Fun Trip - The Railway Museum Sundays

The Railway Museum became the chosen venue because friends of the project remembered it from their childhoods as being fun. Its a new challenge for our little group, as the largest number of children we have ever had on an exposure trip will be out this Sunday. Also, the youngest group ever.
Usually, it always older boys and girls and cab loads to the Science Centre. This time, its 48 kids and 6 mothers and 4 teachers armed with snacks and first aid and hygiene equipement and clean water in a big big bus on a cheerful Sunday morning. :) For all this cheer, we are spending Rs.7000/-. Small price to pay for all the joy it will bring.

More strategically speaking, it will mean that key community members and children will be reinforced as ambassadors of learning. Going to school will be associated with enjoyment and laughter, responsibility and caring, nature and togetherness.

As usual, we have so many to thank for this wonderful opportunity. Arijit and Smita Roy for their generosity - they paid for food and the bus as they do all the teacher's salaries and all the expenses at the centre, as well as training costs for the staff. Sabina Suri has taken on the responsibility for some of the snacks for the trip next Sunday - yes, there will be a repeat - and we will get better at this :), next Sunday, when the second centre at Kardampuri will take the trip.
Thank you for reading this, know that your time and thoughts all help keep all involved energised.

It was great to see the mums out in their finery - as were some of the children...haha. Two were wearing studded frocks - glass jewels and EYE SHADOW :). I loved it. I worried as I always do about the unmoisturised feet and the fancy slippers bought at Eid - this is all Eid finery :), I would much rather canvas shoes and warm socks. Tomorrow I think we should do a count. They were happy with the cake and juice box and the chocolates that started the morning. Party food. :):)

Sunday - FUN day

The children demanded the centre remain open on Sunday as they did not get enough time to play with the toys that are kept at the centre. So, the whole of Sunday, children drop in to the centre and play. We mark attendance for all who come in, just to keep track of how much interest there really is.

A donor suggested that we use the opportunity to make it even more fun - so a jhoola-wala was hired. After much negotiation, he was there for three hours this Sunday and the children were thrilled as they spun on his portable swing-set. It cost us only Rs. 90/- but the joy that the children felt was immeasurable.

In the next two Sundays, the children will be visiting Rail Museum. Anyone interested in donating lunch or sponsoring the toy train ride is very welcome. Long bus rides can be hard on the children's tummies and so we were thinking of Brittania cake and Glucose Biscuits, juice boxes and rewri/chikki as a snack at the museum. 

The Toy Library

The idea of the toy library comes to me from a Government library in Delhi. So interesting as it is, it comes from the most clunky of mechanisms in our country. I want to say this upfront, as so many have asked me how I came to think of it. I am not sure how the original toy library is run, but this is how I want us to run ours at LearningInq.
The idea is that if parents see children coming home with toys, and they find these children interested and occupied with appropriate toys and games, they might consider that the activities they are otherwise engaged in are inappropriate and often a direct violation of the children's right to childhood.
As was expected, some of the teachers found it difficult to trust the children's ability to look after the toys or to return then to the centre as is required. Parents sent children back to the centre when they came home with the toy thinking that the child had walked away holding it without permission. But it took just a week's persistence to gain confidence in the children's ability to be responsible and trustworthy.
Lending toys to the children is a regular feature of the centre and we are hoping it makes a subtle dent in making childhood more meaningful for children and parents alike. 

Deepening Impact - Health

The centres at Kardampuri and Seemapuri have both reached the stage where following up children to attend, either the centre or the Government school is not required. It has created the opportunity that the startegy of the interventions with teh children graduate to a deeper level of quality.

The primary focus for the last month has been health. A simple strategy with a simple aim. The use of clean water for drinking by the use of purification through boiling or by the use of Aqua Pure tablets, distributed free during home visits and demonstrated by use in the class 'matka'.
In the Rishtaa period, the children conferred around a histogram which recorded and measured the following:
1. How many children came from families where drinking water is bolied
2. What measures are taken by families to keep mosquitoes away. It was interesting that the use of naphthelene balla - called 'phenyl ki goli', which are dropped into the open drains, in the vain hope that it will limit the spread of disease and kill mosquitoes !
3. The medical help that is accessed by families - private doctors - the infamous 'bangaali doctor' - or the local quack, the Primary Health Centre or the local Government Hospital - in our case the Guru Tej Bahadur Hospital.

As with all the interventions done at the Centres, these startegies will stay in place, the associated activities will become routine in the schedule followed by the staff and children. The Rishtaa hisotgram will be repeated once every month such that we can monitor change in the behaviour of the families as regards health and wellness practices, the Aqua Pure is now a routine accompaniment to the water at the centre and to Home Visits in the teachers' bag.

The Deep End of the Pool

Learning may be best when in the deep end of the pool...where necessity is upon you, if not panic.

This is a picture of a counter run by a student at which other children must come to learn Math skills before they are allowed to pass through.

The student is asked to hold back and observe how the children try to solve the puzzle, and only help if absolutely required.

Most teachers find this hard to do initially, but learn to depend on this method when they experience the far reaching results of inquiry as a methodology. Not only do learners quickly become self reliant, they stumble upon their own preferred mode of learning and almost always ask to learn much more than the planned content. As a result learning is quicker, more comprehensive and longer lasting.

Exposure Appeal