Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The extraordinary efforts of 32-year-old teacher and part-time poet from Mandla district has been recognised by the central government. He has been imparting education to tribal children despite all odds.
This Teachers' Day, Mandla's primary school teacher Shakti Patel, who is posted at Government High School in Patel Bichiya block, will be among 44 teachers from across India to be feted with President's Award for their contribution in educating the next generation.
During the corona-induced lockdown, people were locked inside their homes. Schools were shut and children were losing interest in books and study.
That's when Patel took charge and decided that no child will be deprived of education. Patel says, “I recorded more than 125 educational and motivational videos and uploaded them on the online media platform YouTube. I made notes of all subjects simultaneously that I was planning to distribute among students in my block. Then it occurred to me that if I generate QR codes for the YouTube videos I had made and print them on the notes, children will find videos and understand the topic easily.”
“I not only distributed the notes among children in locality but also made a website to upload them all for public use,” he adds. Patel has received 4 gold medals in BA while pursuing higher education from Rani Durgavati University in Jabalpur.
I have been organising life skill education sessions from time to time with subjects related to teaching, preservation of heritage and culture, yoga, de-addiction, tree plantation, social awareness. I write poems and sometimes the topics are poles apart. I wish to engage students in sensitive issues and prepare them for the world ahead. My method is poetry and songs.”
Patel says children learn better and faster with mnemonic technique. “It is a technique by which visualisation of information is possible in order to remember it. When students remember information or learn something, they use their senses. The observed information is quickly remembered by the student and retained for a long time. The more students use their senses, the quicker they are able to learn and remember information,” he says.
Shakti’s videos and pictorial notes have been uploaded on DigiLep WhatsApp group that the state’s education department launched to promote online education, benefitting not just the students in Mandla but in entire Madhya Pradesh.
