Site visit report of Vengambakkam, vayalur and Sadras schools in the Thirukazhukundram Taluk of Kanchhepuram, Tamilnadu, Nov 2003

I met with Mr. Sridhar and Mrs. Kalavathy in their residence inside the Kalpakkam Atomic power station colony off of Madras. They had both taken off a day from work, in order to show me around the local govt schools in their area that they were working with. Mr. And Mrs. Sridhar are scientists from the Kalpakkam atomic power station and they are very active social activists – they are actively involved with the Makkal Nal Vazhvu pani – an organization for providing rural health and education services in the area. Besides this, they have been working for the last 15 years on an effort to upgrade the standard of local govt schools in the area. They showed me a district map of Thirukazhukundram with the locations of all the govt schools in the area neatly circled. Each school was identified by level – primary, middle and high school. Their plan of operation over the last 15 years is simple – if a school is in primary level, upgrade it to middle school level. If a school is in middle school level, upgrade it to high school level. If a school has up to the 10th, upgrade it to higher secondary – 11th and 12th.

They took me on a trip to see 3 – 4 schools they were working with – the first stop was Sadras school.I was stunned.

A little background about how I spent my time in India – I pretty much spent 6 months traveling in South India and Gujarat / Bombay / Hyderabad / Mysore areas visiting a number of govt schools, nfe centers run by dedicated Christian priests in remote tribal areas, shelter homes for rescued children run by fire-brand-never-know-fear activists, poor quality English medium schools run by standardized ngos doling out welfare activities sanctioned by the state and the funding Gods of the world -so, I managed to see a good mix of wonderful pure efforts by individuals staging solitary protests against the state of inequality existing in the world today as well as efforts run by the well oiled charity business –

One thing that was common of most govt schools I went to was – severe and visible shortage of resources and structures. Govt schools were overcrowded places in which you would have 100 children from Classes 3, 4 and 5 (say) all crammed into 1 room, with one solitary teacher wielding the stick liberally to maintain silence. So, children go to school, stay quiet, recite loudly, and thankfully, in TN, get a mid-day meal. The discipline is stifling. You see rows and rows of children under-nourished, with brown hair and all very thin.

After seeing school after school fitting into the above description, Sadras seemed like from a private school in Madras. First I had a tough time understanding that it was a govt school. Tall white washed buildings, classes up to 10th and teachers in every classroom handling just 1 class – 1 teacher for the 8th, not 1 teacher for the 6th, 7th and 8th in the same physical space. All teachers, the principal, several kids knew Mr. Sridhar and Mrs. Kalavathy. One of the buildings had “Ashok Leyland” written in large block letters all over it. Sadras had it’s roots as a regular govt school – till Mr. And Mrs. Sridhar stepped in. From classes run in thatched huts, they managed to mobilize employees of MAPS to pitch in to add teachers. They raised money to contribute to the public deposit fund, to upgrade the school to the High school (10th) from a middle school (8th)– this involves intense petitioning with the local govt, depositing the community’s portion of the deposit (I think 60% or so of 2 lakhs or something - ) and working with the govt in appointing teachers via the local PTA, etc. Then classrooms – they got Ashok Leyland to contribute funds for building classrooms,oversaw the construction personally and had “ASHOK LEYLAND” painted in block letters on the building.

So, thanks to their efforts, Sadras village has a fully functioning school on par with govt schools in urban areas.

Next they are working with Vayalur school and Vengambakkam schools. A trip to these schools was a trip back to reality. The same overcrowded classrooms, thatched huts, very few teachers – Mr. Sridhar and Mrs. Kalavathy take tuition classes for these schools in the weekends, and when we went, all classes were temporarily disrupted with all the kids running out and gathering around them.

Vayalur and Vengambakkam schools are in serious need of infrastructure and more teachers. On the way, we saw the plots of land the couple buys with their savings – and gives it over to a local farmer for him to cultivate and buy back from the couple at savings bank rates of interest – concerned individuals enabling the landless to become landed one farmerat a time.

After a long tiring day, we returned to their home. The children had come back from school. I met with the 3 kids who were living with them for their traditional 9, 10, 11th, 12th schooling period. For the last 15 – 20 years or so, Mr. And Mrs. Sridhar take in around 3 children every 3 years from the local village – the children become part of their family, and live with them till they finish high school. They go to school from their house. I met the children and honestly – what can I say that will do justice to this effort?

In short, getting to see Mr. Sridhar’s and Mrs. Kalavathy’s work was a lesson in how concerned individuals can bridge the divide in education and health facilities provided to the economically disadvantaged sections of the society by working with existing govt institutions.

I would highly recommend Asha SV’s support of Mr. Sridhar and Mrs. Kalavathy Sridhar’s work. They are single handedly changing the educational map and the consequent economic statuses of the villages in the Thirukazhukundram area.

Thanks,

Subashree

Asha SV / Princeton