A Visit to remember: Lessons and memories created

EFF team visits its rural schools once in three months to check the progress of the students. The trip is arranged with some volunteers on 24th Nov'12. PurpleTalk employees - Sheik Khaleel Babu, Mr.Siva Sankar and Mallesh volunteered; travelled with us more than 270 Km. We spent the whole day with students and shared their views & suggestions. 

Volunteers turned teachers

For some time the volunteers turned teachers-conducted classroom games and activities, which gave them a welcome break from their routine lives. To be a teacher is not an easy job, as people think; in fact it needs a lot of ground work to be called a good teacher. Pupils watch our movements and gauge how well we are able to connect with them emotionally-What we wear, what we speak, our body language, our behavior-everything counts. Pupils imitate teachers, so care should be taken by the teachers that there is no flaw in presenting themselves in front of the children.

Mr.Khaleel, giving a small speech –“pursue your studies with love but not as a duty”. Occasionally, words we spell out are so touching and inspiring unknowingly. 

Mr.Siva Sankar, interacting with eighth standard students

EFF teacher, Sudha, conducting classroom games

And that’s me, with sixth standard students. They were so cute and lovable, that I couldn't leave the class.

Mallesh turned cameraman clicking snaps of us J

Progress

Coming to the actual progress of the students through virtual classroom teaching- the students of vernacular medium did not make much progress in speaking English. On the other hand, English medium students of high school are much better. They've made a lot of improvement. The main goal of virtual classroom teaching is to make them focus not just on studies but also, on social issues, environment problems, current affairs, intelligence, general knowledge etc. The visit enlightened us in some areas to work on, mainly the method of teaching for vernacular medium with different lesson plans.

 It’s a known fact that students from a rural background are not as outgoing as urban folks. Though they have talent, they just keep quite owing to fear and dare not disclose their talent in front of everybody. We are trying to introduce them to the pleasures of being liberal in thought and speech. 

Prizes for the winners

The visit had one more purpose, to distribute the prizes for GK quiz winners, conducted on the occasion of Children’s day. The competition was held between two schools- ZPHS Boys’ and ZPHS Girls’ schools of Gandeed village and Mandal.

At last we thanked the school managements for giving us warm welcome and coordinating with us in taking sessions with the children. Grateful to the volunteers who took time out of their busy schedules for EFF.

65 years of independence!

Mere desh ki dharthi…Mere desh ki dharthi, sona uglee, uglee hire moti…! What a great song! Penned by Gulshan Bawara! I just love this song, but I happen to listen to it only during national festivals. I am sure it would be a great experience for the residents of metros to drive to the countryside once in a while, enjoy the breeze and the greenery, the aroma of the soil, reminding us that we belong Mother India. We, the EFF team, celebrated Independence Day in Gandeed village; it was indeed a great experience! Green fields, fresh morning air, black clouds and the cool climate rejuvenated us.

On the way we came across a parade by school students on the roads of Mahboobnagar.  In the midst of the road, pupils were performing stunts and dances. Slogans of ‘Vandemataram’ ‘Bharatmata ki Jai’ etc reverberated through the air. Little girls in traditional attire were looking so pretty. The processions were an exercise in showcasing their schools.

Pupils performing folk dance in traditional attire.

 

Also promoting their school in the neighboring areas:

 

Students carrying national flag.

 I was fascinated to see the longest ‘Tiranga’ (The Indian Tricolor) carried by the pupils of a school in the same area. It was nice! Made my childhood days flash in my mind for a moment.

In the school I had to give a speech. I was not tense as I should have been, since it was my first time standing in front of the podium, but I was wondering how to start. I made it simple by choosing the topic, ‘India in London Olympics 2012’, with some statistics of the Indian population versus medals won.  Sudha, my colleague, had done good homework on the speech and presented it well on the stage.

Kondamma(C) has bagged the cash award who topped the school in SSC.

We had collected a sum of money from our PurpleTalk* friends to give cash prizes to the 10^th class toppers of the March 2012 batch. I convey my thanks to all the contributors, who made the children happy for their achievements, and expect same support from them and others in future.