Bala Sabha, the weekend programme held every Saturday, which aims at improving learning skills and life skills among students from downtrodden sections, has become popular with students of about 150 government schools in Warangal and Mahabubnagar districts.
V. Pragna, a class VI student of the Government Girls Upper Primary School at Kalvakurthi in Mahabubnagar district, is one such active participant in the programme. Pragna leads the Bala Sabha in the school, which is usually held at noon.
Pragna’s father Sripati Reddy, an engineering graduate from Osmania University has been researching on education and started more than 10 schools at different locations and is currently the vice-president of Vandemataram Foundation.
“We felt that the government schools are better equipped than many private schools and the teachers are more qualified. More than this, the students can interact with their counterparts from all sections and there are no restrictions as in private schools, and there are no extra classes or tight schedules either .
However, we are optimistic that the learning system in government schools can be changed for better with small intervention by Bala Sabha,” says Mr. Sripati Reddy.
“Students should be able to express their opinions freely, question, analyse the local environment and respond. These are being taught in the Bala Sabhas, conducted and presided over by students. ,” said Yadma Madhava Reddy, secretary, Vandemataram Foundation adding that they are dealing with more than 25,000 students.
“We are making learning a joy rather than a compulsion and the response from the students is excellent,” says Madhava Reddy.
