This report is based on my visit to eight Asha Motivational centers run by Bharathi Trust. The motivational centers where started with the aim of taking all the children

of 10-12 chosen villages of Irula communities to neighbouring government schools and to firmly establish school-going as a normal cultural practice. The criteria for choice of these villages was low economic strength, low literacy rates, between 0 to 20% enrollment, active presence of supportive Irula Sangams. The centers have been functional for two years and its time to make an assessment of what we have accomplished together and where do we go from here.

Number of Children: Number of children in attendance is subject to constant fluctuation. Irulas have led a migratory life in the past, and today they migrate in search of livelihood. In addition, children from neighbouring villages attend classes at a centre and this number is not easily determined.What is important is to make sure no child

Age: The age of child quoted below is approximate as most children do not know their date or year of birth accurately.

Emphasis on individual child: The reader will notice the emphasis on the individual child rather than on general social conditions. As more and more children start attending regular school, our focus should shift towards the small number of children facing greater difficulties than usual.

Below we will look at the status of the motivational centers in each village, and then review the overall situation.

This village has good public transport facility as there is a bus stop within walking distance.However, it is the village with least basic amenities situated on the banks of a small pond, with no electricity, no road connecting to main road, no sanitation facility.It has recently got drinking water connection from Elevambedu, the main^¹ village.

There are about 55 children in this village. There are two teachers working in this village, Bhavani and Manohar. Manohar is handicapped in one leg by polio, but is an inspiring example of how one can surmount physical limitations by self-will. About 15 children joined government elementary school in Elevambedu this academic year(starting June 2002). The teachers estimate that 20 more will join next year(2003). They are hesitant to promise the same for the remaining children who are above 12 years old and are working as agricultural labourers or in the nearby ricemill. Some children belonging to this group where present in class at the time of visit, (the remaining come for evening classes afterwork).

These children have dropped out of school 3 to 4 years ago, and do not attend the motivational centre regularly. They are not sure if they can make up for lost years, and even then if their parents would be willing to give up the children’s daily earnings.

A special problem faced by this school is that the television^² and the school share the same hut. On one side is the class blackboard and on the opposite side is the television. There is no trouble during the day, but in the evening when both afterwork and school-going children(for tuition) are studying, the adults file into the room with the television blasting full volume commercial cinema and derivative programs. It becomes impossible for the teachers to teach, as all the children are seated in their direction, with heads turned in the opposite!

The teachers pointed out the impediments they face while enrolling the children in regular school. For children who dropped out and did not get their Transfer

Certificate(TC) while leaving school earlier, administration of the school they are

enrolling into asks for an affidavit from a Lawyer,Village Officer(VO) or from the previous Headmaster that the child is indeed from the same village. These people could charge up to Rs.500 for this. The whole idea is ridiculous as the residential status of the child can be confirmed by walking up the village and not by attestation of a lawyer in Chennai who has never ever visited the district. There are others expenses such as building donation, books, tie, uniform, etc. which may come upto Rs.200 per child which prove insurmountable for the family.

Valli is a 14-year old child living in this small village. Until recently she did not even have a name. Other children mocked her as Jadachchi(meaning a girl with unkempt locks of hair) and this humiliating nickname was gradually becoming her real name as even adults started calling her by that name. The teachers and Bharathi staff member, Venkatesan, have given her the beautiful name, Valli(meaning a girl from the hills). Valli works as agriculture labourer everyday, and has not been regular in attending the motivational centre classes. Nevertheless, she has learnt to read Tamil words slowly, can write simple words,and do basic addition and subtraction. She feels she will not be able to cope up in regular school with children of her age, and does not want to join a class with children half her age. Whether she will breakthrough such mental barriers and join school only time will tell, but as of now she has promised me that she will come more regularly to the evening classes and learn to read and write fluently.

Rajarattina Nagar is a coastal village close to Pazhaverkadu(Pulicat) lake and like all the 20-odd neighbouring villages its economy revolves around catching fish. The fishermen

of this village are too poor to buy even a small net, and catch fish and prawn by bare hands. This village is fortunate to have Durgadevi and Rathi as the teachers in the motivational centre. From the initial 95 children, about 20 children have left the village

with their families because of lack of livelihood. Of the remaining 75, 28 have already joined school and 40 are on track to join school next year. The seven children whose future is unclear are all of age 14-16.Three of the 7 showed up at the time of my visit.

