Morning Prayer at Kaniyampoondi Minischool in Thiruvannamalai
28 November 2021 Raingod was still not exhausted. Rains continued to lash Chennai and coastal districts of Tamilandu. Interior places like Tiruvannmamalai were not spared either. 2021 will go down in history as having witnessed successively, once in a century events, a coronavirus pandemic and then record rains. I continued my series of interviews of teachers from Asha Chennai, who did their best to compensate for the loss of formal schooling of rural kids due to shutdown Next on my list is Sasikala who ran a minischool in Kaniyampoondi in Kilpennathur Taluk in Thiruvannamalai District.
R Sundaram : Hello Sasikala. Glad you agreed to talk to me at a short notice . I hear you ran a minischool single handedly at Kaniyampoondi. I would like to know why,when and how you did it. Please describe your village setting and its people too..
Sasikala : In fact I was born in this village Kaniyampoondi. . For generations we belong here. My father and I both went to the same government primary school at Kaniyampoondi. Our village mostly consists of households engaged in agriculture and some go for work in Nooru Naal velai Thittam (MNREGA) . People here are aware of the value of sending children to school. That is one of the reasons for my undertaking this task.
R Sundaram : When did it occur to you to start the minischool after schools were shut down in April 2020.?
Sasikala : When the school season started parents and local citizens and even the HM of the local government school were wondering if something could be done to arrest the slide in the education of the children of our village, Meanwhile there were incidents of covid attacks in our own village, We were cautious and we waited for a few months. I finally started the school on 1st September 2020 with about 4 children reporting. HM, sticking her neck out, was gracious to offer the school classroom for conducting the minischool once the strength increased. We also observed all guidelines like wearing mask, washing hands and keeping social distance in the classroom.
R Sundaram : Were the pupils who came to your school earlier studying in the government school in the village?
Sasikala : Yes mostly. Our maximum strength was about 34 including 4 KG kids. We got a lot of assistance from the HM and the teacher in the government school. They used to select programs from Kalvi Tholaikatchi, a Tamil Nadu Government sponsored Educational TV Channel and ask us to show them.
R Sundaram : Please tell me how you organised your timetable and managed your curriculum ?
Sasikala : Children in our minischools were from Class i to Class V. We adopted a variety of methods to impart education. I concentrated on their attaining a good level in reading and writing, alphabets, words and sentences. I also taught them some mental arithmetic and gave exercises in memorising multiplication tables. The school was a full day school and we sometimes extended it even upto 6.30 PM. I used Asha Kanini to prepare my lesson plans. School had computers and so it was easy. We also selected some Youtube presentations and showed them to the children. I gave homework and worksheets to children regularly. While students of IV and V class had to do it at home , children of class iI to III were allowed to do it during class hours. No homework for Class I We had several recitation competitions in Tamil Poetry and Prose. We made them enact some small skits
R Sundaram : I am so happy to know that you introduced so much variety . Do you remember who were your outstanding students?
Sasikala : I am glad you asked sir. I wanted to tell you about the same. Hariprakash of IV standard was an outstanding allrounder. Lavanya had an extraordinary memory. She could recite 35 couplets from Thirukkural. In fact every day during prayer we used to recite a couplet from Thirukkural . Dharani was very good at memorising English words.
R Sundaram : Surely you must have had some trouble maker in your minischool.
Sasikala : Yes there was this student Jashwant . He used to sit with Hariprakash , one minute he would be all affection , the next minute he would pick up a quarrel. I would seat them apart, after a few minutes when I was not looking they would be sitting next to each other.
R Sundaram : Looking back, how would you describe your experience of running the minischool?
Sasikala : Memorable. I must thank Asha Chennai for the guidance I received from time to time.. I must also thank the HM and teacher of the local Govt school
R Sundaram : Thank you very much Sasikala. It has been great talking to you,
Rajaram sir testing the maths skills of Lokshiya..