Asha Chennai

Report based on detailed discussions with the Head-mistress, Asha teacher and a bunch of students at 4 supported schools in Thiruvallur. Will help understand the background of the students and the challenges at these schools.

Trainer Ms. Meena Suresh and Ms. Purva Bhatter travelled to our project sites for projects Sangamam, Thulasi and Pearl to train the teachers in Maths and Science in the first half of Oct 2022.

 Toilet repair work was taken up at the two schools in Old Thirupatchur and Kosavanpalayam in August/Sept 2022 and completed. New toilet construction is also going on at Gandhigram.

After opening 4 RTCs in Thiruvallur district we have opened a new RTC in Kayathar, Thoothukudi District. This started operating in Oct 2022 and inauguration function was held on Oct 10th 2022.

Amazon started its support for Asha under its Amazon Future Engineer (AFE) program. Along with the start of our usual support for the schools, we also started new AFE initiatives.

Ford India donated 175 used laptops to Asha Chennai to be used for our charitable activities. We distributed these laptops to over 70 schools and centres.

The first two RTCs have completed one 6-month semester and two new RTCs have also started. Here is a report on their functioning over the last 6 months.

Amazon has selected Asha as a partner for its Amazon Future Engineer program. Under this partnership Amazon will support Asha’s CS education program at 100 schools. Asha will also implement Amazon’s Explore and Class Chats programmes.

Disha an NGO donated 16 laptops that they received from Ford to schools identified by Asha.

The two new RTCs at Poondi and Kannigaiper were inaugurated on the 25 th of July. Ms. Sona Kumaresan, business head at Syrma SGS, was the chief guest for these inauguration functions.

After a gap of 3 years RightStart was conducted from 7th to 11th of June 2022. With about 100 teachers participating and excellent sessions in Maths, English, Science and Technology, it was a great success.

Three libraries were inaugurated in Feb and Mar of 2022. The library at Koovachipatti managed by our Pearl project and the libraries at Kilpennathur and Kanniyampoondi managed by Thulasi project were inaugurated and are now functioning well.

Amazon provided laptops and tablets to 18 of our teachers and all 7 of our libraries through their Delivering Smiles program.

Asha held its annual conference from March 25th to 27th. Asha India held its conference at Pondicherry which US had its conference at Atlanta.

Asha Chennai conducted Oral and Written assessments at all our supported schools.

Asha Silicon Valley support the renovation of the toilet at the primary school at Koovachipatti in Thirunelveli Dist. The work started in March and was inaugurated on April 22nd.

After the one and half year break, the schools required a lot of work and a lot of things as well. Asha purchased and distributed mats, stationery materials, computer accessories, Maths/English kits etc. to the schools.

Several people visited Thiruvallur to see the Sangamam project schools as well as the RTCs from late Feb to late April. Here are the reports and photos from the visits.

After the schools reopened in Feb 2022, we repainted the blackboards at all our supported schools in March 2022.

Asha has been taking Asha Kanini to all the government schools in Thiruvallur with support from IITM Pravartak Asha Kanini. IITM has released a coffee table book on the social impact of IITMs various initiatives. This has featured our Asha Kanini effort as well.

With support from IITM Pravartak Asha Kanini has been enhance in many ways and taken to all the government schools in Thiruvallur. Here is an annual report that covers the work done in the project from April 2021 to March 2022.

Asha Chennai in partnership with IITM Pravartak launche Rural Technology Centres to reach technology to rural children without access to technology in the 9th to 12th standard.

On Feb 4th 2022, Asha Chennai and Pravartak inaugurated two RTCs on Feb 4th. IITM handled the press release and it received very good press coverage.

On Feb 4th 2022, Asha Chennai and Pravartak inaugurated two RTCs at Kanakamma Chathram and Seethanjeri, two villages in Thiruvallur District.

At Thiruvallur, Asha Chennai conducted training session for all our computer teachers. Teachers from UP, Thoothukudi, and Villupuram/Thiruvannamalai attended the three day training.

Rotary Club of Thiruvallur organised flood relief for 300 disadvantages families in remote areas of Poondi block of Thiruvallur Dist with help from Muthoot Finance. Asha also assisted in the work.

During Covid NGOs like Asha needed to reskill our staff and refocus our activities. The Hindu covered our response to the Covid situation as an organisation in an article on Dec 29th in the national edition.