Project III: Maruthi primary school

Members Visited: Phani, Amandeep, Vijay, Gautham, two of my cousins and myself, Swapna, Harsha, Neha and AnupDate: Jan 26, 2008 Time: 10:00 am - 1:30 pm
About the school: School staff had only three people, two teachers and a Manager, Mr. Lakshmikanth. Slum the school runs in has some 700 families, of which only 30% can afford to send their children to schools. So, this school was started right in their middle, some 5 years ago, and it runs basically on the donations from people and is not financially aided by Govt.

Activities:We sang the National Anthem and then Mr. Lakshmikanth took over. He explained how the children would go without schooling if he hadn’t started the school over there, and he also urged the children to utilise what they have got now to come out to be responsible citizen of a stronger country.

He asked some of us to talk, and we did utter something, relavant/irrelavat don’t know. Then he was about to rough the session up, when we requested for an individual intro of the children.
It was nice to see each and every child go up the stage, stand there for a second and tell the crowd about him/her self. We could identify the glow in those faces of white uniform clad children, each a probable leader. (This was intentionally done to ensure that children get a feel of stage, at least at a small level).

Team members engaged children in games, break the pot, frog race, musical chair were some of the games we played with children.
Vijay had brought some choco-gifts to those who won in each race J

It was really a joyful feel to be in a school after all those years of being away from it.
We distributed sweets to the children and then they dispersed. It was 12PM by then.

Last we had a few mins discussion with the school management and bid adieu, contended with how we celebrated the 59th Republic Day of India.

As the next part of a planned activity, Swapna had brought 25 sapplings to be planted. So, we moved to AGS Layout, area where I reside in. We found a good place to plant our sapplings, and managed to plant some 5 of them. Of cource, some of the locals came calling on us, and were happy to know what we were doing. It was a nice experience.

More picutres http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/dhwani.team/MAruthiPrimarySchool