Back to School

Sharing their Story Boards...

2011-05-23T11:03:00.006+05:30

A little inspiration, some hand holding, some time spent together in discussion and few words of appreciation go a long long way!

This was proved again, when we introduced the children of the RT Nagar centre/ schools at NS Lanes to the concept of telling a story with simple stick figures. So many animated representations of people and objects are told in the most simple ways today and this observation came in handy. It just took pointing them to the zoo-zoos on tv, an xkcd.com comic strip or female sign on a rest room, to show them how simple human representation can be. And how when you de-focus on the aspect of representation, ideas flow more freely. Some of us are good at drawing, some of us can come up with whacky lines, some of us can get creative about a story line, some of us can speak to an audience of 100s, some manage time so well and some can just lead, but when most of us can just blend into a team, the integrated effort comes through in promising ways. That was the essence of this session.

Thanking the DSF team for helping the facilitation of this session, thanking the volunteers from PACE who spent some quality time with the children and thanking the children too for being so enthusiastic and infectiously so,...

... here are some pictures I gathered.

Warli Session @ DSF RT Nagar Centre

2010-11-05T09:47:00.008+05:30

Every tree in a forest has it's role to play; there's order in chaos; there's nature's own way of creating harmony and eco-systems.

How different is this from a diverse group of children each with their own intelligence? How difficult is it to orchestrate harmony? - My answer to the first - Not very. To the latter - Very very!

Here's a second experience of having a Warli art session with the children at DSF - ASLC at RT Nagar. Thanks to Arifa madam and Kavitha madam for the hospitality and the preparedness. I wanted the children to tell me what they thought of the sessions and while as always, every little intervention receives appreciation, here are some excerpts, I found interesting:

Raziya Sulthana [8th Std]: We all participated in the drawing and I drew a tree. She showed

us a tree in her laptop and we drew it like that. The class was very enjoyable. I want more art and craft classes.

Salma Khanum [8th Std]: She showed some pictures and asked us to draw a tree. There were many people, animals and birds around. She asked us to draw ourselves. She announced a prize for best drawing and I got the prize. I am feeling very good and nice. I like arts & crafts.

Ruksar Taranum [8th Std]: She asked us to draw any picture we are interested to do . She drew Dream School Foundation and asked us to stick our picture in it. We were all very interested. We enjoyed this class in the holidays.

Zabi [8th Std]: She gave us small chits of papers and asked us to draw our photo. Megha miss put the chart on the wall. We enjoyed and we learnt this art for the first time.

Nagma [8th Std]: She drew Maitri miss and Sabu sir and stuck the pictures on the chart. She announced a prize for the best drawing. I like this subject about art. We will never forget this class. We shared it with family and friends.

Glad these children had fun during this session in October and hope they're having an enjoyable and safe Deepavali as well!

P.S "She' refers to me :)

Summer Volunteer 2010

2010-09-07T03:05:00.009+05:30

This summer when I (Stuyvesant High School '11, New York) came to India to volunteer with DSF for three weeks, I arrived with more of an idea of what to expect, and how to approach the teaching style. Last summer I had volunteered in the same school, the Rajajinagar Government School, for a shorter period of time, and during that time I became familiar with the environment of the school and its English level. To read about my 2009 experiences, you can visit: http://dreamschoolforum.blogspot.com/2009/10/seeing-india-in-new-light-summer.html.

When I arrived in July with my friend Lily (Stuyvesant High School '10, New York), we came with ideas for interactive and fun lessons for teaching the students conversational English. And I also came with one other objective in mind: to teach the kids how to read. Last year, lesson after lesson I saw the students mindlessly copy words into their notebooks and recite their meanings, but the pronunciation of each written word came straight from memorization, not phonics. While I understand the importance of conversational English (the most practical application of English for them), I thought it was equally important for them to learn how to read so they could better understand their lessons and read signs they see all around them.

Being able to teach the same classes that I had done last year was very exciting. When I walked into the school on the first day, I was elated to see so many kids rush to me and say Hello Shilpa Ma’am. The classrooms were freshly painted and there was some construction taking place, but other than that, not much had changed.

We were teaching the 5th and 6th standards, and to get them to learn how to read, our first lesson was phonics of all the different letters in the English alphabet. Most students picked it up very quickly, however, the teaching was a challenge because students were at very different levels from one another. Some students picked up their phonics within 20 minutes and others were still struggling to identify their ABCs. In the middle of our three weeks there we decided to split the classroom into two groups, one of them more advanced than the other, so we could increase the pace of teaching.

Overall the reading lessons went over very well. We started with the sounds of letters and different letters that go together, and eventually we started writing simple words and combinations of letters on the board so the students could put the sounds together. In the final week I took some select students who were doing very well in their reading aside to read a Dr. Seuss book with me. It was very exciting to see the amount most students had progressed in the three weeks we were there. The classroom setting also fostered a friendly competition and students wanted to be able to do as much as their classmates so they would also help each other with the studies as well as with communicating with me and Lily when language proved to be a barrier.

Aside from reading, we also had many interactive lessons that helped the students in conversational English. At the end of their two weeks they each made an About Me book out of colored paper, and within it they asked questions (such as How Many Brothers and Sisters Do I Have?) and answered them with pictures to supplement their answers. When they had all finished their books, we took them outside and they each presented their project to the entire class. We also taught them about the different states of weather, and every day they would tell us what type of day it was. We had them make drawings of the different types of weather and write out sentences describing what they had drawn. Because this was earlier in the three weeks, some understood what they were writing, while others didn’t.

Outside of the classroom I got to know the students well too. We would sometimes arrive early and play with the students, and they taught me some of the games they play (like kabaddi, and a game that is like the American version of Hopscotch). One student would, every morning, look at my watch (an analog) and then look at Lily’s watch (a digital) and then look at his own watch (a digital) to make sure that the times matched up, and then in English would report to us what time it was. Another student would show us different things that he found and we would teach him the English words for them so he knew. It was good to know that the students felt comfortable with us because they knew that we had energy and enthusiasm, as well as a lax attitude to teaching.

On the last day we asked each student to make a drawing of what he or she wanted to be when he or she grows up. As the culminating lesson, we felt that this really lets the kids open up and be creative. While some students copied what their neighbors were doing because they liked the idea of it, others said things like they want to be a teacher, a policeman, an artist, a singer, a dancer, a pilot, and even an astronaut. When we were leaving they all asked me if I would come back soon.

Outside of teaching in Rajajinagar, Lily and I also had the opportunity to teach in a computer lab in a government school in R.T. Nagar. The computer lab was sponsored by the government, but was hardly being used because there weren't any teachers experienced beyond the applications Microsoft Paint and Microsoft Word. We were very excited about teaching computers, however, this did not work out as planned because of the recurring power failures.

Lily and I were able to visit DSF’s rural center and see the rural schools that DSF sponsors. It was a unique experience having had little exposure to villages in India. The schools in the village were very nicely painted, and the students were very welcoming. In one of the schools that we visited, some of the students performed the dance that they had practiced for the DSF annual day. In another school, the younger students sang English rhymes that they knew.

The three weeks that I spent this year at the Rajajinagar school and with DSF were amazing and unforgettable, and as I promised the kids at Rajajinagar, next time I go to Bangalore I will surely go visit. A special thanks to Maitreyee and Bhagya for making it happen and assisting us in our time there, as well as the Rajajinagar school, for welcoming us and letting us teach there. And thanks to the staff of DSF – I hope to be back in Bangalore soon!

Shilpa Agrawal

Generation Next: Rain Water Harvesting Workshop

2010-09-01T12:55:00.000+05:30

Generation Next: Rain Water Harvesting Workshop

Nelemangala, July 2010

Project Background

Sackhumvit Trust and Dream School Foundation (DSF) have collaborated to develop rain water harvesting (RWH) at government schools associated with DSF’s Holistic School Development Program (HSDP) . Several of these schools are situated in peri-urban locations that are burdened with an inadequate or unsustainable supply of water. More importantly, these schools have basic RWH facilities in place from the Karnataka state government’s scheme, Suvarna Jala (2007). This infrastructure, however, has deteriorated overtime due to a lack of community ownership. Examples include poor quality engineering and construction of RWH facilities, poor maintenance or theft of key structural items (i.e. piping, taps, filters, water sump, etc.), and limited awareness amongst school members about the use and maintenance of RWH . Sackhumvit Trust and DSF are interested in reviving RWH at these schools through investing in pending infrastructure requirements, and raising awareness on how to effectively utilize and maintain this resource.

Sackhumvit Trust and DSF hired HINREN Technologies Pvt. Ltd. (“HINREN”) to build RWH facilities at a higher-primary government school in Nelamangala (Nursapura Ramanagar District, Magadi Taluk, Solur Hobli). While the Higher-Primary Government School has basic RWH facilities in place from Suvarna Jala, this structure is incomplete and dysfunctional; lacking sufficient piping, a filtration system, and an adequately sealed water sump. Moreover, the school is burdened by a severe water crisis as its local borewell is completely dry, compelling staff and students to walk 10-15 minutes to collect water from the closest functioning borewell. The school is unable to provide potable water for its students, who must carry their own drinking water to school.

HINREN technologies completed construction of RWH facilities at the Higher-Primary Government School on May 25th, 2010. The construction was completed just in time for the school to harvest rain during the monsoon seasons.

RWH Workshop

Sackhumvit Trust and DSF also organized workshop on July 9th, 2010 at the Higher-Primary Government School to raise awareness amongst teachers and students about the benefits and maintenance of RWH. The workshop was conducted by Mr. Sunil from HINREN, who discussed the importance of RWH, and how to maintain the RWH facilities recently constructed at the school. He also shared interesting facts such as how many liters of rain water can be collected based on the surface area of the school’s roof. Mr. Sunil performed a drinking-water quality test, and explained how to purify harvested rainwater so that it is potable.

The workshop was well-attended with a total of five school staff and 30 students participating in the program. Teachers at the Higher-Primary Government School, who had earlier expressed that they knew very little about RWH, found the session to be informative and practical. During the workshop, Mr. Sunil worked out a schedule with students who divided various maintenance responsibilities amongst themselves, such as flushing out stagnant water in the collection pipes, and cleaning the roof once every two weeks an the water sump once every quarter. The main discussion points of the workshop are summarized in the following sections.

Benefits of RWH

RWH is the accumulation and storage of rain water. RWH can be used to provide drinking water and water for live stock, irrigation, and water to refill aquifers in a process called ground water recharging. Rain water can be collected from the roofs of houses and other types of buildings, or from water sheds (generally found in rural communities). In some cases, rain water may be the only available and economical water source for a community. Household rainfall catchment systems are simple to construct, relatively inexpensive, and are successful at most locations with average rainfall greater than 200mm/year. Roof rainwater is generally of good quality and may not require treatment before consumption, as long as the roof is regularly cleaned. However some rooftop materials may produce rainwater that is harmful to human health. Acid rain is generally not a problem for countries located in the sub-tropics, close to the equator, as the circulation of air prevents the concentration of air pollutants.

Maintenance of RWH

1. Clean the school roof thoroughly one every 15 days.

2. Clean the water tank once in 3 months, and keep the tank closed tight. The water sump should not be exposed to any sunlight or dust, and should be sealed air tight.

3. Flush the tap everyday in the morning to clear dirty and stagnant water stored in the collection pipes.

4. Change the coal in the filter once in two years, as dust particles can settle on the coal and will eventually contaminate harvested rainwater.

Calculation of Rainwater Collected from the School’s Roof

The school’s roof measure 80 square feet * 20 square feet

80*20 = 160 * 20 liters of rainwater per square foot per day of heavy rain.

= 3,200 – 10% of water waste.

= 3,200 – 320

= 2,880 liters

RWH Testing

An important aspect of RWH quality testing is to determine bacteria contamination. Bacteria can develop if water is exposed to contaminants (such as dust found in the water sump or roof), and adequate sunlight and air. For this reason, RWH sumps are often sealed to avoid light exposure and are regularly cleaned. Nonetheless, it is important to regularly test harvested rain water for the presence of bacteria, especially if RWH is being used to collect potable water. Mr. Sunil advised teachers and students to clean the school’s roof once every 15 days, and the water sump once quarter. He also encouraged them to test for the presence of bacteria in harvested rain water once every quarter while cleaning the water sump.

The H2S Strip Test is a ready-to-use, simple device that measures the presence of bacteria by detecting the presence of hydrogen sulphide (H2S), a chemical produced by bacteria during decomposition of organic material. The test involves a sterilized paper strip treated with Agar base. This compound is manufactured in a lab with some food particles and proteins, and is then stored in a sterilized glass bottle. Upon filling the glass bottle with a water sample from the water sump, store the bottle for 24-48 hours at room temperature (25-37 degrees Celsius). If bacteria are present in the water sample, they will produce H2S during their decomposition of the paper strip, which turns the water sample black in color. This means that harvested rain water is not potable and hence students and teachers should not drink this water.

Features of H2S Strip Test Kit

1. Ready-to-use: The water sample (20 ml) from the source can be directly placed into the glass bottle. The paper strip in the bottle is already coated with the Agar base, so no further preparation and sterilization of the glass bottle is required. The water sample does not need to be treated before placed into the sterilized glass bottle. The bacteria test can therefore be conducted directly at the water source (i.e. at the water sump).

2. Simplicity: The H2S strip test–kit is so simple to use that anyone can perform its water-quality test. For the reason it is most suited for rural locations where there is inadequate infrastructure and resource persons to conduct a thorough laboratory test.

3. Economical: The H2S strip test–kit is very economical, as it does not require laboratory services and the materials for the test-kit are readily available and cost-effective.

4. Portability: The H2S strip test–kit is made up of glass, light in weight, and easy to carry anywhere.

Disposable: The H2S strip test–kit can be easily disposed after use.

5. Confidence: The H2S strip test–kit’s results are reliable, meaningful and reproducible.

6. Illustrative Direction: The H2S strip test–kit includes easy-to-follow, illustrative directions on how to use the kit.

Mr. Sunil left ten sets of the H2S strip test–kits with the Higher-Primary Government School. This would enable them to regularly test the quality of harvested rainwater to determine if it is suitable for drinking purposes.

How to purify the water?

If the rain water in the H2S glass bottle turns black, the water is not fit for drinking. In such case, take an empty, clean, and transparent plastic bottle and fill it half-way with harvested rain water. Place the plastic bottle on a flat roofing steel sheet, as shown the picture. Leave the bottle under the sun for three to four hours. This will kill any bacteria that are present in the water, and the water will be ready to drink. Alternatively, harvested rainwater can be made potable by boiling the water.

DSF Summer Camp - Field Trip to the Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium and Karnataka State Level Energy Park

2010-06-04T17:18:00.000+05:30

Field Trip to the

Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium and Karnataka State Level Energy Park

May 13, 2010

Introduction

Sackhumvit Trust and Dream School Foundation (DSF) organized a one-day outing for high school students at Govt. PU College to the Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium (JNP) and Karnataka State Level Energy Park (KSLEP) on 13th May 2010.This event was organized as part of DSF’s summer camp programme and a total of 68 students participated in the day’s activities. The objective of the field trip was for students to learn about the solar system and recent innovations and applications of renewable energy.

Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium (JNP)

JNP was founded by the Bangalore City Corporation in 1989. Later in 1992, the administration of the planetarium was entrusted to an autonomous body, the Bangalore Association for Science Education (BASE). BASE is devoted to the dissemination of science among the public and the student community. In addition to its famous planetarium, JNP also includes a science park and centre where visitors can explore some applications of science in a natural and playful manner. Fascinating models are on display such as models of DNA, resonant swings, whispering dishes, sun dials, kaleidoscopes, and a model of the polar satellite launching vehicle.

None of DSF’s students had been to such an interactive science park where they could develop their minds while participating in their favorite pass time—playing!! Students were refreshed and inspired by their experience at JNP, thus highlighting the endless possibilities to engage youth with science through hands-on and child-centered teaching methods.

Rain Water Harvesting (RWH)

JNP also included a demonstration of RWH, which some of DSF’s students could immediately relate to based on their prior field trip to the Karnataka State Council of Science and Technology in October 2009. Ayyanar, a 10th standard student who is particularly passionate about working with his hands to create innovative machines and models, explained how to harvest rain water in paved vs. unpaved areas as demonstrated by the RWH facilities at JNP. He even discussed the purpose of a recharging pit, where harvested rain water is stored underground to restore our ground water supply.

Solar System Show

At the planetarium, students participated in a thirty minute programme which showcased wonderful images captured by the Hubble Space Telescope from a height of about 575 kilometers above the Earth’s surface. The programme discusses some of the landmark discoveries about the universe based on observations of the space telescope. It is a fascinating tour of the cosmos, briefly halting at various galaxies such as the Milky Way Galaxy.

The programme begins with an introduction to the night sky, identifying the planets, stars and constellations. The twelve constellations in the zodiacal belt enable us to observe, study and formulate the motions of planets. Man’s understanding of the universe has undergone a sea of change since the advent of telescopes followed by space probes. The programme has liberal sprinkling of visuals as captured by these scientific instruments. The formation of solar system, including the sun, is also discussed. The programme includes many animations. Most interestingly, the programme examines our own position, the existence and significance of life on Earth, relative to the vast realm of the cosmos.

After the solar system show, the students toured an exhibition of books, science kits, models, telescopes, photos, etc., all concerning astronomy. There was a weighing scale that shows one's weight on all the planets based on their respective forces of gravity, and gives a print-out for the cost of Rs. 5/- It goes without saying that all of our students at DSF participated in this activity with great enthusiasm!.

Karnataka State Level Energy Park (KSLEP)

It is indeed impossible to imagine our lives, planet, and universe without energy. Energy is omnipresent in various forms from anywhere to everywhere, and from anybody to everybody. It doesn’t matter how young or old we are, we all need to understand and appreciate the various forms and sources of energy that factor into our lives. KSLEP was established with exactly this objective in mind; providing information about renewable energy through various interactive exhibits. Spreading over eight acres, this is a space for Action, Interaction, Invention and Exploration that adds a refreshing dimension to the urban buzz of Bangalore city.Students observed various models at KSLEP, but most impressive was a solar house entirely constructed from bamboo. The house had the following facilities fully powered by solar energy:

• Six11-watt lights.

• Two high efficiency ceiling fans working for six to seven hrs/day.

• One refrigerator working for 24 hrs/day.

• One 21”colour TV operating for five to six hrs/day.

• One P4 computer, multimedia with internet facility working for six hrs/day.

In addition to the solar house, students also observed a solar swimming pool, battery and solar-powered cars, an energy generating slip and drum, a parabolic and box-type solar cooker, a wind-powered water pump, a solar-powered water heating system, and many other structures. Students also participated in various computer-based energy quizzes and games, which enabled them to review various concepts of renewable energy.

Conclusion

Overall, the field trip was jam packed with fun and educational activities. DSF’s students had a wonderful time exploring the realm of science through hands-on applications ranging from a tour of the solar system to learning how to manifest alternative, eco-friendly sources of energy. At the end of the day, students collected a wealth of information to share with their friends and family. It was extremely satisfying to observe their excitement and enthusiasm to participate in the day’s activities, explore new concepts, and to share their experience with others.

