KOCHI: Amid its efforts to shed the negative image regarding public educational institutions in tribal areas, a school in Attappadi is also going the extra mile to widen its students’ horizons.
The management of the Government LP School in Mulli village is doing this by acquainting the students, all hailing from the Irula tribe, with everything modern, be it in technology or transport, and with various places. As part of the latter, teachers of the school, with the support of Rajagiri School of Business, will bring 28 students of Classes 3 and 4 to Kochi on a two-day trip on Saturday.
The visit aims at unlocking new experiences for the students, said Joby Balakrishnan, a teacher and convenor of the School Resource Group (SRG).
“The children know about buses. However, they have never taken a train, gone on a trip in a tourist boat or travelled in the metro rail or water metro. They have also never dined in a fine restaurant, been to a museum, visited a palace or walked on a beach,” said Joby.
He said several innovative initiatives and activities have been undertaken at the school, paving the way to building the confidence of not just the students but also their parents. Preparing textbooks in Irula language was one such step the school took to make learning easier for the students.
“It was difficult for students to learn as the textbooks were in Malayalam. So, we prepared books in the Irula language in association with the SCERT (State Council of Educational Research and Training). The textbooks are ready and are awaiting the government’s approval,” he said.
He said several projects have been implemented in the school in association with well-wishers and other institutions. “We set up a children’s park on the campus with the help of Cochin Shipyard Ltd. You won’t find a park like this in any other school. Then there is the school building. We shifted to the new building recently,” Joby said, adding that the school was recognised as the first in Kerala to have implemented the Innovative School Project (ISP) with a success rate of 90%. “We received an award to commemorate this at the block resource centre level,” he said.
“Under the ISP, we implemented a programme called ‘Orumichu’. The programme, which aimed at improving students’ reading and writing skills, was implemented in association with the forest, excise, police, BRC, tribal and health departments,” Joby said. As part of this, authorities from the departments went around tribal hamlets seeking out and educating families that were not sending children to school, he said.
A ‘selfie programme’ is also being carried out to ensure students are spending enough time every day to learn their lessons, he said, adding that the trip to Kochi is a part of this learning process.