Teacher and student evaluation bring forth quality issues to address; electricity problems slow down plans to start new batches

This shortened week due to the *Makar Sankranti* holiday still provided much food for thought.

For the last two weeks, power cuts throughout Rajasthan due to the crop irrigation season resulted in a slowdown in class progress. However, this week the outage times were fixed from 1 to 6pm, which allowed for planning alternatives. Unfortunately, the afternoon batch also falls within this time period, as does half of the evening batch. Thus, with consensus from the students of the afternoon batch, it has been shifted to the very early morning time slot of 6am-8am. With students having to travel over 2 km by foot in this peak winter weather, class attendance has been affected, and a solution is needed. I am currently considering alternatives for power backup in the lab, with both a battery backup and a generator set being considered. With new classrooms to be built to accommodate future capacity, one of the key decision criteria has been deciding whether to buy for current need or for growth. Progress has been hindered by a personal lack of availability of time.

After much delay, the ‘Teacher Progress Survey’ was finally implemented and filled out by the students this week. Initial glances have revealed dissatisfaction with the grasp of material of the teacher; however, students have pointed to progress. There is also a clear call for better administration of the classes, particularly timely feedback from tests and maintenance of lab computers. As an update, the Excel Test that was administered last week has been corrected, and the results will be handed out to the students tomorrow. Unfortunately, only 2 students out of the 2 batches who undertook the test passed – partly because of the high passing percentage of 80%. If standards are not to be reduced, this calls for new processes to support weak students and help them pass – something that I will be following up with the Bagar Employment Institute (BEI) quality manager and the rest of the GDL team this week.

In good news, there has been progress on the broadband front. The phone line has been approved, and there is a tentative install date of January 21st. Broadband should be activated the same day or the next.