The
last year was the 4th year of the program and saw a tremendous
widening of scope in the program activities.
Of note are the number of field trips and workshops that were held for
the students as well as career counseling and tutoring sessions. The English classes, currently in progress
have also been a new addition. It has also seen a very interactive and fruitful
collaboration with ASHA far beyond financial support. Many of the workshops were made possible by volunteers from a
number of ASHA chapters.
The
value of concentrating resources on a few exceptional students versus spreading
the resources among a larger population has been widely debated. Different ASHA chapters have expressed
varying views on this subject. As an
experimental program that is somewhat unique in India we are constantly
concerned whether it will deliver what we intend it to: strong leadership from within the low-income
communities that will lead sweeping change from within in the years to
come. As the real results will only be
visible many years in the future, for the present we have only anecdotal
indicators to judge its progress. These
indicators are promising with an overwhelming consensus among the students
(seen in written essays/ letters to sponsors) that Nalamdana has given them
self- confidence, widened their horizons and given them a better sense of
social responsibility. This is also
evident in their volunteering and participation with Nalamdana.
While
these are all very positive outcomes, we do wonder about the flip side of
giving these students a sense that they are special. A few parents have expressed some concerns that the children are
becoming arrogant in the home because they are ‘Nalamdana Scholars’. We have spent some time debating how we
might instill in them the attitude that all of us who have chanced on
opportunity should consider ourselves immensely fortunate and use this
privilege to benefit those around us.
Some ideas are presented in this report.
This
year Nalamdana has added 16 new students from a pool of about 104 applications.
The applicant pool this year was smaller than previous years but it was felt
that the quality of the applicants was far higher.
While
Nalamdana is very excited about the possibilities of this program, it is not
without its concerns. With a number of
new initiatives in both its preventive health and the youth leadership program,
Nalamdana is faced with the significant challenge of managing growth and
meeting the administrative pressures that this brings. While our program budgets have grown five
fold since we began, our full-time staff has only grown 25%. With mounting work-loads, we are beginning
to see problems in on-time and systematic implementation of our projects. This is of utmost concern to Nalamdana and
we feel that it has now become necessary to hire a full-time coordinator for
this program. While in the short term
(1-2 years) this will increase the per student cost, in the long term we will
be able to expand the size and scope of the program and reduce the per student
cost.
Finally,
the total spending on the project for the year was about $4.500 for 16
students, far below the estimated budget.
It was also seen that the originally estimated budget allocations were
quite different. Much of the
anticipated workshop costs did not materialize due to donations in kind from
volunteers and organizations towards materials, snacks etc. However, school fees were somewhat higher
than anticipated. The new budget for
2000-2001 for 32 students is estimated at $8,700 and reflects these
findings. We request you to consider
the same funding of $2,800 from ASHA-Princeton for this year.
Interactive English Workshops (7 sessions between July 2nd and August 20th): Maya Thiagarajan, an English teacher from
the Teach for America Corps and a member of ASHA-DC spent two months conducting
weekend sessions for the students. The
purpose of these sessions was to raise issues with the students, improve their
conversational English and build their self-confidence.
The
students were split into two groups – those with some prior knowledge of
English and those with no prior knowledge of English. The former group debated and discussed a range of issues in
English in each session. The topics
included the nature of effective leadership, gender equality and illiteracy in
India. As an example, one student would
be given a mock scenario such as recruiting and leading soldiers to defend the
country in the Kargil war. The other
students would play the role of the soldiers and give reasons why they could or
would not continue in the fight. The student then had to display leadership in
bringing these soldiers together. At
the end of the class, the students would critique the leadership styles
displayed by each student in their mock scenario.
The
group with little English background were given a more English learning focused
experience, helping them build basic conversational skills. Unfortunately, it is observed that the
students that have little English knowledge are less confident than those that
don’t. This is a problem that we have
to work to solve going forward.
As
a culmination of these sessions, all the students displayed posters on
themselves in English and enacted a play on illiteracy in English that they
wrote and directed to an audience of sponsors and other supporters of
Nalamdana.
Field Trip to Dakshinachitra
(July 17th): Maya and the staff took the
students to Dakshinachitra, a center for the living arts and crafts of South
India. Here the students were able to
try their hand at different activities such as weaving and pottery as well as
learn folk dances. This was mainly a
fun day to give the students a chance to get to know each other.
