Philanthropist Freeman Murray decided to donate funds to initiate a project in the Paliyar tribal region of the Palani Hills of Kodaikannal, S India, after gaining exposure to the desperate situation of the people there. He was introduced to the work of Action for Community Transformation (ACT) India Foundation through friends Soumyadeep Paul and Ruth Gamston.
Ruth was introduced to ACT India Foundation through a mutual friend in January 2006, and has continued to volunteer for the organisation, despite not currently living in India. Ruth introduced Soum to Ashok and Mano, Managing Trustee and Project Coordinator of ACT India, when he was requested to make a short film documenting the lives of the tribals.
The current social, economic and political situation of the tribals is in desperate need of change and improvement. You can learn more about the Paliyar tribe and the work of ACT India at http://www.actindiafoundation.org.
Freeman, who comes from the IT industry had a vision that the tribal population may be able to get global and get connected, utilising the many benefits the Internet can offer. It was realised that in this global age knowing English is vital to accessing the Internet as well as to compete and manage as a global citizen. In India better jobs and higher paid overseas work opportunities are secured by those who are able to speak English. Of course this vision is a long way off for the Paliyar tribals, but with no one assisting their education, they would never be in a position to better themselves and reach for the higher aspirations their better off peers are going for.
Funds to start the programme were received in March, 2007, after a process that incorporated UK organisation Transrural Trust as a partner in the project.
ACT India found Freeman's vision to be inspiring, and after consulting the tribal beneficiaries whether they would be interested in the programme, and gettikng a positive response teaching began from the beginning of the month. Vanaraj, a qualified teacher and self-taught English speaker, from a nearby village was hired to conduct calsses on 6 days of the week. Vanaraj started to teach the prerequisites of learning English to two classes of students, children and adults, in Moolaiaru village.
It was noted early on when lesson started that levels of Tamil, the local language were somewhat inadequate among both adult and children classes. So, it was decided that teaching Tamil (with a focus on reading and writing)was also necessary. Many tribals are either completely illiterate or semi-literate, due to either never attending school, dropping out early or attending a school with standards to poor to invoke any learning.
The "Play-Way" methodology has been adopted as a teaching tool and text books are not used at all. As the classes were not accusotmed to formal teaching situations, or structured learning it was essential to hold their attention and desire to learn through making classes fun and easy for them to understand and participate in. With this type of teaching method games are an essential part of the class, and attention is paid to keep the teacher talking less and thestudents participating more. Educational language games, aimed at beginner-young learners, have been purchased and are used to assist fun learning.
Donated funds to this programme also allow for other, complimentary, projects to run. It was decided that as poor health is an issue that plagues many of the tribal population, education and awareness must be raised. Much of the illness suffered can actually be avoided if proper diet, early diagnosis/treatment and general education about improved living conditions and situations was followed. This programmes aims to reach as many villages as is physically possible to meet on a regular basis to discuss and educate about a variety of health topics. As the health worker goes to the villages with the purposes of education, she is also there to look out for diseases and illness in the village, to treat what she can, and to refer cases which are more serious.
To find out more about the projects please see other entries
A BRIEF REPORT ON THE NON-FORMAL ADULT LITERACY CENTRE
2007 EDUCATION SYLABUS
ACTION PLAN – HEALTH PROGRAMME
We also aim to keep a month to month diary of events on this blog. Please see the entries under the relevant month
No comments:
Post a Comment