My experiences working as a volunteer at

the Savitri Bai Phule English Medium

school in Pune (India) in August September 2014

A Volunteers
Account
Akanksha Foundation

Sourabh Harihar

I walked into the Savitribai Phule School today for my first day as a volunteer with Akanksha
Foundation, the organization that runs the English medium wing of the school. It was a drizzly monsoon
morning and I had waded my way through a relatively murky street to get to the place. But no sooner had
I entered through the small steel entrance was I transported into an entirely different atmosphere. It
looked like a fairly large campus for a school that was located in a relatively populous area. The three
storey building with the conventionally styled board reading Savitribai Phule English Medium School at
its gate looked nice. But what was more impressive was what lay inside the school.
The corridors were buzzing with the hustle-and-bustle of kids but amidst the din, choruses of students
from classrooms were falling pleasantly on my ears. I could see several faces brimming with joy,
curiosity, surprise and awe as I witnessed the little minds responding to what was being taught to them
inside those classes. For classes where the students were using the floors to be seated, I could see their
footwear being neatly arranged outside the classrooms. On some walls hung extremely attractive charts
and drawings that not only adorned the walls with knowledge but also made the verandahs look very
colourful. What caught my attention was a little hanging that was titled I show respect. The sheet
was a nice collage of multi-coloured tulip-like floral shapes and each consisted of text filled in by a
student. Each had written their own definitions of respect or something that goes like I show respect
when. The responses were some of the most amazing ones I have ever come across.
After I reached the top floor of the school looking for my teacher/guide Ritu Mam, I was initiated into
the Intervention Program as a volunteer. The Intervention program is a unique program undertaken by
teachers at the school in order to focus on specific deficiencies among under-performing students. It is a
very interesting project that aims at addressing issues of these kids on a personal basis, as far as possible.
It involves determining particular areas which a certain kid is lacking in, and then trying to overcome
their hurdles by sitting with them, preferably on a one-to-one basis. I found that the teachers in charge of
this concept had taken immense pain to actually put down the names of such students and critical issues
pertaining to each of them. I realized that it could be quite a daunting task to take up such a challenge, but
the people who were into this work looked thoroughly committed and very inspiring. My little
nervousness at the outset was diminished by how comfortable the associated teachers made me feel. After
having a brief discussion with Ritu Mam, I was assigned to work with a little student called Manthan. He
was a third-grader who was struggling with phonics and had problems breaking a word into individual
sounds in order to effectively pronounce the entire word. It was clearly noticeable in my first interaction
that he found it difficult to associate letters with corresponding sounds. But as an additional observation, I
could see that it was not only difficulty with letter-sound connection but also confusion between letters
themselves that was complicating the problem. Add to that the attention deficiency that is very common
in very young kids. He had to be guided very slowly through each word so that he could construct the
complete pronunciation from the separate sounds of each letter. Additionally, differences between letters
as distinguishable as n and t had to be explained repetitively until they could be grasped. It didnt take
me long to realize that dealing with such an issue could be quite an uphill task. But the sheer
responsiveness of Manthan kept me going. I actually overshot my time with him, sitting with him for 45
minutes instead of the 30 minutes I was assigned. After this was a short break in which I got along
making a few word-lists with my fellow volunteers. It was after some time that I met another protg, this
time a different but easier challenge. Saad just needed some help with vocabulary so that he could come
up with several words starting with a particular letter. I didnt have to do much but only prod him with
different vowel-sounds until he came up a list of bit, bet and but after bat, and so on. He was very

spontaneous with most responses, albeit a bit careless. I also gave him a short dictation of fairly simple
sentences. He could write most of them correctly, but would often miss the full-stops in the end. It only
required repeated instruction and little persuasion until he followed with sentences complete with the
dot. To my pleasant surprise, he was so engrossed in the little session we had that when I asked him if he
was hungry and wanted to go (after the lunch bell), he responded with a flat no. I eventually dictated a
few more words before I bid him goodbye for the day. At the end of it all, somehow though, I didnt feel
very different from what Saad must have felt, like a happy student who has learned something
worthwhile. Teaching is learning, truly.
Although these are my very first steps as a volunteer on this program, I believe that they are very
encouraging steps nevertheless. I believe that the Intervention program can be a major stimulant in the
academic progress of these weaker students. Whats more, the program helps in bringing smiles to their
faces as they garner some extra stars from the volunteer bhaiyyas and didis. After all, the efforts of the
volunteers are nothing compared to the amount of enthusiasm these little children are putting in. Thank
you Akanksha Foundation and Savitri Bai Phule School for this wonderful start.