Story Telling by Cathy
Spagnoli (July 18th): Cathy
Spagnoli spent a few hours telling stories to the children in English that she
has collected all over Asia. She is an
award winning story teller who uses gestures, music and mime in her
technique. She also taught the students
to communicate in ways that include these techniques to overcome language
barriers.
Talk on Leadership by D.P.
Prakash (September 11th): D.P. Prakash, President of ASHA gave a talk to the students on leadership:
what it means and why its important.
Workshop on Communication
(October 9th): Janki and Arvind of
Asha-Chennai conducted a half-day session on communication skills. The students practiced extempore speaking in
both English and Tamil.
Trip to Birla Planetarium
and Science Exhibition (November 13th): Giridhar Krishnan from ASHA-Princeton along with ASHA-Chennai
members and Nalamdana staff took the students to the Birla Planetarium and
museum.
Parents Meeting (November 30th): Due to past issues with parents taking their children
unexpectedly out of school and not allowing them to attend Nalamdana
activities, it was decided that it is necessary to involve parents to ensure
the success of the program. Nalamdana’s
youth leadership program was explained to the parents and the importance of
education stressed to them. The session
sought to understand how the program was affecting the parents/ home life and
enlist their support in their child’s education as well as in their
participation in Nalamdana activities.
On all accounts the session was successful and very worthwhile.
Tutoring Sessions in English
and Mathematics (November/ December): As the
exams were nearing a number of students expressed interest in weekend sessions
in English and Mathematics. Small group
tutoring sessions were held over a three week period in these subjects. Nithya Balaji from Nalamdana conducted the
English sessions and Janki and Arvind from ASHA-Chennai conducted the
mathematics sessions. Text books for
specific subjects and work papers were sourced for the students to help them
prepare for their exams.
<No
sessions held from January to April due to pongal holidays followed by year end
exams.>
Career Counseling Session by
Susheela Mariappan (May 26th): Susheela Mariappan
from the Career Counseling Department at the University of Madras spent one day
at Nalamdana talking about and answering questions on career directions and
opportunities, requirements for college admissions etc.
Summer English Courses: In progress
Library: Nalamdana’s small library has been expanding. In September of 1999 we received a donation
of 10 years of old National Geographic issues and 5 years of Wildlife Magazine. In addition, Nalamdana has accumulated a number
of second hand textbooks on various subjects.
The students have been actively borrowing magazines and books from the
library. The National Geographic
magazines have proved to be particularly popular.
Computer: Nalamdana acquired its first computer in 1999. While the computer is intended mainly for
Nalamdana’s own administrative and database requirements, students were allowed
to use it on occasion. In the future we
hope to have a separate computer for the students.
Volunteering and Performance
of Students:
Students
volunteered a total of 65 days during the year in various activities at
Nalamdana including conducting field health surveys.
Marks
are available for only a few of the students.
Marksheets for the others will be forwarded shortly
Available
are:
K.Lokeshwari,
9th standard. Sethu Bhaskara Matric Higher Secondary School:
Average:
85%
Tamil
: 86/100
English: 78/100
Maths
: 81/100
Physics:
91/100
Chemistry: 89/100
Biology:
91/100
History:
90/100
Geography:
81/100
U.
Lakshmi Priya, 9th Standard, Sethu Bhaskara Matric Higher Secondary
School:
Average: 79.5%
Tamil
: 82.5/100
English: 65.5/100
Maths
: 81/100
Physics:
86/100
Chemistry: 86/100
Biology:
66/100
History:
91/100
Geography:
88/100
S.
Sivakumar, 9th standard, Raja Muthaiah Higher Secondary School:
Average: 58.8%
Tamil: 67/100
English:
41/100
Maths:
55/100
Science:
69/100
Social
Science: 66/100
P.Ed: 55/100
In
their own words
“This
program helped in developing our career.
This program helped in developing in speaking, writing of English. This brought a great development in
interaction with foreign peoples. This
brought a change in manner, discipline etc…. Before getting scholarship we had
no general knowledge. Just reading the subjects and writing it. We don’t know how to interact, no guidance,
no seniors, just our mind was empty, its memory power was less. After getting scholarship, we learnt to
interact, we had a good guide, we had good educated experienced seniors, our
mind was filled with knowledge. Now the
answer to whatever question, yes, I know.
