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Report on Project Poorna Vidya May
18, 2004 Recall- Poorna
Vidya is a joint initiative of Pitts Macdonald Lodge and Asha Chennai
to help improve the quality of learning in the Corporation School near the
Ashtalakshmi temple in Besant Nagar, Chennai. Satyapriya and Thangadurai are seriously involved in the
school from 10am to 3.30pm (as interns learning and facilitating the
change processes of improving quality). A lot of emphasis is made on the
learning through use of colors Ms.
Saraswathi P is guiding them closely Library books and reading material, Montessori
material for Maths and cupboards for storing material have all been
provided. Teacher training in Teaching Maths with use of Montessori
materials was provided. Children have been provided with stationery,
little mathematical instruments in their classrooms. Pre assessment was completed and reports sent
to the sponsors of the project.
Current
Status The
school has closed for summer vacation from 23rd April to 1st
June. The govt. teachers of the corporation school had some in-service
training till early May after the school closed The Headmistress Mrs. Annamma says- 1.
The introduction of art and craft-activity based learning has made
learning more interesting for the children. The children are enjoying the
process of learning more than before. 2.
The use of Montessori and learning materials has improved understanding of
concepts. Children are responding well to the improved learning methods. 3.
Every child now has a plate/bowl to eat the noon meal from. Children do
not go out for lunch as all children can eat in school. This has reduced
children returning late or not returning in the afternoons. 4.
All children finishing Std 5 are keen to continue schooling. (Note-One
nearby government school starts from Std 6 and this school is the high
school for the nearby primary schools. Local schools will absorb them
without difficulty. There are quite a few high schools in the
neighbourhood. Some parents have already sought and found admission for
their wards. The children will be in school on June2 when these schools
also reopen.) The
facilitator Sathya Priya says- 1.
The day the children received the bowls she was simply overwhelmed with
the joy the children expressed. They had always had to remember their
plates when they came from home. Some children did not have large enough
plates to receive the hot food. The older children who were always having
to wait for other children to finish before they could use the plates were
the ones who expressed such joy. 2.
The crayons, pencils, geometrical instruments have added to the ease with
which the children can work and reduced teacher difficulties due to
children not having the necessary materials. The
Headmistress would like support for the students’ uniforms and
notebooks. The
govt. uniforms have not come in 2003-2004. So children have been using old
uniforms, which they are outgrowing, or getting torn. Providing at least
one set of uniforms will reduce the burden on the parents to a large
extent. The children would also be able to wash one set everyday and wear
clean clothes to school. The
school receives the required textbooks. Only standard 5 children receive
five 80page notebooks that are grossly insufficient. The
school therefore requests that notebooks be provided to the children. Sathyapriya
and the HM have worked together to arrive at the approximate costs of the
requirements. The
sponsors are looking into this. We expect a positive reply by the end of
this week. The Planned Activity in March 2004 to provide
water source in the school’s kitchen directly to help the kitchen staff
and increase the toilet facility in the ground floor, is yet to take off.
The Headmistress is making serious efforts. Planned
activities for June 2004 Continue efforts 1.
In providing infrastructure 2.
To get the nearby corporation ground opposite the school as a
playground for the children 3.
On the improvement of Tamil reading and English language learning. Lakshmi
Suryanarayanan _______________________________ Project
estimate for year Jan 2004 to Dec 2004= Rs 3lakhs Expenses
as on 20/ 2/04 .
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