My second week at Savitribai Phule School kicked off with a late morning on a fairly cloudy Tuesday. I
was reprimanded for reaching late to school and rightly so. A long-ish Monday night to end a 4-day
holiday does not make a good excuse to arrive late as a volunteer to school. So many elementary ethics
that one learns in school are easily forgotten as one grows up. This realization was enough to shake me
out of any post-holiday hangovers and get me back to my tasks.
As previously mentioned, I am working with a couple of kids who are at the emergent level i.e. a notch,
or at times, way below their expected level of learning. This week, I have been working with three little
ones-Sohail, Somnath and Swaroopa. All three of them, to my surprise, are extremely co-operative and
responsive most of the time. Ritu mam is working relentlessly to make sure I am assigned the days wrok
clearly and precisely, which only pushes me to work more on my assigned tasks (sometimes to the peril
of exceeding the time allocated to me).
Sohail and Somnath required repeated practice with certain basic words as well as blend sounds such as
cr, ch, sw etc. Making them read lines from an illustrative book is an exercise in itself. While they
are very curious about the words and associated pictures, they are usually so impatient that they say
rubber for an eraser or color-box for a crayons just by observing the picture and without bothering
to look at the written word. While this may sometimes be exasperating, it is quite positive to see that they
recognize pictorial representations well and sometimes fairly fast. Repeated instructions finally made
them follow the lines written in the text and they eventually learned most of the blend words. Although
they still need occasional revisions to brush up certain sounds, they are getting reasonably better at
identifying them. They are often cutting each other off so as to be the first ones to read the words
correctly. Their enthusiasm, I have to admit, is quite infectious.
Swaroopa, on the other hand, is struggling a bit with vowels and their respective sounds. The confusions
are apparent : e is roughly pronounced as a most times and i often represents the sound e in words.
However, dictations and repetitions with familiar-sounding frequently encountered words such as fat,
get, sit, not, but I believe have helped douse her perplexity to some extent. That she now says all
vowels (the letters) confidently and can quickly point those out in words is quite encouraging.
Apart from these fairly regular tasks, I started on a new activity this week. Rahul, a fellow who teaches
English and History at the school, is undertaking some interesting programs in his classrooms. While
taking his core subject (English), which he teaches with admirable style and gusto, he has come up with a
unique method of comprehension where a graphic indicator helps students identify character, characteractions and corresponding impetuses for those actions. It involves trying to answer three simple questions
upon reading an extract : Who are the characters, What are the characters doing? and Why are they
doing it?. He also invited me to come and observe on such class. It was impressive how the systematic
structuring helped otherwise confused students to be able to comprehend lines fairly clearly. I was lucky
that Rahul took me on board to assist him with these conferencing sessions, as he likes to call them, in
class. I jumped up at the opportunity and though I am still learning the threads of the task, it is coming to
be a very enriching experience. I still fondly remember the English classes in my school as some of the
most interesting ones I ever attended. I am quite certain these sessions are going to be equally, or even
more, engaging.
Thank you Akanksha Foundation and Savitri Bai Phule School for another week-full of excitement.

