PROJECT HEADSTART
MADF provided essential learning infrastructure to the Government Primary School in Mukundagiri Village, which is about 100km off Chennai;
MADF completed the projects at a total cost of ~Rs 5lakhs.
We engaged in consultation with the various stakeholders to finalise the participation model and agree on key priorities.
We obtained consent from the relevant Authorities prior to commencing our field activities.
In particular, we consulted with the:
▪ Education Secretary, T.N. Government to agree the participation model for village schools in general;
▪ School Headmaster in Mukundagiri to agree and prioritize the requirements;
During the 2nd quarter, we awarded work contracts with clear milestones. We ensured timely delivery by regular monitoring of the project by the beneficiaries and tying the payments to milestones.
During the 3rd and 4th quarter, MADF completed the projects and handed over the facilities at a function organised by the residents to mark these milestones.
The Board of Trustees thank all the donors for their wholehearted support to the Cause. You have truly “Made A Difference” to the lives of the residents in Mukundagiri Village! A Big thanks to all our supporters who have been a great source of encouragement!
The Mukundagiri Primary School is resourced with two teachers, one of whom is the Head Master.
The School has about 60 children of ages varying between 5 to 10 years. The facilities in the school were inadequate and the learning resources extremely limited.
While the children showed great enthusiasm for learning, unfortunately the school did not have the requisite learning environment to engage these young inquisitive minds.
There were no desks, workbench or chairs for the children except mats on the floor. Even, the stationary provided was extremely limited. The school had a playground but it had no play equipment to engage the kids with PE or team sports.
MADF adopted the school and embarked on a plan to deliver a better learning environment to the children. The following basic facilities were provided in phase 1 of our engagement in July / August 2013:
- Furniture (Desks, Chairs and storage racks)
- Desktop Computers – 3 (Courtesy of: Standard Chartered Bank)
- UPS, router and a network printer
- Library facilities and School stationary
- External clearing and levelling of the playground
- Play equipment
The school had organised a small handover event where we turned in the above facilities, a much applauded event by the residents.
We appointed two teachers at the school to deliver English and Computer education under the UK curriculum KS1 and KS2. It was indeed heartening to note that students were reading confidently and were able to make small conversations in English.