These fish-catching children are easily spotted in the crowd as they have bleached yellowish hair because they spend 8 to 10 hours in sea water. Karthik says that he is too old for school. He says, what he needs now is some basic literacy and a means of

During daytime (8:30 to 11am), the school functions more like a balwadi and starts fullswing as the school-going children return from school around 4:30pm and runs till

8pm . The two teachers do not idle in the intervening time.They have enrolled themselves as voluntary teachers in the government school, which badly needed more teachers as it was earlier running with three teachers and a teacher-student ratio of 1:80.

The teachers of the school say that they need some funds for getting affidavit of residence

for re-enrollment of children as well as to cover cost of uniform if the child joins school

This motivational centre has won praise from the government school headmaster for making the children very enthusiastic about studying. In this centre, there is a special emphasis on art and dance. The dance troupe of this centre is now so popular that it gets invited to perform in special gatherings and wins trophies of appreciation.

Saranraj(10) had not been to school until this year. He was whiling his time in the village, listening to cinema music and imitating the physical movements of popular Tamil actors. After studying in motivational centre for two years, he now studies 4^th Std in the Minjur primary school. Saranraj is a bright child in many ways. He is good in painting, singing, dancing, is ever inquisitive and is already doing well in studies. He has left his teachers wondering how could have so many talents remained hidden in one child. Saranraj wants to become a doctor. The reason he gives is the people of his village now either depend on the nonsense of village witchdoctors or else fall prey to the allopathic medicine dispensing quacks whose main interest is to keep their patients sick. He wants to setup a free clinic, drive out all the quacks and serve his community.

Kulathumedu is another village near the Pazhaverkadu lake,like Rajarattina Nagar - only older, larger, and less poor. Having recently won a historic battle to preserve their rights to fish in the lake by fighting against the rich traditional fishermen of Kottakkuppam panchayat, one can see the village beaming with pride even as it is busy with normal life.

Kolathumedu is a special Irula village as six of 15 motivational centre teachers originate from here. The awareness about the importance of education has been here for more than 15 years. Yet there is a large number of children who have never entered school until the motivational centre was created. Of the total of 66 children who come to the centre, 13

where enrolled in Minjur primary school in the year 2001-02. All except one (S.Enkayyan) continue to attend school. S.Enkayyan has dropped out after being heckled

and beated up non-Irula students of the same school. 6 more have been enrolled in school

this year(2002-03). Among the remaining are the following students (of age 12 years or above),

Valli laments she will not be allowed to attend regular school by her adamant drunkard father. Gopi studied well till 8^th standard and then suddenly dropped out a year ago.He attends the centre but is not clear what he wants to do.

There is also Rathi’s(teacher at Rajarattina Nagar centre) younger brother, handicapped

in both his legs, who needs a special cycle to continue his studies in the high school. His academic performance is exemplary. He has secured consistent first rank in his 6,7 and 8^th standard. He would like to continue studies upto college.

Amulu, incharge of this centre, is a quiet, hardworking teacher. Because of her size, one may mistake her to be one of the children, until one watches how calmly and efficiently she handles the kids.

Amulu mentioned that she needs copies of government textbooks of all classes, both for herself as well as the students, so that she can coach the students according to the class they are likely to join next year.

Amulu suggests that for Devamani and Gopi it is not reasonable to expect them to go to school. Instead it will be better to coach them to take 10^th or 12^th exam directly.

Every battle’s victory exacts a price. The price for the battle against the rich fisherman by the Kolathumedu villagers was paid by A.Enkayya(10). He lost his father Arumugam, who died of starvation when Irulas were banned from fishing in the Pazhaverkadu lake. Enkayya attends the motivational centre with great enthusiasm and has two younger brothers who also study in the centre. At this time, he has been told a concocted story about how his father refused to obey the command of a ghost which killed him in fury. He narrates the story in great detail with fullest belief in it. Enkayya suffers from night-blindness and has poor vision during daytime. Two years ago, when he was taken to Chennai for an eye-checkup, he flatly refused to enter the hospital. However, he has promised me that he is now ready for treatment, as he has to study well to take care of his family.