Only when I would have started to feel the mundaneness of my work, this week at Savitri Bai Phule
School brought a different but welcome change to my tasks. Incidentally, the kids had their mid-term
exams and therefore our team would not be getting their charge until sometime in the morning. This
meant our guides had to find us volunteers alternative work on which we could assist. One thing that I
have figured by now about any educational initiative is that there can never be any dearth of stuff to do.
There is always scope for innovation, improvement and ingenuity that can be effectively put together to
enhance the primary job that is to teach. So, this week we got around making some craftwork to help the
kids gain better from their learning sessions.
It has been quite some time since I handled very common craft apparatus. From thermocol sheets to glace
paper, from double-tapes to blade-cutters, from sketching-pens to markers, it was like pre-school craft
class for me all over again. Though a bit nervous about how I may have forgotten little art-skills (if I had
any in the first place), I took on this work goaded by the warm encouragement by the teachers and fellow
volunteers. I started with making some simple word-clouds for common th and wh words. Although
seemingly easy, it required some re-designing, pasting and corrections before it looked flannel-boardworthy, at the least. Though I realized that I hadnt entirely forgotten these little tid-bits of art-and-craft, it
took me considerable time to get comfortable with the kind of work. Next up was making a nice-looking
decorative title for the board. I discovered my lost fondness for calligraphy (albeit elementary) and was
finally happy to have written something that would eventually adorn the boards for the students. The title
was quite simply put but catchy nevertheless What makes me happy? After some observation, I have
realized that these question-marked headings actually could be extremely effective in the getting little
brains working. To think of it, arent so many of us, as adults, still struggling with questions as apparently
basic as these? The final challenge was to make a potential word-ladder for the students. The idea further
is to create name-labels for students and pin them up on the ladder-steps according to the level of
vocabulary they have managed to master. Finally, after some design, craft-work and lots of corrective
fixing, the ladders finally came up, two to be precise. Although they have not turned out quite perfect,
nods of Perfecto from the teachers nevertheless helped pump our spirits up.
In the end, the week did not turn out as an all-craftwork-and-no-teaching week as I would have believed. I
did take a few short sessions with the kids. One was related to helping a child create a mind-map by
giving him a topic to think about and extracting all possible connected sentences he could come up with. I
decide to start with a topic he was comfortable with My Favourite Game, a video-game in this case. To
my surprise, he had so many things to tell about the game that I had to finally halt his speaking spree for
lack of time. Another task was to help students identify nouns from a list of sentences. As expected, it did
involve some prompting occasionally but most relatable words (such as names of people, countries) were
quickly pointed out, and that was quite good for beginners. There was also the usual dictation, which I
have grown quite used to by now. The performances on these dictations will eventually end up as the
determinants of the level that these kids achieve on the word-ladder. The final goal, as theyre often told
is to climb up the ladder and reach the clouds. The kids are quite excited about the entire adventure. For
a moment, I imagined if only Id have had the opportunity to undertake a similar exercise back in school.
Well, no if only moments anymore. Thanks to Savitri Bai Phule school and Akanksha Foundation, I am
getting a chance to relive so much of my childhood again.

Its been a while since I last wrote about the school, and Im therefore going to be writing about two
weeks in one go. The past two weeks, like the ones before, have been full of fun and excitement. At the
same time, I feel a sense of strong belonging in this place now. The little room for intervention kids, the
benches, the walls (and the stuff on the walls), the corridors, the few classrooms on our floor and of
course, the people have all started becoming quite familiar. We talk of owning places, but to look at it the
other way, there is a point when the place itself starts owning you. It is when some otherwise bothersome
some tasks start seeming effortless, or apparently difficult situations do not evoke a fuss. It is when filing
several sheets or arranging charts seem more of an obvious duty rather than work. I realized that I was
settling into a newer, more comfortable phase of my time at SBP. It also meant that my responsibilities
should not be subject to a request from the teachers and some real volunteering had to come from my
side. In short, you did not ask me to do it would not work anymore.
I am quite unsure of how much I have been to step up to the tasks put forth, but I am consistently making
an attempt to be more pro-active and ask for things to do. The teachers, Ritu and Usha have, of course,
reciprocated generously. I am assisting them in teaching and tracking the progress of the kids in the
intervention program, while I also try to observe and learn from their ways. Occasionally, I also attend
some of Rahuls classes and try to offer some help.
Having spent about 4-5 weeks, by now I am able to somewhat gauge the development of the kids. It is
quite a feeling to notice those little brains transforming, however little the transformations are. They are
quite habituated to the usual chart-revision (when they enter), the blends, the word-ladder and it is
heartening to see that the kids are taking to those little attractions with flair. Labour of love is often a hard
term to comprehend, but at times like these one tends to appreciate its sheer sanctity and the satisfaction
that comes from little responses to your work. I can see that some kids are proceeding well and though it
may take a long time and a wee bit of patience, they may someday churn out surprises.
It is also recently that I have been entrusted with the responsibility of starting a blog in the name of the
school. The intention is to provide a common platform to all SBPians to share their views and ideas
through write-ups or pictures. It is to be seen how the initiative shapes up, but it sounds very interesting at
the outset. I am still researching on the types of blog that would be suitable for such a purpose. I have a
few options in mind and will zero in on one of the host platforms soon, in hope that it provides an
additional outlet to the oozing creativity of all SBPians.
Oh yes, and there was the buzzing teachers day nestled between the last two weeks, which meant some
welcome respite to the forever-occupied teachers. I found that kids from the higher grades were handed
charge of lower classes, as is the custom. Their excitement and enthusiasm was palpable. They would be
filling in the shoes of their teachers which in itself could be quite a daunting task. But the sunny (or not so
sunny?) side is that, at least for a little while, they would realize the trials and exhilarations of being a
teacher themselves.
Like I mentioned earlier, I have started growing quite accustomed to the place by now and it is hard to be
thinking this when I know that the coming week would be my last week at the school. But well, the
bridge can be crossed once I come to it. For now, Id say these have been another two thoroughly
enjoyable weeks at school. Thanks again Akanksha Foundation and SBP!