They brought a will power, they helped in exhibiting our thoughts.
We
had no strong basement, no study aim, we had no strong ambitions, we thought
only one field. But this Trust
[Nalamdana] has changed our minds, they built a strong basement. We has a strong study aim. We learnt about other fields. And made
a strong target and started our travel to aim. They gave us youth power, they taught us what we can do, now it
becomes a question what we cannot do….”
“..I
am proud to say that I am benefited by this educational programme. This has made a lot of difference to
me. I could interact freely with
anybody now. I have come to know about
the world outside me. There are changes
in my habits. More than that, I could
gain more and more knowledge by the various co-curricular programs conducted
here. I have developed my leadership
quality, spoken English etc. It had
changed my ambitions and future a lot.
I have developed self-confidence, self-responsibility and my social
responsibility. It has cleared my mind
and made it go right. My bad habits has
changed. It has made me to think higher
and higher. My ambitions in life is
made clear and it leads me to reach my destiny. I learnt many good qualities of social service and help from them. My future is clearly defined now. Now, I have desire to acquire a good standard
position in this society. So, I could
not have thought this without this scholarship program.”
“Nalamdana
is also conducting many Programmes like interacting with other people and so
on. This helps me to interact with other
people without shy or fear. They are
also conducting many classes like developing our English knowledge, out world
knowledge and so on. This helps me to
learn and to know about something which is new to me. I want and I request Nalamdana to conduct more classes like
this. Before having conduct with
Nalamdana I have only my parents to guide me.
But after having conduct with them I have many people in Nalamdana to
guide me. It has made many difference
in me and in my life for the past few months.
My ambition in life is to become an Engineer. They are also helping me achieve my ambition. I like Nalamdana to help me in my future to
bring out the best in me by providing scholarship and to conduct many classes
like this”
“I
first of all thank you very much for your help and support provided to us to
continue our education which is very very vital for life. Till the last drop of blood in my body I
shall never forget your helping hands.
I once again thank you.
What
I like very much about Nalamdana programmes are the attitude of the staffs
working in this trust. These programmes
helps us to understand the true nature of this world. They act as guidelines and guide us. We can say that they guide us from darkness (Ignorance) into
light (knowledge). These programs act
as a source of information for us.
These programmes have made great deal of differences in my life. The attitude of helping and most importantly
social welfare has arisen in me. There
is a famous quoting of Vivekananda; “Arise, Awake and stop not till the goal is
achieved”. Now this is my guiding
principle in my mind. I also want to do
something for my society working with Nalamdana.
Nalamdana
as a guiding light has changed my ambitions.
I would say one big milestone has been kept in my life. I wanted to say more and more about
Nalamdana and its service to society but as time and papers will not be enough,
I stop with this..”
“Programs
conducted by ‘Nalamdana’ were useful in many ways. Especially English coaching
classes and Educational trip. It was
full of joy to spend our time with ‘Nalamdana’. With the help of this Trust, I have really improved my knowledge,
behavior and to come up in my life.
I
have always imagined what good conductance is? But Nalamdana has teached us
very well what good conductance is.
They way they organize us is something special. I would definitely come up in my life with
such beloved people around me. My
ambitions and dreams could well come true in the future.”
“The
program conducted by Nalamdana is also very much helpful to continue my
studies. The outdoor visit paves way to
improve the general knowledge.
Conversation with graduates helps in growing the language knowledge. My ambition in life is to become as doctors
that too also taken care of by Nalamdana trustees by conducting several
classes. Overall Nalamdana is a bolt
out of clear sky that has brought good things in my life. I am one and all
Thanking you.
“Nalamdana
scholarship and the various extra-curricular activities lay a strong foundation
for developing hope and confidence in young students. This valuable help has to be spread more widely and more students should be benefited in the
same way as I am benefited. After
receiving Nalamdana’s scholarship I can feel a sense of hope and confidence in
me. I feel that I have many people to
guide me and support me in my career.
This guidance and support would definitely brighten my future and mould
me into a better person.”
“Today I am in the final year [dental college]. You’ve not only helped me financially, but also you have given me the self-confidence in me. I used to come with my parents at the beginning, now after coming to this trust, I’ve gained so much confidence that I’m able to come alone.
