A visit to Ushagram Part II (Empowerment of Women, Adult Education and Self-help groups)

Photos from Adult Literacy and Self-help Group programs

Mirar Bhajan

(sung inpromptu by an adult literate at the adult literacy center at Gagrakhali village)



The adult literacy program:
The adult literacy program (Sabar Shiksha Prati Ghare) is fully funded by AID Blacksburg and is in a budding stage.
(N.B. We recommend contacting AID Blacksburg to find out more details)

The Trust realized in the past that it is difficult to bring women from different villages to one center at a fixed time for learning. So, they took the approach of setting up centers locally in every village (some villages have multiple centers), with different timings, of 1.5 to 2 hrs stretch, suited to the students. The locations are often on the porch of a student's house, where other students gather at a convenient time agreed upon mutually (we visited two such centers - at Gagrakhali and Taherpur Nutanpara) or in the local Balwadi building in the afternoon/evening (We visited one such center at Mahishdanga).

Rina Dasgupta, a social worker working with Ushagram Trust since the last 12 years, is the overall coordinator. She oversees the course material, training and running of the program. There are two staff members for monitoring and one assistant coordinator (also a full time staff at Vidyaniketan Shishubihar school run by the Trust), and about 20 instructors. We learnt that the number of centers fluctuates somewhat around that number. In the past it had gone upto 20. Each center has an instructor, who is typically also a Balwadi teacher in that village. However, she doesn't get paid a monthly salary for the adult literacy center. There is an evaluation of her students (the adult literate aspirants) every six months, and the instructor gets a grade (A,B,C,D) based on their performance. Accordingly she gets paid a one-time sum (typically Rs. 1200 for a A and Rs. 800 for a C), as a token of encouragement. The exact sum paid to the teachers, as we understood, depends on the amount of money left with the program coordinator after disbursing funds for stationary, trainings and other expenses for the program.

The method of getting women into the adult literacy centers and SHGs is mainly pursuing by coordinator and trainers of the programs and dragging them out of their homes. After the centers are set up, some join inspired by others. From current enrollment, it appears that women are more interested in SHGs than adult literacy. It is harder to get them to classrooms.

The folks at UFlorida had briefed us with a pool of questions/concerns..as we interviewed the women and spoke to the Trust members, we tried to find answers to some of them -

How many women are attending the literacy camps at present?

The current figure is : 147 women spread across 17 literacy centers.

How many women are in the Self Help Groups (SHGs)?

About 3000 (10 women per average in a group) women. There are also some men, albeit very few.

What is the total number of SGHs operating at present?

About 300. Most are women's groups. There are a couple of men's groups too. The Trust doesn't focus much on men's SHG (men more individualistic, less likely to gel into groups, more difficult to handle or mitigate differences..)

How many of the SHG members are getting education in schools?

Those that are in the adult literacy centers. So, about 150.

Where are these women coming from: which villages, whats the total number of villages covered for adult literacy?

11 villages under the Barasat Gram Panchayat in Nadia district, WB. (Out of 14 villages under Barasat Gram Panchayat, all except three - Chandandaha, Barakullah and Bagrail - are under the work area of the Trust)



Are these women mothers of the kids attending Ushagram schools?

Not all, but some of them are. Some women we met have their children attending Ushagram Balwadis. Majority have their kids going to Govt. schools. All the women with children make sure their kids go to school. Both sons and daughters. However, some told us about getting one or two of their daughters married off while in class 8 or class 9. Our impression is that boys stay longer in school on average (at least complete class 10)

Please name the banks from where the SHG members draw loans.

UBI Taherpur branch, SBI Birnagar branch, Allahabad Bank Gangni branch, Nadia Grameen Bank Birnagar branch are some local banks from where they draw loans. The Bank interest rate is around 10%.

Please explain the mechanism of this loan system.

