The New Modern English Medium School
Location
The New Modern English Medium school is based in Nandgad, a small village
in the district of Belgaum, Karnataka. Nandgad is a small village inhabited
mainly by agricultural and landless labourers. The village is on the outskirts
of Dandeli forests and one of the occupations of the people is collecting
wood and wild fruits. Poverty is rampant and the local literacy rate
is very low. Women are practically illiterate and among men it is
about 10%.
Objectives
Nandgad has only one municipal school and none at the kindergarten level.
The unimaginative methods of teaching in the local municipal school
have caused a lot of drop-outs. This school was started by some local
residents with the view to providing an alternative, to make learning more
fun and imaginative. The school does this by emphasising extra-curricular
activities. It is the only school in the village along the kindergarten
lines. It operates mainly on contributions from the local benevolent
people and offers a scheme to sponsor each child for the duration of the
child's stay in the school. The school provides free education,
uniforms and books to the children.
The School
The New Modern English Medium school currently has KG to standard IV with
a total of approximately 245 students. A trained staff of 8 people is
currently employed. The school follows a scheme of sponsoring each child
completely until he (she) is ready to move on to high school. Extra
curricular activities that the children are encouraged to participate in
include music, dancing, singing and games. Children are sent to other
schools to participate in inter-school sports and other meets. Recently
the children won a number of prizes in one such sports meet. The overall
principles emphasized in the school are helping children shed their
shyness, develop social skills, so as to make them more capable and
keen to face competition in higher schools.
In addition to education, the school also emphasizes the importance of
health, nutrition, and cleanliness. The school employs an ayah whose job
is to ensure the children come clean and tidy to school. In some cases
this involves actually going to the homes of the children, bathing and
dressing them and getting them to school. This has helped in developing a
sense of pride and commitment to the school, among the children as well as
the parents.
Currently the school is run out of an old, one room building but has
recently received a donation of 2 acres of land from a local landowner
and plans to start construction of a new building soon. Schemes to provide
mid-day meals are also being worked out by the school board.
Asha's Role
Asha has given the school $2500 this year. 50% of this amount will be placed
in a fixed deposit account, and the interest used to sponsor more children.
The rest will be used to pay the salaries of the teachers and buy books
and uniforms for the children.
