GLOVIS SANGAMAM PROJECT REPORT – OCT-NOV 2017

Glovis Sangamam project continues supporting 12 schools in the Poondi block of Thiruvallur district. Here is a report of the various activities that took place during October and November 2017.

Starting of Term II

Term II started for the schools on Oct 3rd after the holidays. Due to the weather, this year too there have been some holidays at the schools. The schools have made up for this by having all the Saturdays as working days during Term II. This has affected our ability to have teacher training sessions. We have had to reduce this a bit.

The government conducted National Achievement Survey (NAS) tests for classes 3, 5 and 8 at some randomly selected schools. But in preparation for this, the education department gave the previous years’ NAS tests as model tests for all schools. There is a renewed focus on educational qualityat all the schools this year. The AEOs and DEOs are directly coming and checking the actual learning achievement in terms of reading skills, basic Mathematics etc. This has also meant that there is a greater appreciation by the schools for the assessments conducted by Asha, the materials we provide etc.

Educational and Sports Materials Distribution

Most of the educational and sports materials for the schools were distributed in June/July. We gave some more things like dust bins, mats, air pumps (for the balss we had given earlier), some more charts and long sizenotebooks for children in classes 6 to 8 in October. See the photos below from Kuppammal Chathiram, Pattarai Perumbudur, Ramanjeri and Anandheri.

Eye Camps at the Schools

Hyundai Glovis in partnership with Sankara Eye Hospital conducted eye camps at all the supported schools from 9th to 13th October. Doctors and paramedics from Sankara Eye Hospital came to the schools and covered three schools every day. Over 900 children were covered at these 12 schools. Some 20 of the children were identified as having eye power and were prescribed glasses. These were also sponsored by Hyundai Glovis andSankara Eye Hospital. These spectacles were distributed to the children in November.

During our monthly meeting on 25th November, they also trained our teachers on how to detect eye problems early. Doctors from the hospital came to the school at Kannigaiper where the meeting was held and trainedthe teachers. They also gave the teachers a basic testing kit. Further Sankara Eye Hospital also sponsored the lunch for all of us on that day.

Click here to see photos from these events.

Teacher Training and Meetings

Our regular teacher training schedule is continuing. Weekly English assignments are given to the teachers. Radhika and Nathiya are visiting the schools regularly to observe the teaching by our teachers and provide ways for improving the same. Our monthly meetings are conducted on the last Saturday of every month at various schools and teachers are presenting various things during the meetings like science experiments, craft demonstrations, how they teach various lessons, etc. Some teachers have also been showing how to use various manipulatives and computer contents in the classroom.

On Dec 2nd there was a training conducted by two senior computer teachers Seetha and Rajkumari for all the teachers on basics of how to use computers, internet etc.

Here are some photos from the teacher training meetings.

Repair of Toilets at Katchur, Kannigaiper and Annanagar

Toilets at these three schools covered by Project Sangamam were repaired as part of Project Sugadharam. These are covered in more details in the Sugadharam project report.

Click here to see photos of the work.

Teacher Uniform Kits

All the teachers and other staff of Project Sangamam were given teacher uniform kits. Ladies were given 2 sets of sarees and blouses, an umbrella and a jute bag. Men were given just two sets of pants and shirts.

Oral Assessment

Asha routinely conducts Oral assessments at all the supported schools based on the ASER survey conducted by Pratham. These were conducted at all the Project Sangamam schools as well. The report for this will be shared separately with Glovis.

Click here to see photos from these assessments at all our schools.

Upcoming Events

We have placed the orders for purchasing sports costumes for schools that haven’t received them. We have also placed the orders for chappals and umbrellas for children in schools that received the sports costumes in June this year. We will also be giving health kits to the children at all the schools.

Term II would be ending on Dec 23rd and term III will be starting on Jan 2nd. We will be having our training for term III during these holidays.

We will setup libraries at our schools and where there is already a library, we will be augmenting it with more books.