At an informal meeting last year, when he was Deputy Commissioner — Education, K.S. Kandasamy asked, “Is it possible for educated Chennaiites to spare time to take classes in Corporation schools?”
This was the spark that Voice of People (VoP), a mostly-women civil society group based in Besant Nagar needed to ignite their combined energy into quantifiable work.
What happened next is a heartwarming story you’ll love to hear.
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The “volunteers-teach-at-Corporation-schools” proposal received instant approval at the VoP meeting on 22 August, 2017. The very next day saw the creation of Volunteers-for-Teaching WhatsApp group.
An invite spelling out the objective of the group received 200 “May-I-join?” messages from all parts of the city. The die was cast.
On the 25th, a Google form went out and in two days, the database had almost 100 registered volunteers.
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On the 28th, the Deputy Commissioner addressed a gathering of EOs, some 30 VFTs, and 12 HMs of Corporation schools. The meeting sowed the seeds for a major public-private initiative.
In a first-of-its-kind programme, educated civil society members would share their expertise with students in Corporation schools.
The project was launched in Zone13, in 28 schools listed by E. Govindasamy, Assistant Education Officer, Greater Chennai Corporation.
A team of four from VoP and 10 from the registered volunteers formed the support group. Team members visited schools, collected data from HMs on teaching requirements. With military precision, information was collated and disseminated through Google groups, review meetings were held, VFT area co-ordinators were named, teacher co-ordinators were assigned by schools, requirements of the schools were shared, and roles and responsibilities established.
Non-academic subjects would be the focus of this programme, said Mageswari Ravikumar, who succeeded Kandasamy as Deputy Commissioner—Education.
“When VFT organisers approached us with a plan, we found our requirements matched with what the volunteers would bring to the students. The kids would be happy to interact with people who are successful, well-educated. They open up to friendly outsiders. Such interaction fulfills their aspirations and makes for holistic education,” she said
The 50+ volunteers would bring in “additional” inputs like spoken English, co-curricular activities, guidance-andcounselling - “lessons” they would not be exposed to in their homes. Classes began on 8 January, 2018.
A group of volunteers gathered for a review at the end of the first session.
It was positive. It is not that there were no glitches. But no one talked of quitting. They just found new ways of engagement.
The remarkable success of this first-time endeavour was due to meticulous planning by the organisers, deep involvement of the volunteers and total co-operation by the Education Department. The volunteers met the kids without judgement, with affection and readiness to share what they knew.
“I just facilitated learning, we developed a good bond,” said R. Kailasnath, teaching class IX. “Somewhere they connected with us. They said I was honest, I spoke good English. ‘Sir is a good boy!’ is the finest compliment I’ve got.”
It was a different approach to teaching, felt organiser Charu Govind, citing how volunteer Kala Ganesh sat on the floor among kids when she taught in Damodarapuram.
Volunteers brought teaching aids of international standards, organised classroom games. They taught adolescents self-esteem, gave them a can-do attitude. The kids felt somebody cared for them, said Kailasnath, an opinion shared by Sudha Damodaran, Usha Janaka, Kausalya Bhaskaran, Pushpa Ganesh, Jayalakshmi and others.
“We could respond to their moods,” said Bhuvana Panchanath. Heads of schools would like the programme to continue.
Co-ordinators did excellent work, said Maheswari Kalpana, HM, Chennai High School, Kottur. “Our five volunteer-teachers added activities to the lessons, shared the teachers’ work. The kids were taught basic math, English and yoga by experts from the community. Cannot ask for more.”