Mullainagar has the most athletic and lively children among all the villages where the motivational centers are run. Mullainagar is fortunate to have two intelligent and vocal teachers, Usha and Sumathi.

Mullainagar has about 60 children, of which 10 where in school before the motivational

centre was started. Since then, 25 children have started going to school, 10 joined from the year 2001-02 and 15 in this academic year(2002-03). All except three of these children joined in 1^st and 2^nd Std. Kanniammal(3^rd Std), Roja(4^thStd) and Kumar (5^th Std)

are the three older children. The teachers are confident that by next year all the small children (13 in number) can be put to school in 1^st or 2^nd Std. This leaves about 12 older children(listed below) yet to join regular school.

Muthu and Murugan are brothers herding cows and goats respectively. Next year, Muthu’s parents will likely sell Muthu to a ricemill and promote Murugan to cowherding.

Intelligent Selvi who attends evening classes is very eager to join school, but her parents have instead chosen goatherding for her career. When one more child joins regular school from this centre, Selvi is overwhelmed with helplessness and fear of being left behind.

There are three children with disabilities in this village. Amla(12) is hearing impaired and can hear only loud sound. Vinod(9) lost one eye, when he was attacked by a crane in the forest. Uma is squint-eyed but can see reasonably well.

The village leader of Mullainagar is a dedicated man who has worked a great deal to secure the land on which the centre is built, and has permanently incurred the wrath of the landlord who coveted it for himself.

An interesting event of multiple coincidence happened while I was talking with the children. The children were seated in the open near a water tank and were commenting about what they like or do not like about the center; when Nagavalli (3 ½ years) came close to me and complained about her fear of snakes. Just then, a large snake slithered past our gathering and it took us several minutes before we could console the frightened children. Three Irula elders quickly joined us with sticks, stood guard in a triangular formation so we could continue our discussion. On the surface, one is struck by this event, that a snake should pass by at the very instant when a Irula (traditional snake-catchers) child with name Nagavalli^³ should mention about snakes. But when one reasons that Irulas live in forest areas with a significant population of snakes, names with Naga are quite common among Irulas and puddles of water near the water tank must be source of water for animals during evening time, the coincidence becomes not so unusual after all.

Roja(10) is a gentle child. After her father’s death, she has been staying with her elder brother and his wife. Her brother discontinued her studies and instead put her to goatherding. Because of persistent efforts by the teachers, her brother has allowed her to join regular school and after a gap of 2 years, Roja has now joined 4^th Std in the government school. When asked about her brother not putting her to school earlier, Roja is careful to brush aside the question and give a simple reply, “My brother and his wife love me and take very good care of me.” Roja is a considerate child. She expresses great concern about her close friends like Selvi whose education continues to be blocked, even as she herself has restarted schooling. Roja is an intelligent child. The two years of not going to school has not damaged her self-confidence by the smallest amount and she

has made up for the lost time at the centre effortlessly. Roja is a hopeful child. She wants to study as much as there is to study.

Senjiagaram has 60 children of which 20 were school-going before the centre started. The

Centre has enabled 20 children to go to school in the last two years. All these are young children joining 1^st and 2^nd Std. Of the remaining 20, 10 are in older age group(12years and above). Some of them were present in the centre during my visit.

Sumathi has not been sent to school because her parents (Balaram and Saroja) decided to

use her as help at home. Saroja considers attending the motivational centre is by itself more than enough education for her daughter, Sumathi.Devi who used to attend school

dropped out because she was constantly teased by youth of neighbouring village, Tharatchi on her way to school. Saravanan failed in 10^th Std exam a year ago and has not taken the exam again.Chellayya had dropped out of 5^th Std, remained at home for 2 years and then joined this centre. Mariamma of this village faces an uncertain future being hearing impaired and unable to speak.

Selvi is the teacher incharge of this centre. She takes care of the balwadi and morning classes. About 20 children in the 1-3½ years age group attend the balwadi. Mariamma (teacher in-charge of Tamaraikkuppam) takes care of the evening classes for school-going children.

