Pune: Spoken English -Project report of K.Ganapathy

Dear All

I was visiting two children homes in Chennai , one in Royapuram and another in Tondiarpet. I had made attempts to teach spoken english in both homes, and also some times took english grammer for 10th standard for their regular curriculam upon some of the boys’ request.

But since i resigned from the earlier company based in Chennai and joined Pune based Cummins India Limited, I have now identified two projects in Pune, which can keep me occupied every week end.

Community development
I am staying in an elderly couple’s flat in Sahakar Nagar in Pune, which is about 2 kms from Swargate bustand . I am currently using mess facilities with a local community which is 200 mtrs from my flat.

local vegetable vendors, autorickshaw drivers, tailors and other trade people have their families in the slum. I approached one of the boys who is now in 8th standard, to find out if the children would be interested to learn spoken english.

The response was tremendous, and in no time , theplace was arranged by the local community by providing a room to sit and all the children in the nearby houses were informed by the parents.

The first class went off on saturday with 10 children in the age group of 10 to 16 attending, which evinced interest in two more children , and they joined on sunday 31.01.10. I have started engaging them in learning words they have to use on day to day acitivity , and have given them work to practice till next saturday.

The classes if become regular on every week end, should make every one of the children with ability to read, write and speak simple english within 3 months ( 24 working days) . Based on my previous expereince in chennai with children, i have devised an approach for teaching english, which will make children at any level of knowledge to have a head start.

Children’s Home in Shivaji Nagar

I have screened website for orphanges in and around Pune. Accordingly about 6 were selected, which were within 10 kms radius. From this list, I visited Remand home for children which is near shivaji nagar bustand and opposite to Pune radio station. Here convicted juvenile boys (for Rape, murder and robbery) are kept in captivity along with Orphan boys upto 10 th standard. The ground floor is occuped by juvenile convicts, the first floor by the other boys under the homes care. this is about 9 kms from where i am staying. There are 210 boys in this home as of yesterday . Daily there are new inmates coming , rescued from child labour, sex abuse etc by the local police and brought here. There are also children leaving daily, identified by their parents who are informed by the Pune district authorities by written communication . The floating population of runaway children form about 10 to 15 .

There are about 60 boys who are permanent in the home, who have been abandoned by their parents, and some of whom have been treated cruellly by their foster parents, and now growing up under Government care. The classes by self and other NGO’s mainly concentrate on this group of children.

The children home provides, uniform , Very good quality food, hygenic atmosphere, education as per thier age, and post education counselling by NGO for a job in Maharashtra.

This is run by Pune district administration and funded by private participation.
The set up in every way resembles our Royapuram children/s home (chennai) in terms of facility, hospitality to NGO’s.I have met Madam Sonavane who is the president there for women and child development of Pune Municipality – running the home . On my first visit to the home on 30.01.10, She requested me to immediately start computer basics for 6th standard children.

From 3 to 4.30 pm on saturday, the classes went on and the response from the children was good. They organise the classes very well with the warden ensuring children reach the class room , and they are supervised by a senior boy from 9th standard. Irrespective of their background and upbringing , i find that all the children are extremely intelligent which is an amazing fact of life!!!

I have started computer basics with starting and shutting down the system and creating a simple word file. The caretaker madam enquired if i can take classes every day during the week, but since the place is bit far and office closes late, i ahve agreed for only week end classes. On the first day We reviewed how the classes went on in the evening, and deceided to concentrate on one batch of children, so that there is focus in learning for atleast a selected batch of children.

Madam Sonawane is open to more participation from NGO’s and very co-operative. She in every way very kind like our Glory madam of Royapuram and also very proactive.

Also met another NGO called ‘ we can make the difference’ based in Pune whose members are visiting this home and basically run by college students. They teach handicrafts, drawing and spoken english , apart from helping them in regular curriculum. They are also visiting once in a week.

After 5 PM, all the children are allowed to play in the open ground inside the premises, and the children are provided with all facilities for playing cricket, football, and shuttle badminton.

I find this place very comfortable, and hope i will be able to accomplish something. I will treat my effort a success, if Even a couple of boys become very skilled in basic computeres , given their background, their concentration capacity and grasp.

Since this was my first visit, i have concentrated in understanding the atmosphere. The childrens home is adequately funded, and the current requirement is only dedicated people who can visit regularly. Unfortunately , i do not have a camera to send pictures along with this report. However, shall try to make this possible in the near future.

In case any our members are nearby Pune and wanting to visit these places, You can contact meon 9011077618.

Thanks
K.Ganapathy