My Journey from Teacher to Facilitator

[Vikrant Jadhav]

I am Vikrant, coordinator Avani Smile Team and SALT facilitator. I am excited that SALT is changing the way children in village Nandwal see themselves. My focus is now is on helping children recognize their strengths and dream for their future.

If I compare my earlier way of working with what what I do now through SALT there is a huge change. Earlier I used to go to schools to deliver gender equality modules, mostly for boys, sixteen weekly sessions per school. I went as a teacher, delivered lessons, and had a few discussions. There was some change in the boys, but not deep. The children were polite but distant.

But we realized in Avani that we need to engage community more for gender equality and for this we started using SALT three years ago. This shift from instructing children to facilitating was one of the hardest journeys of my professional life. It took me over two years to unlearn old habits, to stop thinking that I know everything and to trusting the capacity of the children

Now, when I goe to children in Nandwal village, I do not go to teach but to listen. Through SALT conversations, I help students notice their own strengths and what matters to them. The children now open up easily, share their dreams, and take pride in their abilities. They no longer see themselves as powerless.

Recently, as part of their collective dream the students took the initiative to start a campaign on waste segregation in their village. Their effort inspired the village panchayat to restart the garbage collection van. After this, I can never go back to being the teacher who tells others what to do. I now see myself as a facilitator who walks with them as they discover what they are capable of.

[Dr. Suresh Sundar]

Nice 👌

[Rowshon Benthi Hossain]

What a great challenge you take vaiaa!! Really inspiring 😊❤️!! The children initiatives are also powerful. At their age they ate involving themselves in such great work....really powerful.