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Writer's pictureK12 News
May 27, 20216 min read

My K12 Story, Journey So Far : Mr Pramod Thube, Teacher, Founder & Director of Life Skills Studio

SHARING AN INSPIRING AND EVENTFUL JOURNEY OF MR PRAMOD THUBE - A PASSIONATE EDUCATOR, AN EDULEADER, EDUPRENEUR, AND FOUNDER-DIRECTOR OF LIFE SKILLS STUDIO.


The true purpose of education is to prepare our children for a wholesome life and not merely for careers. - Pramod Thube


Hi! This is Pramod Thube from Saswad, a town in Maharashtra, India. Besides being Founder Director of Life Skills Studio, I’m working as an English teacher for more than 12 years at Maharashtra Education Society's Waghire Highschool, Saswad. Recently I’ve rounded off an international collaborative project named Humane Happiness 2021 wherein over 250 teachers from 40 different countries joined with their 3496 students to make this world a happier one.


I'm passionate about English as a subject and language.

I'm striving to raise awareness about Sustainable Development Goals laid down by United Nations and Life Skills laid down by World Health Organization. As a global citizen I think that English is a key to knowledge and means of global communication. Though I'm using Eclectic Method of teaching English as I've to deal with first-generation English-Speaking students, my focus is always on Direct Method. Beside the traditional way of teaching, using textbooks, blackboards, charts; I am passionate towards the innovative pedagogical strategies in my teaching-learning process with latest tools and implement them in my classes. To create an atmosphere where students will get lot of exposure to English language as mode of communication, I arranged Virtual World Tour in the COVI19 lockdown. This gave students an opportunity to interact with foreign educators and build up their confidence and knowledge about spoken English practices.


COVID 19 has changed the world upside-down. And so, our educational practices. Since March 2020, our schools are closed for uncertain time. But we have to find blessings in disguise. I tried the same. When it came to teach our students online, I first updated myself by doing different professional development courses on different platforms like Microsoft Educator Center, National Geographic Educator Center. These courses gave me the confidence and insight to use online teaching-learning tools for better understanding and involvement of my students. Once I became comfortable with online learning tools, I carried out different activities with my students.


My initiatives during COVID19 lockdown other than regular online classroom teaching:


1) Life Skills Studio: It was established in October 2020. Life Skills Studio focuses on addressing three main areas of development: knowledge, attitude, skills. During COVID19 lockdown, Life Skills Studio has arranged for several virtual activities enabling students to visit many counties virtually, attend workshops and lectures of many renowned educators from different parts of the world. Students also have celebrated Global Ganesh Festival (a virtual gathering of educators aimed at cultural exchange), attended Saturday Discussions every week based on SDGs. Students also have taken part in Take Action Project that aims at spreading a word about practicing SDGs. We have also arranged a series of interviews called 'A dialogue with Women Power' inviting some of the powerful women from society.


2) Humane Happiness: Training ourselves and every single child to be happy and to help him/her to be a global citizen who will strive to achieve SDGs and will be competent enough in terms of Life skills to achieve lifelong happiness and master 'The Art of Happiness' was the ultimate goal of the project. Over 250 educators from 40 different countries along with their 3496 happiness ambassadors.


3) Translation of ‘Hope Where Are You?’ in to Marathi- our regional language:

Hope Where Are You? is a book translated in to over 33 languages. The book co-authored by Armond Daucet and Elisa Guerra is meant to support children in COVID19 pandemic. It encouraged donations to UNICEF COVID 19 Response.


Finally, if I have to choose any one achievement very close to my heart, that would be of course, Humane Happiness 2021. The first and foremost reason is that, students were able to connect with other students from their own countries and across the world. This reduced the feeling of isolation, lack of peer interactions which is prevalent in this COVID19 pandemic. Humane Happiness proved to be very useful in case of the educators who were very new to the global educators’ fraternity. One of the activities, Happiness Pals Global connections enabled many such participants to explore different possibilities to connect with classes globally. The project made everyone realize, the importance of happiness in our lives, as a whole and particularly in these unprecedented times.



I do believe that the true purpose of education is to prepare our children for a wholesome life and nor merely for careers. 21st Century Skills, Life Skills, Sustainable Development Goals should be the integral part of any curriculum. By training our students to be happy and make others happy, to be responsible global citizens we can try to shape an educational system which will be strongly build on four pillars namely, learning to do, to know, to be and to live together.


I believe that Language is meant for communication. So, when oneself learns English, he\she should be able to speak it to convey the message. To achieve this, I like to follow PBL (Project Based Learning). This not only engages students actively but is much student cantered. During the lockdown, for giving the students first-hand experience of listening and speaking English with native and non-native speakers, and to improve their 21st Century skills in all, I conducted different virtual activities.


Working in a rural area of Maharashtra, I've to face some challenges as a teacher. The biggest challenge that I have to face is the non-English background of my students. My school is located in the rural area in Maharashtra where children come from diverse background. Though 40% students come from educated families, rest of them are from parents who are working as farmers, on daily wages etc. They get very little or no chance to practice linguistic skills like listening, reading, speaking and writing at home. So, whatever practice they can do in the school is the only way to learn English. Though we teach English as the third language, I have always wanted my students to master it as their mother tongue. Second challenge is the lack of technical devices at home or in the school. Though I am striving to use the technology to make the learning process more enjoyable, there are some constraints. It really affected the studies of my students in the COVID19 lockdown. As we don't know for how long we'll have to teach online; it's being a great matter of concern. About 50% of my students don't have access to mobile phone. I'm trying my best to get over these obstacles and helping my students in doing so.


I want to help students, particularly girls who are still denied quality education rather basic education. There are students in my vicinity too, that have to leave school to work in the farm or a shop so that they can contribute to their family's living. I want to help these students in getting basic education. In this COVID19 pandemic many students from my area and worldwide have lost the connection with their schools. The reasons are different but the most common being unavailability of connecting devices. I want to make the devices available for these needy ones. I'm working closely with the organizations named ECO Training Center, Sweden (working for Environmental remedies), Summerheal Foundation, India (working for sex workers), Weziman KC Foundation, Zambia (working for underprivileged children), Blue Peace Ocean Conservation, Maldives (working in conservation of ocean eco-system).


Through Life Skills Studio, my initiative, I want to work for inculcating life skills in the students and even want to make them part of the solutions so that the SDGs will be attained in time. Life Skills Studio will work on 21st Century Skills, soft Skills of students from rural area of my state and the country; focusing on addressing three main areas of development: knowledge, attitude, skills. I would love to provide scholarship to children from rural areas as these are the ones who get less exposure to updated knowledge and skill development. I would love to contribute in training teachers to be updated about contemporary skills and technical knowledge.


Here is a link to the detailed Project Closure Report of ‘Humane Happiness 2021’:


Message : We shall overcome this too. Be proactive! Instead of idling, take it as a blessing in disguise. Fuel yourself up with skills and knowledge.



Mr. Pramod Thube

Teacher

MES Waghire High School

Saswad, Tal. Purandar, Dist. Pune, Maharashtra 412301


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