Folk Art Workshop - Apr 26, 27 (2010)

2010-05-07T13:57:00.008+05:30

It had been a while since I met my buddies at the DSF after-school centre in Yeshwantpur. While every time the children are either entirely a different set or partially so, the fact that remains constant is the excitement about any interaction outside of a class room setting. I did have to play "the teacher" to some extent in curbing their over-enthusiasm, but I mostly curbed my own senses to maintain the respected discipline! This workshop was meant for the children to learn from their own experiences and imagination than from my personal notes :)

I would like to believe that it did succeed to some extent, and the best testimony being these works we managed to create -

This one being a team effort, where we had each participant create a little warli man / woman so we could create the dancing ring:

Anjum and I worked on this piece, mostly Anjum did all the hard work. And this work has already received kudos from several fellow DSF members and friends. She's had many a pat on the back, the most rewarding of which are those pats coming from her peers! Anjum is also very good with making the mehndi patterns and has a commendable eye for precision, consistency and detail!

The first day of this workshop was quite a challenge. What the children most enjoyed was skipping the wordy slides to just see pieces of work projected on the ceiling. And yet even as they lay on their backs, were wow-ed by images from Pithora, Saora,Chittara and Warli Art, some of them couldn't relate to this kind of art. "Why draw people like this?" - a girl came and asked me :) ... that was my chance to imprint the values, such folk art call for - simple, secular monochromes that depict that communities work well when they work together with the strongest building blocks being - respect for each other and respect for nature

This is one piece of art I worked on for my slides to add value through simple folk art -

I look forward to more such interactions and thank My3 and Sabu for encouraging me to conduct these sessions. And I hope the children enjoyed working as a team :) -

More pictures from the sessions follow:

Generation Next: CLEAN-India Water Testing

2010-03-24T10:17:00.000+05:30

Generation Next: CLEAN-India Water Testing

February 2010

Introduction

Development Alternatives is a non-government organization that manages the Community-Led Environment Action Network, “CLEAN-India”. The objective of this campaign is to develop a cleaner environment for towns and cities starting with activism at school communities. This nation-wide programme targets environmental assessment, awareness, advocacy and action, all of which is spearheaded by school students. Starting from individuals, households to communities, villages and towns, students are encouraged to make their voices heard, anxieties understood and concerns translated into action for a cleaner environment.

One of the main activities for CLEAN-India’s environmental assessment phase is the testing of air pollution and water contamination at local schools. CLEAN-India works with students to test for air and water quality at regular intervals throughout the year to determine whether action needs to be taken to improve the school environment. The experiments are also effective at educating students about environmental issues through hands-on experience.

Sackhumvit Trust partnered with CLEAN-India in August 2009 to conduct air pollution testing with government school students associated with Dream School Foundation’s (DSF) Yeshwantpur and R.T. Nagar’s education and development centres. The sessions were well-received, as most students had never participated in a science experiment involving chemicals and lab equipment. Students were also sensitized to the sources and prevalence of air pollution in Bangalore city, and the negative health-affects that air pollution can cause.

Based on the positive student response to CLEAN-India’s air pollutionexperiments, Sackhumvit Trust organized a series of water testing workshops with Ms. Shalini from CLEAN-India in February 2010. Our objective was to educate students about the necessary parameters for safe drinking-water and the main sources for water pollution. We also wanted to encourage hands-on learning by enabling students to conduct science experiments where they apply concepts learned at school.

Student Participants

This time around, Sackhumvit Trust expanded our outreach and organized this workshop on-site at two schools in R.T. Nagar, Bangalore: R.T. Nagar Govt. P.U. College (8th-9th standards) and Almubark Primary and Girl’s English High School (6-10th standards). Sackhumvit Trust also conducted the workshops for 8th-9th standard students enrolled at DSF’s R.T. Nagar and Yeshwantpur after-school tutorial programs.

The workshop was very popular at the local schools with an average turnout of 150 students each session! While the large audience is a strong indicator of the demand for such extra-curricular activities on-campus at low-income area schools, it would have been ideal to work with a smaller group so that the sessions could be more interactive and participatory. This was apparent at DSF’s education and development centres where the average group size was 20 students per session, thus enabling each and every student to participate in the science experiments and engage in dialogue with Ms. Shalini.

Water Testing Experiment

Jal-TARA Portable Water Testing Kits is one of CLEAN-India’s key program tools. The kit can be used to perform basic tests to ensure water portability. It is an effective tool that enables students to put into practice the theoretical aspects of chemistry that are learned in the classroom. This empowers students to learn more about the quality of the environment and use their findings to create or demand solutions. The kit can test 14 essential parameters for drinking-water and river-water quality. The tests are broadly classified as physical, chemical, and biological.

• Physical: pH, Temperature and Turbidity.
• Chemical: Fluoride, Chloride, Residual Chlorine, Hardness, Iron, Phosphate, Ammonia, Nitrate and Dissolved Oxygen.

• Biological: Coliform Bacteria and Benthic Diversity.

Ms. Shalini commenced each workshop with a discussion of water bodies on Earth, the scarcity of fresh water sources, and the severe water shortages faced by communities across India. She then explored the various contaminants of water (as listed above), and the negative side-effects associated with each. Some pertinent examples include how the presence of nitrates in drinking-water (above a certain threshold) can cause “blue baby syndrome.” Similarly, fluoride can lead to the deterioration of one’s teeth and skeletal structure, and e-coli bacteria can cause acute water-borne diseases. Students also learned the implications of water hardness: that the presence of magnesium, calcium, etc., ions in water can leave deposits in water piping systems resulting in blockages and bursting.

Ms. Shalini distinguished between parameters for drinking-water and that for surface bodies of water. For example, parameters such as Dissolved Oxygen, Benthic Diversity, and Turbidity are more important when testing for the water quality of lakes and rivers than drinking-water, as these factors are critical to the survival of aquatic life.

Following the discussion, Ms. Shalini invited students to conduct a series of water tests concerning the above parameters. Water samples came from the tap and bore-wells of each school. At DSF’s Yeshwantpur and R.T. Nagar centres, students also brought water samples from their homes. Ms. Shalini covered all experiments with the exception of testing for nitrate and iron levels, which required a heating appliance that most schools and centres did not have. These tests were conducted, however, at DSF’s Yeshwantpur centre, which had a gas stove on-site and student were thrilled to execute the additional activities. The experiments were effective at re-enforcing the importance of testing water quality prior to consumption, and Ms. Shalini made sure to link each activity with points covered during her discussion.

Although not directly applicable, students also conducted the tests for surface water bodies (i.e. turbidity) using their drinking-water samples. Overall, students enjoyed conducting the experiments—especially those involving the observation of color changes and titrations (most students were not familiar with this lab procedure).

Conclusion

Each workshop concluded with a brief revision of what students and learned and enjoyed the most. The Headmistresses of R.T. Nagar P.U.College and Almubark Primary and High Schools were grateful to

Ms. Shalini, and requested that she return to conduct CLEAN-India's air pollution experiment. Sackhumvit Trust would like to thank Ms. Shalini from CLEAN-India in helping us organize this event. We are also grateful to DSF for enabling us to work with students at its education and development centres, and for putting us in touch with local schools that would be interested in this activity.

Generation Next: Lalbagh Flower Show

2010-03-24T10:14:00.001+05:30

Generation Next: Lalbagh Flower Show

January 24, 2010

Introduction

Sackhumvit Trust organized a field visit to Lalbagh for Dream School Foundation’s (DSF) HeadStart students at R.T. Nagar’s education and development centre. The objective of the field trip was for students to learn about the variety of flowers, trees, and agricultural produce available in Karnataka, to explore the sites of Lalbagh while learning about the history of the botanical gardens, and to partake in celebrations of India’s Republic Day (January 26th 2010).

Field Trip Details

A significant component of the field trip involved students learning about the history and landmarks of Lalbagh, which spans a total of 240 acres in southern Bangalore. The garden was commissioned in the 18th century by the prevailing ruler of Mysore, Hyder Ali, and was later completed by his son, Tipu Sultan. Hyder Ali designed the garden according to landscapes of the Mughal Gardens. Tipu Sultan further developed the garden by importing trees and plants from several countries like Persia, Afghanistan and France. Over the years, Lalbagh has acquired new features such as India's first lawn-clock, and the subcontinent's largest collection of rare plants. Today the garden has trees that are over 100 years old.

All the students were excited to attend Lalbagh’s flower show at the Glass House; a bi-annual event that celebrates India’s Independence and Republic Days. Ayyanar, a 9th standard student from a Tamil-Medium government high school at R.T. Nagar, was particularly inspired by the flower displays, as he grows flowers and designs similar arrangements as a hobby. The largest display at the flower show was a model of the Qutub Minar made of different color roses. Students were amazed that such a large structure could be made from flowers alone, and some of them even commented on how all of these flowers would eventually go to waste!

After the flower show, students explored the remaining sites at Lalbagh. They visited the HMT flower clock, which is seven meters long in diameter. The students walked around Lalbagh Lake (where they noticed various flora and fauna in the lotus pond) and the rose garden. Students also observed the 20 million year old tree fossil at Lalbagh. This was followed by a discussion of how fossils are dated by the chemical process of radioactive decay; a topic covered in the 10th standard chemistry syllabus of students. Students enjoyed visiting the famous elephant apple tree of Lalbagh, and posed for group pictures under Lalbagh’s tallest tree and famous silk cotton tree.

In the middle of the field trip, students took a break to run and play in the gardens, and take in their beautiful surroundings. Several students discussed how the trees at Lalbagh, most of which are hundreds of years old, are important historical artifacts. This was followed by an active discussion on how more than 40,000 trees will be felled in Bangalore (including trees at Lalbagh!) due to road widening schemes and the construction of the Bangalore Metro.

The field visit concluded with a visit to Kempe Gowda tower, where students viewed Bangalore’s cityscape atop a hill made from 3,000 million year old Peninsular Gneissic rocks! They also visited the Lalbagh nursery where students purchased plants and vegetable seedlings to grow at home.

Conclusion
Overall DSF’s HeadStart students enjoyed their visit to Lalbagh, with many of them requesting to come back and visit the gardens soon. Their genuine interest in Lalbagh’s history and natural sites was inspiring, so much so that students enthusiastically purchased seedlings to create their own, yet smaller version, of the botanical gardens at home. Sackhumvit Trust would like to thank DSF for enabling us to work with their HeadStart students as part of our environmental education program. We are happy to share this resource with organizations and school communities dedicated to the education of underprivileged youth.

ANZ Bank: Road Safety Awareness Workshops

2010-03-24T10:12:00.000+05:30

ANZ Bank: Road Safety Awareness Workshops

January 18-21, 2010

ANZ Bank (Australia New Zealand Bank) is the largest Australian bank in Asia with over 170 years of banking experience and six million customers worldwide. ANZ Bank operates a software division in Bangalore, India, along with a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) division.

In support of the Government of India’s Road Safety campaign in January 2010, ANZ’s CSR division wanted to promote road safety practices amongst local school communities in Bangalore. Mr. Ajay, an Associate Manager at ANZ CSR’s division, organized five volunteers from ANZ to facilitate workshops on road safety awareness at secondary high schools from January 18th-21st 2010. With the help of Sackhumvit Trust and Dream School Foundation, ANZ conducted this program at four government/government-aided schools in R.T. Nagar, Yeshwantpur, and Rajajinagar, Bangalore. The schools and number of participants in each workshop are detailed below:

Govt. Higher School, Rajajinagar, Bangalore (44)
Bapu School, Yeshwantpur, Bangalore (53)
R.T. Nagar Govt. PU College, R.T. Nagar, Bangalore (65)
Almubark Primary Girl’s English High School, R.T. Nagar, Bangalore (73)

ANZ Bank was keen to work with high school students at government schools for this programme, as these students often walk on the streets independently, ride bicycles, rely on public transportation, and transport their younger siblings to and from school. According to the Government of India’s Road Safety campaign, over one lakh people die every year due to road traffic accidents, and road accidents are one of the leading causes of death amongst children in India.

The workshop primarily focused on interpretation of road signs and best-practices while driving and/or walking on streets. It was explained to students that while the majority of them do not drive cars, an understanding of road signs is still important for pedestrians and cyclists. Students also learned best practices for crossing the road as a pedestrian, and key hand signals while riding a bicycle.

The students participated enthusiastically during the workshops, with most of them expressing that they had learned something constructive. ANZ volunteers encouraged students to share this knowledge with their peers and families, so as to increase awareness on road safety.

Due to time constraints, however, it was not feasible to incorporate a practical component to the workshop, where students could have observed road signs and safety practices on the streets surrounding their school under supervision of workshop facilitators. Such a dimension would have made the workshop more interactive and participatory.

Sackhumvit Trust is grateful for the opportunity to bring together volunteers from ANZ Bank with the various school communities associated with Dream School Foundation. We hope this is the beginning of a long-term partnership that increases the cooperation of private and civil society volunteers with non-profits and government schools serving underprivileged students.

Generation Next: Fun with Light!

2010-03-24T10:08:00.001+05:30

Generation Next: Fun with Light!

November - December 2009

While conducting our Ozone module with 9th standard students at Dream School Foundation’s (DSF) education and development centres, we recognized a lot of parallels between this unit and their science chapter on Light. Sackhumvit Trust and our volunteers organized a series of experiments to facilitate students in understanding this topic as part of our Generation Next program.

One of the first things we realized was that the 9th standard science textbook immediately jumps into an analysis of how light interacts with lenses, without explaining what light is. When asked for their ideas, students shouted out words such as “energy”, “the sun”, etc. While correct, our first objective was to deepen student’s understanding of light and its importance to our daily lives. This was made possible largely due to a unique presentation prepared by Professor N. Chandrasekaran on the concept of light and its applications, which served as the foundation for the initial part of this program.

Students examined the wave and particle theory of light, and learned about the discovery of photons. We then reviewed the entire electromagnetic spectrum where students learned about the relationship between wavelength, frequency, and energy, as well as the various uses/roles of the energy the Earth receives from the sun. A useful activity sheet for this topic came from the United Nations Environmental Programme’s (UNEP) High Sky: Ozonaction Education Pack for Secondary Schools. Students had to piece together a puzzle of the entire electromagnetic spectrum based on clues on the use/importance of each type of radiation along with their respective wavelengths and frequencies.

Following this, students focused on a specific section of the electromagnetic spectrum: visible light. Here students learned about the role that light plays in coloring everything we see in the world. Many of them were boggled by the idea that our experience of the world is essentially a matrix, with photons of light registering in our eye to create what we see. Students reviewed the primary colors (red, green, and blue) and how combining these colors will create almost any other color. They found it interesting that the old name for computer monitors (RGB monitors) is based on the fact that they use the primary colors to generate images on the screen.

This was followed by an experiment called “Colors by Addition”, where students used three torch lights (each covered with red, blue, or green filter paper), to create various combinations of colors. Students noticed that when all three torches are superimposed on each other, they create white—hence white is made up of all the colors in the visible spectrum.

After completing “Colors by Addition,” it was only logical that we explore “Colors by Subtraction.” Here students learned how we see colors not by their reflection, but by their absorption! It was explained that this mainly applies to inks, dyed cloth, and other materials that are not a light source, yet give off color. We see these items mainly because of the visible wavelengths that they do not absorb, i.e. we see the radiation that is left over after they have absorbed or subtracted certain radiation.

This concept was illustrated by a simple experiment where students mixed different colors of paint. For example:

•Magenta (a combination of blue and red, with all other colors being absorbed) mixed with

•Yellow (a combination of red and green, with all other colors being absorbed)

creates the color red, because the blue and green wavelengths get absorbed. Students found this concept harder to grasp than “Colors by Addition,” but nonetheless enjoyed predicting what colors they would create from various combination of paints.

As a primer to the textbook discussion on light and lenses, we covered one last concept of light. This is the various ways in which light can interact with an object: transmission, absorption, reflection, scattering, and refraction. As we already covered the concept of reflection and absorption in terms of seeing color, students readily picked up these concepts. To further illustrate the concept of reflection, students built their own kaleidoscopes and periscopes using the reflective properties of mirrors. This activity was a big hit amongst students, with most of them requesting to take their inventions home.

For the remaining processes, we conducted simple experiments to explain what they meant.

For transmission, students observed a piece of glass and how the can see perfectly through it, hence demonstrating how light passes directly through an object without any change.

For scattering, we conducted a simple experiment where a red laser beam shines through a clear glass filled with water. Students then observed how adding drops of milk causes the laser beam to transform into a fireball of light at the beginning of the glass, instead of passing through the water as a straight line. It was explained that the fat solubles in milk scatter light, hence creating a fireball affect. It was also explained that reading the content of a poster, paper, etc., from any viewpoint is the result of scattering. In this case, light is not reflected as this would make the object appear bright and shiney like a mirror.

Lastly, students learned that refraction is similar to transmission except that it involves the bending of light as it passes through an object. This was demonstrated through a simple experiment where students observed how a straw appears to bend when placed in a glass of water. Examples of real-life objects that refract light include diamonds and prisms.

The remainder of this module focused on the use of lenses. Students learned the definition of lens as a transparent material with generally two (or more) curved surfaces that refract light. They learned how light is refracted for both concave and convex lenses, as well as terminology covered in their textbooks—such as focal point and length, optic centre, principal axis, radii of curvature, etc. Students learned that convex lenses magnify objects because they converge light rays, whereas concave lenses minimize objects because they diverge light rays. This was demonstrated by using a water droplet to magnify the text on a newspaper, and looking through convex and concave lenses purchased from a science lab store. Students also learned the meaning of a virtual focal point and how this applies to the image created by a concave lens. In fact, students were able to measure the virtual focal point of a concave lens by devising an experiment of their own!

Lastly, to conclude the unit, we discussed the various uses of lenses in our daily lives. Students mentioned how lenses are used to make cameras, binoculars, microscopes, and telescopes. They enjoyed a presentation, also prepared by Professor Chandrasekaran, on magnifying powers, which showed a view from the world from the largest possible distance (outer space) to the closest possible distance (inside the cells of a leaf). This presentation beautifully illustrated the ability of lenses (and light) to guide our vision and overall experience of the world!

Overall, students enjoyed the activity-based nature of this program. Moreover, they easily picked up concepts in their textbooks once they were supplemented with hands-on activities. This ranges from understanding the meaning of light and the role it plays in our daily lives, to realizing what a convex or concave lens looks like and can do! Education ultimately boils down to making the subject matter accessible and engaging to our students, and we hope to have accomplished this here. Sackhumvit Trust would like to thank DSF for enabling us to conduct these lessons as part of its after-school tutorial program at the Yeshwantpur and R.T. Nagar education and development centres. Sackhumvit Trust is happy to share these resources with other schools and organizations dedicated to the education of underprivileged youth.