Most of the SHGs have 10-15 members. They contribute a certain sum of money every month. As one group mentioned they had started out with a contribution of INR20 but now everybody contributes INR 50. Every group has a team leader and a couple of members dealing with the account at the bank. One of them goes and deposits the money. The members take loan at a 2% rate of interest. The interest received from the borrower is distributed equally among the members.

If the person taking a loan is not a member of the SHG then the interest charged is 5% the rate of interest is also 5% for taking a loan directly from the bank. The bank loans out a maximum of four times the amount of money that the group has in the bank. So if a particular group has INR 5000 they can get a loan of upto 20,000.

The SHGs have a meeting every month


9. Can you please interview a few of these women and write how they feel about the adult literacy plus SHG system. Is the system helping in their daily life?

While quite a few women are members of some or the other SHGs not many attend the adult literacy classes but the ones attending them are quite satisfied with it.

For many, the reason to come for the adult literacy classes is that they would be able to help their children in their studies. It also helps them in maintaining accounts. They believe that if they have work and do any kind of business they need to be able to keep accounts and they also have to sign documents etc. For most the complaint is finding time for the class. Though most are motivated enough to manage time from their work at home and the fields/other work there are some who find it very difficult. This is also a reason why there aren’t as many women attending the classes. They would rather engage in activities that would get them some income. The situation has improved a lot from when they started out with the program. One of the adult literacy educator mentioned that when the centre started in that particular village sometimes she would have one student or would have to sit and kill time hoping for more to turn up. Now up to ten or even more women come for classes. The initial unwillingness on the part of their family has also seen a decline so there’s lesser or no hindrance from them now. Some such cases still exist though.

Apart from studying Bengali and Maths they also learn music. Many of them have staged plays as well. An adult .literacy group from Bhaduri had staged a play on Polio, for which all the participants were gifted a story book.

The Women’s participation in the SHGs is far more widespread than the adult literacy program. Most of the students were in SHGs. They have found it quite useful. Most of it is still individual borrowing though. No group-micro enterprise has been taken up yet. One of the groups mentioned taking a loan for digging a pond but somehow the project did not really take off. They get the loans at rates lesser than they would get at the banks and they also would not have to go to the banks for borrowing money so it is convenient. Also the contribution that is made would have been spent just like that had they not contributed to the SHG fund so they feel that because of the SHG fund contribution they are saving more than they would have done otherwise.

10. Can you give a rough estimate of how much these women earn from SHGs and how much outside income they need to maintain their household expenses.

Micro enterprises are yet to take off really. The program is still in a nascent stage. The income varies a lot. Not all the loans are for income generating purposes. A large number of loans are for their daughter’s weddings. Many also buy cattle and poultry mainly goats and hens which generate some income for them. The members who have taken training in Srinilay, the training center of Ushagram, and are continuing there at the production unit are earning from it. Like women working in the Batik division, about 30 in number, earn about INR 1000-1200 a month; it varies though. Batik has a lot of demand and Ushagram helps them market their products through networks of their own. They have an outlet of their own in Ushagram. They also supply regularly to Aurobindo bhavan in Kolkata, the Khadi store in Ranaghat etc. They also have a channel to reach overseas market through Shasha which gives good returns for their products (it’s more than what they would have received from the local market)

The SHGs are essentially a money saving and lending institution as of now. Not many group enterprises have taken shape yet.

11. Please list some of the income generating ideas that these SHG groups are pursuing (like masala making etc.)

-Mostly buying cattle/poultry

-One woman mentioned that she had borrowed money for ‘hawkery’ but that was for her husband though

-at Srinilay: Batik, weaving taant, jute work, food processing-masala/jam/pickle making and bee keeping.

Not many do the work from home after taking the training though. Opening a Batik production establishment at home would require a lot of investment which not many can afford. Nobody has taken a loan from the SHGs to open any such production unit as their other financial requirements seem to be more pressing but there is interest. Ushagram is ready to help them with the marketing as they have their networks. New entrants might find it difficult to find a foothold in the market initially so this support will be helpful. Many villagers want to carry on their traditional crafts like basket/mat weaving etc. but there are many who want to learn new crafts as well. There’s just one training centre so that makes it a bit difficult for women living in villages which are far away to come regularly. We did meet a woman from Batkhulla at the training centre though. The jute work training centre is elsewhere.

