My first month with Meri Pathshala and on the first day I sat with a boy named Sameer who confidently told me he knew counting. I smiled and asked him to show me. He began counting on his fingers, very proudly, and reached ten. Then he stopped. When I said continue, he looked blank and said, “But sir, after ten school bell rings.”
That was the counting he understood.
Ten was the whole world.
Sameer is in Class 3, by now, most children in his class can count much higher and solve simple sums. After speaking with my team leader, I understood that many children here are not at their class level in math or English. It is not lack of ability. It is
lack of support.
So this whole month I played number games with bottle caps and chalk pieces. He learned to group, add and break numbers down. The first time he counted to twenty, he ran across the room to tell his class teacher. She laughed and clapped like he had won an award.
The journey is a long one for Sameer and the six other children in my group. I am here as a volunteer for just six months, so my goal is to create a math plan for them and stay consistent. I want all of them to comfortably count till one hundred to
start with. After that we will move to hundreds and then thousands. Once we reach one hundred, I will introduce simple addition and subtraction. If they can reach their class level slowly and steadily by the time my six months end, I
will feel like I have done something meaningful.
Leave a Reply