Generation Next: Ozone Module

2010-03-24T09:55:00.000+05:30

Generation Next: Ozone Module

November – December 2009

Sackhumvit Trust completed a module on ozone depletion with 9th standard students associated with Dream School Foundation’s (DSF). Sackhumvit Trust conducted this module as part of an after-school tutorial program offered at DSF’s academic resource centres in Yeshwantpur and R.T. Nagar. This module is the second in a series focusing on environmental issues associated with urbanization.

Ozone Module Learning Objectives

Sackhumvit Trust utilized materials from the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) for this module. UNEP has created a series of worksheets, activities, comic books, and videos based on the fictional character, Ozzy Ozone, to educate youth on the sources and consequences of ozone depletion. The module started with a cartoon video illustrating how ozone depletion enables U.V. radiation to reach the Earth’s surface and harm human-beings. The video was effective at drawing student’s attention to the importance of ozone depletion, and students were quickly attracted to the character of Ozzy Ozone.

The video was followed by a series of worksheets and activities included in UNEP’s High Sky: Ozonaction Education Pack for Secondary Schools. Students learned about the layers of the atmosphere, and their specific properties and roles in fostering life on Earth. Students studied the ozone layer in greater detail, and how its dramatic thinning, especially over Antarctica, has been coined as the ‘Ozone Hole.’ Students then studied the chemical properties of ozone. This was useful in explaining how ozone absorbs and reflects U.V. radiation to prevent it from reaching the Earth’s surface. It was explained that U.V. radiation supplies the necessary energy for creating and breaking down ozone, thus establishing a chemical equilibrium that keeps the amount of ozone in the stratosphere constant.

This was followed by activities exploring man-made and natural sources for ozone depletion. Students studied the chemical process by which Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and Hydrochlorofluorocharbons (HCFCs) breakdown ozone, which was facilitated by a useful diagram in the High Sky workbook . Students learned that the increased emission of CFCs and HCFCs in the stratosphere has disturbed the natural equilibrium of the ozone layer, resulting in a drastic thinning of the ozone layer. Students also completed a survey determining if their schools and DSF’s resource centres use materials made from or containing ozone depleting substances. Students concluded that their schools and DSF’s centres were relatively ozone-friendly, with the exception of their use of polystyrene cups.

Students reviewed health affects of U.V. radiation which was facilitated by a puzzle that differentiated the three types of U.V. radiation (U.V.-A, B, and C) in terms of wavelength, reaction with the stratosphere, and their effects on human health and plant life. Students were also introduced to the creation of ground-level ozone by smog in lower levels of the atmosphere, and how this is dangerous for human health and plant life.

Students then studied the U.V. index developed by the World Health Organization and tracked the ratings of Bangalore city from an online weather site; students were shocked to see the city consistently reported an index value of 11 (extreme)! This was followed by a review of conditions that increase our risk to U.V. radiation exposure, such as time of day, time of the year, location, elevation, reflection, and weather conditions. Students then discussed how they can limit their contact with U.V. radiation, and possible action steps to be taken by their local community, governments, and international bodies to prevent ozone depletion.

Ozone Module Highlights

Certain activities in UNEP’s High Sky workbook were particularly effective at raising awareness on ozone depletion, and resonated strongly with our students:

Students adored the Ozzy Ozone cartoon figure, and thoroughly enjoyed UNEP’s video and comic book productions. It would be worthwhile for UNEP to conduct a competition where students submit comic strips of Ozzy Ozone combating ozone depletion in their own country. This would enable UNEP’s content to appeal to a wider group of students, while encouraging students to apply their knowledge on ozone depletion in a creative manner.

The coded message from Ozzy Ozone concerning properties of the ozone layer, the discovery of the Ozone Hole over Antarctica, and how ozone depletion is impacting nations all over the world was extremely popular. Students enjoyed learning a secret code and were fully absorbed in revealing Ozzy Ozone’s message.

Students enjoyed the puzzle activity where they had to piece together the entire spectrum of radiation created by the Sun. This activity was useful at demonstrating how U.V. radiation is just one component of the entire range of light or energy that influences life on Earth. This activity also related to the light unit covered in the 9th standard science syllabus of students, hence inspiring Sackhumvit Trust’s module on properties of light.

The numbers game reviewing conditions that create ground-level ozone was a popular activity. However, the instructions for this activity were unclear and consequently obscured the activity’s learning objectives. Students were more focused on solving the number puzzle, as opposed to understanding how various factors can create ground-level ozone. This is because they were not sure what all the numbers represented.

The diagrams illustrating ozone equilibrium and how ozone depleting substances disturb this chemical process were particularly useful. As students often struggle to understand the change taking place in chemical equations, it was helpful to visualize the process of ozone creation and destruction.

Concluding Remarks

There were additional activities in the High Sky workbook that we could not complete due to time constraints. Moreover, students were also unable to participate in certain activities due to their limited knowledge of English. This includes recreating the Montreal Protocol summit to advise policy on ozone depletion in sessions of 5-7 of the High Sky workbook. Students also started to lose interest in studying ozone depletion as it did not relate to their coursework at school.

Based on these observations, our volunteer teachers decided to focus on basic knowledge of ozone depletion (hence our coverage up until session 3 of the High Sky workbook), and transitioned to exploring properties of light. This has enabled us to cover concepts relevant to ozone depletion in the context of the science syllabus of our students. We found that it is more effective to raise awareness on ozone depletion through supplemental activities that complement the school work of students, as opposed to teaching this subject entirely on its own. We will continue to complete activities in the High Sky book in this manner, especially those in session 4 that explain the difference between ozone depletion and global warming. These exercises relate to the carbon cycle reviewed in the biology syllabus of our 9th standard students.

Sackhumvit Trust would like to thank DSF for enabling us to work with their students as part of its after-school tutorial program. We are also grateful to UNEP for sharing its learning materials and hope that our review of this module has been constructive.

Generation Next: Air Pollution Module

2010-03-24T09:43:00.001+05:30

Generation Next: Air Pollution Module

June – September 2009

Sackhumvit Trust organized a series of classroom activities exploring the topic of air pollution in the context of the 9th science syllabus of state board schools in Bangalore. Sackhumvit Trust partnered with Dream School Foundation to organize this program at local government schools, and DSF's education and development centres in Yeshwantpur and R.T. Nagar. The first module covered as part of this project was air pollution.

The module started off with students exploring what is air by testing its properties of weight, pressure, volume, and temperature. Students conducted various experiments such as comparing the weight of two different sized balloons; testing whether water spills out of a plastic cup covered with a piece of paper and flipped upside down; building their own barometer to measure air pressure; and observing the change in shape of a plastic bottle that is heated up with hot water and then cooled over time. These experiments, although simple, were new to most of our students and effectively related to the states of matter unit covered in their science textbooks.

The module then went on toexplore the relationship between air temperature, pressure, and weather. Students learned the meaning of cold and hot weather fronts and how the interaction of hot and cold air masses create certain weather patterns such as rain, fog, and thunder storms. Students also learned that wind is a consequence of hot air rising to be replaced by cooler and denser air. This was followed by an examination of land and sea breezes, for which the Indian Monsoon was used a specific example. As a fun activity, students built their own anemometers to measure the speed of wind, which required them to apply basic mathematics along with creative engineering skills. Students also constructed a wind vane where they measured the direction in which the wind blows.

The module then transitioned to explore air pollution. Students learned about various types of air pollution including respiratory particulate matter, carbon dioxide, sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, volatile organic compounds, and ozone depleting substances. Students learned of natural and man-made sources for these pollutants, and their impact on human health and the environment; i.e. smog, acid rain, global warming, ozone layer depletion, etc. An interesting case-study concerning the parthenium weed and its association with severe airborne allergies in Bangalore was also reviewed.

Several activities were organized to engage students on the topic of air pollution. Students participated in a walkabout after which they produced an air pollution map demonstrating sources and sinks for air pollution in their community. It was encouraging to see how involved students were in the walkabout, many of whom freely asked auto drivers, roadside vendors, and pedestrians for their opinion on the Bangalore’s air quality.

To link this section of the module to the science studies of students, several sessions were organized to review the periodic table – the history of its development, and how to read the table to infer properties of an element and draw atomic structures. Students were then taught how to draw molecular structures for the various air pollutants they were learning about.

Sackhumvit Trust also organized for Mrs. Shalini from CLEAN-India (Development Alternatives), to conduct an air pollution experiment in which students measured the levels of respiratory particulate matter, sulphur dioxide, and nitrogen oxides in their neighborhoods. Students were excited to conduct a science experiment involving a lab equipment and chemicals. This activity also required students to learn the concepts of hypothesis, data collection and analysis, and conclusion – the fundamental building blocks of science reporting. Students were encouraged to learn that the level of air pollutants in their neighborhood was below the danger thresholds as indicated by CLEAN-India.

To help students understand the process by which air pollutants can cause dangerous health affects, our volunteer teachers reviewed the human respiratory system and the process of gaseous exchange in line with their biology studies. Students were given the opportunity to build their own version of the respiratory system using clay, an activity that strongly appealed to our artistic students.

Lastly, to touch upon the complexities of global warming and how it affects the well-being of children, our volunteer teachers organized an activity where students built a collage of articles from their local newspaper discussing climate change. Students were surprised that the majority of articles discussed the acute drought in Karnataka due to the delayed monsoons, followed by severe flooding in northern Karnataka during recent months. Other interesting articles concerned India’s discovery of water on the moon; the use of rain water harvesting facilities by Karnataka’s Chief Minister, Yeddyurappa; and an opinion editorial debating the significance of climate change.

Students also reviewed a fact sheet prepared by UNEP TUNZA detailing how climate change affects children all over the world. Most students were shocked to learn the dramatic number of children worldwide who suffer from displacement, malnourishment, lack of clean water, and acute airborne allergies such as asthma.

The air pollution module concluded with an examination of indoor air pollution and the benefits of indoor plants. Students reviewed the sources, chemical properties, and health affects of formaldehyde, benzene, and other pollutants commonly found in our homes. They also learned about various indoor plants indigenous to Bangalore and how they can help improve the quality of air.

Sackhumvit Trust would like to thank Dream School Foundation for enabling us to work with students from its various partner government schools. We would also like to thank Environment Support Group for guiding us in developing hands-on activities for our science education program.

Generation Next: ESG Workshop

2010-03-23T10:39:00.005+05:30

Generation Next: Environment Support Group Workshop

October 16, 2009

Introduction

As part of our endeavors in environmental education, Sackhumvit Trust organized a workshop for 7th-10th standard students at Dream School Foundation’s (DSF) Yeshwantpur and R.T. Nagar education and development centres to learn about ecological issues associated with the urbanization of Bangalore. The workshop was an engaging and unique experience for DSF’s students, most of whom attend government schools which are unable to dedicate sufficient time and resources for teaching environmental studies as part of their school syllabus. The workshop covered a variety of topics including the history and current status of Bangalore’s urban lakes, the effectiveness of watersheds in securing water supply, and urban waste management in the state of Karnataka. Students also visited Lalbagh where they participated in bird watching, and learned about the history and unique landmarks of Bangalore’s botanical gardens.

Sackhumvit Trust organized this workshop in partnership with Environment Support Group (ESG), a non-profit organization dedicated to research, training, campaign support, and advocacy on a variety of environmental and social justice issues. We would like to thank ESG for sharing their knowledge and resources, without which this workshop and Sackhumvit Trust’s larger endeavors in in environmental education would not be possible. We would also like to thank DSF for encouraging their students to dedicate time during their school holidays to explore the environment and its relevance to their daily lives.

Workshop Details

A total of 60 students attended the workshop representing five government schools associated with DSF’s Yeshwantpur centre and two government schools associated with DSF’s R.T. Nagar centre . The workshop took place from 10:00 am to 5:30 pm on October 16th, 2009, and consisted of two main activities: a workshop hosted at ESG’s office and a field trip to Lalbagh. Overall, students enjoyed their time with ESG and found the day’s events to be very informative. Most students expressed that they learned about issues which are of great significance to their present and future well-being. The details of the activities comprising the workshop are detailed below:

ESG Workshop
During the workshop at ESG’s office, students participated in an active discussion facilitated by Mrs. Bhargavi Rao (Yeshwantpur group) and Ms. Sruthi Subbanna (R.T. Nagar group). Students learned about the following topics:

Bangalore’s Urban Lakes

Students were asked to name lakes and water tanks in their community (Sankey Tank was a popular reference), after which they compared features of these water bodies with those of a village lake. Students generally concluded that community members have more freedom of access to water bodies in a village setting. This led to a discussion on the privatization of lakes in Bangalore, where ESG explained how the Bangalore Lake Development Authority’s (LDA) scheme of leasing lakes to private companies has increased the public’s cost of access to these water bodies. Students calculated the average cost for a family to visit a privatized lake (~Rs. 1,000 including transportation, entry fee, food purchases, playground access, etc.), and concluded that this was too burdensome for a resource that should be freely available to the public. ESG concluded with a case-study of a public interest litigation case they have filed against the LDA concerning the privatization of Lumbini Lake in Bangalore.

Students also learned that lakes were historically developed in Bangalore as part of an intricate system that carried down water from natural reservoirs and rain collected at higher-level lakes to lakes situated further below. Not only did this system provide a simple and efficient mechanism for collecting and transporting fresh water in Bangalore, it also maintained the city’s level of ground water. ESG highlighted that Bangalore originally had ~360 urban lakes of which only 39 remain as of today! Students went on to discuss how the building of apartment complexes, bus stations, sports stadiums, golf courses, and so on, have disrupted the water flow between lakes and consequently reduced Bangalore’s supply of ground water. ESG informed students that Bangalore now pumps water over a distance of 100 km and up to a height of 1 km from the Cauvery River to supply most of the city’s water requirements.

Ecosystem of Lakes

Students examined the typical structure of a lake (how it goes from shallow to deep) and the different types of organisms and plants that inhabit each level of the lake. Students learned the meaning of ecosystem – a system of interdependent organisms which share the same habitat. Students then discussed how dumping waste in a lake, particularly nutrient rich waste containing phosphates and sulphates such as sewage effluents and fertilizer run-off, can destroy a lake’s eco-system through a process called Eutrophication.

Students learned that excessive phosphates and sulphates can produce water hyacinth – a free-floating perennial aquatic plant native to tropical South America. With broad, thick, glossy, ovate leaves, water hyacinth may rise above the surface of the water as much as 1 meter in height. The common water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) is a vigorous grower known to double its population in two weeks. When not controlled, water hyacinth will cover lakes and ponds entirely; this dramatically impacts water flow, blocks sunlight from reaching native aquatic plants, and starves the water of oxygen, often killing fish. Water hyacinth is often problematic in man-made ponds if uncontrolled, but can also provide a food source for fish, keep water clean and help to provide oxygen to man-made ponds.

Zilla Parishad School Water Shed Program

Students watched a short film about a water shed project at Zilla Parishad School located in northern Maharashtra. The video explained the concept behind a watershed - a drainage basin constructed to collect fresh water from rain, rivers, etc., for use by the surrounding community. The video demonstrated how a watershed built by a small village increased their agricultural produce and supply of ground water. The watershed’s construction was also connected to a project for building a self-sufficient school to educate village children - Zilla Parishad School. Both the watershed and Zilla Parishad School were built by the voluntary labor of community members. The video also showed how students at Zilla Parishad School regularly interact with nature as part of their school studies by participating in tree planting, seed banks, composting, cleaning of the school, youth conferences on the environment, cultural activities, and so on.

Students enjoyed the short film as it opened their eyes to an educational experience entirely different from their experience of attending a government school situated in a big metropolis. Most students were not aware of the history of their school (how it came to be, who built it, etc.), nor if their schools participate in any environmental initiatives such as composting, rain water harvesting, paper recycling, etc. Students were then asked how they can act to better integrate their daily lives and schools with their surrounding environment.

Waste Management

This component of the workshop started out with a game where students brainstormed different types of urban waste such as plastic, paper, aluminum, biomedical waste, and toxic waste. This was followed by a documentary, Nammooru Chandadooru / Nagara Nyrmalya, which brought up issues of urban waste management in the state of Karnataka. Students were engaged by the movie and learned about the importance of recycling, reusing, and reducing.

ESG then shared a case-study of illegal waste dumping in Mavallipura located in Northern Karnataka, where piles of improperly disposed garbage have produced toxic leachates, effluents, and gaseous residues contaminating the ground water supply and air quality of surrounding village communities, hence causing severe health problems. Students were shocked to learn that such grievances are suffered by people in their own community. When asked what they can do on a personal level to alleviate this problem, students expressed that they would make a greater effort to recycle at home.

Students also learnt a simple way of composting at home by the brick, bagasse and compost method. This method requires an old bucket with some small pin holes. The bottom of the bucket is first filled with charcoal or brick followed by a layer of sugarcane bagasse. Some water is sprinkled and a small amount of manure is added as a starter. On this the everyday kitchen waste comprising of vegetable peels, dry leaves, and flowers can be added and in 45 days the first harvest of compost can be obtained to use in home gardens.

Lalbagh Field Trip
The second half of the workshop involved a visit to Lalbagh facilitated by Mrs. Bhargavi (Yeshwantpur students) and Mr. Leo Saldhana (R.T. Nagar students). This was the highlight of the day for many students who have never visited Lalbagh before. Students had a chance to walk throughout the botanical gardens, and learn about the historical significance of various sites such as the Kempegowda tower, a 20 million year old tree fossil, Bangalore’s tallest tree Araucaria sps, Lalbagh’s famous silk cotton tree and rose garden, and so on. The visit concluded with a walk around Lalbagh Lake where students participated in bird watching and observed some water hyacinth growth at one end of the lake. Students also observed some birds such as the Purple Moorhen, Pheasant Tailed Jacana, Coots and a Pond Heron, Kingfishers, Brahminy Kites, etc. Overall, students enjoyed their experience at Bangalore’s botanical gardens and most of them did not want to return home by day’s end!!

A bit about my wonderful experiences at DSF

2009-11-20T14:49:00.002+05:30

Only a week for children?

From Akka to Miss!

"All are equal miss...

Summer Volunteering 09

2009-10-11T08:00:00.003+05:30

Dear DSF,
It has been several weeks now since I was in India with Shilpa and her family, and yet I remember the experience as if I was still there now. India is by far the most foreign place I have ever been to. I was expecting a different culture, but somehow what I had seen in pictures and movies did not in any way encompass what it was like to be there, living, for three weeks. I was really hoping, beforehand, that working with DSF in Bangalore would work out, but I didn’t really know what to expect. When we met with Maitreyee and Bhagya that first day they told us that we would in fact get to help with a class, and maybe even teach them ourselves.

