Transit School Project

The Rotary club of Chennai East R.A.Puram has embarked on a unique project by starting transit schools for migrant workers children in association with Poovai area brick kiln owners association at Thirumahizhisai.

Migrant Brick Kiln workers are traditionally poor, hardworking people who keep traveling from one place to another to live and work for a few months, and then go back to their home village. Despite their instrumental role in construction activity, reliable statistical data accurately describing this population and their children are virtually nonexistent.

Numerous brick kilns dominate Thirumahizhisai a popular temple spot, about 25 km to the west of Chennai city. There are about 120 kilns in this area offering direct and indirect employment opportunities for 10,000 people. They operate every year between January and June of the following year. Workers from various places migrate to this area for work during this period. The migration is mainly from districts such as Villipuram, Thruvannamalai, Cuddalore, Tirunelveli, Tuticorin, Ramnad, Sivagangai, Virudhunagar and parts of Vellore and Dharmapuri. After June they get back to their respective places. Due to the regular repeated migration, the children of these migrant workers are deprived of even basic education apart from so many other advantages that other children may get from their parents and nation.

Rotary Club of Chennai East R.A.Puram thought of a school for these children and approached the education authorities and got the required permission to start a Transit School at Kavalcheri and Chithukadu. First 2 schools were inaugurated on March 7th 2004. At Chithukadu a cattle shed was converted into a school where about 160 children were enrolled and at Kavalcheri it is within the existing Panchayat School where about 112 children were enrolled. The children enrolled include school dropouts as well. Currently there are 6 schools with 630 children studying and 20 teachers taking care of them. The attendance is reassuring and phenomenal with an average of 80% attending classes regularly.

The children are assessed and segregated into the following categories-Beginners, first and second, and third, fourth classes together. There are children 10 years old who has never been to school. Hence there needs to be a special and different approach to educate these children. The main objective of this school would be to make these children literate. Hence their mother tongue Tamil is taught to enable them read and write, then Mathematics followed by basic English. Science is being taught orally with live day-to-day examples, which would enliven their thought and increase their questioning and reasoning ability. Each child is given an identity card and at the end of six months they are evaluated and a certificate would be issued indicating the class the student can take up further at regular schools thereby pushing the child into academic mainstream. These schools are under education for all Sarva Siksha Abayan scheme.

The Rotary club of Chennai East R.A.Puram and the Brick Manufacturers association provides the required reading materials, note books and writing boards for the children along with some basic necessities such as slippers, Shirts, school baskets, water bottles etc. Since many of the children were under nourished, we then decided of providing a nutrition supplement to these children, which would improve their immunity and also the noon meal for every child.

The teachers for the schools come from nearby village giving the locality an employment opportunity. The children from far away kilns are transported to the school by the respective kilns. The school functions from 9:30 am to 3:30 pm. The Rotarians and Anns of the club make visits to the school and monitor the progress. The children of the migrant workers look eager to learn and the club intends to strengthen the school with modern teaching methods on an ongoing basis and also give required training to the teachers.

Rotary club of Chennai East R.A.Puram finds pleasure in shouldering the burden in passing on the torch of knowledge to the next generation.

Contact:
Chairman - Transit Schools Rtn.PP.PHF.N.Ramanathan

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