Broadcasts Bolster Classroom Experiences for Students and Teachers

Impact: Over 12 million students in India benefit from radio broadcast lessons and teacher support.

Teaching of various subjects in Indian government primary schools is usually done by rote, without teaching aids and with teachers doing all the talking. As schools lack materials and many teachers lack the necessary teaching skills, it is difficult for young students to grasp abstract concepts like decimals.

Interactive Radio Instruction (IRI), an educational communications effort launched by USAID, makes teaching of difficult concepts more interactive and effective. The program gives step-by-step instructions to teachers for instruction in mathematical and other concepts through  Photo Credit: Ebony Bostic,     hands-on activities, and broadcasts lessons directly to students.  USAID                                  Students are more attentive when listening to the radio programs and teachers keep them involved by asking more questions and engaging them in different activities such as games.

“In my ten years of teaching experience, I have never found teaching the decimal concept as effective as it is now with the support of the radio broadcast,” says Anuradha, a math teacher in a primary school in Tuskar Town, in a slum area of Bangalore.

The higher quality teaching experience was brought about by radio modules developed under USAID’s Technology Tools for Teaching and Training (T4), implemented by the Education Development Center. The modules simplify the teaching of difficult concepts in math, science and social studies for primary grades in the southern Indian state of Karnataka, and in introductory English in the central state of Chhattisgarh and eastern state of Jharkhand. The lessons are broadcast on the government’s All India Radio, which has a broad reach into rural and remote areas.

Over 84,000 students were reached in the pilot phase of the effort in three States in select grades in about 900 schools. Since then, the program has expanded to bolster teaching quality and classroom experiences in other grades and another state, Madhya Pradesh. It now reaches over 12 million Indian students.

The radio broadcast lessons combined with teacher support have made instruction more interesting and effective for students. School enrollment has significantly increased in areas where broadcasts take place. The use of communications technology to improve education for India’s underserved children is a cornerstone of USAID India’s strategy to help India achieve universal education.