Our first morning at the Rajajinagar school was very intimidating for me. I felt as though everyone was staring, both kids and adults. The school, we were told, was a good government school, it was well established and DSF had a history working with it. And yet what I saw that first day of the school was worlds away from the public schools here in New York City. We met the class we would be with every day. I was afraid communication with them would be impossible, that they wouldn’t listen to me. But by the time we had left that day all my fears were gone. We had checked their work and helped them fix the mistakes they had made with their English and I had loved it. I was excited to go back the next day, and every day after that. Bhagya was extremely helpful; I really want to thank her for the opportunities that she gave us in the classroom. She was so kind, so good with the kids, and really made us feel comfortable. Over time she gave us more freedom with the group we had gotten to know, and let us teach them by ourselves which I loved. It was extremely difficult at times, because the language barrier was not little, but I feel like I learned a lot about communication, and the levels it can go to beyond just language. Every day brought new challenges but most of all I was continually impressed by the enthusiasm of the kids for learning.

After the first week, Shilpa and I felt frustrated by the way we were teaching. We watched some of the kids’ other classes, and what we saw more than anything was an emphasis on rote learning. We tried to implement this when we taught them, but found it very ineffective. It is such a different way of learning than what we have here in America. Here everything is based on how the kids feel, about interaction and fitting a way of learning to the individual. So we thought we would try to bring some of that to them. We took our class out to the courtyard and talked. We taught them, “This is a __” and the concepts of “Here” and “There.” We did “Big and Small” and the colors. It felt like teaching them English in a way that they could use every day, with familiar objects, was much more effective and useful to them. I hope they felt it was as well. It was also more fun. The kids really enjoyed it, and I did too. I feel like in the days we took them outside, the barriers came down. They were just kids, and they could have been from anywhere. That was incredible for me to see. Before that point I had been so bogged down by observing such a different culture, that it was refreshing to catch a glimpse of the things that transcend cultural boundaries. We had them draw pictures of animals and of themselves which I now have up on my wall, and I was struck by their creativity. They are funny, bright, lovely kids and I really miss them. I think that this experience has given me a glimpse into the type of work I would like to do in the future. It was a very special experience.

Talking to Maitreyee, Sabu and Lata the last day was amazing. I have always taken education and the opportunities it gives me for granted. I saw firsthand in Bangalore, with the help of DSF, what a gift it is. I so admire what DSF does, and what an incredible program it is. Being in DSF office it really felt like every person there was there because they wanted to be, because they cared, and that was an incredible atmosphere to be in, even for such a short period of time.

Being in India was truly incredible. However I felt that despite all I saw that was different and new, I was still in a very sheltered environment because I didn’t have a direct connection with any of it. But being in the school every day, getting to know the kids and the surroundings and to be involved in a tiny piece of life there, it really hit me what a different culture I was in. I found myself thinking a lot about what the kids in our class went home to every night, what their families were like, what they did after school every day. I feel like I learned more about the world somehow, in those few days, than I ever have before.

Maitreyee pointed out that whatever we got out of the experience would be very important and special, both for the kids and for us. That idea is really important when I think about my time at the Rajajinagar school. One of the most critical things I learned is that being involved - even if its only in a small way, like helping a class of children for seven days - can help people, and can teach you lessons you never have gotten otherwise.

Thank you for your generosity in giving me this unforgettable opportunity. I was inspired by your work there, and I truly hope that I can continue helping the Dream School Foundation in whatever way I can. THANK YOU!

Sincerely, Sadie Bergen
[Sadie is a high-school student in New York City.]

Seeing India in a new light: Summer Volunteering with DSF

2009-10-11T07:42:00.006+05:30

When I first started at the Rajajinagar school, I had no idea what to expect. I had been to India many times, I had even lived there and attended school for a couple of months when I was a child, but in all honesty I had never seen India outside of the middle class family that my family is from. For me, the two weeks that I spent at the school in Rajajinagar was really an eye-opening experience into a beautiful school with students who all had something special about them, and I am truly grateful to have been given the opportunity.

Beauty is not only defined by appearances, but also by what lays within. Coming from a school with a large auditorium, I found beauty in the fact that the students in Rajajinagar conducted their assemblies on a dirt courtyard. It made me realize how much I take for granted in my life. The idea that all the students would physically pitch in for bringing the lunch everyday strengthened the community and dependence on one another. While teaching the fourth and fifth standard class, I found beauty in the fact that the students would share their erasers and sharpeners with one another. All of these acts of childhood made me realize that these students were just like any other students across the globe, and that they deserved the opportunity to learn, just as any other child does.

On our first morning in the school, I was not taken aback by anything that I saw. I had mentally prepared myself for a school that was very different to mine in New York City, so I wasn’t even surprised when the kids stood up and chanted “Good Morning Ma’am” when we entered the room. What I was surprised at however, was the method that they were being taught by. The first morning in the school was meant to be an observing day, and still in the midst of taking in the new experience, I let myself give in to the methods by which the students were being taught English. They were learning English by memorizing the spellings of different words (i.e. that A-P-P-L-E spells Apple), except they were learning this without having any idea of how to read. At first I accepted this, and for a week we taught the students spellings, and then would conduct dictations at the end of each lesson. While all of this was going on, in my head I would characterize the student who could remember the most spellings as the best student. However, when we gave dictations the next day, students would hardly remember the spellings of the words they had learned the previous day. After a week of seeing this failing routine, we came to the conclusion that through conducting dictations and teaching the children spellings, we were not helping them learn English in any way.

One thing that really impressed me was the way that students would help one another. Hardly speaking a common language with the kids, I found it amazing that the students would collaborate and help each other try to make sense of what I had just said in English. Through my broken Kannada and their minimal English, I realize that communication exists on a much deeper level than language, and in our scenario, could only be successful if care, compassion, and a drive existed in the classroom. It certainly did because instead of giving up on our alien tongue, the students would work with one another and help each other until everyone understood the message that was trying to be passed. At first, I was very worried about communication barriers, but after seeing the collaboration amongst students, all of those fears went away.

The second week that we were there, we made a very dramatic transition in the way we approached the teaching. It started with me saying, “Please put your books inside your backpack.” After I said this, I remember most of the students looking very confused, either because they could not understand what I had just said, or because this is something that they had never expected to hear in a classroom setting. I found solace in the fact that some students would help their classmates understand what I had just said by translating it for them into Kannada. We took the children outside and showed them objects that appear in their life everyday. We taught them the difference between “big” and “small”, between “here” and “there”, we taught them different colors, and the names of different objects that they see everyday. This way of learning is very similar to the way that I not only learned in America, but also to the way I picked up whatever little I can speak of Kannada. The idea of learning about objects and how to say things that are interesting and relevant to my life is to me more important and better engrained into my memory. The students were enjoying being outside, and the next day when we tested them to see what they could remember, they remembered many more of the objects and concepts than they did when we had tested their spelling.

Not only was I able to feel more productive the second week (in terms of what we had taught them), but during this week I felt a much stronger connection to the kids. They realized that as two teenage girls, our methods of teaching as well as our personalities were more liberal than what they were used to, and after taking the students for an interactive walk around their campus, the students started becoming less shy, and more open with us. By seeing the amount that they enjoyed learning new words, and things around them, I realized that the conclusions I had made earlier, that the student who could memorize the most was the best student, was wrong on so many levels. I realized that all of the students have a drive to learn, but some are just better than others at adapting to dull methods. During this week, personalities and talents came out, and the students felt more like children, learning English through drawing pictures and talking with their classmates about what they were doing. They are all such talented, caring, and beautiful children, many of them just needed a platform to show it.

Leaving on the last day was very sad because I was enjoying my experience there so much, but I was so thankful to have had the opportunity to work with DSF. I am especially grateful to Maitreyee, for organizing this amazing opportunity, and to Bhagya, for always helping us teach, and making me feel very safe and comfortable within the school. I am also extremely thankful to the Rajajinagar school for having us and looking after us for two weeks.

Thank you, DSF, for an unforgettable experience. After working in the Rajajinagar school, my perception on the world around me changed greatly, and has made me realize a lot about the world that I live in. I find your cause extremely valuable and important, and hope to continue helping it in all ways possible.

Sincerely, Shilpa Agrawal
[Shilpa is a high-school student in New York.]

R.T. Nagar Centre in Action...

2009-05-03T22:05:00.012+05:30

Smile Please!

Happy Birthday Rajeswari & Mubarak :)

Arshia, Amreen, Alli & Manju with their creations

Junaid, Firdaus et al plan for the upcoming picnic

Fauzia, Ayesha & Asif explore Wikipedia

JA Sessions at the Yeshwantpur Centre

2009-03-10T23:03:00.008+05:30

Each voicing a dream !

Sparking thoughts...

Analyzing projects....

Participating in discussions...

Collaborating on ideas...

Thinking aloud...

Presenting plans...

Sharing a light moment...

Getting inspired...

Learning from each other...

Questioning the basics...

How many of you start early?

Defining and Seeking Mentors - An ear to listen, thoughts to share

2008-10-02T09:21:00.003+05:30

How often do we find ourselves perplexed? - our beliefs questioned; in need of help to find an answer; having too many options to choose from; no one who can listen; tracing the thin line between right and wrong. The answer can't be "never" ! If as grown-ups we are caught up in the illogical haze at least rarely if not often, what about children ?

DSF's HeadStart programme currently connects with 75 such children, as the number grows, at their learning centres in Yeshwantpur and R.T Nagar. HeadStart is an initiative to assist, mentor and monitor children who are susceptible to dropping out of school at the Higher Primary stage. The programme strives to reach the most vulnerable groups like children rehabilitated from Child Labour, orphans, with single parent, disabled etc. - from dire socio economic conditions who have finished their higher primary schooling from a government school and are eager to continue education.

While the programme is committed to financially support 3 years of High School Education for a child, it is strengthened by volunteer-involvement to mentor and track the performance of the participant students and motivate them through these years. A mentor's contribution to help with the academic learning one -on -one with at the centre is a much superior experience for the child than typical classroom teaching. Over the years, several of the DSF volunteers have actively sought classroom teaching opportunities and helped the cause of improved learning. HeadStart, especially, continues to need such a forthcoming effort from all its partners. It certainly helps a child to interact with someone outside class and outside their learning environment on the softer issues of career counseling, academic improvement, identifying interests and honing particular skills- in short bridging the gap between idealism and realism, which can only be achieved by personalized mentoring.

DSF is offering a platform where useful mentor-mentee engagements can be facilitated. For 6 months to an year, the mentor should be able to meet the child once every week / fortnight. We are seeking mentors with the commitment to listen, understand and advise the children during this period. A mentor-mentee relationship can be managed better if the mentor does not get too emotionally involved with the child or provide additional financial help or rewards. The organization will support rapport building activities to ensure the relationship being built up is sound, beneficial to the mentee and self satisfying to the mentor.

It helps to know Hindi, Tamil or Kannada to be able to bond with the children. The organization provides the generic baseline structure, the programme, however, is specific to the individual being mentored. It heavily depends on the creativity and involvement of the mentor to be successful, even while DSF provides him/ her support and guidance throughout.

If you think you have the commitment and want to contribute positively to DSF's energy pool that works towards a more secure and informed future for these children, do contact us through info@dsfindia.org or call on 9844060478, to schedule an orientation session.

Notebook Distribution Program at HD Kote

2008-08-11T13:44:00.005+05:30

Dream School Foundation, and iQuest India together had co-ordinated a notebook distribution program for underprivileged government school kids in the HD Kote taluk on Tuesday, 29th July 2008, as they have been doing so for about 7-8 years now in various places in Karnataka. I happened to be a part of this exciting program this year.

We started from Bangalore on Tuesday morning at 6:15 am, and reached Sargur in HD Kote taluk by 11am. HD Kote happens to be one of the most backward regions in Karnataka, and is mostly habituated by the tribal population around backwaters of Kabini reservoir. There are many government schools and few tribal schools in this place but lack sufficient infrastructure to cater the needs of the kids here for good education.

: A pile of notebooks for distribution

About 12500 notebooks were obtained for distribution from the fund raised by Infosys. The notebook distribution was organized in a marriage hall with the support of a local NGO, Swami Vivekananda Youth Movement. SVYM is a very inspiring organization started by a bunch of doctors from Mysore, about couple of decades back, for the development of health care and education in the tribal settlements of HD Kote, around Kabini backwaters. They've grown phenomenally in the last two decades, now having a good hospital, tribal school and lots of other activities.

The program went well, and i've included few pics of those kids here.

: A classroom in VTCL, Hosahalli, HD Kote

After the notebook distribution program, we had a look at the Vivekananada memorial hospital built by the local NGO, and had our lunch there. We visited a tribal school, Viveka Tribal Centre for learning (VTCL), in Hosahalli, about 30km from Sargur. The school is around the Kabini back waters, and we could see the full flowing Kabini dam on our way from Sargur to Hosahalli. Terming it as a beautiful school would be an understatement. Sprawling in the forest region, this school has both residential and non-residential students from the tribal settlements around that place. Children from tribal communities like Jenu Kurubas, Kaadu kurubas, Yeravas and Soligas attend this school which has good Computer, Physics, Biology, and Chemistry lab for classes from 1 to 10th. I was pleasantly surprised by the efforts of SVYM in providing such wonderful facilities in this part of the world.

: Tribal girl portrait at VTCL

Just when we finished looking around the tribal school, the dark grey clouds opened up. The jungles look the best during monsoon. A couple of weird species caught my eye, a millipede may be, and another one i can't identify. This unidentified bug was racing away from the spot across the road, i managed to get a quick snap of him, and tried to put him in the open for a better shot but he just rolled up and started rolling down the road!

The trip was a very enriching one for me in various aspects. Saw, met and interacted with different people with different views, all striving to help create a better tomorrow for the people around them. I just have played a minuscule role in this program and the returns surely were a lot. Reached Bangalore by 11pm, and someone was surely very annoyed for the delay. But was still smiling. (it's not me)

Below are few pics worth a look.

'What you wanna become when you grow up?'

: Bala scaring kids

: A peek into 2nd std tribal class

: Tribal kids in class - excited to see some alien with cam

IDay at Bellur Nagasandra School

2007-08-16T11:39:00.000+05:30

In this academic year, this was my first visit to the school. But the recognition and pleasure of the chlidren at seeing their dear "aunty" was instant.

The festivities began with the children walking the area carrying a Gandhiji photo and to the accompaniment of the drums beating.

The mood just got more festive when the children were back at school. They all danced to their hearts content to the beats of the solo drum.

Finally they settled down, wondering what all the fuss was about (especially the anganwadi kids - they were so lost that they looked cute... )

This was followed by ample poojas of Gandhiji and Nehru, a rendition of Vande Mataram (Akash still thinks its a torture to his kids, but my kids dont seem to think so ;-) ), the flag hoisting and finally the rendition of the national anthem.

Shekhar, one of the two teachers at the school for the last 13 years, has been transferred from school to the main BEO office in K.R. Puram. There was a tear-filled felicitation ceremony for Shekhar and it is sad to see him go..

The day ended with chocolates for the children, and that had the children overjoyed. But yesterday also got me thinking. Is this education going to improve the lives of these children in anyway? If not, what are we achieving from this whole drill of making them mug to pass exams? Are these children going to grow up to be daily-wage labourers with children studying in this very same school? Are their grand-children going to have a better standard of living, better food, better infrastructure?

60 years under the national flag, and we still have so many open questions. Is there anything we can do to answer any of them?

DSF Annual Meet ... 14th April

2007-04-22T22:46:00.000+05:30

Dream School Foundation celebrates two years... And we about threes years of being together...

Dream School Foundation, our staff and our volunteer-partners met at the School of Ancient Wisdom with purpose and pleasure, as characteristic like every meeting we have had thus far.

Seemed to be quite an effort for some of us to get there on time. We would probably meet at the Ritz Hotel the next time round, since, we all took a really close look at it. Awesome drive though ...
And even more awesome - the destination...

We had Fun !

The first team to play Mine field - a game with 15 mines , 15 rewards, 1 blinded person, 4 in his/her team to guide him, with 4 sounds, with the goal of getting as many rewards as possible in the given time...and with changing rules...and voices or noises :) - sincere but amateurish as expected...set the stage and the strategy for the teams to come.

The second team played well. Fair and familiar ... with the catch-cries that lasted us the day - Kukudu ku and Hur Hur

The third team... the mavericks... with the best strategy for the ill-framed rules... Kudos for winning and commiseration for the lack of trust and team spirit ;)

More fun...

Thiru, Veeresh ... . Thiru ever smiling and ever happy. Veeresh and an interesting delivery of "Mere Samne wali Khidki mein !", with Sabu.. looking out intently for the "Chaand ka tukda" :)

Chetna...with a huge collection of songs and lyrics neatly packed..and randomly accessed in memory...

Akash, Avinash and the kannada songs... Chilli's silence.. Vikram in company ... Vinay's appreciable attempts to find his latent talent... Vishwas's singing with "the feeling" .. Desingh's modest contribution to the smiles and silence more than the music, Sandeep's gold mine... digging out songs from the 90s hindi movies... Anuj's rendition of a nice song or two... Ambika's backstage contribution... My3's nodding approval of our choice of songs .. and my drum beat that was seeking it's song !

We had food...

Good food :)

We had a walk...

After lunch. The place was great to explore...with it's flowers and coloured pyramidal roof tops..

We had and have purpose ...

We split up into interest groups to plan and discuss our programs for the coming year. Some really good thinking has gone into the development of these programs. This is the first step forward.

ASLC and the library program - After School Learning Centres that eventually should transform into community Learning centres will be set up in three of schools in the coming year. The children of our schools visiting the centre will train for spoken English improvement, get equipped with life skills and will be provided with libraries and learning aids to ensure their progress and development. We are actively looking out for trained teachers / trainers who have the passion and the time to creatively deliver and build our content. We would also like to meet volunteer-partners with the commitment to serve as co-ordinators for content and staff management for this program. We hope to achieve our intended empowerment of the children associated with this project, through its content and it's linkage with Head start.

Head Start - Sponsorship, tracking and handholding of children through and after High school. This program aims to provide the motivation and incentive of learning and development to those of our children who do not have a strong support system at home, but have the talent to take a leap and achieve the dream of equal oppurtunity through our networks of information, mentoring and guidance. We seek sponsors and volunteer-partners who would be able mentors for children associated with this program.

Life Skills and Child Rights Program - To facilitate a platform for children to gain life skills. Also make them aware of and learn how to exercise their rights. We need co-ordinators and volunteer-partners who have a good hold on the medium of training, to be trained and spread this program over all our schools in a sustained manner. Speakers with motivational skills and power to influence would be a blessed find as much as this would be a good cause for expression to you.

Please do write to us at info@dsfindia.org, if you have further queries or would like to partner with us for any of these programs.

Thanks to everybody who was present in person and all our friends from dream school who couldn't make it but are in constant support of our cause. Thanks for the wonderful pictures Ambika, Akash, Vikram and to Chilli, Vikram , Avi and Anuj for driving us all the way. We have come back wiser... as with every aging year ...

Red Ribbons...

2007-03-07T22:48:00.000+05:30

March 8th is women's day. To some of us it means lunches , dinners, greeting friends and colleagues in the spirit of being special.

But to most women in our country, it's just another day...

