Namaskar Mandali,
Summer is coming to an end and our new academic year 2022-23 for the Marathi Shala begins on August 20/21, 2022. After being virtual for over a year due to the pandemic, we are excited to begin a new year of teaching kids Marathi! A few updates:
2022-23 Teaching Format
We really depend on the survey results to decide the next year’s program. As we prepare for the 2022-23 academic year, we have gone through the teacher and parent survey responses. Below are the key decisions made based on the survey responses and the current COVID-19 situation. Note that every level, Pahili-Paachvi consists of 2 years in each grade. Beginner level consists of 1 year.
- Beginners, Pahili, and Dusari grades will be in-person at the respective branch locations
- Tisari, Chauthi, and Pachavi grades for our seasoned students will be conducted virtually (with in-person meetups highly recommended each semester by class) OR optionally in-person, based on consensus with the teachers and parents, and availability of space for a specific class. If no consensus is reached, default will be virtual.
We wanted to provide some insight into this decision making in the interest of transparency. As you could expect, your Shala leadership committee made our decisions after very careful consideration of each and every survey response we received.
For details, read more
- The parent survey taken across all branches recently had an overwhelming number (76%) of parents in the survey interested in-person format for 2022-23. We also looked at the teacher survey, a majority of teachers of lower grades have indicated that there is a learning loss that they observed for younger kids being in an online format. Hence an in-person format would truly be beneficial to the younger grades, namely Beginner, Pahili, and Dusari as they are the ones learning to write letters and numbers.
- Upper grades (Tisari forward) always have had fewer students in each branch. It is not a good use of resources to assign a teacher if we only have one student at a branch, which is very likely the case for higher grades. It is better to utilize the advanced-level/ experienced teacher across other branches for a low student count. Seasoned older students (who have been attending shala for 4-5 years) can effectively handle online curriculum and homework submissions.
- As anyone would expect, there are survey responses on both sides of this decision and we really hope that we can all reach a mutual consensus in the interest of Shala despite any individual reservations. When HMM Shala went online, it was to accommodate the COVID health concerns we all had and in the interest of keeping our families safe until effective vaccines came out. It was never about parent convenience and neither should it be. Our focus should continue to be effective instructions to our students in the best method possible. Students have been coming to the Marathi Shala branches from far and near for several years, and enjoying learning in-person. Honestly, it is way more than just learning, it’s their sense of community as well, which develops by seeing and interacting with other students in-person.)
It is time we re-engage to bring our community together and return back to normalcy. If we have to pivot again due to another variant, we all will be nimble and pivot as we have proven but for now it’s best to return to in-person for our students’ benefit. Hoping to welcome all of you returning students and parents to Marathi Shala in 2022-23 and looking forward to a successful 2022-23 school year!
HMM Marathi Shala Team 2022-23
Principal, Mayur Khare
Vice Principal/ Curriculum Coordinator, Madhura Kelkar
Secretary, Nitu Tarnekar
Treasurer, Rohit Joshi