Most of our students are first time school-goers in their family and are unaware of the opportunities a good education makes available to them. High school students will start receiving counseling through the support of identified NGOs to build their self-confidence and made aware of the opportunities ahead. Ashweetha Shetty, founder of Bodhi Tree Skills, a Tirunelveli based NGO, has come forward to volunteer and a beginning was made with a 3.5 hrs session with class 10 children. The children enjoyed the session and were forthcoming with their aspirations. We are structuring these interactions, on a regular basis, with the assistance of Ms Shetty. This was followed up with another session with the Teachers of GKV.

Ms Shetty is based in Tirunelveli and is committed to make a difference in the lives of rural children, as she was herself a product of the educational system in a village there, and is able to empathise with the children. She has an impressive Academic Record, having graduated from Ashoka University in India, worked in a leading firm for a couple of years and then left a promising career to start her non-profit. She is an ” Young Achiever Awardee “, recognised by the Tamil Nadu Government, and invited to be a Speaker in a ‘Ted’ conference in USA on rural education in India. She became proficient in English, both spoken and written, through sheer self efforts. She has brought out Booklets on potential Career opportunities for the students of Schools in the rural areas.

India Literacy Project, another NGO, with whom we are working, have also brought out several options on Career Guidance.

With the Intervention of both these NGOs, we are confident of making an impact in this area.

Founder’s Day is usually celebrated on August 8^th every year. We decided to mark this day this year with the Annual Kids Day, with the joyous participation of students and Teachers of Emanuel School, London, our Partner School, who were concluding their Annual Visit.

Our Trustees Bhasker Sharma and Shyam Ramamurthy along with Dr Balakrishnan and Malathi Balakrishnan were present with us. Dr Balakrishnan had instituted prizes for Best All Round performance for two students in each class, from Classes 1 to 10, to be awarded annually, commencing from this year.

Mrs. Usha Raman our untiring and ever resourceful management committee member had arranged this Event, on a grand scale as usual, at short notice due to circumstances in the public domain, with the active cooperation of teachers, both from GKV and Jayendra, as well as the parents of our students.

Children participated enthusiastically in all the competitions, encouraged by their parents as well as all others present. Prizes were given to the first three in each one of them.

GAMES

OUR VISITORS

Some pictures of students of Emanuell enjoying themselves:

Students of GKV expressed their happiness and appreciation of the Teachers and Students of Emanuells, for the wonderful time they had with them during the two weeks, by presenting each one of them with a lovely Card as a memento.

PERFORMANCE AWARDS

Top two students, in each class, from Class 1 to 9, were recipients. Girls bagged most of the awards, 18 out of 22, especially in the middle and high school.

HONOURING THE EMANUELL SENIORS

The Teachers and Rev Paul Hunt, Retired Chaplain of Emanuell, were felicitated:

ENTERTAINMENT PROGRAMME BY GKV STUDENTS

Students, from all Classes, took part and apart from skits on Environment, Cleanliness, etc by UKG and Class 1 children, a spectacular show of Folk Music and Dances of Tamil Nadu, by older students, was presented:

ALTOGETHER A DELIGHTFUL AND MEMORABLE EVENING FOR ALL

We currently have 25 Desktops and Laptops thanks to Infosys Ltd and Microsoft Research Labs. There is limited Internet connectivity presently at the school, using a data card. With the surrounding area developing fast now, broadband Internet services would hopefully soon be a reality. We are actively pursuing the possibilities to make substantial progress in this area.

Our aim is to provide web based approach to education and supplement our class room teaching, leveraging the resources available therein. It is an ambitious programme and we hope to move forward with the support of philanthropic Organisations to provide us with the required additional Computers and Networking Hardware, UPS, etc  to make this feasible.

English Language Lab

Most children in rural India have limited exposure to English and are weak in spoken English and comprehension. They need self confidence conversing in English. The school is planning to set up a Language Lab with suitable low cost Tablets, audio accessories andcommercially available software. This can be used both by teachers and students to develop at their own pace.

Driving better outcomes in Mathematics

Mathematics is an important subject but generally looked upon with apprehension by most students. This isn’t unique to GKV! A private educational software company has provided us with free“Learning Kits” for all the children from Class 1 to 8. They’ve also provided instructional videos to effectively use the contents by theTeachers. A beginning has been made. A professional from theCompany is also scheduled to conduct workshops in the School to enable the Teachers to fully exploit the methodology.

India Literacy Project:

Mr. Pappu, a field co-ordinator of India Literacy Project, explained their MDLS(Multi Dimensional Learning Space) concept to teachers of GKV and Jayendraschool at GKV. This included a library program and process to assess the students, usage of a low cost science kit for experimentation, teaching  social science using content integrated with Google Earth and a career guidance program. The teachers from both the Schools appreciated the contents. We are in touch with them to decide on the way forward. Their personnel are already working in some Government Schools nearby and are aware of the challenges. Our teachers, along with the Principal, also visited the school to get a first hand impression. Some pictures of presentation:

We had visits from the CSR head of Microsoft Research Labs, Bangalore, Ms Srividya; Mr William Winfield, former Principal of Mill Hill High School, London, during whose term, about two decades ago, the Partnership with Jayendra Golden Jubilee High School was forged; Students, 18 of them, with three Teachers Ms Rosalind Tendler- Lead, Ms Kate More and Mr Shaw; Rev Paul Hunt, retired Chaplain of Emanuel High School, London- our Partner School, who formalised the Partnership around five years ago.

Ms Srividya’s visit was to get a first hand impression of our implementation of the “Common Science Lab”, for which MSR Labs provided part funding. With Ms Usha Raman and Ms Nirmala

Mr William Winfield spent a lot of time with the students of senior classes and enjoyed teaching the students of Class 9 English Poetry and Prose and Reading. A few photographs

Emanuel’s were on their Annual Visit during which their students and staff interact on a regular basis and teach them various subjects, English, History, Geography, Arithmetic, etc, in small groups of five or six children. They also spent time with the children playing games to make them comfortable. The children gain a lot of confidence in these interactions and overcome their hesitancy, to an extent, in conversing in English. The Students prepared and presented them with lovely ” Thank You “cards, wishing them. Some pictures