SCOPE May be a Joke…In Improving Teachers English Ability

When I heard about the SCOPE program, a course to increase the teachers English ability, I grew excited about the positive impact on English at Bajipura. I thought it was great that the government of Gujarat was taking efforts to reverse the affects of not making English a priority for many years. The results of these decisions are still negatively impacting the students’ success because it is difficult to find teachers that are highly qualified in this subject and thus the students suffer. Now the government is taking bold steps to change this cycle of have unqualified English teachers, creating poor students through introducing the SCOPE program and making it mandatory for teachers to take this exam. If the teachers do not receive their appropriate level on the exam then they will not be eligible to receive their salary advance. My excitement lasted until I started helping my fellow teachers with their studying.

I first started thumbing through the book to check out the program. The book layout left much to be desired. Navigating the workbook was difficult for me, a native speaker. Also I was confused by the purpose of the teachers learning business English, since it is not applicable to their work setting. I finally had the full experience of the SCOPE program when we were able to use the instructional CD-ROM. The CD portion of the materials is important to the course, but many teachers do not have access to computers to practice as much as they should.

My co-teacher and I worked together to answer the various questions. I struggled to read the long essays that were filled with difficult business content. My degree has fully prepared me to read for meaning and while I have been successful in English medium elementary, High School, and college, I only was able to have 4 out of 6 correct in one of the exercises. Not only is the content of the readings and listening parts difficult, the answers have near the same meaning and take an exact knowledge of the English language to find the right answer.

All teachers take this exam whether they are English teachers or have not taken and English course since High school. Even my co-teacher who has good English was saying she did not want to read the lengthy, boring paragraphs, that were filled with business jargon, but the teachers that have almost no understanding of English do not even attempt to read the questions, paragraphs, or answers. The teachers tell me in Gujarati that they simply pray to God to help them pick the right letter a, b, or c. As I am helping the teachers they not only have no idea of the answer, they also have no practice with computers and cannot submit their answers without great difficulty. Unfortunately for them their exam is administered online. Basically, their odds of receiving passing marks on the exam are very small.

I would like to find out more about this program, but my initial thought is that the government of Gujarat really needs to re-think their methods. The first problem of many is that it is only a textbook and not a training program. The teachers do not have basic knowledge of English and no teacher is provided to help them improve. Instead of investing money in costly textbooks and exams why not offer training courses with qualified trainers. They can take private courses for high prices, but what teacher makes that much money to pursue this option. The next fault of the exam is that it awards different leveled results: beginner to advance ratings, but the material is the same for all levels. The exam does not encourage the beginners to improve because the material is too hard that they become too frustrated to even read the questions and answers. The third issue is that the exam is computerized. I think that it is a great idea to encourage proficiency in computers and there should be programs that target this specifically. To challenge the teachers to show their proficiency in English on the computer, when they do not have practice with computers is a huge disadvantage for them.

The most baffling and frustrating part of the program is that it is business orientated. I can think of the logic behind the government officials: to promote economic success they need to teach the language of the business world. Due to this logic, the teachers are doomed to failure because not only do you need a knowledge of English, but you need to know the language of business. I find it hard to believe that the Sanskrit teacher will be able to implement gained knowledge about marketing and outsourcing into class. Does the government want the teacher to leave their school work to pursue work in the business world? In my knowledge of pedagogy I know that a human mind must first learn basics and move to specifics. Students in the ninth standard need to learn the basics of English before learning about the specific terms of the business world. Even though the teachers are not really learning business English because they do not know the basics of English, I do not understand why it is important for the teachers to teach business English to students in a science class. Perhaps if they want to teach specialized English, the best place to start would be in the teachers own subject area.

I understand and value the attempt that has been made to improve English ability within the staff of teachers to create more opportunities for the students. I am just disheartened by the inability of this program to bring about any real change. If any person is reading this that is involved in bringing the SCOPE program to Gujarat government schools I urge you to revise some of the methods so that the teachers can first learn the basics of English and then progress towards this specialized exam. Please also provide training for the teachers because I know they are willing to learn if someone is giving this task. If this information is somewhat disturbing to you the reader that is hearing about SCOPE for the first time also feel inspired to take action with the government of Gujarat. Please tell them that Nanubhai Education Foundation is working in teacher training and will provide their services for next to free and can provide teachers that are proficient in English and can help the teachers learn basics of English or for English teachers further increase their ability. This program inspires me to keep working with Nanubahi after my fellowship to allow for Gujarati children to get the help they need rather than the government spending money on programs that continue to fail the students.