Now
this is going to be the final year, I’ve come across many hinderances with your
help and support some how. Now I
request you to provide me the scholarship and in future I promise you I’ll help
people who are really unable to afford because I know the difficulties I’ve
overcome.”
New Student Selection for 2000-2001
16
new students have been selected this year to join the Nalamdana Leadership
Program. Compared to previous years the
number of applications was lower. This
is perhaps due to fewer street plays performed by Nalamdana in urban slums
where the scholarship was typically announced to the audience at the end of the
show. This year there were just 104
applicants solicited through a single advertisement in the Daily Thanthi Tamil
Newspaper. However, it was felt that the applicants were of a higher standard
than in previous years.
53
students were called in for a first round of screening based on their
marks. This round included essay
writing, debates, discussions and other group events. 20 of these students were selected for the second round
consisting mainly of personal interviews.
16 were selected from this group.
Finally house visits were conducted to ensure that the students were of
the economic bracket stipulated as an application requirement before the
scholarships were granted. This has
been instituted because some people in the past provided false information on
income in order to qualify for the scholarship. All 16 students were granted scholarships.
Details
of the new students are attached.
As
of now the following workshops have been planned.
Trip to Mahabalipuram (July): Fun outing so that new students can get to know old students.
Music appreciation session
(July):
Various artists in the city have agreed to come together to hold a workshop on
South Indian classical music for the students.
Comparative Government
(August):
Maya Thiagarajan of ASHA-DC and Jeeva from Nalamdana will hold two interactive
sessions on comparative governments, the meaning of democracy, how a government
is formed etc.
The science and epidemiology
of disease (August): Tara Thiagarajan will hold a one day workshop on the science behind
the most common diseases in India followed by a discussion on the problems of
disease that India faces. The session
will involve looking at cells under the microscope and videos that show
bacteria infecting a cell in real time.
Introduction to Internet/
Computers (December): Two day session. Most likely conducted by Maithreyi Ratan of
ASHA-Seattle.
Student newsletter: Organizing students to run an annual newsletter with both English
and Tamil on their own. The idea would
be to get them to use this as a medium to communicate their own thoughts on
various issues and give them a creative outlet. They could write and produce it on Nalamdana’s computer. It will be a simply formatted newsletter
that can simply be photocopied.
Student rep: To have the student elect two members as their reps to the
Nalamdana youth leadership program committee.
They would be responsible for bringing in the suggestions of the group
as well as reviewing applications for the next year’s student selection.
Nalamdana Scholars Pledge: In an effort to instill a sense of privileged responsibility
among the students rather than arrogance, it has been suggested that we create
a pledge that the students will take on being awarded the scholarship and at
the beginning of each workshop or activity session they attend. This is presently being discussed and
debated.
The
program’s most significant problem during the last year has been an increasing difficulty
keeping up with the work load. This
year the person coordinating the program was doing so part-time as he had
responsibilities in numerous other projects as well, some that took him to
rural areas for weeks at a stretch.
Therefore ensuring that events are regularly scheduled and that our
planned events are carried through has been exceedingly difficult. We have become acutely aware that as the
number of students increases, a good coordinator will be of utmost importance
to the success of the project.
Therefore we are now in dire
need of a new full-time staff member whose main responsibility will be the
youth leadership program. While the
cost of salary will appear large in a per student calculation in the next year
or two, once we are able to hire a good person we will be able to substantially
expand the size and scope of the program in the future with no additional
hiring. This will bring down the per
student cost substantially.
Total
donations received (in US$): $6,000
Expenses:
School
fees, books and uniforms (all students):
$1,700
Workshops
and field trips: $
200
Summer
English $1,000 (estimate)
New
Student Selection $
80
Administrative
costs $
120
Partial
Contribution to coordinator salary
$1,400
Balance
carried over to 2000-2001 $ 1,500
Expenses:
School
fees, books and uniforms (all students):
$3,200
Workshops
and field trips: $
300
Summer
English $1,500 (estimate)
New
Student Selection $
100
Administrative
costs $
200
Coordinator
salary (total salary) $2,400*
Balance
carried over from last year $1,500
New
donations for 2000-2001 $3,200
(excluding
renewal from ASHA-Princeton)
Requested
support from ASHA-Princeton for 2000-2001:
$2,800