As India's poised ... here's a message,

Waking up today, to the early sun rays,
To a new day and a brand new phase !
To the brightness hurting my eye,
While on my luxurious stretch, I lie.
A face comes up, against the light,
Not quite to my laziness' delight.
As I try and focus on the figuration,
I see a little girl, in the formation,
As a softly calling halo-ed silhouette,
Unkempt hair shining and hands held out.
Overcoming the lethargy and slumber,
Careful not to scare,I stand behind her.
I Kneel down till our shoulders align,
And turn her around, her face to mine.
And how the sun rays spark up her eyes,
Compelling us to strengthen our ties...
I feel, the brilliance needs to strike,
And tread the paths to happiness alike,
A boy, a brother, another who plays free,
I want her to see what she is meant to be!
I wash her up, fresh like the day begun,
Make two braids each held by a red ribbon.
On her white top, drape the blue pinafore,
As she wears one, hand her a second slipper.
And give her a bag, a pencil and a book,
I show her a path that few girls ever took...
Heading towards the sun and the glowing beams
On a runway of knowledge to a flight of dreams !

RTI for Education

2007-02-22T11:20:00.001+05:30

_,_,__

Right To Information and Public Education

At Sakshi, we are always looking for opportunities to channelise the energy of the citizen for critical social issues. One such issue that has been on our radar for some time has been education. Despite the countless crores of money spent on primary and secondary education the output leaves much to be desired. A large majority of India's children study in government schools and the quality reflects in the pass percentage. A study* on the education sector reveal some shocking facts about government schools

· 52 per cent lacked playgrounds

· 89 per cent did not have toilets

· 59 per cent did not have drinking water.

· 26 per cent did not have blackboards

· 59 per cent had no access to maps and charts

· 67 per cent lacked any kind of teaching kits

· 75 per cent had no toys for the children

· 77 per cent of the schools, there were no libraries.

In the light of these facts there is crying need to reform the functioning of these schools and with RTI the opportunity is there for those who are concerned. All you need to do is download our RTI guide on education, choose a school in your neighborhood and start firing your applications.

Your efforts can make a difference in the lives of all the children in the school and it cost far less than sponsoring a child's education. Get involved and download the RTI on Education guide book today.

* The PROBE (Public Report on Basic Education) report (conducted by Akshara Foundation )

R-Day at the Circle Shaale

2007-02-04T12:50:00.000+05:30

The unchanging, chaste few elements to perceive

The smiles showered from the unsuspecting sieve

A curious eye for a display of the three colours

57 and going strong, the innocence is still ours

Rolling the blue wheel of change,on these premises

Tipping over to a hopeful tomorrow's new promises

Ganarajyothsava

2007-01-27T22:48:00.000+05:30

India's Republic day means & doesn't mean a lot of things to people. But to school children, itz fun time again. Marchpasts, community processions, speeches, flag hoisting, songs, skit, dramas & chocolates!!! It was 9ish in the morning, when I reached the Chalghatta school. For a change, all the kids were neatly seated, and awaited the proceeding to start. The chief guest was to arrive, and there was no sign of him. And soon, there was these colorful distant objects in the sky that got the kids excited. Parachutes, balloons ? None of us cud make them out.

The 6th std kids rehearsing

Shivaji & a look-alike!
Awaiting the chief guest.

Finally, we decided to go ahead.
The culturals started, but we guyz had to move to the Bellur school.

Initial photshot with Chetna & Hena.

' Bharath Matha ki Jai'

The Anganwaadi kids.

The Vande matharam song. Chetna & Hena had trained these kids for it. One complicated version, with tounge twistors galore.......I regarded it as pain & torture to my kids.......but to my surprise they pulled it of with aplomb.

Loose control... One more time!

Man...now for THE skit. The 'Punyakoti' song. Chethan, who sang was running away with the song. I barely managed to click a few snaps.

We had wonderful masks for the cows & tiger, but the one for the calf wasn't available, and we had to make do with a rabbit mask!!! Here Punyakoti is talking with her calf....'bout her impending surrender to Mr. Tiger.

After sentimental scenes, Punyakoti goes to Mr. Tiger, who for reasons I haven't fathomed all my life, feels sorry for wanting to kill her and instead of sending her back & going home, jumps from a cliff, and ends life!!!!

Teaching with my 5th std kids goes like this....45 minutes of English...restlessness.....and suddenly they jump and say 'Uncle, we will dance'......and thats it...they have their 'n' dances...that includes Dhoom machale!!! Here, we have them as Gopika's cribbing 'bout Krishna!!!

Speech in English. Chetna came with a simple written speech, and thrust it in my hands. None of the 4th & 5th were ready to speak it out, for they can't read it in the first place. Shocked. Well, thats the way it is. And, as I loudly contemplated writing the English in Kannada, and getting it read. Manjunath, a 3rd std kid, jumped, and forcefully said, he wud do it, and did a wonderful job of it. Long way to go for us.

3rd std kids singing the poem 'Bannadha thagadina thuthuri'

Man...this song has climbed up to the top of my charts. Something like 'Jannadha pannadha mangagallee'......Monkeys... please don't see, speak & hear evil! A dance, that evokes lot of laughter amongst kids.

End of celebrations. Lots of volunteers missed. Sunand, Dharin & Ami joined. And, the best part was the culturals at the Bellur school. Last Independence day, the kids just watched as Pooja & speeches took the centre stage. But this time it was the otherway.

After we left the school, came across this injured Brahminy kite. It may have done well with some attention & care, we left it to nature & moved away. And, so are these govt. schools ?

Ramnagara school trip

2006-12-29T07:46:00.000+05:30

Thorns made red by bleeding hearts.

Well, if not a bleeding heart, I indeed was in a quandary. Chalghatta school - 200 kids - never been on a school trip - wow! lets take them out - but how ??

The logistics was turning into a nightmare. A bus can take 50-60 kids, a long journey makes it 9k/bus, and entry fees. And, food expenses. Mysore beckoned, but entry fees & quite long a journey. Same tale with Shravanabelogala-Tallakad-Bellur circuit.

Thorns.

My morning run ---> solution thrashed. Check with Sunand. 'Yes! we will do it', he says. Bliss.

Funda: Thorns are mostly in our imagination, as in the pic above. The locust intimidates other predators with it thorn like legs.

And, so on a saturday morning 9th of Dec 06. All the 6th & 7th std kids were taken on a outing. The 5th std kids from Chalghatta, along with 3rd to 5th from the Bellur school will be taken to Fun-world sometime in Jan. An elaborate pooja for the bus, seemed to satisfy the bus driver. He had cribbed heavily that only 46 passengers are allowed, and we were 66 kids, 8 teacher staff, & 6 volunteers!!!
And soon, Sunand & Shweta got some major Anthakshari going in the bus. Latest Kannada songs from FM 137.66
Ramnagara was the destination. A rock-climbers paradise. A quite place, with vultures above ur head, place to be. We wanted to introduce the kids to trekking and rock-climbing.
And soon, after breakfast, Sunand launched onto what trekking is....rock climbing is......the equipment used...how you need to be.....water bottles.....discipline....etc etc. At the end of the briefing, a boy promptly fainted!!!!
And soon, the 66 kids were divided into groups with volunteers Leena, Chetna, Shweta & Navrathan leading them. Sunand & Mallesh were the rock-climbing experts and leading the trek/climb. The teachers, esp the school HM Mary had a tough time in the small trek. She kept saying 'Since when have you been scheming this on me'...she struggled.....the kids literally ran.....and after some time 2 kids came back to help their HM!!!

Soon, we reached the base of Ramdevar betta. The joy here is the natural slide thats on this rock....the kids went up & slid down merrily.

We climbed up the hill, pitched in the equipment, and introduced rappling.
And after swift instructions from Mallesh & Sunand, the kids rappled down. It was a good test of their confidence, courage and trust.

Soon boyz & girls clamoured to get down. A few kept away, having a single rappling rope was becoming a botlle-neck. Shwetha took upon securing the harness & gloves.

Mmmmm......

By 5pm, we had finished with the last rappling kid, and went down for lunch. A good number of the kids had rappled down. The plan was also to visit Kokrebellur, some museum at chanpatna, and Rajarajeshwari temple. But, with rappling taking all the time we ditched it.

The school had raised Rs 2300 from the kids 50Rs each, from all those, who could pay. They covered food charges and also bought some canvas shoes for those needing it. Transport charges was covered by DSF. Rock climbing charges raised from volunteers.

The way back, the back benchers started with some major Ayyappa bajans, and soon being tired gave up and slept. It was 8:40pm, when the bus reached the school. Sunand wanted me to 'de-brief' the kids. And so, for the 66 kids seated in a corridor, that glowed in a yellow light lamp, for those who rappled, and those who didn't, with some of their parents watching, I spoke of 'Why adventure'....'Why push the body'...'Striving beyond the limits'...'Marathon running'.....'Rock climbing'....'Their exams'.....'their studies'.....'little more marks' The kids starred back sleepily, and their parents were quite.

Well, we managed to pull thru this outing safely. And, the kids enjoyed it. A new experience.

A zillion thanks to my buddy & Man Friday (Man Saturday ?) Sunand, who made this happen.

School Trip - Malleshwaram Kannada and Urdu school

2006-12-10T00:56:00.000+05:30

Star studded sky, the toy train, the swings and slides, boat rides, good food and the company of friends. When we as adults can enjoy all of this, why wouldn't the kids !
And our kids from the Government Primary - Kannada and Urdu - School, Malleshwaram, who probably do not get to have this kind of fun too often were nothing less than ecstatic today !

We started early in the day and as expected the kids were all in school before we got there with the hot idlis. The kids helped us and themselves to a good breakfast and were all neatly seated in a disciplined assembly, but deep within raring to go. Thanks to Veeresh who brought the BMTC bus on time, ensuring we stuck to our schedule. We had one bus 121 kids and 16 adults... And all of us quite accommodative in a over-crowded bus. Thanks to our fear of one-ways, our excitement and the fact that our bus-driver was quite cautious... We reached our destinations and back, packing ourselves tightly up in the lone bus, very safely.

The Nehru Planetarium was our first stop. All 120 of our kids under one sky, learning about the milky way and the constellations. The parade of planets and the darkening of the dome was applauded and thoroughly enjoyed by all. The show is called "The Solar System" and plays in Kannada at 10:30 am on Saturdays. The rebated ticket for Government school children can be procured at the counter at 10:15 am at a cost of Rs. 15 per person. [Contact No : 22266084 / 22203234]

Balbhavan welcomed us next. While the wait for the toy train was announced to us, we stepped into the aquarium in the neighbouring building. The moment the first few of them stepped into the dark room, there was a sound of awe and amazement that gradually grew into a loud chatter, the kind that one of our volunteers classified as "sounding like a Fish Market". Never-the-less, adding to the dimensions of learning, was this experience, that opens up the young mind to the existence of such a variety of fish, in so many different colours sizes and shapes. The aquarium charges Rs. 2 for a child and Rs. 5 for an adult. They cut down the price by half, in case the school authorities carry a letter of authentication.

The toy train... as exciting as ever took us on one loop of the BalBhavan area. Quite realistic in terms of the Train experience when it runs through the tunnels and over the waterway and through Bamboo shoots...as much as not when you see dinosaurs and other animals along the way. But it's a great experience for the kids. The roar while we passed through the tunnel, still resonates in the memories of today's outing. The Toy train tickets cost Rs. 5 per child and Rs. 10 for adults. The train operates after 11:30 am and has a lunch break between 1:30 and 2:30 pm.

Once off the train, the children rushed to the play area and spent the rest of their time on the swings, slides, boat rides, etc., wanting to be uninterrupted, except for lunch. After lunch, although they would've liked to spend more time at the play area, we decided to call it a day. The drive back was dotted with the undeterred enthusiasm, we started with... the kids singing, in more like a contest of sorts, loud and rocking !

Thanks... is what they said to us...

Thanks... is what we ought to say to DSF and our fellow volunteers - Ameya, Kavitha, Sri, Chilli and Vikram and their super effort, in the trip that we thought would be a big challenge in implementing.

Thanks to Mr. Dey and Mrs. Rajini for helping to sponsor a half of the expenses.

Thanks ... to all our children, who always bring us smiles, by just being themselves - innocent and genuine !

“Maaya” Kannan

2006-11-30T23:48:00.000+05:30

Around six months back, I had the opportunity of meeting Kannan, a student of the RT Nagar Tamil School. The occasion was the Lucent Day at the school. By the end of the day, I realised that it wasn’t just an opportunity…in fact, it was an honour to have met him.

I am sure there are countless stories of him that the volunteers at his schools would have, but for me, just a single day’s interaction gave immense insights into various aspects of him. It was a truly amazing experience…and here I try to recount a few of the multiple facets he possesses.

The first thing that struck me was the ease with which he ragged people. They could be his teachers, his fellow students, volunteers, chief guests…it didn’t matter to him. If he found something funny about them, he would go ahead and crack a comment right away. And this was done, not because of a lack of respect, or any malice…it was just the way he enjoyed his life, the way he perceived everything as something that would bring a smile to him, make him happy.

Then came an exhibition of his helping nature. The chairs had to be arranged…call Kannan. The stage had to be set…call Kannan. The shamiana had to be dismantled…call Kannan. School wasn’t just a place for him to study, play and leave. He took part in all the activities, and helped arrange everything. He helped people out of his own free will. In many ways, it was a double gift. Not only does the person being helped get the benefit of Kannan’s hard-working nature, he also gets to listen to some of the wittiest comments.

If the above qualities somehow gave the impression of Kannan being someone not that interested in studies, one couldn’t be far off from the truth. Instead of talking about his academic records, marks in exams, etc. I think this small incident should be enough to let you know how seriously he takes his studies:
All the students who had attended the function that day were given a gift. The gift was two huge slabs of chocolates, something that would have most boys his age very happy. But he turned to me and said, “idhikku badhila oru geometry box kuduthirndha evlo nalla irundhirikkum!” (Instead of these (chocolates), if you had given us a geometry box it would have been so nice!)
Speechless!

In between, there was the charming bit of innocence, when he was hesitant to pose for a photograph as he felt his “aayisu koranjidum” (his life would reduce). But his eagerness and enthusiasm for all things won over, and he came to us at the end of the day, requesting for a photo of his to be taken. He also wanted it delivered to him in a week’s time…which was duly done, and a geometry box was also given to him for good measure.

And finally to yet another feather in his cap. He was telling us about how he had played kho-kho at the district level, how he worked on his muscles, how he practised a lot on his running…and the fruits of all that labour has finally arrived in him being selected for the State level 400m sprint! Here is My3’s mail on this:

Kannan (std 7th RT Nagar Tamil school) qualifies for STATE level
400m run !!

Anyone who has ever visited the RT Nagar Tamil school could not have
missed this kid. An enthusiastic youngster - " School Headboy"
welcomes you with a broad smile and stick in hand (which he claims
he does not use for hitting, only pretending to hit:-) ) Catch him
working confidently on the computer (thanks to Sunand & Thiru),
making ppts and docs. Speaks some English, always keen on learning
more. Entrust a responsibility to him and he is sure to deliver.
With this all-round talent, he certainly has the potential to go
well ahead in life!

He won the block level, taluk and district level 400 metres and will
now compete at the Karnataka level. He gets Rs 5000, complete sports
gear and training for a week from the State Athletic coaches.

All of us at DSF wish him all the best for this race and hope he
also does equally well in the long and gruelling race of life! And
maybe here, we have a role to play, to ensure such kids do not fall
back in the race of life!

I think I need to re-emphasise this – it truly is an honour to have such a kid amongst us. Let’s wish the best in life for him.

He is truly set to achieve magical heights. All the best “Maaya” Kannan!

At the Navrang school..

2006-11-28T13:37:00.000+05:30

Try reading a textbook lesson to a kid and then a story to a kid. You'll be surprised at the receptivity of the kid when you are narrating the story. Their minds can easily grasp even the most complicated words and understand any message through a story. This is what happened this Saturday at our Navrang School.

Most of our volunteers were missing at the School on Saturday. So Kavya and I decided to read stories to the kids from class 1 to 6. All the kids from the silent to the talkative, quiet to the mischievous loved the story being read to them. In the course of the narration, we revised our WordsWorth clusters whenever we came across any remotely connected object in the story. E.g.: The appearance of the sky in the story made way to revise our nature, animals, baby animals and colors clusters.

At the end of the story, we picked some kids to volunteer and narrate the story to us. These kids were so smart that they remembered every scene of the story. The sheer confidence with which they spoke could have put any adult to shame in public speaking. The kids forced us to continue the reading session for a second story to be read to them. Avi, who joined the session later, suggested that we should have someone with a loud voice read the story.

However, the kids loved the session and we were also able to integrate our WordsWorth session into the story.

Like icing on the cake, we had a different set of notes in our wish box and one of them was ‘we need story books and story reading sessions’. We felt proud that we had satisfied their wish even before we had read it.

Guys, try it out in your schools. This is similiar to the Hippocampus sessions but not sure if all the schools are having these regularly. Also this works better because the kids can relate to you as a volunteer and you would have developed a good rapport with them.

Wish Box...

2006-11-04T21:04:00.000+05:30

Inspired by the Navarang school folks... who came up with the idea of a Wish BOX...

We put up our Suggestion BOX today in the malleshwaram school....

And our first suggestion ... was a well written note in English -
" I want to learn and read English" , Student, IV Standard ... :)

Innovative Ways of Teaching: Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan

2006-10-30T04:18:00.000+05:30

It is inspiring to see that there is quite a good amount of innovation happening under the Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (SSA).

I read an article in the Hindustan Times - New Delhi edition a few days ago regarding the innovative ways of teaching that have been adopted by the volunteers at the SSA. Currently unable to get the online link, but its available on their e-paper version.

Excerpts:

Innovation, it seems, is the way to go. Conventional teaching methods are giving way to creative ideas.....

In Andhra Pradesh’s East Godavari district, children from 170 deprived families call a boat their school. Since their parents live on boats too, normal schools were too far for them. So, “providing schools close to their homes” was the best bet of giving them an education, the compilation says.

This particular one seems interesting:

In Gujarat, girl students are being used as tools to educate their mothers, with the help of SSA volunteers.

This is a great move of trying to educate the mothers via the girl students.
Traditionally, the housewives in this strata of the society are conservative and usually not educated. By trying to address their education needs in addition to educating today's girl child, the SSA volunteers have come up with a great solution.

In Haryana, the government has given bicycles to 21,000 girls so that they get to school.

It is commendable to see the efforts that are going into the program in terms of new and innovative ways of teaching.

Ban on English in Bangalore Schools

2006-09-27T17:12:00.000+05:30

More than 100,000 English-speaking children in India’s information technology capital of Bangalore will soon have to switch to schools offering lessons exclusively in a Dravidian regional language, following a crackdown on more than 2,000 English-medium institutions in the state of Karnataka, reports the Financial Times in this news article.

Excerpts:

The state government’s promise on Monday to enforce a widely flouted 1994 language policy requiring compulsory Kannada-medium education in primary schools reflects resentment at the influx of relatively wealthy English-speaking IT workers into Bangalore.

The crackdown has seen 800 schools stripped of their status and a further 1,500 face closure, according to an education department official.