12. What is your personal opinion about the SHG and adult literacy? Are they of any good? Will this project help the village women in the future?
Can this project lead to self sustainability of these women's families?

The SHGs have a long way to go in terms of providing sustenance to families of members because they are yet to get into group enterprises or borrow money for income generating purposes, apart from buying cattle and poultry. It’s just the beginning and with time there’s hope for improvement in that direction.

The women feel more confident and independent from having that source of money. Ushagram is providing the training and is also ready to market their products but such initiatives haven’t come about in a big way yet.

The adult literacy still needs to make wider inroads and reach more women. The situation has improved a lot since they started and will hopefully get better, in terms of the coverage that is. They have been able to create a positive mindset among people about the women of the house attending classes but the turnout still remains average. The quality of education is good. All the educators get training in Ushagram and keep getting updated on teaching methods through workshops etc. There’s a mobile library that does rounds of the villages. In most cases the Balwadi teachers double up as the adult educators. They do not draw a separate salary for the adult classes. Ushagram has a system of rewarding the teachers which include a one time amount of 800-1200 depending on the performance of their adult students.

The link between the training at the Ushagram center and independent SHG micro enterprise is yet to take place really. The trained generally work at the training center. The people at the trust are hopeful and there is interest among women for diversifying their source of income but as of now the members are using it for individual income generating purposes like buying cattle etc or for wedding expenditures. As some of these are non traditional work they are still building the skill levels and showing them that these alternative occupations are there and they are also showing the way for self financing these projects. Given the right kind of support there’s promise in it. The push really has to be there to make people take up these alternatives and use the SHG platform to start such enterprises. Care must be taken that it does not just become a low interest rate borrowing source for meeting financial crises…that more of it is used for income generating purposes. The SHGs have to become income generating enterprises arther than just a group for saving and lending money

13. What do the men in these families think about the women working for SHGs? Are they supportive of their wives and their income generating initiatives?

Again the SHGs are essentially groups formed to collect and lend money not too many micro enterprises have come up yet so they are not really working “for” the SHGs. The men do not have any problems with their membership of SHGs.

- Visited and reported by Kasturi and Purba.

Visit to Shishur Sevay: 19th December 2008

On Dec 19th, I went to Shishur Sevay to meet Michelle and catch up with the wonderful work that she keeps on doing. I took a Metro till Jatin Das Park and from the Hazra crossing, boarded an auto for New Alipore. I got down at an intersection called the SBI crossing because there was a SBI branch in the opposite side of the road. At that intersection another road originated, at right angles to the one that I had been traveling on. The board proclaimed its name as Ramtanu Lahiri lane but its local name is JK Pal Road. I boarded a rickshaw and went straight. After a while the name changed to Sahapur Main road and continuing straight, the rickshaw turned into a lane in the left which after a few twists and turns lead us to the Shishur Sevay building.

The building seemed to reverberate with the excited chatter of many voices. As I entered the small drawing room, which was filled to the brim by books, files and furniture , Michelle stepped in and greeted me.

When I had last come here almost two years back, there was only one child, but now the place had around 13 children from 3 years to 14. Out of this 4 of the smallest children suffer from cerebral palsy and receive special in house therapy. Michelle said that the therapists didn’t come as per a regular schedule but that was a minor inconvenience as compared to the grand scale of activities that take place at Shishur Sevay. The children used to go to Indian Institute of Cerebral Palsy (IICP) previously, but then she became dissatisfied with their methods.

