Please welcome Akshay Kumar Das in this episode of 'Pratibimba'. 

Educators like Akshay Kumar Das deserve credit for the spectacular gardens and educational atmosphere at the Government High School of Balabhadrapatna in Odisha's Puri district. Since January 5th, 2013, Akshay has been teaching Mathematics for grades 1 to 8. He also teaches English to 6th, 7th and 8th grade students.

Akshay prioritises activity-based teaching, which includes using games, TLMs, familiar objects, and real-life examples as teaching tools. This enables him to increase children's participation in classroom activities, pique their interest in learning new concepts, and alleviate their fear of math. Akshay teaches children numbers, place values, and basic Arithmetic calculations in concrete, differential, and abstract stages using GKA kits. 

The school holds competitions periodically such as sports, story-telling, quiz competitions and so on to help students develop co-curricular proficiency and confidence. This has aided students in delivering speeches in both Odia and English at special events such as Republic Day or Independence Day. They also compete in and excel at competitions held at the block or district level.

Every class is assigned a pecific garden within the school, that they are in charge of beautifying. Teachers encourage students to plant and maintain the kitchen garden, which provides produce for the school's midday meal. He also takes children on farm field trips to teach them about farming. Akhshay emphasises that the primary responsibility of a teacher is to do their job honestly and instill innovative teaching methods so that children can grasp the concept through active participation.

Hope you enjoyed listening to this recording by Akshara Foundation. If you have an interesting story, please share your story with 98450 79590.