Minutes and ACTION ITEMS from Asha-Detroit Meeting, August 4, 2002 Attendees: Giri, Aliveni, Ganesh, Sai, Madhavan, Shubh, Srini I VOLLEYBALL EVENT * Rolling Trophy: -- It was decided to have a rolling trophy for the event. This will be a pilot project and if unsuccessful, will be discontinued. The expenses will be sponsored by volunteers. * Publicity: -- Deepak to send a mail to CRY contacts and invite them to the event -- Sai to send a mail AID Ann-Arbor people -- Every one: Go to your nearest park and publicize with the volleyball-playing groups * Rules: -- We will stick to the pre-2001 rules (points will be awarded in ones own serve) -- Participants will be informed of important rules * Referees: -- Jay, Ajith, and Deepak (please read the rules from http://www.volleyball.org/rules/) -- Other volunteers will act as line referees * Teams: -- We will have two Asha teams in addition to regular teams. At least one will act as a buffer to accommodate individuals joining late. * ACTION ITEMS: -- Deepak/Kalyani: Samosas, donation box, CRY contacts, table cloth, newsletters -- Ganesh: Measuring tape, whistles, rope (10m), chalk powder, dumbbells, thank you cards, tissue paper, paper bowls/plates, chutney for samosas -- Giri/Aliveni: Table, volleyball, banners, glasses, Lemonade, Soda (48 cans), Water (48 small bottles), thank you cards -- Srini: Transportation -- Shubh: 2 posters, scotch tape, scissors, weights, rates for merchandise (T-shirts: $12,greeting cards: 2 for $1, all food items except bananas: $1 ea., bananas: 2 for $1) -- Sai: Rolling trophy, medals, biscuits, upload corrected newsletter -- Annamalai: Merchandise, icebox, ice (good for two ice boxes), bananas (two dozens) -- Madhavan: volleyballs, pump, icebox, types of projects printout, thank you cards -- Ajith: Donation receipts [Thank you cards content: Thank you for supporting Asha. Please visit out Work-an-Hour website at www.ashanet.org/workanhour ~ Asha Detroit] * CONFERENCE CALL: -- Conference call on Friday, Aug 9, at 9:05 PM to review status. A free bridge number will be set up by Madi and emailed to the group. II WAH PUBLICITY * Giri: Check with MI India to get article published * Sai: Find why radio ad did not air III INDIA DAY PREPARATION (Sunday, Aug. 18, 11 AM-5PM) * Volunteers: -- Shubh, Sai, Giri, Madi, Ganesh (others please indicate if you want to volunteer to man the booth) *Newsletter: -- Please reply to me indicating if you plan to print/copy the newsletter and get to the event IV ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION (Purnapragna School) * Sai and Madi talked about their conversation with Chitra Akka from Vikasana School in Bangalore. Vikasana shares the same philosophy as Purnapragna school and is run by Tara Gopinath's sister Malathi. Vikasana's students come from very poor economic conditions, mostly children of migrant farmers who lost their lands. The school is not recognized by the Govt., primarily because of refusal to pay a bribe (of Rs. 2-4 lakhs to the administrators). Mrs. Chitra has 15 years of experience in alternative education. Her feedback on Purnapragna is very positive; talks highly of Tara Gopinath and other teachers. * Some important points from the conversation: -- Alternative means any digression from regular govt. curriculum and examination procedure -- Emphasis on individual attention to students -- both curricular and emotional needs. Results in very low student to teacher ratios (25/2) -- Emphasis on holistic development: environment, arts and crafts, music are given a lot of importance in addition to regular subjects -- Students have very little resistance, even when it is book learning -- Students don't want to leave the school and hate vacation!! -- The school is formal in the sense that there is timetable and regular subjects like English, Kannada, math, and science are taught following a syllabus. -- Special textbooks developed by David Horsborough (may not be the correct spelling) are used initially: (English: books 1 to 5, Science: Let's discover science books 1 to 5, Math: Countdown books 1 to 5) -- Science books developed by Eklavya (Hoshangabad Science Teaching Program in Madhya Pradesh) are also used. -- At around age 13, students are introduced to State Govt. textbooks. Children are given a year to get accustomed to reading and writing with govt. books. The syllabus is usually completed in six months, thereafter time is spent on learning how to answer regular school exams -- Older students work very hard, may be more than an average student attending a formal school. They usually come back after regular school time to prepare for exams -- Regular school time is between 9 AM to 5 PM with a break between 12PM to 2PM. The first hour of the day is spent in completing a "duty list". Each student "owns" a tree and has to take care of it growing from a small plant to a tree. The environs are cleaned before the assembly . There is an assembly in class at 9AM and 1 hr is spent in singing songs, announcements, and yoga. Between 4-5PM daily, there are classes on handicraft or time is given for play. -- Students from different classes sit in the same room, with the teacher giving guidance to each student individually. Students complete workbook assignments and read from the assigned textbooks. Older students act as mentors for younger students. -- The graduating students are usually very fluent in speaking English (all children who took class X board exams have obtained more than 60%). -- It is difficult to track where all the alumni are currently placed but there will an effort to do that in future. There is an alumni get-together once a year and that gives an opportunity to track them. All are extremely thankful to the school for their current status. V ORISSA PROJECT -- We will invite Mrs. Ranu Mahanti for our meeting on August 25 to talk about the project that she is involved with in Sambalpur area of Western Orissa. This project was initially discussed at our meeting on July 14. -------- Next meeting will be on August 25 at Giri's residence. Agenda will be posted later.