Vasudevan Pillai
Headmaster, Government Tribal Lower Primary School, Munnar (Kerala)
Vasudevan Pillai is headmaster of the Government Tribal Lower Primary School, Edamalakkudy (Kerala), set deep within the forest reserves of Munnar district (pop.1.09 million). This class I-IV school hosts 67 students mentored by four teachers.
Unsurprisingly, your school lacks Internet connectivity. So how do you ensure your children’s learning continuity during the pandemic?
Our students come from 26 tribal settlements of whom only three have electricity. Hence, there is no question of online education. Moreover, the sole transmission tower was knocked down by wild elephants recently and locals have no mobile network either.
Therefore, the only option is in-person classes. Our children come in batches for a few days per month and observe strict distancing norms. But many children cannot come to the school. Therefore, our teachers trek 14 km for almost six hours to reach students’ homes in their remote settlements every month. Once there, our teachers live at destinations for two weeks teaching children. Residential accommodation is primitive. All of us live in one room without electricity.
Inevitably, there’s considerable loss of learning. What programmes have you introduced to minimise learning loss of children?
We teach a very special group of students in their homes. They speak tribal languages that don’t have scripts. For them, the state’s language Malayalam is foreign. We have to make special efforts to first teach them Malayalam and then explain concepts. Therefore, learning loss is very high. The only option we have is to conduct in-person classes whenever possible. When teachers meet students in their homes, we not only have to teach them new concepts but continuously revise what was previously taught.
What are your future plans to deal with pandemic disruptions?
I urge the state government to allow us to restart in-person classes for all children immediately. All our teachers are vaccinated and we have sensitised students about Covid-19 norms — wearing masks and maintaining social distance. Our school was given permission to resume in-person classes in June as the village had not reported any cases of Covid-19 ever since the pandemic began. But after that two cases were reported in early July and the school was shut down.
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