http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/Patna/Radio_helps_kids_learn_English/articleshow/3299649.cms
Radio helps kids learn English 29 Jul 2008, 0255 hrs IST,TNN PATNA: 'What an idea Sirji?' exclaim students after Abhishek Bachchan, in a TV ad, facilitates extension of a public school classroom to remote areas with the help of mobile phones. The Bihar Education Project (BEP) has been doing something similar since last November. It has provided radio sets in 70,000-odd government schools across the state to reach out to around 67 lakh Class I and II children. The children are being taught English, otherwise introduced in Class V in the state, four days a week through All India Radio. "The idea behind the interactive 'English Is Fun ' radio programme is not only to increase the understanding of English in children but also to remove the inferiority complex in students of government schools because of their poor command of the language," said BEP director Rajesh Bhushan. The 122-episode programme is being supported by Unicef, Usaid and Bangalore- based Education Development Centre (EDC). It starts with simple sentences like " Good Morning ", " Raju touch your head ", " Snap your fingers " and ends with small songs like " We are learning new things every day ". On Monday, Bhushan and Unicef and EDC officials presented figures of the first survey carried out about the programme impact. The sample survey was conducted in six of the 38 districts of the state - Nawada, Bhagalpur, East Champaran, Bhojpur, Madhubani and Kishanganj, selecting 20 schools in each district and covering 2,160 students. The results are encouraging. During the pre-test period, 42.7% of the students had below average reception of English while another 47.9% had average comprehension of the language. Only 9.4% of the students had good reception of English. Post-programme, these figures have changed drastically to 8.67%, 72.6% and 18.8% respectively. Speaking English also improved. During the pre-test period, 84.9% of the children were below average while another 13.7% were average in speaking English. Only 1.4% of the children had good speaking ability. Post-programme, the figures have changed to 68.7%, 39.9% and 2.4% respectively. The survey indicated boys performed better than girls and children of literate mothers also performed comparatively better. The performance of general students compared those belonging to OBC, SC/ST category was better except in Kishanganj where SC/ST children performed better. "In Begusarai, the district education officer was wowed when he went to a school and was greeted with a 'Good Morning, Sir' chorus by children. He placed the school as the best in his district," said Dr Sunita Singh of the EDC. She admitted there was room for improvement. Children sitting on the back benches find it difficult to follow. Sufficient attention has not been given to pronunciation. The broadcast timings clash with mid-day meal timing. "We are working out how to eliminate these flaws. We will have two teachers in each school as coordinators of the programme instead of one and we have already started the training programme," said Bhushan.
