Karnataka: Radio Classes For Students From Class 1 To 9, Aim To Improve Listening Skills & Speech Modulation

A recent circular from the Karnataka education department has stated that students in Classes 1 to 9 will now take radio-based classes on moral education, health, skill education, and yoga four days a week, starting Monday (December 19). Authorities hope that not only will the radio classes help make classes more interactive but also hone the students' listening skills and speech modulation.

Three Vividh Bharati stations and 13 All India Radio (AIR) stations will broadcast the classes throughout the state. The lectures will also be accessible to students later through the Prasar Bharati NewsOnAir app and the All India Radio Bangalore YouTube page.

Radio Classes Being Revived After Pandemic

The students have been receiving a radio-based education as part of the Baandani programme for 25 years. The programme was stopped due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, it is being resumed again now, and for the first time, yoga, health, and moral education classes are being offered as part of it, reports Hindustan Times.

The circular, released by the department of state education research and training (DSERT) on Sunday, notified that students will listen to a 25-minute lecture over the radio from 2:35 to 3:00 pm (Monday to Thursday).

Elaborating on how the classes will be more interactive and help students, AIR programme executive SR Bhatt said, "We will look at stories or lessons from textbooks in-depth and explain them. Teachers might not be able to sing poems, but we will make the students sing using a noted artist." Experts, too, will be invited as guest speakers for the 25-minute classes.

Speaking about yoga classes, Bhatt clarified that while children cannot be taught asanas, they can however be taught simple breathing exercises. This will, in future, inculcate a habit of practicing yoga regularly, authorities hope.

Will Develop Listening Skills, Speech Modulation

According to the AIR programme executive, the programmes will aid in improving the children's listening abilities. "Due to the advent of technology, students are losing their listening skills. This will also improve their imagination when stories are narrated since listening and imagination are correlated." He added that the radio classes will also improve speech modulation, pronunciation and enunciation among students.

Speaking to The Logical Indian, Nirmala Joshi, a speech-language pathologist who has previously worked with All India Radio in Pune, stated, "Children modify their behaviour based on the people around them. Recent studies have shown that children are losing their attention span due to the advent and impact of social media. Moreover, attending online classes during the pandemic has severely hampered this attention span."

At such a point, the introduction of radio classes will largely help improve their attention span, she says. "The classes will hone their imagination, work on their listening skills, and correlatedly, work on their speech in terms of rich vocabulary, pronunciation, enunciation, and intonation. They will indirectly help children in expressing themselves better by making them good listeners and good speakers", Joshi added.

The DESRT, by February 2023, will introduce programmes for Class 10 students who are struggling with their studies.

Also Read: Inspired By 'Kerala Model', Maharashtra To Hold Regular Exams For Classes 3 To 8 Starting Next Year