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Related: Tribal Children’s Right to Education | Childhood | Ekalavya (Eklavya, Eklabya), EMR & Factory schools | Childrens rights: UNICEF India >>
Event Teachers at Vidya Vanam draw their syllabus from local traditions and folklore to teach tribal children in Anaikatti, environmental studies, history and even mathematics, discovers Akila Kannadasan
Our students are like sponges; fresh and open to new ideas. With very little distractions, they are able to focus and learn with just a bit of help J. Nandini Priyakumari […]
Life is simple and in consonance with nature. In a unique project, students of classes I to IV of Vidya Vanam, an elementary school in Anaikatti, spent an entire term walking about this tiny Irula village, studying its people, their culture and the flora and fauna that surround it.
The thatched roof houses of Thuvaipathy, the brick kilns that surround it, the tilling patterns of the fields, the folklore of the people, their festivities and culture was the syllabus for the students to study this term. Whether it was Mathematics, Tamil, English or Environmental Studies, it was all derived from the village. Located in the neighbourhood of The Nilgiris Biosphere Reserve, Vidya Vanam imparts life skills along with formal education to tribal and underprivileged children from the area. The school is run by Bhuvana Foundation, its objective is ‘learning by doing’.Life in Thuvaipathy
“We divided children aged between six and ten into four groups namely, Irulas, Temple, Nilgiris and Post Office. Each group studied a different aspect of Thuvaipathy. The Irula team studied the life of the Irulas, team Temple studied the structures of the buildings, team Nilgiris explored the flora and fauna and team Post Office looked at the amenities of the area,” explained the school’s director Prema Rangachary. “We then incorporated these in to our syllabus,” she added. The meticulous works of the students were displayed on ‘Project Day,’ and the little ones were all geared up to share what they had learned about the Irulas of Thuvaipathy. Most of them Irulas themselves, the kids knew firsthand of life in the corridors of nature. […]
Hand-modelled stoves and ladles, the food grains consumed by the Irulas, their living quarters, their musical instruments, the lone village temple, and so on, were displayed, each of them carrying explanatory notes in childish writing.
Folklore
Then, there were depictions of the folklore of the Irula tribes. “The kids heard stories and myths surrounding the region. The villagers were traditionally snake charmers. So, the varagan-varagi story of a woman marrying a snake who then transforms in to a handsome young man is prevalent in the Irula community even today,” said J. Nandini Priyakumari, Vidya Vanam’s academic coordinator. “There’s nothing like learning from the world around. We focus on teaching for life, rather than sticking to a set syllabus. When we take them to the field and explain things then and there, we can get the message across cent percent,” she explained.
Vidya Vanam also has teachers from the Irula community. Egged on by them, the students performed a traditional Irula dance that’s part of the community’s festivities. The spontaneity of the kids was a delight to watch. So was the familial rapport they shared with the staff. (Teachers are always akkas and annas.) The teaching methods have been gratifyingly successful. According to Nandini, the students, 80 per cent of whom are first generation learners, have shown remarkable grasping skills. […]
Source: “Nature’s children” by Akila Kannadasan, The Hindu, December 16, 2010
Address : http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-metroplus/article955016.ece
Date Visited: Sat Mar 10 2012 09:00:07 GMT+0100 (CET)
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