The children looked happy and animated. The elder children were doing their homework as any normal school going child would do. But they were not children from normal backgrounds. Michelle had said more than once that they have had very troubled lives, often spent in a cruel and unfriendly street corner or a railway platform. The younger ones were being engaged by their ‘masis’ or attendants. Michelle said that the children had responded quite well to treatments and were in a much better state than when they had come. The masis seemed caring and patient which was heartening to see. They seemed to have a genuine affection for the children and were not putting up a show for Michelle or myself. The children had different varieties of specially designed chairs with supports so that they could sit and stand without falling down. The carpenter who made them was nearby, busy designing sleeping bunks for the children. Michelle said that he was a very capable but a little stubborn person.

The smaller children were darlings. There was something intrinsically innocent and spontaneous about them that made your heart warm up. A very endearing aspect of Shishur Sevay was the bond between them and the older girls. Some of the older girls had readily assumed the roles of didis and mentored the little ones from playing with them to teaching them how to dance. Michelle said how one of them (I am very bad with names and can’t recall) had dreamt that her new-found younger sister had become well again and could walk around on her own. This illustrates that Shishur Sevay was giving the children the most important thing that they need – a family.

Of course Shishur Sevay is beset with many problems as well. The place has grown big and bustling with activities and it would be a great relief for Michelle to find a reliable second in command. Her long time companion Ms Gurbinder Kaur was slated to take over that role, but due to various unfortunate circumstances, that was no longer possible. On a long term basis, no-one can single-handedly look after the day to day logistics of running such a big home, supervise the children’s education, appoint and monitor teachers and masis, all the while fighting with the Govt for giving legitimacy to Shishur Sevay. It is a tribute to the extraordinary dedication, perseverance, grit and fearlessness of Michelle that she has managed to achieve this impossible for so long, but some respite is the need of the hour. I asked her about her back-up plans of running Shishur Sevay without her.

“If case of an emergency my daughter and son-in-law with take over this place. Andrei will come to India periodically and see it that the place is being run well. Otherwise I am grooming some of the older girls so that they might assume some administrative responsibilities in the future.”

The retention of teachers seemed to be another problem. Remuneration was not the issue. Luckily however, the availability of the masis seemed to be satisfactory.

The children did their homeworks diligently. Some of them had beautiful handwritings that reminded me how bad mine was. As the children finished their homeworks they brought their copies to Michelle for inspection and she noted their progress in registers. This included even Bengali homeworks, a language alien to Michelle but over which she had evidently mustered enough working knowledge to judge the progress of the children. I noticed, as I had done in the previous visit, that she peppered her speech with various Bengali words and phrases.

Michelle could be stern with the kids if the situation demanded. It was no surprise that the children called her ‘mummy’; a mother who was part of their family and not merely a noble benefactor who had her own life.

Overall I was very impressed with what I saw. There were definite improvements in the children’s lives after coming to Shishur Sevay. The place was a model home for homeless children. With a little more luck and additional capable people at the helm, it could go on maintaining its high standards forever.

Siddamma - The Crusader for Justice

One of the advantages of being associated with Asha for Education is the chance to meet a wide range of extraordinary individuals, who are serving the Indian society in their own unique ways. One such person is Asha fellow and social activist Siddamma, whom we had the good fortune to meet in the September of 2007.

Siddamma was born in a poor rural family of Karnataka. Through a strange twist of fate, she was the only one of her eleven siblings who moved to Bangalore and received a proper education. While in school, she had many opportunities to observe the poverty and misery of people around her. Along with a deep sense of compassion, she possessed a spirit of activism which led to her selection in SEARCH, an institute where she was trained for social work and community leadership. During these formative years, she met her future husband, a fellow activist. After her training and marriage she settled in Chennai where she worked for about eight years for the poor living in the slums of the city.

However she was destined to leave her imprints in a bigger canvas. During her Chennai years, Siddamma heard about the Irulas of Tamil Nadu, an ancient tribe bypassed by modern society. They lived in forests and their traditional occupation was collecting herbs and catching snakes for their skins. In recent years, a large number of them had been hired by landlords and made to work in rice mills or sent to the coastal areas for fishing. Their villages were in very interior parts with no infrastructure or electricity. Malnutrition was rampant and illiteracy was 100%.