Alas! This was my last week at SBP.

I had, of course, given it a passing thought as to how this would feel. I would miss the place, the teachers,
the kids and I knew that. What I could not have gauged was how much I would be missing all of these.
Now that I have already bid adieu to the friends and fellows at SBP, it is sinking in that I would not be
entering that hallowed intervention room for quite a while hence. I would not be facing the friendly wit of
the teachers, hearing the chatter of the little kids, seeing those nicely-decorated verandahs or the work on
our intervention-class walls.
While I am grappling with this recent parting from the school, I realize that, for all the gone weeks, I have
been writing mostly about myself or my experiences. I regret that I havent written much about all the
wonderful people I worked with at SBP, though I may have fleetingly mentioned them in my write-ups
earlier. Well, however, like they say, one must save the sweetest for the last.
Ritu and Usha have been an extremely fun duo to work with. Ritu, with her super-supportive demeanor
and planning has guided me greatly through the past six weeks while Usha, through her jolly manner has
always brought me back to the realization that I am, after all, in a school. They have been the proud
captains of this intervention-ship, and being a part of it has sure been a joyride for me. I will be ever so
grateful for all the nitty-gritties of teaching that I have learnt through observing them and will forever
remain astounded by the amount of determination I have seen in them. The one session with a kid who
was struggling to write his name comes to mind. And Ritus glee at finally having made him write it
would be unforgettably etched in my memory.
I have also been lucky to have got to attend and work with Rahul in some of his (English) classes. He is,
as I have always felt, a powerhouse of energy. His earnestness and zeal in his classes have always been
awe-inspiring to me. His constant reference to the values of love, respect, and belief in his classrooms,
which he so beautifully imbibes in the kids, have shown me how effortlessly one could integrate value
education with ones teaching. He has indeed been very kind and considerate with me. And at the risk of
sounding cheeky, Id say I love the way he says love the way to his little kids.
I must, of course, mention Dakshayani for having been a very friendly vigilante about all my work at
SBP. I have often shared my experiences and other updates about my work with her and she has always
been very appreciating and encouraging about it. Her comments have, at times, been a package of
motivation for weeks that followed.
Last but not the least, all the kids that I have interacted with on this journey have been teachers in
themselves. It is indeed epiphanic when one realizes how much there is to learn from each of the little
wonders.
It is going to be hard to not miss all this. But as and when I miss school, I am going to cling to the fond
memories that the past six weeks have given me, like I am reminded of a very recent one now. The other
day, while Ritu was busy bringing her kids upstairs for their classes, I happened o ask Usha, Dont youll
ever feel fatigued after all this youll do day-in day-out. Sourabh, have you ever done this kind of a job
before? she retorted, with a smirk. I was unsure what to say, and blabbered stuff about little previous
volunteering that I had done. But her persistent smile made me realize the very irony of my question.
There is nothing called as fatigue or frustration if you choose to be a teacher. True.