This is also one of our first mini-schools to start back in June 2020. It closed for a month or so early on because of Covid fear. It has a 50/50 mix of private and government school students. The school was functioning from the open area in front of the temple for a little while. Once the HM permitted the mini-school to function in the school, it moved there. Sometimes they have only been allowed to use the corridor. Nowadays, the mini-school is able to use the school buildings. However, when the weather is good, most of the education still happens outside in the open area! In my interactions with the children, I have always found the children here to be very bright. This time too the children were waiting for me to do some activities with them. Not wanting to disappoint them, I taught them prepositions in English and Tamil before doing my teacher interviews. This mini-school is run by Nathiya, our Maths lead teacher and Ramya.
How was the support for the mini-school from you family and the village?
We got full support from our families. The village was also fully supportive.
Did you have any other problems running the mini-school?
The school had to close for more than a month because one of the children’s mother contracted Covid. Other than that the only major problem was weather. Since we didn’t get the school building, it was held outdoors most of the time. When it rains, it was always a problem.
How was teaching at the mini-schools different from teaching at regular schools?
The emphasis of teaching at the mini-schools was activities, games and science experiments. Working with all the different classes and also private and govt students, provided lots of challenges as well as opportunities.
How was your financial situation during Covid?
Our expenses became more after Covid. So the continued salary from Asha was very helpful.
Did you find any differences between private and government school students?
There weren’t much differences. There were positives and negatives with both sets of students. For eg. the govt school students were better in Tamil and the private school students better in English. Govt school students are better behaved than the private school students.
We will miss this a lot Sir. We really got to know all of these children very well. We will miss the freedom of the mini-school.
Mini-schools have sustained learning among the children. It has also contributed to the mental health of the children. Discipline has also improved.
What will you take from the mini-school to your regular schools?
We have learnt to do a lot of art and craft activities and science experiments. We will do these in the schools also.
About the Students
- Eswar Prasad – 7th std. Was in Vivekananda Vision CBSE school. Continuing there.
- Sudharshini – 6th std. She was studying in PUPS Sriramakuppam. Going to Vivekananda Higher sec school.
- Reshma – 2nd std. Will be joining Vivekananda vision CBSE school.
- Reshma – 6th std. Was in PUPS Nandhimangalam. Will go to Uthukottai Govt. girls higher sec school.
Note transition from govt school to private school (as in the case of Sudharsini) is very uncommon. Even in Nandhimangalam, there are a few cases where children have transitioned from private to government school.
Did you have any other education during these last year and a half?
Private school students had 1 to 3 hours of online classes.
How was the mini-school?
All Children: We enjoyed it very much. We enjoyed the art and craft activities. We enjoyed the science experiments. We enjoyed the games and PT classes.
Here too the children requested us to continue this in the evenings.
What do you feel about going back to school?
The children I spoke to were all excited about going back to the school.