SITE  VISIT REPORT Project:: Vivekananda Kendra Balwadi, Chekkarakudi, Tuticorin District, Tamilnadu by Sathyan Subbiah 19th October 2006 (Note: Balwadi = pre-primary school) We went along with a balwadi coordinator in a Jeep from the city of Tuticorin. To reach  Chekkarakudi one has to travel along the highway towards Tirunelveli and then take a small road to the right (Fig. 1). (Fig 1: On the way to the Balwadi - small road from the highway) There are two balwadis now in Chekkarakudi. Originally there was only one balwadi and  due to subsequent increase in student enrolement one more school was started. The Asha-Atlanta funds will go to this second school. We first visited this recently opened school. The school is housed in the middle of the village and is basicallly a house that has been rented. (Fig 2: The school is on the left side along this narrow alley) This rented house is basically a tile-roofed four-walled room with a verandah in the front and a thatched extension area in the front of this verandah (Fig. 3). The room itself is very old (roof subject to leaks); the verdandah and extended area in the front is being used by the school to teach the children (Fig. 4). (Fig. 4a: The thatched extension can be seen on the right side) (Fig. 4b: Children sitting in front verandah) The school had about 30 children and all were  seated on the floor.The children are all from the local village of Chekkarakudi. The children wore uniforms ofa combination of light and dark blue (Fig. 5). The children were being taught by two teachers. Both are from the local village and hence seem to have to good rapport with the parents of the children. One of the teachers herself was educated in the originally started balwadi in Chekkarakudi (Fig. 6). (Fig. 5 Children seated on ground) (Fig.6 One of the two teachers of the school; this teacher had studied in the balwadi when she was young) To demonstrated some of the learnings of the children, the teachers asked different students to standup and recite certain songs and poems (in Tamil) that they learnt so far. It was nice to watcht he yound boys and girls demonstrate their learnings. I thought they did a great job of reciting what they knew. (Fig. 7: Children eating their evening snack) The children are provided lunch and an evening snack before the leave the school. Care is taken to provide nutritious food to these children. The kitchen of the school is housed in the front thatched portion of the house and the provisions are stored in the tile-roofed room (Fig. 8). (Fig. 8a Kitchen area - one side of the extension in front of the verandah) (Fig. 8b: Provisions stored inside the room) The front walls of the verandah had a few wall hangings that were meant to assist the students' learning - such as lists of labelled animals, vegetables with pictures etc.. (Fig 9a: Aids for learning) ((Fig 9b: Aids for learning) (Fig. 10 Picture of the two pictures (right) along with the balwadi coordinator (right)) We then visited the originally opened balwadi in the village (Fig. 11). The jeep we were travelling in was actually making a trip to this school to deliver some chairs for the students. As we stopped here, the chairs were unloaded and taken inside. For the first time the children will be sitting on chairs. The teachers had told the children that when they come back after deepavali holidays they woudl have chairs to sit on. (Fig. 11 Sign board outside that indicates that this is a Vikenanda balwadi) (Fig. 12a Children of the original balwadi school) (Fig. 12b - Same) Since we visited the school the teacher asked some of the students to come forward and recite some tamil songs and poems (Fig. 12). The student would initiate the poem and the other children would repeat after. The children also taught the english days of the week, months of the year, parts of the body (see movie in the end of report) etc.. The children were also taught some of the basics of daily life such as personal hygiene (Fig. 13). (Fig. 13 - teaching personal hygiene to the kids) We came to this school towards the very end in the evening. We saw the children being sent off for the deepavali holidays and the parents had come to pick the students up. We then left the school and headed back home. The coordinator was going off home for deepavali and we dropped her off on the main-highway at the bus-stop. The efforts of the balwadi is commendable and the asha-funds will definitely be put to good use here. Note: Site visit and report made by Sathyan, an ex-Asha-Atlanta volunteer. Sathyan's mother-in-law, Mrs. Gowrii Rajasekaran is a social worker with the Vivekandanda kendra in Tuticorin and assists in the functioning of the balwadi. Mrs. Gowrii had come along during this site-visit. ----------------- Link for a movie (click here): Here's a link of a small movie showing the students reciting the days of the week. (please note the movie file is large and its availability may be limited to space constraints) ------------------------------