Building as Learning Aid (BaLA) launched in Greham MV School

March 12: With the vision to ensure the learning outcome and make every child learn with fun, Keerthi Jalli,  Deputy Commissioner of Hailakandi ceremonially launched Building as Learning Aid (BaLA) at Greham MV School here on Thursday.

Launching BaLA, Deputy Commissioner Jalli said the concept behind it is to make every child learn with fun in a conducive environment in which he or she can relate to quickly. Jalli said that a child gets easily attracted to the world of colours and pictures and creating this ambiance by making use of the school space aesthetically is the driving force behind BaLA.

The Deputy Commissioner termed BaLA serves as an effective learning aid and an innovative way of looking at a student’s relation with the school. Singing paeans on the teachers and principal for creating a beautiful environment for the children to learn with fun, DC, Jalli announced that BaLA will be launched under the Happy School Initiative in 100 schools covering high and elementary schools on a pilot basis.

Explaining the concept, Inspector of Schools, Rajiv Kumar Jha said, “Under BaLA, activity based learning and teaching plays a vital role in building a conducive environment for joyful learning. BaLA focuses on using the existing school infrastructure as a part of the learning process and in making education indispensable to everyday life.” Jha said physical space can serve as a resource in the teaching-learning process is being explored seriously by the project.

“Children need many real experiences in language, art, science, maths and geography. This can be done by  treating the space and the building elements in an innovative way to make the existing school architecture more resourceful with higher educational value in a child-friendly manner,” said Program Leader, Piramal Foundation, Sadasiva Reddy, during the function.

“Sans real, concrete experiences, children cannot learn. BaLA is a tool to promote learning, curiosity, care and concern, wonder and lifelong learning. It will help children to practice and revisit concepts. It also helps learning to take place everywhere – in the classroom, the corridor, the verandas, the outdoors, etc. Its impact can be directly observed on Student Learning Outcome (SLO), teacher instruction practices and student enrollment,” added Reddy.

The Greham MV School buildings and the constituent elements such as floors, walls and ceilings have been conceptualised in an innovative way so as to help simplify the learning process. Later, Deputy Commissioner Jalli planted a sapling and played traditional games much to the delight of the students. RK Dam, Additional Deputy Commissioner (Education), DEEO, Iqbal Hussain Laskar, Assistant Commissioner, Sari L Lungtau, BEEO, Rajesh Chakrabarty and heads of several schools were present during the occasion.