Schools

Most schools in Bengaluru have completed their admissions for the coming academic year. Despite that, the state government seems to be pushing to implement the RTE (Right to Education) Act for 2011-12. The SSA (Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan) will soon submit a revised draft of the Act to the government. "We have revised the draft after taking suggestions from the public. The new draft will be submitted by end of this month," says Sandhya Venugopal Sharma, State Project Director, SSA. Ramakrishna School - 80% of the children are from low income groups. Pic: Navya P K While many private schools are…

You will not notice the Iblur Government Primary School unless you are looking for it. Located on the service road of the main Sarjapur Road just before Iblur junction, the school has classes from I to VII standard with 300 students. The students are mostly from Iblur village and are from the economically weaker section. Till very recently, the school had just three classrooms and the classes were conducted in batches to accommodate everyone. We, from Lions club, HSR layout, adopted the school in the year 2007. We started off by building one classroom, improved a few other necessary infrastructures…

Children listen attentively as Aparna shows pictures of characters from popular culture For adults like me, unused to interacting with small children on a regular basis, walking into a primary school classroom is like stepping into another world. A chorus of goodmorningma'am, keen faces, eagerness to listen...in short, enthusiasm unbound. For people like Aparna D and Rajeshwari S however, these reactions are familiar territory. Aparna and Rajeshwari are not teachers in the formal sense. But they are educators. People with a sense of mission, who understand how important it is to get children to think about what they eat. As…

Recently I took the Children's Movement for Civic Awareness (CMCA) civic club members of VET school, where I volunteer, to a plastic waste recycling factory, 'KK Plastic Waste Management' on Kanakapura Road.We are all aware that we should segregate garbage. Of course, we have all heard of separating kitchen waste, plastic, paper, metals etc. But when it has to be actually put into practice, people hesitate because (a) old lazy habits die hard, and (b) people are not sure how to dispose of each of these categories. However, there is a practical solution for each of these categories of waste.…

84 students from seven schools will perform streetplays on child rights and right to education in various parts of Bangalore this November. Bal Jamoore, is an initiative by CRY to make children think and act as social agents of change who respect and stand up for equal rights to all. Pic: Deepthi Sarma. The training program for Bal Jamoore was held on 30th and 31st of October at the CRY office, Cox town. Each participating school has a team of 12-15 students for the street play. The training programme is divided into two segments. The first segment helps the students…

In BTM Layout, I snapped this photograph late one afternoon:I was walking, thinking to myself that the BBMP had done a good job in renovating the children's playground and providing new equipment....But alas, it was sad to see that children seem so tired after school hours, that they'd rather sleep on the slide than play on it!Let's lessen the burden on our schoolchildren, and let them laugh and play like children should! ⊕

Five days after an ABIDe-led committee was constituted to discuss Karnataka's draft rules for implementing the national Right to Education (RTE) Act, it has already received several suggestions from senior educationists and NGOs. To propose a way through the confusion regarding the implementation of the RTE Act the chief minister's task force for Bengaluru, ABIDe (Agenda for Bengaluru Infrastructure and Development Task Force), formed a working group on September 23. The group plans to collect suggestions from the public and hold discussions with parents, teachers, NGOs, school associations and other stakeholders to discuss the draft rules proposed by the state…

It was an action-packed and noisy morning as the children were told it should be! Inspirations 2010 - a civic fest and exhibition marking the launch of the eleventh year of CMCA (Children's Movement for Civic Awareness) as well as the launch of the programme for the academic year 2010-11 was held at the St Joseph's Indian High School grounds on Vittal Mallya Road on Friday, August 6th. Cricketer Robin Uthappa, ambassador of CMCA, at Inspirations 2010. Pic courtesy: CMCA The CMCA was started in 2000 as a joint initiative of the Public Affairs Centre and Swabhimana (both Bangalore-based organisations)…

A childhood's memories Of looking and waiting For something exciting From the grove of coconut trees A busy woodpecker An agile tree climber Two young boys Who made little noise If we missed these We simply counted the trees What rekindled these memories Was Visthar's coconut trees! Situated in an eco-friendly campus in Dodda Gubbi off the Hennur Road in east Bangalore, Visthar is a treasure trove of nature's bounty that drives one to reflect inwards while celebrating life. A veritable hub of socio-cultural and environmental consciousness this organization turned twenty one recently. Famous for hosting annual festivals and events that…

A brief newspaper item carried last month talked about city schools enforcing the importance of eating healthy - that parents had been told to send nutritive packed lunches and educational authorities were giving the thumbs down to food high in sugar, salt and oil content.The report went on to say how parents are struggling to meet these expectations in the face of their young ones demanding novelty each day. As a mother lamented that her three year old did not like salads and she had no time to pack chapattis or dosas every day, the thought came up: what were…