The story of Venkatamma(13) brings home the perniciousness of backward social practices still prevelant in our villages. At the age of thirteen years, Venkatamma is seen as a married and separated ‘woman’. Venkatamma was married off in a hush by her parents as 2^nd wife to a 40 year old man and she has returned separated in less than 3 months. Venkatamma’s grandmother(father’s mother) squarely blames Venkatamma’s mother for not consulting with anyone before marrying her off. The village and the teachers were given the news only a day before the marriage. Venkatamma says that trouble arose in her husband’s home when she refused to cut trees and instead wanted to go for coolie work. She had complained tree-cutting is hard labour which she cannot do. This combined with other misunderstandings had led to a quick separation. Venkatamma’s mother prays that her daughter’s husband should not go for a third marriage. Venkatamma is back in the centre and wants to continue her studies though social taboos would make it near impossible for her to go to school as a married ‘woman’.

Tamaraikuppam is a small remotely situated village located amidst forest shrubbery.

This village has a total of 60 children of which 20 were school-going when the centre

started two years ago. At the end of first year, about 10 more children joined regular

school, and at the end of the second year, another 20 joined school. Since then 19

children have migrated into the village with their families, making the total number of

children yet to join school as 29. Some of non-school-going children present during my visit.

The older children who have not been to school are mostly girls in Tamaraikuppam due to the taboo on girls who have come of age(menarche) from going outside home in this village. Radha says she doesn’t want to go to school as she cannot cope up with school curriculum. Suguna has never been sent to school and is now a goatherd. Her brother, Balayya, has also stopped school at 3^rd Std and is taking care of his younger brothers, Nagulu(3) and Srinivasulu(1).

Two children, Siranjeevi and Nagamma, who were sent to regular school after studying in the centre have now moved into a ricemill as bonded labourers.

Mariamma is the teacher in-charge of school, though the evening classes are handled by

Murugamma(14) has never been to school. For her, attending classes in the centre is

at this centre and take 10^th public exam directly. Even as we were discussing about

how long she needs to prepare for the exam, Murugamma’s mother delivered the surprising news that she will be married off within this year. Her reason is that Murugamma came of age five months ago, and hence she is ready for marriage.

Murugamma, shocked to hear this news, is averse to early marriage and feels she is

too young and wants to study atleast for 3 more years. Will Murugamma be allowed

Kottankulam is a newly created village. Just two years ago it was nothing more than

a few one-room structures in the middle of forest area. Since then, it has seen many

improvements in basic amenities like drinking water facility. The village has street

lights though individual houses do not lights. Following the opening of the motivational centre, the village has a balwadi(run by ICCW) and a primary school. Even a small shop has been open in the village.

Because of the presence of the balwadi, motivational centre and the primary school,

all the children below 12 years are attending balwadi or school. However, there are six children, between 13-15 years age, involved in goat or cowherding. They have never

For all these children the parents give the excuse of poverty. However, this argument does not hold when one witnesses homes equally poor in the same village sending their children to school. The attitude of the parents is clearly responsible for their state.

Senchappa who brings up his grandchildren, Desamma and Govindraj, has stopped them from attending the evening tuition classes at the centre. He says the children go straight from school to tuition and then watch TV (common one to all villagers) until bedtime

and have no time for participating in household work. He further says that schooling is

making the children arrogant and disobedient. He says going to school and studying at

home is good enough and evening tuition is not necessary, and its important for the children, who have lost both parents, to learn household work.

Siddamma(14), renamed from her birthname Siddula, has the same name as the awakener of the Irulas’ consciousness in TamilNadu. But unfortunately, the similarity does not go beyond. Siddamma faces an uncertain future. She has never been to school and attends the motivational centre in her village irregularly. Her parents are of the opinion that it is enough for her to be able to write her name.

Rasapalayam motivational centre has been facing troubled existence right from the beginning. The teachers who come to this centre have been insincere and had to replaced

frequently. After 8 months of closure, the centre has restarted 2 months ago. Finally, the centre has found a competent teacher in Devi. There are 40 children studying in this centre, 25 from Rasapalayam (medu) and 15 from the neighbouring Karangeezhe. Of these, 29 are school-going children. 11 children attend the evening classes after work and almost all are involved is goat and cowherding. Some of the children who do not attend school were present during my visit at the centre.

