17th Jan 2011
It is time for the Parent to see their child's progress...
Teachers took time to meet parents individually and chat with them about the progress of their child.
Proud Parents - THANKS to YOU, who is making it possible :-)
Monday, March 7, 2011
Sea Shells Day
11th Jan 2011Under Shabana, the 2nd Standard children presented their "Sea Shells Day"
Great effort by the kids... it was lovely to see what a 7 year could come up with...
Their presentation received an enthusiastic response from the whole school.
Well done Grade 2 :-)
Rip Van Winkle
16th Dec 2010
All our children from Grade 1 to 6 had a great evening out -
Thanks to Ayesha :-) of the Little Theatre. She treated our children to "Rip Van Winkle" at the Egmore Stadium.
An evening of fun and happiness. The kids just loved it - and so did the teachers :-)
Melba and Sara visit Gurukulam
Nov 2010: Melba and Sara from the UK visited our school and spent a week volunteering time with our children.
They helped our children make beautiful decorations for Christmas. It was a week of art and fun along with studies for our kids :-)
Thank you Mel and Sara. You touched all our children's hearts...
Republic Day 2011
Jan 26th 2011, Dr Mythili Ravishankar unfurled the National Flag at our school.
Our children gave a lovely performance in yoga, karate and dance, to celebrate India's Republic Day.
May our children grow to make us proud....
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Happy tidings
Our kids have proved themselves again :-)
Pragadeesh of Class 6 secured "High Distinction".
Dharini, Ameen, Basha and Dhanapriya of Class 6 have secured "Distinction" in a recently concluded assessment in Mathematics for Indian Schools by the UNSW Global, The University of New South Wales, Australia.
We are proud to be part of their achievement.
An inspiring visit to cherish forever…
Personal experience shared by Mr. Ruben Rajagopalan from Eindhoven, The Netherlands regarding his visit to the Gurukulam School on January 03, 2011.
It’s with a great feeling of happiness, humility and gratitude, I am sharing my inspiring experience during my visit to Gurukulam, a Trust Children School on January 3rd, 2011. I wish to sincerely thank my friends from Eindhoven, The Netherlands, whose support, prayers and wishes are behind this testimonial.
In a world filled with a multitude of contrasts, children belonging to economically under-privileged backgrounds pay the highest price for no fault of theirs. Education and other facilities which to some of us is easily accessible, and sometimes even a luxury, to many others remains only a dream that perhaps never really turns into a reality. The Trust Children team and their Gurukulam School at Panayur, Chennai have been creating miracles and making a difference since 2004, to ensure those dreams turn into reality for a few children (143 children as on date). With their strong determination and dedication, since their inception their vision has always aimed to provide, for FREE, their children with education (in English medium), Text and note-books, Uniforms, Lunch, Extra-curricular activities (Karate, Yoga), and Medical & Dental care.
My association with them began informally mainly thanks to Mr. Harsh Kulkarni and friends at ASHA, Eindhoven. Thanks to the efforts of some of my friends from Eindhoven, we were extremely happy to raise funds as a contribution that will benefit the annual cost of education and travel of Ms. Sureatha for the academic year 2011-2012, who is current in her LKG Grade (LowerKinderGarten).
After all the discussions via email and phone, it was a wonderful feeling to finally get to visit their campus and meet the volunteers and the hildren. The enthusiasm and happiness of the children was great to see. We visited them on the first day of the school after the holiday break, and the children were buzzing with excitement to get back to their lessons and school activities. Mrs. Shubha Subramaniam, the Principal, was very happy to show us around the Campus, and the class rooms, and also interact with the children of the VI standard. We shared lively moments with the kids talking about various interests, discussions ranging from Sciences, Karate, Movies, …, and the current hype about the Cricket World Cup being hosted in India in February. We wished them the very best for their future, and handed over our donations, and left the campus, after what was a great inspiring day, and a wonderful beginning to 2011.
On behalf of my friends in Eindhoven, I’d like to extend my gratitude and support to the team of Trust Children for all their wonderful efforts, and the very best wishes for the future.
I’ve uploaded all the pictures taken during my visit here. For any additional information, feel free to reach me via email at zenben@gmx.de.
Kind regards,
Ruben and his friends from Eindhoven.
An inspiring visit to cherish forever…
It’s with a great feeling of happiness, humility and gratitude, I am sharing my inspiring experience during my visit to Gurukulam, a Trust Children School on January 3rd, 2011. I wish to sincerely thank my friends from Eindhoven, The Netherlands, whose support, prayers and wishes are behind this testimonial.
In a world filled with a multitude of contrasts, children belonging to economically under-privileged backgrounds pay the highest price for no fault of theirs. Education and other facilities which to some of us is easily accessible, and sometimes even a luxury, to many others remains only a dream that perhaps never really turns into a reality. The Trust Children team and their Gurukulam School at Panayur, Chennai have been creating miracles and making a difference since 2004, to ensure those dreams turn into reality for a few children (143 children as on date). With their strong determination and dedication, since their inception their vision has always aimed to provide, for FREE, their children with education (in English medium), Text and note-books, Uniforms, Lunch, Extra-curricular activities (Karate, Yoga), and Medical & Dental care.My association with them began informally mainly thanks to Mr. Harsh Kulkarni and friends at ASHA, