Establishing an English Resource Centre (ERC) in the Pune Municipal Corporation Education Department – A Systemic Innovation

In partnership with the Education Department of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), CLR developed and sustained an English Resource Centre (ERC) for 3 years, towards enabling the PMC school system itself to provide continuous academic support for strengthening the English skills of students and teachers in 275 schools. The PMC provided a well-resourced training facility within its premises.

Capacity Building

Capacity building of teachers, cluster coordinators and administrative cadres was undertaken by CLR. A key feature of the institutionalisation

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of the ERC was the creation of a team of Teacher Mentors, selected from PMC teachers and trained by us to mentor school teachers and support them in classroom transactions through on-site monitoring visits.

Provision of CLR English Resources

The ERC reached out to approximately 33000 students in Classes 3-5, and 300 teachers per class. CLR’s English resources formed the core of the ERC offerings, as follows:
  • “We Learn English” (WLE), the 3-year audio lessons for teaching spoken English
  • “Let’s Read and Write English” (LRWE), in book-cum-audio form for learners in Classes 3-5
  • “Enhance Your English “(EYE) course, to strengthen teachers’ own English skills and teaching methods
  • CLR Graded Reading Series – the first set of 12 readers, especially designed for students learning English as a second or third language in regional medium schools.

Evaluation of Impact

The impact of the use of LRWE in book-cum-audio form was systematically evaluated, revealing substantial improvement in reading and writing competencies. The graphs below indicate the learning gains in Classes 3 and 4.
Evaluation of the EYE course for teachers indicated that they gained a lot of confidence in spoken English, particularly enjoyed the mock plays and interviews, and felt better equipped to use English in their classrooms.