All the named children have never been to school. But they are attending the centre regularly in the evening.

Sudhakar who attends school has lost hearing in one ear and the cause has not yet been diagnosed.

Rasapalayam has a special problem to deal with. The government primary school nearby is in Telugu medium, a choice made by Raju community, dominant in the Taluk. Beyond 5^th Std, the Gunipalayam high school offers classes in both Tamil and Telugu medium. Unlike the Rajus who either shift to English medium in high school, or have strong ties in Andhra Pradesh, the Irulas who study in Telugu medium are unable to get jobs in Tamil Nadu. About 5 youngsters of Rasapalayam have remained unemployed after completing 12^th Std because they studied in Telugu. Irulas of Rasapalayam want the primary school to start classes in Tamil medium, so that the future of their children is not

Also, because the classes in the motivational centre are in Tamil, the school-going children are subjected to physical punishment when they use Tamil words by their government school teachers who teach in Telugu.

Prabha(12) is handicapped in one leg because of polio attack. She had studied upto 5^th Std in the primary school. She joined 6^th Std in Gunipalayam High School which is about

4 kms from the village and made a valiant effort to walk to school everyday. However, the distance proved too much for her and she dropped out after a month. The forest paths are not navigable in a tri-cycle and she needs one person to take her to school. Its been a year since she discontinued her studies. Her father has now promised that he will put her back to school and take her to school himself everyday. Devi, teacher in-charge at the motivational centre, is willing to give special make-up coaching for Prabha. Prabha now looks towards a brighter future, which was slipping away from her.

The Kundelimedu(Indira Nagar) and the Tiruttani centers have not been assessed in this report. The Kulathumedu centre assessed in this report has the financial support of ECOMWEL, and the Tiruttani centre has until now been supported through the dedicated fundraising efforts of a Belgian girl, Muriel.

Both the Kundelimedu and Tiruttani centers are about a year old. They should continue to function for another year before an assessment similar to this one is done for them.

The cultural norm regulating schooling of children is being successfully inverted in all villages where the motivational centers are operational. School-going children were a small minority two years ago. By the end of this academic year, not sending children to school would be seen as irresponsible parental behaviour by the rest of the village.

The project began two years ago with an ambitious goal of bringing a brighter future to 540 Irula children. Children who never went to school, who dropped out to become agricultural labourers, who live as economic slaves in ricemills, who are care-takers of younger siblings, kitchen-help,etc. were to be motivated, given basic literacy and enrolled in regular school within three years. Currently, about 475 children are studying in Asha motivational centers and about 100 more in motivational centers from funds of like-minded organizations. These centers have been successful in enrolling 230 children in regular government school. Another 170 children are well on track to be enrolled next academic year.

All the eight centers visited are running well. Most centers are settling into a morning session taking care of young non-school-going children and an evening session for school-going children and older working children.

Next only to the enrollment of children, the identification and training of the teachers is a proud achievement of this effort. All teachers are dedicated and talented young girls from the Irula community. Teachers like Amulu and Sumathi who were as shy and reserved as the children two years ago have blossomed into energetic teachers who can talk on equal terms with outsiders. The teachers enjoy freedom in determining the timings of the classes based on seasonal needs and choosing the times to give snacks and food so that most number of children can benefit.

Though Asha and Bharathi Trust are not charity or welfare oriented groups, their acting as vehicles of the duty of the divine in providing food to half-starved children cannot be underestimated. All children attending these centers enjoy one full meals everyday except on Sundays. In addition, they are given snacks of boiled and sweetened grams and dates. The potted bellies, stick-like legs, open wounds, anemic eyes are not easily spotted as in the past. Instead one sees bright eyed, noisy, jumpy children eager to play and learn at these centres.

Though the centers are working only in 10 villages, the contagion of their positive accomplishment has spread throughout the district. There is now growing demand for such centers from the village leadership. More than 100 village-level Sarpam Sangams are ready to donate land and cooperate fully to building and maintaining motivational centers to bring education to children in their own villages.

During April-May 2002, teachers of motivational centers involved themselves in a cultural campaign for awareness of education in general, and enrollment in schools in particular. This program reached out to more than 100 villages, both Irula and non-Irula. This program is likely to be done every year around the same time with more comprehensive planning and training.

