Visit to Panchayat School, March 4, 2009

written by Mounica S., one of our deputy board members

At one of our previous weekly meetings, it was agreed upon that we should take a step forward and start the children's education plans. Malar and I were put in charge of surveying the two local schools the children attend - the Panchayat School and St. Thomas Mount.

On Wednesday last week, we set out to finish what we were assigned. We took the bus to Mount road and walked through many bylanes and finally reached the Panchayat School. We had decided to visit this school first, without any prior intimation.

We spoke to one of the teachers we came across and explained the purpose of our visit. She directed us to the headmistress who was reluctant at first to give out information - she had misunderstood our survey to be a government investigation into the number of dropouts at the school. After we assured her that we were just students from a private organisation, she seemed more at ease and was ready to give out the necessary information.

Thanks to Malar's communication skills and her ease with people, we got all of the information we needed.

• Four teachers, including the headmistress, teach the children five subjects - maths, science, social studies, English and Tamil in a government-approved activity-based learning approach.
• Since the teaching and learning is activity based, i.e. the children are promoted to the next 'class' only after passing the previous level or task, admissions are taken year-round.
• The working hours for the children are from 9:30 to 4:10 including a recess and a lunch break.
  
• Two subjects are taught in a day
• Drawing and painting are the only extra curricular activities for the children.
• The children are given a midday meal which is comprised of rice with sambar everyday, egg three times a week, sundal on Tuesday, and potatoes on Friday.
• It is a completely government-funded school, i.e. the children are provided books, uniforms, stationery, and a mid-day meal absolutely free of cost.

After finding out the necessary information, we thanked the teachers for their time and patience and as soon as we stepped out, the children from Ramavaram and some of the other children surrounded us, asking us to visit them again.

On the whole, it was a pleasant experience for both of us, as we got to see the children after a long break. It was certainly touching that they remembered and welcomed us.