One letter at a time

Hundreds of children are learning spoken English in government schools across Mumbai, and it’s opening up new worlds for them

- SHWWETA PUNJ

A ninth grade student at the Worli Sea Face government school in Mumbai, Arushi Jha insists on responding to questions in English. She may be slow bu she makes sure she uses the right words and grammar to communicate. Her favourite story these days is ‘Otter Wisdom’, where an otter meets fellow animals and learns and shares his wisdom. A whole new world of stories and literature has opened up for children of government schools in Mumbai who are part of the Pehlay Akshar program run by RPG Enterprises.

A brainchild of Radha Goenka, it aims to fill the ‘spoken English’ gap for students who don’t have the ecosystem to become fluent in the language. “Right to Education has been one of the country’s most successful programmes with the mid-day meals scheme,” says Goenka, who left her corporate job to start this initiative, and who is currently its programme director, “but we realised a lot of children were still leaving government schools because they couldn’t cope. We wanted to bridge the gap in functional English.” Goenka started the programme with a team of volunteers in 2008, but soon realised that for consistency and quality, she would have to build a team. The programme includes a curriculum, an app and training for school teachers. Jaswant Kaur, 55, at a Brihanmumbai Municipal School, is one of those who benefitted immensely from the training programme. Her formal education ended after Class 10, but she has now brushed up on her grammar and class management techniques through the training. Kaur says the children now enjoy the classes a lot more and she is referred to as an angrez on family WhatsApp groups as she responds in English.