What is Kathir? | Project Ray
Kathir is a blended learning program that is designed for rural students to access foundational math, literacy, arts and social emotional learning.
400+ students accessing learning everyday. Supported by a team of 55 teachers and HMs, 10+ volunteers and Kanavu team creating online content.
Our tiniest rays of Kathir
KG to grade 1
Growing conviction in our program has pushed us to design and print our own book, “Kutti Kanavugal” - this along with literacy resources have reached children. This is strengthening the learning experience as parents now can see a clear progression and the child has a resource for practice.
Click here to watch a video task that goes out to Kindergarten parents, to skill build them to facilitate Maria Montessori inspired 3-part card lesson to learn English vocabulary.
What have we learnt these past three months?
Counting numbers using objects at home | Listening to big books and summarising the story | Tamil songs | Contextual English words that we use everyday | Exploring shapes | Conversational English
Primary Grades | 2 to 5
We continued a focus on literacy, while bringing in greater focus on math foundational skills. Term 1 wrapped up with assessments, sharing readiness for students to step into Term 2 to learn grade level content. State curriculum is now being taught through videos, activities designed to do with parents and self learning materials.
Check out art work created by students, as they explored creating designs with circular objects at home - demonstrating a focus for us to push for a spirit of creativity and exploration.
Secondary Grades
A laser sharp focus on foundation skills in term 1 has got our students ready to access grade level content this term. With textbooks being available among a greater number of students this term, we are able to teach grade level concepts though bi-lingual videos. Students are learning through real-life understanding by exploring everything around them.
Watch this video where grade 8 students are learning about various joints in the human body by finding analogies at home.
Bridging digital divide to bridge learning gap
Kanavu, in partnership with Suryoday Finance, has supported students with tabs to access online learning. 100 tabs are currently available for distributing to students. In phase 1, tabs were distributed to students from Grades 9 and 10. In the past fortnight, 100% students are part of the online learning program is a big win for us.
Kathir for Teachers
Reflection, literacy and content expertise continue to remain focus areas for everyday teacher learning. Teachers receive tasks on Whatsapp, which they work on, along with supporting students with their everyday tasks.
Over the next few weeks, teachers will be trained on using laptop and phones to create content, coached for excellence in the same! Stay tuned to watching teacher-generated content videos soon!
Key learnings from kathir
- Students are at a high risk of drop out with extended period of school shut down. It is imperative to motivate families in rural India, to see the long term impact of quality education.
- Use of local materials to create learning materials increases student and parent investment in the learning process.
- It is possible for parents to support a child to learn, irrespective of their own educational qualifications.
Path Ahead
We are excited to explore partnerships that support teachers to learn to use computers, so they can start creating bilingual videos for instruction.
We aspire to continue to distribute devices to families with limited access to technology- so more students are learning everyday despite their circumstances.
About Kanavu
Kanavu means dreams. We leverage the power of the collective, by working with a cluster of schools and communities in rural Tamilnadu, to fight circumstances that currently hold disadvantaged communities from realising their dreams- Quality Education and Holistic Community Development are 2 key thematic areas in focus. We work with 5 schools, 1250 students, 55 teachers and 5 HMs.