They also boosted community interest in school education by organizing education fairs attended by more than 1000 locals. The intervention program is expected to sustainably benefit approx. 6,000+ rural schoolchildren annually.
Govardhan eco-village Zilla Parishad Primary School Project
GEV supports 4 ZP schools in Bhiwandi and engaged Muktangan for a year-long capacity building project with their primary school teachers.
Aim: To support GEV school educators with the pedagogic skills across subjects that will help improve student attendance and learning outcomes at these schools
The Project: Following the success of the ELD-VPS program, the Govardhan Eco-village initiated an independent educator capacity-building project with Muktangan this year. The Zilla Parishad Primary Schools project aimed at improving learning outcomes which would then raise attendance at 4 of the primary schools. Through the year, 7 facilitators from the village attended subject-specific Curriculum Understanding Design and Development sessions at Muktangan once every week. The facilitators were supported on building child-friendly teaching models, skill-specific lesson planning, and formative assessment. They subsequently cascaded these modules to 13 teachers from these schools. The teachers were assessed for proficiency on four teaching parameters and a baseline and end-line comparison analysis conducted with the participants. The results indicated significant improvement.
