Ask nine-year-old Chetan how a lunar eclipse occurs, and he'll proudly show off the cardboard model he's made, with a spinning wheel demonstrating the movement of Earth and the moon. No big deal?
Think again. Chetan is a Bhil tribal, one of those alleged to be in a different stage of anthropological development. He lives in Chiloor village, just 45 km from Dhar, but light years away from formal education. He's just one visible sign of how a village with a population below 2,000 in a district where the literacy rate is less than 27 percent is bucking the statistics.

There are no proper access roads to Chiloor; the village has just two teachers handling 79 students at the primary school level, spread over five grades. But the multigrade teaching methods adopted here have nullified the impact of the poor student-teacher ratio on the district's literacy progress report. Instead of looking at final examinations, what these teachers ensure is that every student is 'competent' - is juged on how many 'competencies' he has acquired over the years rather than on his marks.

"Over 84 per cent of the primary schools in the country have three teachers or less, so we already have a multigrade situation. But thus far, we had not formally accepted the teaching system," says Rajesh Rajora, Collector of Dhar. The system was introduced some four years ago under the supervision of district authorities, and has been kept functional by a line of Collectors.

Five years ago, 1,368 habitations in the district didn't have access to primary institutions. But a combination of 180 alternative schools, 208 new primary schools and 867 Education Guarantee Scheme (EGS) centres have ensured that every habitation in the district can now send its children to school. School registrations have doubled, and now stand at close to two lakh.

A modern merger between traditional pathshala techniques and the medieval Islamic Maqtab system, multigrade teaching allows a single teacher to handle five classes simultaneously, in contrast with the prevailing British monograde school system where a student is deemed to be in a particular class on the basis of the number of years he has spent at school. In a multigrade school, a student may acquire a grasp on mathematics faster that no lanuages, and his progress will be judged accordingly. At every stage of his education, he will be clubbed with different students who have a similar level of competency in those subjects.

Synergy is the key. Multigrade teaching works best when teachers and students both become sources of learning for the group. Textbooks are tossed out in favour of live models; loud, boisterous interaction between the student is encouraged rather than the traditional 'pin-drop silence'. Creativity comes into the classroom: occasionally, even village elders are invited to the school to relate traditional folk tales.

A meaningful assessment of the class's learning situation can only be done on the basis of acquired competencies, which is worked carefully into the curriculum. For instance, learning about concave and convex lenses form one 'competecy' in the science curriculum, and may be assigned some marks. A report card on each student is maintained , which records the competencies he has acquired. Students are encourged to write there own diaries, on subjects like 'What Game Am I Going to Play Today'. Most formal education maths, science, languages - is supplemented by informal instruction on practical matters like hygiene and health care.

"The multigrade teacher has to be better prepared than others. We ensure that the teacher is trained in theory, demonstration, practice and feedback," says Amit Agrawal, head of the Zila Panchayat. The dedication that each teacher must have is strengthened by regular interaction between clusters of schools. "Half my work is made easy by the interest shown by students; teaching itself seems less cumbersome," says Faizanuddin, a teacher at Chiloor.

Like all dreams enroute to reality, this one has its rough edges. Far too many agencies are involved in the management of the sceme. It is so dependent on the responsiveness of the district Collector that just one disinterested official could ring its death knell. Teachers have to be trained and retrained periodically, and their own abilities need to be regularly assessed. But as R. Gopalkrishanan, who heads the state's Shiksha Mission, says: "It's all a matter of forging the right alliances."

And alliances dont't come much stronger than the one that exists between a teacher and his disciple. Just ask Chetan.