Ground Zero
Social Sciences Teaching and Learning S Routray How are education non-profits working with social sciences teaching and learning to make classroom transactions fun and socially relevant?
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ocial sciences teaching-learning has rarely been a focus of governmental attention in India. In the wider society, these subjects are seen as being ‘softer’ disciplines and are perceived as having not much relevance in an increasingly competitive job market. Manifestations of these processes range from neglect of teachers’ training in these subjects, the inability of the curricula to keep pace with advances in the disciplines, pedagogic conservatism that converts the learning of these subjects to a mere parroting of facts, and inadequate investments in Teaching Learning Material (TLM) creation in these subjects that are contextually relevant but at the same time conceptually sophisticated. But many non-governmental organizations working in education have started intervening in this area, and are making it a focus of their attention. We spoke to non-profits such as Eklavya (Madhya Pradesh - MP), Patang (Odisha), Synergy Sansthan (MP), and We the People (Delhi) to understand their work related to teaching and learning of social science subjects. They have been trying to make these processes learner-friendly. Some of them have been trying to use the understanding gained by this work as a trigger for positive social action as well.
in Madhya Pradesh and continued for nearly two decades. This has perhaps been one of the most sustained engagements in social science education at the school level in India, or for that matter, anywhere else in the world.
Eklavya’s Social Science Program never bought into the magical faith in the transformative power of the ‘best textbook’ as many educational initiatives in India are sometimes wont to do. From the very beginning, the work of Eklavya in social science education has been characterized by many features that have made this an experiment worth emulating. One of the most important aspects of the organization’s Social Science Program has been that it adopted a multi-pronged approach. As a part of this strategy, Eklavya tried to address both curricular concerns and the development of child-centric educational approaches related to learning processes of social sciences subjects.
Synergy Sansthan
Learnings from a Two-Decade Long Experiment Eklavya formally began working in the field of social science education in 1983. This was an experiment that was started in eight schools Samvidhan Mela
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