A Scheme to boost reading ability
Bangalore Mirror
Bangalore, August 13, 2008

Over 3.5 lakh primary school students to come under Oduve Nanu programme where colourful cards are used to teach slow-learners  

To improve the reading ability of students in primary schools, Sarva Shikshana Abhiyana, in association with Akshara Prathistana, has introduced the “Oduve Nanu” programme, which makes use of the colourful cards to teach slow learning students.

Students of standards 2 to 7 will come under the programme. For the first phase of the programme, 12 districts from the state have been selected. They are Bagalkot, Bijapur, Bidar, Gulbarga, Raichur, Koppal, Bellary and Yadgir from North Karnataka and Chitradurga, Kolar, Chikballapur and Chamarajnagar from South Karnataka.

Hanumantharayappa, Deputy Director of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyana, said that a total of 3.5 lakh students from educationally backward districts will benefit from the programme.

Under the programme, a total of 60 colourful cards of A4 size are used. These cards are divided into two sets. The first set of the cards are meant for students who cannot identify the alphabets and the second set is for those who are familiar with the alphabets. About 10 to 15 cards consist of pictures, 16 to 28 have words and word formations, 29 to 60 cards have stories and poems.

The positive results of Oduva Vega Vardhana programme initiated by Akshara Prathistana inspired the schools to adopt this teaching method. It was implemented in 117 schools in Bangalore.

A committee headed by educationist Prof N S Raghunath studied the problems faced by the students of primary schools and proposed to make use of those objects familiar to rural students on cards to make teaching more effective.

These cards are supplementary to the textbooks and do not have provision for home work.

Selected teachers have been trained in day-long workshops. More than 40,000 teachers’ guides have been printed to make the programme more effective.

A total of 4.9 lakh cards have been printed at a cost of Rs.4.60 lakh. The programme will commence from Aug 14 in the selected schools.