7th November 2021. Schools in Tamilnadu reopened last monday after 20 months when the country was ravaged by the pandemic.  The general outlook on school education and in  particular,  at primary level was very depressing during  the past two years. . It was even worse for those who were digitally deprived. This minischool is the story of finding an opportunity even in such adversity. I spoke to  Dharani Asha Teacher who took the initiative in her village Thomur in Tiruvallur District and had just completed her tenure successfully.

R Sundaram : Hello! Dharani. Welcome. Do you know your fame has reached me even before this meeting. Congratulations. Was not your essay on Minischools selected as the best and published in Asha Chennai Website. I want you  to share more about your experience. Hence this interview.

Dharani : Thank you Sir for your compliments.  I did not do anything extraordinary. 

R Sundaram :   Your school started only on 14th September 2020. Some of the other Asha teachers appear to have been able to start their minischools even as early as 3rd June,2020. Is there any reason for this late start?

Dharani : . Actually,  another Asha teacher Gayathri and I were thinking about doing something and exploring the possibility right from June,2020 . At first  there was a lot of fear about the spread of Covid. Our place is on the main bus route. We also heard about a few cases of death due to Covid in the neighbouring village. Fortunately HM,  Ms Thenmozhi of the government primary school here was equally anxious to do something to see  that children do not miss out on education. However she was also not sure if there would be any objection from higher authorities. But when we found local influential citizens and leaders too were somewhat concerned about children missing schools , we, HM, Gayatri and I took the courage to start the  minischool. In fact, the  HM kindly allowed us to use the school premises for running our minischool. So Gayathri and I started this school in September’20

R Sundaram : How was the response from parents in sending their children? How big is your village? Do you think all the children who were going to the government school attended the minischool?

Dharani :   Yes. There was a good response. I think all the children who were attending the Panchayat union school started attending. Tomur has a population of about 2000. We had a strength of about 40 at primary level. 20 girls and 20 boys. Even daily attendance was very good. There was no need for us to bring the children from their homes. Thomur is not a very backward village . Most of the people here work in agriculture. 

R Sundaram : Were you able to enforce Covid precautions like washing hands, wearing mask and keeping distance while seating etc? 

Dharani : Yes Sir, we were particular about these. Rajaram Sir had given us the instructions.  

R Sundaram : Were you able to use the school premises throughout the last one year? Was there any disruption?

Dharani : Yes sir. In this aspect, the going was not smooth. Around the beginning of 2021 HM had some difficulty. So we had to shift our  minischool from the Panchayat school. . We moved our school  to a temple hall.  Once again after a few months we had to shift to another  temple. We had not much difficulty in both places  , but we had to keep the place clean. Our school children took care of that. Some restrictions on use of fans and lights etc, Our problem was too many children started attending the school when we shifted to the temple.. There were 80 of them and it was very difficult to manage them. Gayatri Teacher also left us during the period and I had to manage alone. I selected some leaders from the students to help me to keep some order. I must say the children were by themselves good. Later of course a new Asha teacher Renuga joined me to assist me.

R Sundaram : How did you manage the  children who were in different classes earlier?

Dharani : We first segregated them as primary from Class i to V and the rest. We followed a curriculum of teaching maths, Tamil and English and one day a week we devoted to science experiments, craft etc.  Children in higher classes also taught the younger ones. That way we got help from students themselves. More importantly, we enjoyed the freedom to plan daily the lessons for the day. .

Of course, one or two exceptions like Puviarasan and Ramanan kept the proceedings lively  by their pranks and petty quarrels.

R Sundaram : Did you have any difficulty in providing mats. Kits, stationery and other materials?

Dharani : No.  Kanakammachatram near here is a  place where we can get everything. Of course providing mats to all when the strength went up was a bit of a  challenge. 

R Sundaram : How would you rate the outcome of your efforts. Tell me a bit about your outstanding student Ariprasad. 

Dharani : I think our minischool did a lot of good to the children in this village. I am sure they benefitted by not only practicing  what they had learnt in regular classes but also learning some new lessons. Both parents and the community leaders were very appreciative of our efforts. . 

Yes, we are proud of Ariprasath. He is  from a poor family, a  single parent child ,  is always  eager to learn, and is good at studies. He helps to get some  income for the family  by taking out goats for grazing in the evenings. He  impressed the AEEO (Assistant Elementary Education Officer) during an inspection visit  by smartly answering his questions and got a gift from the AEEO.

All in all, starting and running a minischool in uncertain times in my own village  is an unforgettable experience. Our thanks to Asha Chennai and Rajaram sir. 

R Sundaram : Thank you very much for this nice interaction. Thank you.