girls

PNLIT is delighted by the performance of our three students in the II P.U.C. exams. All of them got over 70% with Deepubai getting 75%, Sadiqa 71% and Ramya 72%.    Living in the hutments on the lake bund, they joined PNLIT's Classes at the Lake program (Teach program) three years ago. Thanks to V.P. Karthik, now pursuing PhD at IIT, Chennai, Anisha Kaul and Swathi Jayakumar, the girls' performances were beyond their own expectations in Std 10 as well.    Our volunteer teachers not only coached them but also encouraged them to dream big. Deepu wants to do engineering and is…

For a long time, I had been wanting to participate in the campaign against street sexual harassment (aka eve teasing) by Blank Noise. Finally, last Sunday (Aug-5) afternoon I joined the fortnightly action - this time on Church Street and Brigade Road from 3 - 5 pm. 5 of us reached out to around 150 pedestrians from different age, occupational and socio-economic backgrounds while displaying wall and hand held posters in English and Kannada. Some roadside vendors helped us enthusiastically while 4-5 male/female police personnel, taxi drivers and building security guards agreed with the prevalence of the issue and the message…

Ever visited a BBMP school? Or met children studying in one?When I first heard of it, I immediately visualized a dilapidated building with a loud bell and boisterous children. But this one was different. Thanks to its proactive and progressive Headmaster of four years, Mr. Balappa and his committed staff, the BBMP Girls High school in Bharathi Nagar has 251 enthusiastic students in classes VIII - X presently. Located at the intersection of Thimmaiah Road and St. John's Road (near Coles Park), most of its students are Urdu speakers who commute long distances. Almost all hail from very low income…

ABBA's song "Money, money, money, must be funny, in a rich man's world. All the things I could do if I had a little money... " comes to mind at the plight of a few of my latest and long time students like Jaya and Alumelu. Little Nila and Jaya are star performers in their 'English medium convent school' and daughters of our neighbourhood unorganized sector worker Devaki. And Alumelu whom I have voluntarily tutored and mentored since 2005 is now a prospective undergraduate and her mother is a housemaid in Byrasandara.   The former have to shell out around…

Ever come across a worker from the unorganized sector striving hard to ensure that her/his daughter(s) and son(s) study? Probe a little and most probably the girl(s) will be in a government school and the boy(s) in a private or a government funded English medium school. The latter have a better student-teacher ratio and the teachers are motivated or at least compelled to teach properly and regularly. Further, the parents and teachers are held accountable for the children's presence and performance. Unlike the vernacular medium government schools!   Talking to Joseph, a fruit vendor in Benson Town whose regular customer…

The Pottery Town government school (on Pottery Road where I had volunteered for nearly four months) closed for summer holidays in end March but I often find some children  playing in the ground or loitering around in the neighbourhood. That's hardly surprising as many of their parents and sometimes the kids themselves work and live nearby. But I see only boys - Ramesh, his younger brother Praveen and Narasimha et al almost always! Some of the girls I know, like Pushpalata or Shashikala are definitely busy helping with or doing household chores. But what prevents even a few of the…