They were the truly socio and economically underprivileged ones. Siddamma spent nearly two years living with the Irulas and understanding their problems. What she learnt shocked her. The Irula’s were forced into bonded labor by the landlords who often denied them the very basic rights. She learnt how an Irula lady had died of infections inside a rice mill, as the landlord had forced her to work just after she had delivered her child. There were also multiple accounts of police atrocities.

Siddamma decided to fight for the Irula’s – not just give them justice in isolated cases but bring about lasting change. Through her painstaking effort, unwavering will and abundant enthusiasm over the next few years, she managed to mobilize the dissipated Irula’s into a single, cohesive social unit with a voice. She was instrumental in setting up Sarpam, a union formed by the Irulas and led by them. The Irulas gained confidence in themselves and learnt how to deal with the Govt and police without any fear. She also achieved phenomenal success in highlighting the plight of the Irulas in the mainstream media and focusing on the evils of the establishment. Gradually she started receiving support from other social groups and individuals. As a result of her monumental efforts, the Govt was finally forced to yield. A total of 50 rice mills were closed down and their owners brought to justice. The bonded Irulas were freed and the Govt gave them land to set up their own village. The will of a human being had triumphed against all odds.

Siddamma’s work was far from over. She focused on the rehabilitation and education of the freed Irulas. She was of the firm belief that the Irulas should take responsibility for their own initiatives. Thus a new school would only be started if the local Irula community agreed to take ownership in deciding the teachers, the school infrastructure etc. These schools have been huge successes in imparting education with their relevant curriculum, flexible schedule to incorporate the harvesting seasons and so on. These schools also integrate the students with mainstream education after 3 years.

Apart from education, Siddamma has been involved in other developmental work with the Irulas like organic farming, rainwater harvesting and low cost housing initiatives. Various Asha chapters like Austin, Seattle, NYCNJ, Toledo and CNJ have supported her in her projects. Asha is also proud to have supported Siddamma directly by offering her a fellowship to carry on her work.

Besides her supportive husband, Siddamma's family consists of her two wonderful children, all of whom are friends of the Irulas. Maybe that is the reason why, her first impression is one of maternal warmth, of caring and compassion. As one gets to know her better, one realizes that these blend harmoniously with her iron will and working capacity to give an absolutely unique individual.

Visit to Shishur Sevay - Purba - October 2007

Last weekend I got an amazing opportunity to visit Shishur Sevay(SS) in Kolkata, home to 13 orphan children. Well I should not be calling them orphans because all of them have found a mother in Michelle. Some of you might have met her and would surely be aware of her selflessness and dedication to the cause. Together with Gibi and a group of dedicated staff they have brought smiles on the faces of these children. Life had been unkind to them. Most of them had faced torture in the government homes and most of them came without any medical records. Michelle and the people at SS have done a lot to heal them 'educationally', health wise and psychologically … It really is amazing what love and care can do. When little Jaya, who suffers from cerebral palsy came to SS she could not move her hands at all. Now with her very own hands she also pulls Michelle's glasses. One only has to look at the way the kids connect with Michelle to realize what she means to them. It's a beautiful initiative to give these children a chance to be part of the mainstream society in some kind of an equal footing. I really could go on writing about this but I would like rather to talk about the problem that they are facing and put it out there for all of you to think if we could help in some way.

Sadly, the Government has been less than appreciative of her efforts. SS had a license for a few months and is up for renewal and now the Department of Social Welfare is making her run from pillar to post for it. Sometime back DSW issued an order (without sending any intimation to SS) to take in four more kids. They were not orphans and some of them came from decently good economic background (one kid's mother was a nurse) and education wise they were way ahead of the rest of the kids at SS. One of the biggest reason also was that they really do not want to expand anymore. With the kind of personal care and time that the kids require it will not be possible to do that if there are too many. Michelle's model (though I think a bit utopian is beautiful all the same) is that more people would come forward and take similar initiative. Ever since SS refused to take the kids they have been creating problems with the license. They even went on to say that she was discriminatory. For people who have met Michelle know how far it is from the truth.