The motivational centers have brought together a team of enthusiasts who want to address deeper issues like how to make education creative, joyful and economically

relevant to the child. An education resource centre will work to find solutions to such

Record-keeping in the centers must begin. The teachers should maintain a register of all children studying in their centers. The biodata of the children including their family situation,their talents and progress must be maintained. This register must be updated

To help in maintaining this register, two-dimensional categorization can be used.

Went to school, dropped out, will take direct public exam at 8^th,10^th or 12^th

Teachers must make extract a list of children who need special attention(disabled, orphaned, working,etc.) and keep detailed, more frequent record of their progress.

In the initial two years, the centers did the right thing of focusing on younger children and getting them enrolled in regular school. At this time, however, about 130 children studying in these centers are lagging in that there is a good chance they may not be ready to join regular school by the end of this academic year. More than 100 of these are in the age group 12-15 years. Nearly half of these have been identified by name in this report. The centre must make a major shift of focus and put greater effort to motivate and special educate these older children.

The centre must also direct attention to solving individual difficulties, like convincing hesitant parents to send their girl child to regular school.

In the aforementioned category of children who are lagging, there are twice as many girls as boys. Taking girl children to schools requires more than coaching at the centre. Some ways to do this would be for the teachers to participate in village meetings and include the plight of girls like Venkatamma(Senjiagaram) and Murugamma(Tamaraikkuppam) in the agenda and demand village action. Cultural performances can be organized with dramas, songs to highlight the need for better treatment of girls in the Irula community.

Though the Irulas are happily devoid of Babas and Swamis who stalk the Hindu world, there is no dearth of superstitions amongst the Irulas. Belief in killer demons who need to be appeased, witchdoctors who put red-hot rod to cure a child of jaundice, seeing through a magic lamp to gather data about a disease are only a small part of these superstitions. The teachers should not encourage these superstitions, and should help the children question such blind beliefs.

Every village has a handful children who will gain a great deal by special help.

Firstly, there are children with disabilities like Prabha(Rasapalayam) and A.Enkayya(Kulathumedu) whose future is in jeopardy without special attention.

Secondly, we find children like Roja(Mullainagar) and Saranraj(Rajarattina Nagar) with high degree of self-motivation and commitment towards their community waiting

for some help and guidance at this crucial period of their lives. Asha and Bharathi Trust

should work out a plan like a support a child program to link up these children to donors desirous of providing longterm financial and moral support.

A teacher’s coordinator is needed. The coordinator should visit all schools on a periodic basis for review of progress, resolving problems, and act as a link person across different centers. One of the current teachers can be chosen. If this task is too difficult, then the coordination can be shared by two teachers. One from Uttukkottai taluk and one from Ponneri can share the work. They can spend one week per month to travel for coordination and the remaining three weeks teaching in their respecting centres, which must be both two teacher centres.

The teachers should have available some funds to be spent on their discretion, after approval in all-teacher meetings. Typical expenses that can be taken care of in this fashion would be enrollment-related like buying uniform, getting affidavit,etc.

Bharathi Trust Staff and teachers must interact with each other on a regular basis for mutual benefit and sharing of experiences and problems faced. Joint quarterly meetings(every 3 months) will be a step in this direction.

Since each staff member works in 40 villages, he/she is not able to address the specific needs of the centers effectively. A dedicated staff member (or equivalently taluk-level part-time worker) is needed to address centre-related non-educational issues.

In addition, visits by Asha volunteers to the centers and villages are always a matter of joy. Volunteers visiting or based in Chennai should spend time in the centers with the teachers and the children.

The abysmal quality of education in government schools, which determines the future of

9 of 10 children of our nation, is well known. Many educationists and activists are content to do little more than spend their long lives criticizing the dominant system. Neither we nor the Irulas have this luxury. However, since we send the children to these schools we at once become responsible to intervene in government schools to improve its quality and make it accountable to the community it serves.

By simply reducing the student-teacher ratio in government schools, there will be a

significant improvement in the quality of learning.Durgadevi and Rathi, teachers at Rajarattina Nagar, have already taken initiative in this direction by becoming volunteers in the neighbouring government primary school.