This is definitely a backward step taken by the government. Hopefully a public debate will follow and oppose this move. Read the full article.

Perot, chalghatta & mummies

2006-09-05T18:24:00.000+05:30

Chalghatta school, a nice looking govt. primary school with a small ground interspersed with Ashoka trees. The school houses 200 prince/princess. They really own this school, they make such ruckus, that some new volunteers go back home to terrible headaches (takes some getting used to, you see).

The school has a fundu HM Mrs Mary Angela (left most), a superb PR lady. And, another teacher Bhuvaneshwari, whoz fast becoming my favourite (rightmost lady). Bhuvaneshwari is real good at culturals, no wonder, we had so many children vying to sing/dance & perform.

Ha...oh..3 similar shots....lots of back light, so only this angle permitted decent shots. Hey, who are these lovely ladies ??? They are singing 'Hum honge kamyaab ek din'......well, Ladies & Gentlemen, Sep 2nd 06, over 20 employees from Perot systems dropped into interact with our kids. To keep matters simple, the 1st to 5th kids were let off at their usual closing time, and we continued interacting with the 6th & 7th. Amit, hardcore DSF volunteer, also happens to be a Perot, and so it worked cool for both parties ;-)

Event A was collage making. 8 teams with volunteers thrown in, and 30 minutes. The teams took on this with all seriousness, with volunteers majorly guiding them. And, soon we saw some lovely stuff.

Event B was to mummify.....yeah...seriously, take a kid and mummify....for bizzare reasons only girls got choosen....and boy...it turned out to be real fun.

Shot of the day.

The kids were all real excited by now....and the volunteers strongly identified themselves with their teams & kids. I guess, the event had achieved its purpose.

Yes, kids got a double-decker box with pencils/scale etc and nice snacks/Icecream.

Perot systems is also sponsoring a LifeSkills session here at the school for the 6th/7th on weekdays, conducted by Mrs Sadhna. A nice corporate-NGO partnership.

We still need people for the bread & butter stuff, my kids are pathetic when it comes to reading English. And Math ? not far either. So, if volunteering & making a difference at the primary level appeals to you, join us.

I-Day at Bellur Nagasandra School

2006-09-01T18:36:00.000+05:30

After leaving school, this was the first time I celebrated I-Day. The functions began (as usual) with the preparations & lots of music. This was followed by a very unusual puja of Gandhiji's picture and of the flag post, followed by some very moving speeches by those present. Many of the villagers who have been involved in the school improvement committee as well as those who have been contributing to the school were present. Flag hoisting and the national anthem were next on the agenda and these were followed by distribution of sweets & pencils / erasers to all and geometry boxes for the 5th std.

Maybe going forward, we should work towards having the children more involved in these activities by teaching them some patriotic songs etc. Akash, lets try to target this for 26th Jan.. :)

NBD Ramanagara

2006-08-28T22:46:00.000+05:30

Notebook drive, a DSF initiative: Giving notebooks to govt. school children. On 19th & 22nd Aug, 5,500 notebooks were given to 1500 students in 19 primary rural schools around Ramnagara. On 19th, a gang of 30 volunteers, lotz from Accenture, distributed the books. A few schools were closed because of 'Nalkne shravan shanivaara', and these were covered on 22nd Aug. The pics, shot by Sunand, tell the story.

I-Day at Pavithra's School

2006-08-23T16:30:00.000+05:30

Right to Education bill

2006-08-10T10:32:00.000+05:30

Hi Friends!

The one ray of hope for Indian children - the Right to Education Bill was recently disowned by the central govt. This is a major setback for our Education System. Please sign the petition to demand justice and the Right to Equitable education for millions of our children.
Every child between the ages of 6 to 14 years has the right to free and compulsory education. This is as per the 86th Constitution Amendment Act to the Article 21A of the Indian Constitution in 2002. The Right to Education bill seeks to give effect to this amendment.

The government schools shall provide free education to all the children and the schools will be managed by school management committees (SDMC).

Private schools shall admit at least 25% of the children in their schools without any fee.

The National Commission for Elementary Education shall be constituted to monitor all aspects of elementary education including quality.

Check http://educationforallinindia.com/RighttoEducationBill2005.pdf for the complete Bill.

Current Scenario in 2006:

The Bill has been abandoned by the Central government on the pretext of lack of resources, which is unreasonable since the budget for the bill is estimated to be merely Rs 4,36,000 cr.
The people of this nation are being betrayed by not being given the Right to Free and Compulsory Education through Central Government legislation.
Two points – 25% quota in private schools and the National Commission in the Bill have already been withdrawn as per the latest draft of the Bill sent to the states by the centre.

Several National & State level networks – CACL, SAFE, CACT, BGVS, SFI etc have come together to form an alliance called "People's Campaign for Right to Education". This Alliance will take several steps to oppose this move by the Govt. The immediate action solicited from us is to sign this online petition prepared by an Alliance partner ILP and spread the word to as many Indians across the world to gather support for this campaign.

Please sign the petition at http://www.petitiononline.com/rteindia/petition.html

Maitreyee Kumar

Are we in Agreement ?

2006-08-04T10:32:00.000+05:30

Advocacy... Oh my god... We are not ready for it. We are a small organization concentrating on the issues in front of us rather than looking at the macro level matters and it’s the biggies who can do that. No staff to do that though we believe in advocacy and lobbying. These are the reactions of a typical non government organization when it comes to advocacy and lobbying. This is a disturbing scenario as Non Government Organizations get into relationships with their immediate surroundings like donors and agencies that they work directly rather getting into the scheme of things like policies or decisions that affect their interventions.

It’s the responsibility of any good Non profit to get into advocacy and size or age of the organisation doesn’t matter here!! So the challenge is how a small organization can drive advocacy programmes on issues they work with. The answer is - VOLUNTEERS getting into advocacy. It starts with the creation of an advocacy cell which can get into action whenever an issue comes up. The advantages of volunteers getting into advocacy roles are manifold and the prime reason being they are the ones who are emotionally attached to the issue and any policy decision affects their work environment directly. Also, volunteers add numbers to the advocacy campaign, and numbers are very crucial for the success of any advocacy programme.

It becomes absolutely essential when we work with the govt. system, as the premise of our work and relationships are decided by external agencies and if we cant influence these decisions its not worthwhile to work with the system. A good number of organizations focus on specific issues like education, health etc with the strength of their volunteers but shy away from the primary responsibility of studying the issues and align with advocacy efforts happening in the field across the country.

People are concerned about the status of a government school, the state of education and health etc and religiously doing their bit by volunteering by going to a school or a programme area and wonder why other fellow country men are not volunteering? Will that help? Even a large force of people, volunteering for a cause silently, without raising their voices against the injustice done in the sector, cannot bring about any lasting change in the system. Are they all in agreement or are they really avoiding any debate on the issues and the causes? Why cant people study the issues, think and act? Let there be a debate and discussion…. If it happens that’s the first step to advocacy !

Sabu

Ulsoor School ..Delayed update on Parents' meeting and other updates

2006-07-30T00:34:00.000+05:30

Hi All,

Megha's prodding worked. I finally decided to share abt the Ulsoor School.

As per the school dev Plan, we want to have 3 parents' meetings a year - basically get them to get their kids to study..find out abt their problems with reference to kids and school etc.

Generally the turn out is low for such meetings, so this time, we sent a circular to all the kids' homes saying that we will give notebooks this year, but the parents need to come and collect it. Basically we did the NBD on a working day. and got parents to come.
The school has 90 kids..and we had arnd 45ppl at the meeting. That’s a high turnout, by Govt.school standards. That's like having 150 ppl at the Tamil School parents meeting.

Anyways, I spoke to the parents..addressing in kannada and tamil..and said that we're there to help the kids have a great future..and we need their support. Told them that we only want them to make sure that kids attend school on time and regularly and that they sit in front of their books for an hour atleast, at home. I told them that even if they don't know how to read and write, let them just see if the kids sit in front of the books. Asked them to come to school and check with the teachers on how their kid is progressing. They listened to all this, and said they would put in some effort...atleast quite a few said so.

Then we got onto discussing their issues and they asked for uniforms for the kids. and then I said " Almost all of you pay Rs.100 a month for cable tv subscription. When the Govt. gives you cloth, cant you pay Rs.100 to get it stitched" ..and then much to my surprise..they started clapping!! Anyways.. then it was decided that whoever could, would get it stitched..and whoever couldn’t, would ask us. I've not heard back so far.

anyways..some of the 'seniors' of the community who came were of the opinion that more such meetings will help in getting parents to get kids to study.We decided to meet on a Sunday next time though.

In other updates, we start Pygmalion next week. We got the school to get their Electricity sorted out etc..but now we have 'current' but no computer.So I'll be lugging my laptop to school from next week. If anyone of you can get me a comp, nothing like it!

Sound of WordsWorth!

2006-07-28T10:03:00.000+05:30

The Basavangudi school kids repeating the new words that we taught them was our music for the day on Saturday, when we continued with the WordsWorth session that we had started the previous Saturday.

We were seven of us- Divya, Ganaraj, Praveen, Shilpa, Shwetha, Vikram and myself. This time we were showing them the pictures from a laptop as we didn't have the printed pictures and I think that was another reason for their excitement. We were amazed by their enthusiasm to say the least!

We covered around 20-30 words (mostly fruits and vegetables). We noticed that a few kids picked up the words sooner than the others. Some kids were hesitant in say the words if they didn't find it easy. We were thinking of making smaller groups (say a group of 4 kids) from next time onwards so that we can make each kid repeat every single word that we teach.

Thanks to Vikram for getting this going and to all the other volunteers :)

At the Navrang school.

2006-07-25T11:34:00.000+05:30

It is encouraging to see a group of teachers, parents, donors, adopters and the volunteers in one room working for one cause - Kids and their education.
This Saturday was the scholarship distribution function in Rajajinagar II block school. A bunch of SC/ST kids were awarded a sum of Rs.75 each from the government. Along with this was the see-off function for Meenakshi ma'am who served 20 years in that school.

The main participants of the function were:
School kids
Their parents
Teachers
Headmaster
Lion’s club member
A person from the Education office
Sridhar, Lakhsmi, Pacchi and I representing DSF.

The highlights of the meeting were:

The function started at 11 when the kids had their performances. This school kids are really bold and come up on the stage to sing, dance and even to say a few words about their teachers. I can remember performances of Manjunath – who sung about 4 songs, a very cute “math song” by Prajwal, a folk song and dance by her sister, Pragati, a kolata by a group of kids and a couple of songs by Janhavi. I can tell you that the kids were unprepared (except for the kolata) nevertheless gave a wonderful performance.

After an introductory speech from the head master, Lakshmi gave a brief on DSF, its activities, intentions and goals. It was a wonderfully worded speech addressing the need to work together to build a better tomorrow for the kids in our country. This speach can be made available to anyone planning to address a group of teachers and parents in kannada.

The scholarships were given away and then we gave bus passes to 20 deserving kids. Then followed a series of "few words" from all the special invitees to the meeting - The lions club member, the Education office representative and Sheela ma'am - every one emphasizing the need for parents to send their kids to school. Meenakshi ma'am was in tears as she gave a word of advice and shared her experience with the kids.It was an overwhelming experience, to say the least.

A few demands were put in front of the Lions Club - Room construction, the toilet construction, drinking water supply etc and the Lions club were more than happy to take it up. Representatives from parents came forward to put their demands. Janhavi, a 5th standard kid, walked upto the stage and said they wanted and educational tour. Looking at the enthusiasm in the student, the Lions club members readily approved of it.

The Education officer suggested to keep a suggestion or Wish box in the class room, where the kids can write their wish and drop it in the box. We could take a look at it and see how much we can fulfill it. It was a nice suggestion and we will be implementing it in our school from next Saturday. Anything to make the kids love coming to school, we think.

We will be starting the WordsWorth sessions and Kannada reading sessions from this week for our children.

Hippocampus

2006-07-10T11:13:00.000+05:30

Ambika wrote :

A small note on Hippocampus:
1> Hippocampus is a library which aims at cultivating the reading habits in the kids. They want to promote this even to the kids who actually are deprived.
2> Hippocampus had conducted training sessions for conducting reading sessions for kids.

targeted for 7th Standard
3 levels
12 books for these 3 levels
There will be an evaluation at the end of each levels, conducted by hippocampus.
For any kind of help we could approach them, either hippocampus or the trainers who trained us.

3> Our work is to now promote and inculcate the reading habits in our schools. To do this we need people who can commit and come on saturdays, so that kids get comfortable with them and do not see new faces every time :).

Smitha wrote:

We will get 12 Hippocampus books for a academic year. The main aim is to to improve the reading skills of kids. We will concentrate on telling the meanings of the new words in that book.

We all know that for some reason we may not be able to come all weekends. So there should be enough volunteers to fill in for the absentees :). But, kids will not be comfortable to see new faces every week.So we think, all volunteers for hippocampus will go to the school first 2/3 weeks for the kids to know all of us. Then some of us can attend the sessions according to our convenience.

Please let us know who are all interested so that we can meet and share the knowledge and come up with different activities to help kids read.

Navrang UTSAH

2006-06-25T22:33:00.000+05:30

The DSF conducted an ice-breaker session at the Rajajinagar 2nd block (Navrang) school this Saturday, the 24th of June.

Volunteers had turned up at the school from different parts of Bangalore –
Ashwini, Avinash, Nisha, Pacchi, Pavithra, Sowmya, Thiru, Vikram and me.

We had noticed a couple of things concerning this school in our previous two visits.
One was that the Head Master was quite open to our involvement, and assured us that the kids and the teachers would co-operate with us in anything we planned.
And the other more significant point was the behaviour of the kids. Discipline, which is an almost alien concept to the kids at the Malleswaram school, seemed to be in plenty among the Navrang school kids.

Both these factors aided us in spending some fun time with the kids, and possibly laid the foundation for sustained involvement.

The school has a skewed class strength – 60% of the 110 kids belonging to 6th & 7th, with 1st to 5th making up the remaining. We decided to split them into groups along this parameter.

We played Pass the Parcel with the bigger kids, the box containing the chits of actions provided to us by Megha. Barring a few shy kids, most were quite enthusiastic to come forward and perform the act. In fact, for every activity, there were always a bunch of extra volunteers.

Ashwini, Pavithra and Sowmya took the smaller kids under their control, and conducted their games. The highlight of this was the running race where chota Chethan, despite facing senior competition, hung on to complete the race. Here is that kid…

A lot of kids asked us whether we would be coming every week.
Hope that their enthusiasm continues to remain unabated, and we can make a difference in their lives with the co-operation of the teachers.

Thanks to all those who could make it, and the others like Pooja who helped us with the ideas behind the games.

Navrang school.

2006-06-18T17:03:00.000+05:30

Update on the Navrang school.

A set of volunteers - Sridhar, Prashanth, Ameya, Vikram and I visited the government school in Navrang this saturday. It is the one next to Basaweshwara College. The total strength of the school was 120 last year and 105 till now with about 60% of the students in the 6th and the 7th standards. The school has a huge campus with the high school adjoining the primary and middle school. This gives it an advantage of a huge play ground. There is electricity and water supply. ISKON provides mid-day meals. A few rooms are being constructed as there is a shortage of rooms in the school. The students coming to the school are not from around the school, but are from places as far as peenya. That explains the low strength in the school. The bus passes for the students are arranged for by the headmaster of the school. He was keen to know if we would be of any help in arranging for the bus passes for the kids. The students seem much disciplined as opposed to the malleshwaram school (Malleshwaram school kids win your heart with their indiscipline :-)). The school does not have a computer.

The headmaster of the school was very receptive and encouraging. He readily agreed to give us the first hour on Saturday.

The next Saturday we are planning to hold a ice breaking session - UTSAH - from 9:30 to 11. It would be great to have as many volunteers as possible. If you are interested in being a part of UTSAH, mail to me at avinash.s.rao@gmail.com.

Enrollment "rally" for the Malleshwaram schools...

2006-06-17T23:33:00.000+05:30

Reminders of a rally I went to once and the rythmic call out of strong messages...

But this rally was much more gentle while being as meaningful and was much much more closer to our cause as DSF volunteers ...

"Beke beku ..Vidye beku" (We want education) ...
"Yene barali, Oggatu iralli" (We want to be united) ...
"Shaale bitta makalannu shaalege serisi" (Put you kids who've dropped out of school, back in).

And we saw our young leaders (Parthiban...among others, now in 5th standard...a smart and well rounded little personality) among the rallyists who shouted their lungs out during the entire 1 hour walk through their community!

We joined the Headmaster, some of the teachers and the TCH trainees associated with the school and quickly mixed up with the younger crowd to hear their side of the story.

Why a friend wouldn't come to school because her mother expects her to go to work, how a girl has to take care of the new born while her brothers can go to school, how one of them has no explanation for not going to school except her silence, how another school in the neighbourhood is preferred because the medium of teaching is Tamil, how quickly one can use the pretext of the unknown school that he/she is going to being on a holiday.

Kids always amaze you! Whether it's an innocent smile... or the quick "scurry away" act they perform when they see the headmaster... or shoot back with a quick rude repartee... or just plain say the truth :)

There are problems in bringing kids to school on a sustained basis... and there are complex causes to these problems... there are some we can't own up to find solutions for. It hurts to be helpless in the couple of cases we saw today... But we are also happy for all the children who do go to schools, seeing the kind of environment they are brought up in...the lack of nutrition among other things... they go school- get a meal, books, clothes and a mediocre education... And I, just like you, don't like the word mediocre for our children. There is so much to be done...and so little we could do

Wish this group of volunteers is always as motivated as they have been and as they were in the "rally" today :) ... Thanks Chilli, Vikram, Ameya, Rashmi, Smitha, Pacchi and Nisha !

Ameya's chase being the highlight...and here he comes, a winner, with Vishnu.. the kid he chased all the way to the ... don't ask :)

Success in this case has a tough set of determinants... I can't say we were completely successful in achieving the cause of this rally... Just hope the kids we took to school today keep coming through the year...

English from Standard 1 in Maharashtra

2006-06-10T15:58:00.000+05:30

Today's edition of The Times of India carries an article titled "Maharashtra introduces English from first standard".
(I was unable to get a link to the article on the website, will update later)

This is a welcome announcement and I am glad to note that one of the more progressive states of this country has gone ahead and proven its tag. Ofcourse there is the case of the suicides in Vidharbha, however, the government has once again shown its visionary prowess in taking this step.

In Karnataka, on the contrary, a lot of such decisions are influenced by vernacular groups who voluntarily stand for the protection of the local language and its literature.

I have failed to understand the concept of regional languages taking an adverse impact with the advent of English. There are no facts to prove this. I have known quite a few Kannada speaking youth who are equally well versed with Kannada and English. They, rightly, take pride in their mother tongue and also show keen interest in English literature. If at all anything, their English schooling has embellished them with greater pride in their mother tongue. Primarily because they are able to see both sides of the proverbial coin.

