After his science class on vitamins, standard nine student Abdul Lashkar went to the new computer lab in Dar-Un-Neda Siddiquia Madrassa here in Hooghly district to search the Internet about food habits of Prophet Muhammad.
Along with his classmates, he then came up with a digital story on how favourite foods of the Prophet nourished his body with vitamins and other nutrients.
"If we tell them about nutrition they won't find it interesting but when we link it with Islam then the topic becomes interesting for them. It helps them relate to their education with the community they are coming from," madrassa teacher Sugata Dey told PTI.
The new pedagogic framework for integrating technology in teaching and learning was adopted by the madrassa in 2014 and since then enrolment has doubled for class five students.
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By means of computer projects after classes, a cluster
of ten madrassa here has adopted integrated approach to technology in education (ITE).
Tata Trusts has trained teachers on the new pedagogic framework and even provided them with laptops and Internet connection in small computer labs. Besides this, digital cameras have also been provided to them so that the students can click photos and record videos to tell digital stories for their project work.
Madrassas in West Bengal have long been struggling to retain students in classrooms due to high absenteeism and dropout rates. Future career prospects of the students have also been a concern but these madrassas are now an exception.
Madrassa teacher Sugata Dey said in the new framework, teachers are only designing activities and projects aligned to curriculum content.