KOCHI: The district administration’s Roshni programme, an effort to provide quality education to children from migrant families, won global recognition on Wednesday. Chase Manhattan Bank retired vice president William Kaufmann and family who reached Thikkanarvattom UP School appreciated the motive behind the Roshini project. He along with his wife Karen Kaufmann and daughter Kimberly Kaufmann reached the school after they came to know about the project through newspaper reports.
The family reached the school around 8 am and was curious to know about the special classes being provided to the children of migrant workers.
They also found time to interact with the students during breakfast. Around 40 migrant students are studying in the school.
“The training and the guidance provided in the school will help the students script their success story in future,” Kaufmann told the teachers.
The family also offered their financial help to the school to improve the basic infrastructure facilities.
The district administration started the project based on the findings of the studies and surveys among migrant workers. It found the dropout rate among the children of migrant workers is high and based on that the district administration drafted such a project. Apart from providing training in Malayalam, English and Hindi to the children, balanced morning food and comprehensive intellectually stimulating workshops and study tours are also provided.
The administration inaugurated the project by mid-October last year. Earlier, the project was implemented in four schools with the largest enrolment of migrant workers’ children in the district. Union LP School, Thrikkanarvattam; Government LP school, Ponnurunni; Government UP School, Kandanthara and Government High School, Binanipuram are the schools short-listed for the pilot project.
The project, which started on an experimental basis, will be extended to all schools having migrant students in the next academic year, District Collector K Mohammed Y Safirulla said.