Fifteen of the 186 students in the school have completed A1 level in German and have achieved basic conversational proficiency.
| Photo Credit: Abhinay Deshpande
On a hot Friday morning at a government upper primary school in Maharashtra’s drought-hit Beed district, over two dozen students from Classes VII to IX are seated on colourful mats on the floor of their classroom, eagerly waiting for the clock to strike 11.
Soon, Kedar Jadhav, 39, a native of Sangli district who works at a multinational company in Munich, Germany, appears on their projector screen and begins taking lessons in German.
The students have created a flutter in their village, Umrad Khalsa, by rattling off full sentences in the foreign language, much to the astonishment of local residents. Located around 12 km from Beed town, the village did not have much to boast about, but now their children are making heads turn.
“At a time when Marathi medium students are struggling to speak English fluently, our students are honing their German language skills,” says Vikas Mahendra Pardeshi, the school’s headmaster.
Last November, Mr. Pardeshi was scrolling through his Facebook feed when he chanced upon a video of Mr. Jadhav teaching German. “I immediately messaged him and requested him to teach the language to our students. Mr. Jadhav readily agreed and our first online class began on November 26 last year,” the headmaster says, adding that classes are held every Tuesday and Friday.
“I found it challenging to convince the parents to allow their children to learn a foreign language as it is not a part of the curriculum. I told them about the importance of acquiring new skills and picking up new languages,” Mr. Pardeshi says.
Basic proficiency
Fifteen of the school’s 186 students have now completed the A1 level and have achieved basic conversational proficiency. The students say learning German is fun. “It is so exciting to learn new words and remember them,” says Arthi Vinod Jadhav, a Class VIII student.
Raj Sonawane, a Class VII student, says he revises his lessons even on holidays. “I’m always looking forward to the class. I have already done my homework and am waiting for the next task,” he says.
Prachi Prabhakar Paraskar, a Class VIII student, says they play games trying to form small sentences with the new words they pick up in each class. “We have learnt that those skilled in German are in high demand across the world. This language can help us get good jobs in the future,” she says.
Passion for teaching
Mr. Jadhav says he started learning German at the Goethe-Institut in Pune during his college days. He became more proficient in the language after moving to Germany. He says he aims to teach German to students in rural schools.
“I am really passionate about teaching German. There are plenty of opportunities for those who master it. Right now, only city dwellers are able to afford German classes. I am offering them for free. Everyone who wants to learn German should be able to access it free of cost,” he says.
Mr. Jadhav says he does not teach from textbooks, but has devised his own way of teaching based on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), which grades learners on a six-level scale: A1, A2 (basic); B1, B2 (intermediate); and C1, C2 (expert).
“So far, I have taught more than one lakh students, both online and offline, in India and Germany. I’m impressed by their dedication and enthusiasm. I have no doubt that they will be able to use this skill to their advantage. The internal exam for students will be held on March 28. Most of them score full marks in such tests,” he says.
Proficiency in a foreign language will give the students an edge in the job market, says the headmaster. “We are proud that we are able to offer this unique training to our students,” Mr. Pardeshi says, adding that classes for the new batch of 50 students will begin on April 1.