On the other hand, children deprived of English during their early formative years have found it difficult to pick up the language later on in their lives. Let's face the harsh truth of recent years - globalisation is here to stay. Whatever you might want to do, any career you might want to venture into, English has become a must.

Every career you take up is directly or indirectly linked to a chain of careers and companies that span the world. Therefore, why deprive the children in government schools from getting this advantage early on?

There could infact be a negative effect of not teaching English early enough. Children deprived of this "global language" wind up without suitable jobs and therefore develop angst and frustration. This angst might either get directed towards English or towards the regional language, depending on the circumstances. Clearly, this is not what the nation wants.

Right now India is being led ably by its powerful and energetic youth. It is India's duty to provide its children with world class education and with tools to equip them to stand at global junctions.
This is the least our country can do. India can shine only when all its children are given equal opportunities.

Excerpt from the ToI article:

Taking a cue from billions of Chinese taking to English, the Maharashtra government has decided to introduce the global language from Standard I from 2006 in all state schools. Officials believe this move will help stem the tide of students to English-medium schools.
Quote from the principal secretary to primary education and sports - "While the mother tongue is important, there is a global demand for English-speaking people.........The country has been divided into two Indias - those who know English and thos who don't".

Nice article and I think it is a great fillip to the effort of all at the Dreamschool Foundation.

Chinnarangala 4,5,6

2006-05-27T20:45:00.000+05:30

Action continues. The children still come to school. They run around.... fight majorly....play or climb trees...... and when tired stop, sit, listen to the teacher - write/paint. Thats children, at their very best!

With each passing saturday, I take out my camera less often. The kids & their actions are no more novelties ;-))

We have had good support from other groups.

Firstly, it was the Reuters gang...they came...they saw...they played.....and left behind a lot of crayons/books/stationaries and hazzar clothes for the kids. This coupled with the cloth collection, we had from other donors was distributed 2 weeks back. Except for a few kids, almost everybody got 1/2 clothes. Somehow, more of girl clothes than boyz.

Texas Instruments had a cloth drive as part of their Annual day. And, passed them to us. Here, we had clothes of all ages, and in the children category have ended up with clothes for very young girls & babies.

Then entered FSL India, and after a good look-around, they were clear 'bout what to do....A medical camp.....and a day of funNGames.

So, last saturday was medical camp. Dr Anand lead. It was over 40 kids .....most of them very diagnoised with some hygine related disorders. Each kid got a toothbrush/paste/soap and some multi-vitamin tablets.....to be given along with their lunch at school........and ofcourse, the prescribed medicine. Lotz of very young girls were crying & totally uncomfortable in seeing a doctor. My job was to talk to them...get their names....and their ages....had to guess majorly. And their sex....had some problems with some kids with long hair. You think...itz a girl...until they announce their names.....and you look startled......then ask the kids around...'Hey, is this a boy!'...YES, they declare....I take their word. The camp went eventless until a 4 year old girl slapped me for pestering for her name!!! The other volunteers took the weight, height, pulse & temperature. And, the enthusiastic doctor did the final honours. Lot of Telugu speaking kids....so one of the teachers had to translate. Pretty good medical camp. The doc came back after a few days with the prescribed medicine & passed them on with neccessary instructions.

And that afternoon, we had one of our expert volunteer joinig us. Meet Mr. Chaitanya, a 12th std student, he was keen on contributing. And, he came up with Charcoal painting. Kids were guided into drawing a house, trees, clouds etc. And, then using charcoal on it. I had never seen such stuff before. The kids got going.....once they get in...itz tough to stop them.....they draw...they paint/color....and then most of them get so carried away they color/draw all over the place ;-)

Today...the FSL gang came carrying in lot of things.....a crayon box/pencil/drawing book for each kid. And, 2 footballs......and hold ur breath....2 cricket bats...stumps...3 tennis balls.....the kids were overjoyed.....they have been pestering me for cricket bats for weeks now.....I had been evasive.....now they were maha-thrilled. They somehow think I am behind it ;-))

So, we started with the painting session....the kids soon settled down to it....and furiously got going.....they crayoned colorfully. Some of the volunteers drew pictures/scenes for them to color up. And, met up with Pooja....a volunteer with FSL...a 2nd year BBM student......she zapped me with her push....asking those searching/uncomfortable questions. She wanted that proactive approach. And, as we parted, she said 'Once, you come to volunteer, you should not stand and laze around......start doing things'......wow! thats volunteerism for me ;-)

Yes...we got the kids to kick the football......the kids chased the ball like mad.

Guyz...thats how Chinnarangalla is progressing, we are seeing a good turn out, after 6 weeks too. And, hope to get them to continue with the regular school. We have a couple of saturdays to go, interested, join us.

Lucent's Volunteers' Day at R.T Nagar

2006-05-13T23:13:00.000+05:30

This Saturday witnessed a memorable event for the children of the Government Urdu Model Primary School, N.S Lanes R.T Nagar and Vishwalaya, an ashram for orphaned children.

Thanks to the involved volunteering effort from Lucent Technologies in celebration of their Global Volunteering Day.

The volunteers arrived well in time, around 40 of them to help Dream School Foundation's facilitation of this event in the premises of the Urdu school, that DSF has closely worked with for the last two years. The children were there from earlier, expecting a normal day of Summer Camp, that DSF's volunteers have been organizing every Saturday through the holidays. And it seemed like they were pleasantly surprised by the arrangements made, for seating and an addressing system. What followed did not deter the enthusiasm of either the volunteers or the kids, through the stretch of the 5 hour event.

The volunteers had a fun time with the children, singing, dancing, telling them jokes and closely interacting with them.

The Urdu School Children singing " Hum Honge Kamiyaab!" ...

Lucent's Volunteers singing "We will overcome!" ...

Among the activities suggested by DSF Volunteers for the day, collage - making with small groups of children

and dressing up the kids with news paper, straw, paint and balloons were a big hit.

Our Library and computer facilities at the RT Nagar school, being inaugurated by Rajesh from Lucent. ...

The children of the school and Vishwalaya seemed well-prepared and performed groups songs that captivated the audience with their inherent innocence.

Children from Vishwalaya performing "The vegetable song" ...

In all, everybody present has a good time and lots of fun with children.

And here's testimony :) ...

Thanks to Karthik, for his initiative to help establish a synergy with Lucent that has proved very promising.

My3, Sabu, Thiru, Amit and Swati , you did a great job on organizing the event ...

KSSK, Chilli and Avi... glad you were there .....

On a finishing note....

Our dreams, their right and some of the minds at work ...

Chinnara Angala 3

2006-05-08T00:34:00.000+05:30

Chinnara Angala, Chalghatta School May 6th. 30++ kids, 2 teachers, 7 volunteers.

Morning sessions had children enacting stuff. Most of the young kids were shy to speak out and enact things. Children need lot more exposure. And, with we big guyz around, with our high voices wonder how they find us ;-)) And, the vocab we use........becomes very important.

Megha was painting lovely little flowers using the children's fingures. Unfy I didn't capture them. Outside, some games happened. Interesting was Tug-of-war where the boyz shyed away to hold on to the girls ;-) Getting the kids all excited was Vinay with his train......the kids happily ran with the chikubuku train.

The teacher Bhuvaneshwari quickly seized the opportunity, got the train to stop at various stations kannuru(Eye station)...mooguru(Nose station)....kiviyuru(Ear station)....and gave some hygine funda's .

Joining us in the morning were other school DSF chaps Shridhar, Avinash, Vinay & Megha. And, greeting us were lot fewer kids than I am used to. Apparently, the previous day, lot of chaos in the class, so one kid was chided/beaten by a teacher.....he immediately got his 'gang' togather......and lo...they happily marched out of the school ;-)) So....this morning, with poor attendance, the HM had to send a teacher to get the gangsters back!

The kids had their mid-day meals. And, we went out to have our meals. Bad idea. By the time we get back, half the gang had vanished ;-)

With the elder kids, I got to teach/test some maths. Priya & Santhosh were getting the rest on to painting with crayons. Priya drew some fundu outlines, and the kids colored them amazingly.

Nagaraja seems to be highly talented, here are his creations. This is a 'Jeebuba' in the making.

Well, we have just 4 saturdays left, need to get in lot more and newer activities to make school real attractive for kids. Remember, many of these kids will not continue with schooling, so need to make the school, a great place on Earth.

Interested ?, Join us, Saturday's 10:30 am onwards.....

Chinnara Angala 2

2006-05-05T00:52:00.000+05:30

Chinnara Angala@ Chalghatta school, April 29th. 60 kids, 4 volunteers.

Rajarshi went to check up other migrant labour sheds with a school inspector. Santosh down with fever, didn't turn up.

The kids got new notebooks, and got to write all that they know, and the new ones got to practise kannada alphabets. Sudhakar & me hung around. Rohit pulled out some disinterested kids. and got them playing games.

Later, the teacher was getting the kids play Dog 'n Bone.....itz a hit game anywhere...... I soon ran out of ideas.......and ended up putting them thru some simple Kalaripayattu jumps, kicks & poses. Here the kids try a peacock stunt.

Terribly short of volunteers, join us on saturdays 10:30am onwards. Clothes & toys badly needed.

Volunteer initiatives for the coming months

2006-04-23T22:19:00.000+05:30

Hi All!

Summer vacations are on, schools are closed and perhaps some of us feel that this is a lull period for DSF but you may be in for a surprise! The vacation is the time we use for all our preparations and background activities to get set for the next academic year.

Here is an update on our ongoing activities that urgently need volunteer involvement in the coming weeks. Most of these are very creative and ingenious options without any particular time and place constraints. If any of these sound interesting to you, please mail me or leave a comment on this post if we already have your mail ID, to help get in touch with the other co-ordinators

1. NBD ++ - Our Note Book Drive is all set to go. We require help for co-ordination of collection of funds and distribution of books. Contact - Vinay

2. Weekend summer camps held at Ulsoor, Airport Rd. and RT Nagar schools. Contact Vinay for Ulsoor, Akash for Airport Road and Sunand for RT Nagar Schools.

3. English Vocabulary Module was piloted at the Malleswaram School last year. To implement it on a larger scale next year, module needs to be refined further - volunteer help required. Creative, innovative minds invited. Contact - Megha

4. Pygmalion Content Development - We are exploring / experimenting with the idea of using short films as part of this package to improve English and convey important messages to children through this medium. Need volunteers to help with the various aspects of film-making. Contact - Abhishek.

5. The Math drill test papers for standard 5, 6 and 7. Help required to design tests and content for the Maths sessions. Contact - Dinesh

6 . The Civic and Environmental awareness - skits and content needs to be developed. Contact - Avinash

Shallege hogonna banni

2006-04-22T21:27:00.000+05:30

Chinara Angalla, Challghatta school, 58 kids, 6 babies, 2 teachers, 3 volunteers.
Tests, games, and painting.

Shallege hogonna banni

Surya yellindha huttuvanu
Chandamama hege Naguvanu
Gida, Praani matthu Pakshigalu
Guddagalla bagge kaliyona banni
Bhoomi, Aakasha Nadhigallu
Saagara bagge kaliyona banni
Shaalege Hogona Banni

Oduttha Aaduttha Kaliyona banni
Noduttha Keluttha Kaliyona banni
Bareyuttha Odhuttha Kaliyona banni
Haaduttha Kuniyuttha Kaliyona banni
Bega Banni, Bega Banni
Raja, Muthu, Rathna, Mani
Shaalege Hogona Banni

Hossa padhagallu, Hossa bhaashegallu
Hossa kavanagallu, Hossa kathegallu
Hossa deshagalla bagge kaliyona Banni
Jaggatannu gellona banni
Bega Banni, Bega Banni
Raja, Muthu, Rathna, Mani
Shaalege Hogona Banni

Yella Aatadhalli Paatagallu
Yella Paatadalli Hossa Aatagallu
Sankhyegalla pavaada nodonna banni
Vignyanadalli maja maadonna banni
Habba Habbagalla vishaya tiliyona banni
Sihi Sihi maathugalu aadonna banni
Shaalege Hogona Banni

Kanassanu nanusu maadonna banni
Mane manege Harsha tharona banni
Yellarigu Karedu yellonna banni
Bega Banni, Bega Banni
Raja, Muthu, Rathna, Mani
Shaalege Hogona Banni

Wow!!!!!!!!
Not me...
This was Rohit, who woke me up at 6 in the morning...and recited this....I did go back to sleep.
But, hopefully others wont, and this would get more volunteers.

Kalisokke hogonna banni
Raja, Muthu, Rathna, Mani
Nimagaagi kaadhidhare
Bega banni, Bega banni
Kalisokke hogonna banni

Chinnara Angala

2006-04-15T23:02:00.000+05:30

The nicities stop with the name: Chinnara Angala (Children's playground)

Its a world one hardly notices. Make shift huts. Families. Both father & mother work. Work in constructing those appartments coming up all around Bangalore. Kids at home. Playing in their own Chinnara angala.

A play in a devilish field. Wasted childhood. No learning. Child labour. Soon a construction worker. Marriage. Kids. The devilish field again.

Solutions ??

I guess you can tackle the problem at various levels - macro, mini, micro - Lots of people already on the job. Yet, the construction worker kids remain in those devilish fields, the Devil very happy.

One solution is to educate the children. Give them a good education. An education that will be second to none. Well, does that sound too optimistic ? Lets settle for atleast basic literacy for ALL the kids. And, for lot more take them to 5th std, then 7th std and then yes, 10th std. And, then vocational/skill based training(ITI's , Diplomas). And, for those who really want to study furthur. Lets give them the opportunity that you and I had.

We at Dream School Foundation share this dream. Quality Education for everybody. We work to strengthen the govt. schools. These schools reach out to the under-previleged.

The education department has this programme called Chinnara Angala. 60 days during summer vacations. The primary school teachers focus their attention on the construction worker kids, school dropouts, and kids who have never been to school. The 60 day course, full time, Mon to Sat, 9:30 to 3:30 with support interms of meals & snacks helps in getting the child back to school. And, soon many are part of the regular school.

The Chalghatta school (right behind the B'lore airport) is running one such programme. And, volunteers from DSF assist it. We plan to have a lot of fun based learning. Lots of outdoor games are planned. With activities like painting, clay models, etc etc

Today, the programme started with around 20 kids. Many of these kids brought their baby brother/sister along. Later, we went on a drive to talk to parents, and get more children. Another 25 enrolled. The Chalgatta school HM Mary, along with teachers Lalitha & Bhuvenashwari went from hut to hut. A few regular school kids joined us in the march.

The construction worker kids are either Kannada speaking people from Raichur/Gulbarga or Telugu speaking crowd. We saw a few from Orissa too.

So, knowing Kannada/Telugu would be fantastic, but the lack of it shouldn't stop you. Our experience shows that the enthu of the volunteer makes all the difference.

Interested ?
Dash a mail to our DSF co-ordinator Maitreyee, or to Santosh or me.
Join us any saturday 10:30am onwards until June 14th 06.

You are needed to move the devil out of the Chinnara Angalla.

Summer Camp at the Malleshwaram School...

2006-04-09T22:58:00.000+05:30

The classes and exams for this academic year are completed. The mid-day meals have stopped. So do our children still want to come to school? Not surprisingly ( for DSF), YES! And they bring along a whole lot of enthusiasm and excitement with them.

The numbers dwindled occasionally but the zeal remained on a steady high!

Members of the Saranga Trust and Volunteers of the Dream School Foundation successfully ran a Week's summer camp in the Malleshwaram School, which culminated in a colourful display of activities and art today. Here's a brief summary -

The Work :

Activities were designed to engage the kids for 2 and 1/2 to 3 hours from Monday (3rd Apr) to Sunday (9th Apr). Interspersed with games, snacks and prayers, a break-up of each day's activity in the week that passed, are below :

Day 1: Mask Making, Games
Day 2: Badges with name embossing with Crayons and Colour, Poetry and Drama practice
Day 3: Leaf painting, Poetry and Drama practice
Day 4: Clay modeling, Paper-bag making, Poetry and Drama practice
Day 5: Vegetable painting with Paper-bag making, Poetry and Drama practice
Day 6: Mask Making, Poetry and Drama practice, Oil Painting, Games
Day 7: Science workshop, Games, Drama and Poetry recitation perfomances, Prizes and rewards.

[Click on the picture to enlarge]

The Children:

While initially, there were about 20 children who regularly came to the camp, the numbers moved up to 30 - 35 towards the last two days. As Mrs. Hema pointed out, these kids, we believe, are very close to nature. Being simple comes naturally to them. They enjoy the simplicity of the art and activity with minimal expenditure and resources. They completely loved the free flowing, simple poetry, which revolved around nature, animals and people, taught to them from the books of the very famous Kannada poet, Sri. G.P Rajarathnam.

Pooja also points out that all age groups of children enjoyed playing with the colours. Girls and boys, alike, were pushing their artistic abilities to perfection, by demanding of her specific colours and combinations. The younger kids, quickly picked up clay modeling and displayed great talent.

While discipline has always been a problem, without the use of a stick in this school, among all the shouting and commanding silence, there were moments of spiritual silence and prayer.

Kids of the Urdu school also participated in the courtyard-activity with equal amounts of curiosity and eagerness to learn.

Alex of the 2nd Standard, Murali, Lakshmi, Deepa, Oviya and Vijay Kumar of higher standards were rewarded for their work, regularity and discipline during the week.

[Click on the picture to enlarge]

The People:

Mrs. Hema Srinivasan and Mrs. Shyla have lead this camp to see a successful completion. Their commitment to make the learning in this school enjoyable is beyond just the summer camp and has been evident in commanding the support of the teachers for a quite a while now. Our association with them, as Hema madam points out, is an example of how we can truly work together to get involved in the various facets of improving the school. People in the Saranga Network are from the neighborhood of this school and are participating in the schools betterment. This is possibly an example of true "Community mobilization". And to have educationalists, like them, is very promising.

Pooja registers the happiness on most children's' faces, the excitement they showed and just how quickly 2 and 1/2 hrs everyday would just pass by.

Together, the people involved, have demonstrated how two like minded NGOs can work in unison in a school with the philanthrophic intention of it's betterment being the only goal.

[Click on the picture to enlarge]

A Very Special Teacher:

Mrs. Prabha Sheshagiri, is a High School Teacher in Himamshu school. She gracefully spared her time today for our school as an associate of the Saranga Trust. She is running a very successful Balak Science club at home for almost 15 years and so she is well recognised even in the Nehru planetarium's science camps. She has been their camp facilitator for many years now. And Balak Science club is a partner of Saranga Trust.

[Click on the picture to enlarge]

As volunteers in classrooms we cannot ignore the amount of indiscipline that exists among any given group of children. But the magician, that Mrs. Prabha is ( although she insists that it was science and not magic), she captivated the audience for a whole hour by performing Science experiments. The children were at their best behavior, watching and thinking as each of her experiments unfolded. She was encouraging with her questions and the children were quick-witted with their answers. The explanations, that followed ensured a clear understanding among all of them. The children themselves re-played the experiments for their friends. A "Pied piper" of sorts... She even had us, volunteers charmed :)

The experience has helped us acknowledge, again, the fact that our children have a whole lot of latent talent, that we should take responsibility to groom and guide.

