Science Education in India

Teaching rural youth in India the science of agriculture.

Challenge

In rural India farmers face many challenges. One is education around sustainable agriculture practices. Many farmers use manufactured pesticides and fertilizers that creates an economic dependency that they can’t afford. Unfortunately, access to education on agriculture is limited both in schools and for adults.
Approach

A pilot program was conducted in the district of Aurangabad, Maharashtra. First, field research was conducted to determine key needs. Second the curriculum was developed with a science team. Third, the curriculum was tested and piloted; local coordinators were also trained to support the one year pilot.
Results

The research, curriculum development and training was completed on time. The local non-profit, Pratham, sponsored a one -year pilot to implement the program and document results for future scaling. The curriculum pilot focused on the science of agriculture and used low cost technology to support student learning.

Pratham

The program was led by Pratham, a non-governmental organization based in India. It is one of India’ largest NGO and focuses on literacy and education.

Field Research

The first phase of the pilot was research. We worked with local leaders to conduct interviews and observations of education, farming, and local governance.

“Give us something useful”

“Give us something useful”. This was the reoccurring theme from our meetings, interviews and conversations with farmers in the rural region of Aruangabad.

In rural communities there is a big challenge around keeping talent in the community. Many youth are moving to the city, seeking new job opportunities. Compounding this challenge is farming as a local trade is strained. Farmers are riding the green revolution wave that advances the use of fertilizers and pesticides. Fertilizers increase crop yields but they also create an addiction. One village elder compared fertilizer to alcohol: “you get happy in the beginning, but after the drunk is over there is lots of depression.” In other words, fertilizers are a quick fix. They produce bumper crops but the soil takes a hit. Over time the soil loses its mineral base, which makes more fertilizer necessary to get good yields.

We observed the positive effects of fertilizer education. We visited two villages that were trained how to use organic fertilizers (a mixture of cow dung, earthworms, and fodder) by government awareness programs. Their results were better yields and quality. The challenge is the majority of local farmers don’t have access to this education.

Education in rural India

Rural school children lack access to quality education. Classroom are over-enrolled, sometimes as many as 70 children. Teaching quality is mixed. New teachers show lots of enthusiasm but we also saw many teachers who were apathetic, taking naps and often running second jobs in the classroom. Curriculum quality is not good. Education is focused on rote-based learning whereby students learn facts through small, paper-based textbooks.

To add, education is expensive for farmers. Since many villages don’t have a school nearby, families have to pay for transportation. Moreover, there are cases where corruption is part of the system in that students and their families have to pay the teachers and administrators for sponsorship in college enrollments.

To make matters more difficult, middle- and high-income jobs are in short supply in India. There are over a billion Indians and the median age is 25 yrs old, which means landing a job is difficult. With all these education obstacles, it is no surprise that Indians grow up to have a pragmatic perspective that says ‘give me something useful’.

2. Curriculum development

We developed a curriculum strategy for multiple units and ran a pilot on one of the units - the science of agriculture.

The elements

We based the curriculum strategy on the five elements in India culture - land, air, fire, water and space. The pilot focused on the Earth element - a curriculum unit on the science of agriculture.

Inquiry-based learning

The science of agriculture curriculum was an inquiry-based learning unit. Students were introduced to core concepts in plant science and agriculture. Students then applied these concepts in mini-investigations where they observed the structure and function of plants - flowers, stems, roots etc. Embedded in this inquiry learning are skills development such as the scientific method and systems thinking.

Affordable technology

A key requirement was to have scientific kits that enabled inquiry-based learning. A critical challenge was finding technology that was affordable and scalable. Microscopes or laptops required too much investment. After researching different options, we landed on the jeweler’s loupe which afforded 2-10X magnification. With this tool, students could reveal a hidden world and explore the anatomy of plants, for example.

3. Implementation

Prior to deploying the pilot we trained local coordinators in education best practices and in the content of the curriculum unit. The pilot was implemented for 1 year.

Program model

The program targeted students ages 10-16. The Plant Course pilot served 100+ children from 5 villages in the Aurangabad district of India. To run the program the program and support students, three roles were identified. The program coordinator managed curriculum implementation, teacher training, logistics, and budgeting. The curriculum coordinator designed courses and trained teachers. The field coordinator managed day-to-day logistics, and supports the students and teachers in the classroom.

Pilot study

After completing the first draft of the plant science unit, the content was tested in the field with students. Feedback was provided on the reading materials, the use of the jeweler’s loop and inquiry lessons, and overall experience. This input informed the production of the final curriculum unit that was created the curriculum team. Following this test we trained the program coordinators so they could train the teachers and support students in the classroom.