Without the license she cannot apply for the FCRA, without which it would be difficult to get foreign donations. For now she is running it out of her own pocket. This might be very difficult to sustain. One thing good in all this, other than what the children are getting, is that the local councilor and the police are with SS and they would protect them; but living in constant fear of an uncertain future is not a very good option. All this running around really take away the quality time that she could spend with the kids.

This is such a beautiful initiative we should try and show support in whichever way possible. We could send a letter of support from ASHA. Though I know the fight with the government is on a different plane but it might help.

Ashraya Visit by Purba - October 2007

When I first entered Ashraya, the children were just gathering in the main room for the morning prayers. They were a bunch of happy kids and very curious. The whole time that we were sitting there they kept glancing back with a huge grin to see who the new person was. Over the next two days I got a lot of opportunities to interact with the children. Even without a lot of verbal communication (I don't speak Malayalam) we managed to have a lot of fun. They spoke Malayalam and i spoke English. It was very funny. Some of the senior students attending the school spoke English so when they were not busy with their school work they did a bit of translation for me. The teachers were also there to help me out with the language. As Praveen had rightly said it was an extremely humbling experience. We do tend to take so much for granted!

Apart from school they are also learning to go about their daily life on their own which is not very easy for a lot of them. There is a set routine for the day and at Ashraya they go about it in a very disciplined way. It is a long and difficult day for the teachers as well. The day starts at 6 in the morning and ends only after 10 at night and for the most part they are on their toes running around getting the kids organized. It definitely needs a lot of dedication.

Everybody was really talented. Owners of sweet voices and deft fingers flowing over the keyboard and the tabla or painting intricate designs on cloth or putting the wooden blocks in order of their sizes, they could do it all. Though some were shy and would rather watch me from far, most of them are very friendly and curious, which always is a good thing. Its the first step to learning, in my opinion.

There are a lot of things planned…above the present building they are planning to make a physiotherapy unit and some rooms for the teachers. Presently they do not have separate rooms to themselves. They will also be starting an early intervention unit soon. Sreekala undertook an intensive course on that and is back at Ashraya to start the unit. A lot of the children are benefiting from physiotherapy now but if they had access to it at a younger age the impact would have been way better. This unit is geared towards spreading awareness so that the treatment could be started earlier with better results. To do this, they would be visiting schools and involve the community in it. They are also building a hospital specializing in Gynecology. The children will be treated there as well and the earnings from it will be used to fund the maintenance of Ashraya. The infrastructure was almost complete when it hit a bureaucratic roadblock. Despite being assured by people in the government things don't seem to be going the right way. They are pursuing the matter and hopefully it will be settled soon. If this starts functioning Ashraya will be self sufficient for funds at least. Also, they are planning to open an artificial limb unit. Artificial limbs are expensive and they also have to be replaced often. For the children who need it, good quality artificial limb is important to make things easier for them. Apart from catering to the children at Ashraya the unit could also serve others with similar needs. This is an expensive project so it would take some time to raise the necessary funds for it.

Visit to Srividyashram - Vaishnavi - Summer 2007

Shrividyashram primary school is located in a small village called Aduthurai in the Tanjore district of south Tamil Nadu. The village is located 30 minutes from the city of Tanjore and the drive takes us though beautiful green paddy and sugarcane fields and the Cauvery river. As I sat there, staring at the beautiful rural scenery, I was filled with excitement – this was the first time I was visiting any of our projects and it was also the first time I was amidst such lush-green fields and clear blue water of the river Cauvery.