Thanks for the inspiration coming through from everyone involved,

Megha.

English Vocabulary Sessions

2006-03-29T00:19:00.000+05:30

Our Thiruvallapuram Lower Primary School has witnessed 12 weekends of continuous volunteer involvment in introducing the English Vocabulary Build -up Session

The targetted sections of children were the 3rd and 4th standard children, who will be introduced to formal English only in 5th standard.

Amongst many constraints the sessions have recorded roughly 50% retention of words newly introduced over 12 sessions.

The emphasis is on the knowledge of the word, the phoenetics and the recoginition through the visual association with a picture. The alphabet and spelling are not introduced through the exercise.

Each session has a central theme - For eg Kitchen. The word cluster around kitchen is priorly determined and images for words which would possibly appear in the cluster would have been prepared. Introduction to the cluster, is by providing the central theme word, eg: Adige mane ge English nalli "Kitchen" anthare ( Equivalent of Kitchen in Kannada)

The children are then asked to connect all those words that they associate with the kitchen and the equivalent English word and image are supplied eg: "Kitchen" alli yen yen nodtheera ( What all do you see in a "Kitchen") , Kid may say "Butti". Volunteers provide the equivalent "Basket" and show them a picture of the Basket.. "Basket" hinge irutha? ( Does a basket look like this?)

Similarly fruits and vegetables...

A cluster of 30 words may be built up. Of which 10 will be keywords that the Volunteers will ensure, get introduced and later assess for retention.

The build up of the cluster is followed by a Individual activity like colouring / drawing.

This is followed by kinesthetic activity where there is a representation of the activities that relate to the kitchen, like a a skit showing Mother "Cook" ing ... or the Child "Eat" ing or "Cut"ting of the vegetables, etc.

Here is the break up of the Session content with timing:

SECTION 1: 5 minutes : Introduction and Recap. Can also have Physical Activity
SECTION 2: 10 minutes : Word Cluster (NOUN focus)
SECTION 3: 10 minutes : Individual work, Coloring and Pictures
SECTION 4: 10/15 minutes : Kinesthetic Activity (VERB focus)
SECTION 5: 10 minutes : Summary

The pictures for our sessions were hand-made by our very committed Volunteer Pooja.

There are books that have helped us derive examples for the clusters.

An alternative to this would be transforming the images into PPTs, which was well accepted ( the children were quite excited about the Computer as much as the Camera), but the computers to student ratio might deter the exercise.

The sessions have been on an experimental basis. Any volunteer group who would like to take this further into a new environment / school will be of great help. We need to identify what factors would ensure the success of the exercise through trial and error.

And we really can't err that much. The exercise will definitely act as a supplement to the classroom learning. And as Juvena, our mentor for this whole exercise, points out, we can understand the constraints under which Teachers teach in classrooms and hopefully may motivate them to undertake new initiatives, by demonstrating success in the same environment that they function in.

I sincerely thank every volunteer who has been with us in this commitment of a whole trimester.

Thanks Ameya,Vikram, Pavithra, Akshai, Chilli, Dhi, Anu, Avinash and Pooja

2006-03-24T14:17:00.000+05:30

Fortunately the Govt is getting organised off late. http://www.schooleducation.kar.nic.in/ gives a lot of statistics on education in Karnataka. There are about 51,000 govt. schools in Karnataka and over 1300 in Bangalore URBAN itself !!!

Also find lot of good statistics on http://www.azimpremjifoundation.org/html/statistics.htm There are many more such useful links - don't want to cram too much info here.

Check out the School search links on the Kar.nic.in site and try to find your schools - http://www.schooleducation.kar.nic.in/SchoolSearch/pssearch.asp

I'll upload some other important files on the egroup soon.

Edu Stats

2006-03-23T20:29:00.000+05:30

Guyz,

Can we have some stats on the following

Literacy %age, India & Karnataka (other states also welcome)
Number of govt. schools in Karnataka, Bangalore (& other district too)
Number of primary vs high school (govt.)
Boyz vs girls
Drop out rate...classwise
Economic conditions of parents (monthly salary)
Medium of instruction...%age of schools with Kan, Tam, Urdu & English medium.

I guess, not so easy to get them, but we should have these stats on our fingure tips.....helps a lot in a better understanding....and to attract new volunteers & funds......esp with NBD looming.

Lets do our searches.....and put them up here.

Can somebody also talk interms of budget allocation....centre & state.....what percentage...goes where......that would be GREAT.

Guyz...we SHOULD know.

PS: This blog writing is more like a mail ;-)) I miss my pictures......wait...lemme attach one of my favourites.

Remand Home

2006-03-21T11:01:00.000+05:30

An earlier writeup of an NBD experience.

Remand Home

Juvenile Home is a better euphemism. But still the old name lives in my head, and conjures a collage of images.

Saturday, 30th July 05 - big day for many of us - for we had a logistic challenge/day-mare in our hands, 10 thousand notebooks to be distributed at 40 govt. schools. By 4pm, as an exhausted gang of us had an hungry lunch, our cluster of 10 schools were covered, and I guess almost all of us were thrilled with the experience.

Post lunch, we seemed to have a couple of hours, and wondered what next ? Joining Sunand's gang for some more book distribution was not pragmatic (he was lost somewhere). Hiking to nearby hills formed by the mining slurry, near the entrance of KGF was an option. But, more appealing was a visit to a Remand/Juvenile home closeby. Notebook distribution amongst the kids was a pretext, we were keen on meeting the kids & getting to know the place.

A 5 minute walk took us there, a big building invited us in, we see lot of kids wearing green shirts bunched with an old man. They were apparently doing some pooja(prayer) in a small temple - made up of a small slabs - The God's we didn't notice. But, was the kind of temple children build in minutes to play.

A quick talk with the authorities, and they were happy to have us. This is an home for boyz. 66 boyz were present. Most of them seemed to be below 10 years, and just a few in highschool. A lady warden told us most of them are here for they are orphans. And left unsaid that the rest are sent by the police/judiciary.

So soon, we called over the rest of our volunteer gang. And, the kids were seated in a quadrangle with a cement floor. They introduced themselves with their name, class, the cricket player they like, and optionally could suggest who would be a better captain, Saurav or Rahul ;-))

There seemed to be a lot of kids in 1st/2nd standard. They all had short cropped hair, and sat very obediantly. Looking back that strikes us. For we have hardly seen kids in that age-group so silent & well-behaved, they generally are un-rully, highly energetic, jumping jacks!

Okay, I was pretty impressed with their cricket sense. Sachin & Sewag move aside, the more popular one is Dhoni!!! They also zapped me with Mc Grath, Inzamam, Kambli, and hold ur breath - Suresh Raina!!!!! - he was playing only his 2nd ODI that day!

It was times for games.We started with 1, 2, clap-clap, 3, 4, clap-clap....kid1 says 1, kid2 says 2, kid3 shud only clap..kid4 says 4 and so on......basically check the concentration of kids....and some basic math...well, this game was not such a success.

So we moved to bombing the cities!! We had Bombay, Delhi, Madras & Bangalore. The kids keep runing around - chanting 'Fire on the mountain run run run' - and when asked to stop, run into the nearest city/circle. And, one of the volunteer would call out the city to be bombed, and boom....all of them are out of play!!!One volunteer stood in each city as a pole. Soon, S***(don't recall her name) cities were bombed like hell, while Abhishek seemed not to be touched!!!

Next, we wanted to play Dog & bone, but had very few takers. So, thats a challenge, getting games they like, and getting them to participate. Kurian & others got into playing cricket with some kids with a short log as a bat. It was 6ish....the volunteers wanted to get back to Bangalore....so the TCS & Infy crowd went back. And, the kids were sent for their coffee & snacks.

I was waiting for the notebooks from Rohit. And that was to take sometime. So got talking with the wardens there. One of the warden was young, and he seemed to have control over the boyz. How they do it, I am not sure. But this chap looked reasonable & keen on his job.

I got down to a class room session with the kids. Taught them spoken english for some 25 minutes - basic sentences etc etc - the kids were interested. But, seemed very submissive/shy, so hardly any questions from them....Then moved onto some GK. Well, I thought explaining how banks - ATM banks work - would be interesting, so showed my cards, and gave some funda's. And, then thought planes must be fascinating to them, and asked them how does an aero-plane fly ?? Well, they said 'white-petrol', and then 'fans'.....At this point, Rohit walked in carrying 150 books. And, we got distracted, and forgot the plane.

Rohit, got an hang of the place & people. Some kids recognised him, for they were in the Bangalore Juvenile home, where Rohit, Sunand & Murtuza had been quite a few times.

Rohit got them to multi-author online story telling. Each kid has to carry forward an online story. And, the start line was 'Ondh uralli ondh Kothi ithuu ;-)'...most exciting line for kids I wud say...'In a village lived a monkey'....well, the high school kids carried the story with a flourish, the smaller ones simply stared!!!!It soon oscilated between a shopkeeper who was chasing the monkey, and the monkey getting back at him....and suddenly, one kid 'killed' the monkey....well...some silence....whatz this, our monkey is gone....the next line came from Rohit....The monkeys ghost came out!!!!....The kids strangely protested..'How is that possible'....their warden said...'Its possible in stories!!!'.....well, I thought the kids would have just accepted such a line....and am surprised by their response....major rationality ??? or no exposure to folk tales ????

We moved on....this time it was 'Name, place, Animal, thing', 4 teams were made, each was given an alphabet and they were to come with those stuff. I wasn't keen on the idea....the kids hardly knew English is what I felt....but R persisted and got them going. Cool....we had 2 rounds...the warden said..itz time for their dinner....so we distributed the notebooks - 2 each - and for 6th std & above, we gave one more book.

And, the warden insisted, that some prize has to be given....well...delicate area...there was one boy in 10th std....we declared him as the winner...gave him some more books....and the kids clapped like hell....there was another younger boy who was pretty clever & very imaginative during story telling....we gave some books to him too.

At this point, Sunand, Murtuza & Dinesh walked in.....some kids recognised them.....and it was time to get back to our bus....almost 7:30....I gave a short speech...extolled them saying hardwork & a keenness to learn will take U places....the rest of the gang used to my long speeches....butted in & pulled me away!!

At this point or b4 my speech, the warden thanked us. And asked the kids to observe a minute's prayer for us. Well. The kids immediately seemed to get into some ghor tapasya ;-)) rapt attention....eyes totally closed....and some of them muttering something.....somehow...at that point..... in that silence....I felt yes, this prayer is genuine......

Yes, in between a couple of times, on popular demand, I SMSed and found the scores of the match....Sri Lanka was chasing....and they were some 68/3 in the 17th over....the kids jumped & shouted....asked if Jayasurya was out....I thought hez an opener, so must be gone...the kids went delirios!!! (Well, Jayasurya apparently batted later with a dislocated shoulder & won the match).
We shook hand with kids. And, one kid kept saying 'Uncle...don't forget me'

As we walked away, the warden asked...'please tell me, whatz lacking here ?'....well, suprise question...Rohit seemed to say this, 'I feel the smaller kids are a bit dull, we need to look into it'.Yes, that seemed to be true, smaller kids are always running 'bout, full of energy. But, here that was missing. And, I don't know why ??

PS: This was at the Juvenile home, KGF, Kolar on 30th July evening. Camera was not permitted.

Getting connected...

2006-03-16T15:41:00.000+05:30

Since a lot of our members are new to the Organisation ( people who joined us for assessment, etc) , here's where you can get a broader perspective of the activities we involve in.

http://dsfindia.org/whatyoucando.htm

In addition, there are Vocabulary enhancement Sessions and there is help needed at the Learning Centre.

Maybe you would like to go to the school that's closest and convenient for you and get to know from the School co-ordinator, what you can help with at the school.

Airport Rd - Santosh/ Preethi
Ulsoor - Vinay
Malleshwaram -Megha
RT Nagar, Tamil - Dinesh / Sunand
RT Nagar, Urdu - Sandeep / Nishta
Jayanagar - Abhishek

You can leave a comment on this post and I'll mail you the numbers.

“Style” Suresh

2006-03-16T11:55:00.000+05:30

As I had promised in my Bannerghatta Trip post, I could write an entire post on Suresh alone. Something he said last Saturday after the Maths assessment sessions were done interested me.

All the kids had gone to the place where the food was being served, and Suresh, always the responsible one, stayed back to lock the class room door, and then dragged me to the eating area. He just washed his face, drank some water and got back to the ground. I was coaxing him to eat, and he steadfastly refused.

When I told him that he needed to eat if he wanted to become fatter, he came up with this line – “Yen style-kku idhudhaan correct-a irukkum” (translated to: For my style, this is correct”.) I had no response.

But upon thinking later, I understood what he said. He actually has some style!
A few months back, after the Republic Day celebrations, Dhimant, Megha, Vikram & I were invited to the Headmaster’s office. We were discussing about truant kids over cups of tea, when Suresh enters the room ordering a few 7th standard boys to lift a table and place it elsewhere. (Suresh is in the 4th!) After that, he puts one hand on the HM’s table, stands at an angle, crosses his legs at his ankles…and begins to give out his opinions on why the kids don’t attend regularly. Truly amazing!

It was style that Rajinikanth would be proud of.

Malleswaram School's Bannerghatta Trip

2006-03-16T11:48:00.000+05:30

The volunteers of the Dream School Foundation organized a trip for the kids of the Thiruvalluvar Government School, Malleswaram. There were 65 kids in total, from classes 3rd to 7th, and they were taken to the Bannerghatta National Park. Accompanying them were 5 teachers and the headmaster, and 11 volunteers. And me being one of them (the volunteers, that is) gave me the chance to enjoy a picnic like this after a long time.

Before I begin the narration on the picnic, these are what this particular set of DSF volunteers does:

conduct vocabulary sessions for the 3rd & 4th standard kids
helping them to get acquainted with a slightly advanced level of English before they formally face it as part of their curriculum
get them acquainted with words used in day-to-day life, and hence hopefully aid in sentence formation

(Oh, and then there is me, who, as all the other volunteers insinuate, cause the distractions in the class, and prevent the kids from being serious.)

The 11 of us who had volunteered (headed by Megha) were:
Achuth, Akshai, Ameya, Anu, Dhimant, Indrashis, Megha, Pavithra, Pooja, Vikram and me.

As a result of the many “not being serious” exercises with the kids, I came to know their musical tastes quite well, and took the job of the DJ, dishing out one gaana paattu after the other. :)
[Though most of the volunteers braved the music, there was one who decided to opt out of the musical extravaganza-filled bus during the return journey…and paid a good price in the other bus. :P]

The bus ride to the zoo was an eye-opener for me. Just the initial tinkling sound was enough for the kids to guess that the song being played was Appadi Podu, and up they went in unison! And what followed after that was pure mayhem…of the good kind.
Knowing the initial lines of all songs is great.
Knowing all the lines of all the songs is exemplary.
Knowing all the lines, and all background music of all the songs? No words to describe that!

The official requester of songs from the kids was Suresh (on whom I could write an entire post…one heck of a kid!), who forwarded his requests to “Pepsi Uma” Akshai, and I did the needful.

The bad conditions of the road led to a few…err…unpleasant incidents in the other bus. While the kids in our bus were quite oblivious to the road conditions, and enveloped by the incessant music being churned out. (thank to me! thanks to me! :)))

After reaching the park came the toughest part of our job - trying to hold all the kids together and prevent them from scampering away. And surprisingly the kids behaved quite well. Perhaps not so surprisingly actually. They were staring with rapt attention at all the animals and the birds. And in the few places where the creatures weren’t clearly visible (the goddamn snakes (!!!!), for example), one of us did a recon and managed to spot it for them.
[At this point, we were faced with a sudden crisis situation. Something that we hadnt’t prepared for; a few of our volunteers decided to turn into kids themselves, and encumber us even more. Inder did the job of goading this cattle…I mean these Kids (Pavithra & Anu)…both of whom, as Achuth said, sat down in most places to memorise the biological names of all the animals. :-)]

After a tiring tour of the zoo, the kids (and the Kids) all ended up relaxing at the playing area, while the guys went out to carry the food from the buses. Vikram, who had taken care of the food arrangements, also proved to be a master-thief by entering a locked bus through the window, and letting us all in. And then began the arduous task of carrying the huge barrels through uncertain terrain. All that hard work and effort prompted the highly chauvinistic “Women…now go serve the food!” from me, and won the approval of all the guys. ;-) (Before all the women’s lib (creatures ;-)) start baying for my blood, I would like to make it noted that the guys also helped in the serving.)

While the volunteers themselves had their food, it provided a lot of comic moments…like Dhimant’s photo-op joke, and Vikram’s bombshell on Ameya with his “Leos do not like Cancerians”. All that I could say is, “Dude…how can you say such a thing!!” :)))

And then we were on our way back; the other bus with the same “unpleasant incidents”, and Dhimant, again, showing everyone his workplace and the bus went “oooooohhhhhhhhhhh”, and that helped things a bit.
And our bus; with the same song and dance, with an unintended joke by Megha on a Rajni song, and the lecture on Tamil movies to both Vikram and her. :)

We rounded off the day with a hot cup of filter coffee at CTR, and the tired souls trudged back to their respective homes.

Amidst all the fatigue, the feeling of fun never died down.

It was a great day for the DSF and its kids.

Dream Day (March 11)

2006-03-16T11:03:00.000+05:30

Last week I taken him to the Airport road school to show him. What DSF do. On monday morning to my surprise he sent me this mail.........

Hi Santhosh,
I'm very happy to join Dream School Foundation. Also the
day I joined was also the dream day. I still have in my dream of
meeting Pavithra, Aakash, Udhayee, Mahesh, Raffeq, the school master
who plays cricket and Aakash (DSF) who is very serious in evaluation.
I would like to thank God for the same.

Sudhakar

Hi Santhosh,
Today is Dream day March 11. I'm very very happy to join Dream School Foundation on this day. Thank you santhosh.

Sudhakar

This is the greetings attached with mail
Dream Day [ March 11 ]
Every success begins with a dream and a dream, in my opinion is both the inspiration and motivation we need to move ahead. So dream big and celebrate the power of your imagination on Dream Day. Catch some snooze whenever you can and escape into the magical world. And if you can't catch sleep, just dare to dream with open eyes while you share the fun with folks with some dreamy ecards.

Our tri-coloured children... in their many colours

2006-03-16T09:19:00.000+05:30

And this was a Republic Day Celebration in the Malleshwaram school !

These two boys here are among the heroes of the school.

Suresh, who lives away from his parents (who returned to their village) because he wanted to continue coming to school. He's like the "Monitor" of the class, without the concept of one. He is extremely helpful to the teachers and us.

Ashoka, who is a very smart but naughty kid. Took us a while to get him out from under the table during a "numerical skills" session. But he still did quite well in the Assessment...

Well some people, are just smart and street-smart!

And there are many more.... like each of us, each of our children have a story too... you just need to prod them a bit to tell you about their lives and their dreams... and you'll have a whole new perspective to life.