How to learn maths effectively while at home

With schools closed for months due to Covid-19, children are struggling to recollect what they had learnt in classrooms

Radhika, Lakshmi (names changed) from Meenakaliya and Kasaba Bengre in Mangaluru were struggling to make division and multiplications -- a simple task for most 10-year olds.

With government-run primary schools closed for months due to Covid-19-induced lockdown, children are struggling to recollect what they had learnt in classrooms. In order to refresh the memory of children, the government with help of Akshara Foundation, launched ‘Maneyalle Madona Lekka’ through ‘Makkalige Ganitha Kalike Andolana’.

Mathematics is believed to be a foundational subject upon which future learning depends. According to Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2018 report, less than 22.7% of children in fifth standard can do simple division. The Ganitha Kalika Andolana (GKA) was designed to help students, particularly in fourth and fifth standard, to understand Mathematics.

“Under ‘Maneyalle Madona Lekka’, we are using DIKSHA app and sending link to the mobile phone of parents every week. Parents, with help from teachers, make children learn maths at home. Parents also receive help in teaching children from volunteers in gram panchayats,” district coordinator of Akshara Foundation Naveen said.

There are seven educational blocks in Dakshina Kannada district and 13,000 children with mobile phones. “We are reaching out to a minimum 30% to 40% of children in the district under ‘Maneyalle Madona Lekka’, he said.

DDPI Malleswamy, in his circular to government schools, had said that the initiative was taken to ensure that children do not lag behind in studies due to closure of schools.

Mangaluru North Block Resource Person Dr Manjula Shetty, during the inauguration of ‘Maneyalli Madona Lekka’ recently, had said: “Under the initiative, a house has been converted into a learning place.”

“When Covid-19 cases declined after the first wave, we had initiated a 100-day programme to ensure children from government schools in Mangaluru South and North Block recollected everything they had learnt prior to the Covid-19 induced lockdown. A group of nearly 200 volunteers from different colleges, members of youth organisations had joined hands with the Foundation to teach children in their neighbourhood, the basic concepts.

Ganesh Boloor in Meenakaliya, along with his wife Asha, had covered nearly 200 children in their neighbourhood. As a result, at least 10 children wrote and excelled in the entrance examination for Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayat, said Naveen.

Under the 100 days programme, around 3,000 children were covered, sources added.

“With help from DDPI Malleswamy and donors, we had recorded all Samveda classes in DD Chandana onto a pen drive. This pen drive, connected to the TV installed in halls of schools in Meenakaliya and Kasaba Bengre by donors, came in handy to teach children who had missed watching classes on DD Chandana,” he said.

Mathematics kit

The objective is to ensure that children who had forgotten what they had learnt in their classrooms, are actively engaged in the learning process, so that they do not feel like fish out of water when classes resume in the district,” he said. Once the primary schools begin, teachers will start using Mathematics kit comprising 23 materials given to them by the government under the GKA to make learning mathematics effective.

The kit includes beaded rope, tape, blocks, foamed goodies, measuring tools and weighing balance, which makes learning an enjoying and a wholesome experience.