Can more of our teachers follow their cue and volunteer in government schools, can we place others as paid teachers, does the government school need infrastructural help, how should the community be trained to make schools accountable and cater to the special needs of its children.These are questions we must seek to answer in the coming years.

Shyamala’s training sessions and syllabus planning have played no small part in the quality of teaching as well as interaction with children one sees in the teachers.

Here are some suggestions on things the training sessions can train the teachers on.

In the last two years, the centers focused rightly on motivational and interaction-oriented activities like songs, games, dance, art and crafts work.While these should continue, there is need to shift emphasis towards the nitty-gritties of teaching the children to read and write fluently, to be able to do basic arithmetics,etc.

In all eight centers I visited I asked the children to read a sample story in Tamil and do basic arithmetics. The distribution of skills is similar across the centers. All children (above 6 years) recognize and can write the Tamil alphabets, most older children

are able to read words with some difficulty, but only very few non-school going children are able to read a sentence fluently. Similarly, the children need to be taught basic concepts like place value system before they can do addition and subtraction with understanding. The training sessions should focus on reviewing the basic concepts and on how they can be taught effectively to the children.

Special training should be given to teachers to help children join classes higher than

4^th Std as well as to help older children who want to take public exams without joining school.

Besides pedagogical training, the teachers must be trained on how to motivate children

When one hurdle is cleared, the next one looms large and assumes importance. In the villages with motivational centers, the next issue to deal with is income generation and employment-oriented training and activities. Villagers realize that without livelihood-oriented training, their children futures would be marginally better than theirs. Thus, there is great demand for income generation activities.

Gurumurthy, a commercial cloth-designer from Mumbai, has retired from business work and has dedicated himself to teaching his skills to the poor youth. He lives as one among the Irulas and is teaching the village youth basic tailoring with one machine. A little help and planning towards his efforts would be benefit many in learning this skill.

The villagers of Rajarattina nagar catch fish by hand. If they can be helped in buying nets(about rs.5000 per set) then their income generation would increase manifold. A scheme can be worked along the following lines so that everyone in the village can benefit. If external help to buy five sets of nets can be secured, then these nets kept under the Sarpam Sangam’s administration can be rented to villagers at a fixed price per day. The money accrued by renting can be used to buy more nets until there are enough nets to be given to all villagers.

Almost in all villages, there is wasteland that can be made into agricultural fields if irrigation facilities are arranged. Electric pump for drawing groundwater or from lakes is needed. Agencies that help in large-scale land development have to identified and financial help should be sought.

At the end of third year, the project must be reviewed and a detailed plan be made. The various activities linked with the centers may be developed into independent projects.

Motivational centers: New motivational centers can be started in new villages especially in new taluks which have expressed interest, have low literacy and enrollment rates, and a strong unified Irula Sarpam Sangam.

Enrollment Kalajathas and motivational camps: These can be enlarged into activities lasting two to three months, with some followup work, with a district-level outreach. This may be an effective way to reach places which cannot be reached with motivational centers.

Balwadi : The morning classes of current centers will have only small children and can be turned into balwadis and help sought from funding agencies, ICCW, panchayat to run these.

Evening tuition: School-going children will continue to need a few hours of evening tuition classes.

special coaching to join(or rejoin) higher classes(5^th Std and above) can be brought to

single location for intense coaching for a year or two. The teachers need special training for this purpose.

1 Almost all Irula villages remain attached to a village of caste Hindus under whom the Irulas work as agricultural labourers. This village is referred to as Oor or main village.

2 If religion is the opium of the masses, then television must be heroin.

3 Naga is rootword meaning cobra.

S.No	Village Name	Taluk	Teachers Name	Children Attending
1.	Elevambedu Erikkarai	Ponneri	Manohar, Bhavani	60
2.	Rajarattina nagar	Ponneri	Durgadevi, Rathi	75
3.	Kolathumedu	Ponneri	Amulu	66
4.	Mullainagar (Pallikuppam)	Ponneri	Usha, Sumathi	50
5.	Senjiagaram	Uttukkottai	Selvi	40
6.	Tamaraikuppam (Janganapalli)	Uttukkottai	Mariamma	60
7.	Kottankulam	Uttukkottai	S.Nirmala	50
8.	Rasapalayam	Uttukkottai	Devi	40