This story is from November 17, 2016

'Project Shine' of Sainik School alumni scales up its reach to 100 tribal students

'Project Shine' of Sainik School alumni scales up its reach to 100 tribal students
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: 'Project Shine', the successful training model initiated by 1991 batch of Sainik School Kazhakootam, which saw seven children from the tribal hamlets of Attappady in Palakkad getting admission in the school last year, has scaled up its reach to 100 students who would now be appearing for entrance examinations to both Sainik School and Navodaya Vidyalaya.
Studying in class 5, these children including 58 girl students from three major communities – Irula, Muduga and Kurumba – are fast achieving good learning and comprehension skills ahead of the examinations scheduled in January next year.
"We have been able to cover around 45 hamlets this year in around 35 km radius, which include those in places like Veerakkallu, where we have to trek 4-5 kilometres to reach," said Babu Mathew, who along with his wife Litty George designed and implemented the project.
The increased coverage and inclusion of girl students in this training programme spread across 10 months for 300 hrs were following the request from the sub-collector in Ottappalam, and a proposal in this regard was submitted to the government at a total cost of Rs 60 lakh. The government is bearing one third of the cost, while the balance amount is being raised by the Sainik School alumni, family and friends.
As many as eight facilitators were recruited and trained in the socio-emotional learning (SEL) strategy back in May and the training began in July 2016. The government sanctioned the project in August and an amount of Rs 19.27 lakh was allocated. "The training is given on all Saturdays and Sundays at the AHADS Campus and, so far, we have completed 150 hours of training,” Babu said.
The children are provided with conveyance facilities and meals like during the last year and each facilitator is in charge of 12 children. “We are following a process oriented and collaborative class room strategy, where children work in small groups. The facilitators motivate them both socially and emotionally, besides having weekly telephonic conversations with their parents to keep them updated on their progress,” he added.

The facilitators are also conducting parental sessions once in two months and the next one is scheduled for December. Medical check-ups and house visits to understand the living conditions of the children are also part of the programme. “Till date we have covered 65 homes and hope to complete home visits by second week of December. The school alumni along with their families are also making visits to the AHADS campus during the training sessions,” Babu said.
Unlike in the previous year, the project will continue function even after the examinations, till April 10 to be precise, to further improve their basic skills and prepare them for their possible education in a better school environment. “Many of these children didn’t know even the letters or basic numeric at the time of screening tests, and they have made a good progress in terms of reading and writing skills,” Babu added.
The Project Shine, in fact, had gained wide public attention last year, when the Sainik School alumni took it up as a silver jubilee year initiative to train tribal children from the remote hamlets of Attappady to gain admission to their alma matter. Twenty four tribal children were provided intense training in language skills, logical thinking, reasoning ability and they were groomed with an eye on the future challenges. And, seven out of them had made it to the school.
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About the Author
Salim Joseph

Jisha Surya is a principal correspondent with The Times of India, Thiruvananthapuram bureau. She started her career with The New Indian Express in 2008. Jisha covers the beats of City Infrastructure, Kerala Water Authoriy and PWD.

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