The school had just rolled into its daily routine as we entered it. Children were assembling class-wise for the morning assembly. Here, they said their prayer, followed by five minutes of Pranayama (a breathing technique thought to improve the mental and physical health). After a few quick announcements, they filed back to their respective classes. Shrividyashram primary school operates between 8:30am and 3:30pm. They have 372 children starting from pre-primary upto 5^th standard. Almost all classes except pre-primary have an equal number of boys and girls in the class. They have had no drop-outs so far since their inception in 2002(?). Every child gets monitored for mental, physical and social well-being all year long in addition to being monitored academically. The school maintains a detailed report of the progress of every child on a weekly basis. The children receive books, uniforms and a mid-day meal at the school. The meal is wholesome and is hygienically prepared in-house in the school kitchen. Each child pays an extremely subsidized fee to the school and the fee structure is customized according to each student’s economic background and financial stability. Shrividyashram is the only English medium school amongst all the villages within a radius of 10KM of the school. This is one of the factors, which makes the school extremely popular amongst the villagers. The school management operates 4 school buses to pick-up and drop-off children from and to their homes. The school receives funding from individual donors and some corporate organizations. Last year our chapter had funded the school towards completing the construction of one classroom of the school.

The school and its system of education are built around the Padma Seshadri Bala Bhavan (PSBB) – a leading educational institution in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Mr. Swaminathan, the founder- director of the school believes that education should bring about a child’s over-all development, not just enable him to read and write. And to that effect, the school holds annual sports meets, an annual school-day where the children put up skits, dance performances and other cultural shows, and an annual science exhibition. These activities are not only targeted at the children, they also keep the parents more involved with the activities of the school. The science exhibitions also serve to give out community messages on energy and water conservation, environment friendly disposal of wastes etc.

Many features about the school seemed to stand out and catch my attention. Every classroom has its own computer and the teachers often use this as an aid to help students comprehend difficult concepts. The younger children have a dedicated audio-visual hour where they watch educational videos and this is often followed by activities that test the child’s comprehension of the video/audio clip. Every child in the school gets exposed to computers very early in their schooling. I was extremely impressed to note that a third-grader was quite proficient in using MS-Office. In fact, when I was visiting the school, the stdents were preparing for the school election and I was pleasantly surprised to see print outs of word documents being used for canvassing with in the school. The school has an extensive computer lab which was a generous gift from the employees Satyam Computers, Chennai and Infosys, Bangalore.

Mr.Swamination and his teachers try and inculcate morals and values as part of the child’s education package. As in many schools, each classroom has its fair share of teachings and sayings displayed on the walls but the teachers try and get the children to grasp these from the day-to-day life point of view during their curricular and co-curricular activities, rather than have a 30 minute moral-instructions class on it. One of the key things the children are taught is the need to save money. Apparently, in many of his meetings with the parents, Mr. Swaminathan had observed that many of these farmers had the tendency not to take their financial stability too seriously and ended up being in big debts, which often resulted in very serious consequences. He wanted to bring the children into a practice of saving money right from their early childhood. He introduced a small scheme for the 4^th and 5^th graders where each child deposits either Rs. 1 or Rs. 2 into his assigned piggy-bank, then on the last week of the month Mr. Swaminathan matches the child’s contribution for that week. The matching funds are Mr. Swaminathan’s personal contribution to the child’s saving and does not come from the administrative funds. At the end of the month, the money gets deposited into a savings-bank account to be returned to the child as he/she finishes schooling here. I was curious to know what each child wanted to do with the money. My heart swelled with joy when they are said they wanted to use it to pay their fees for their high school.

The High-school construction for which funds were requested for this year is currently under way. The Foundation has been laid and the ground-floor classrooms are almost completed. The classrooms are well planned. Apart from the regular classrooms, the laboratories and the staff-room are also to be located on the ground-floor. There are going to be bathrooms constructed separately for the boys and the girls (also on the ground-floor). The first floor of the building will have more classrooms and the library. The new high-school building is across from the currently funded primary school.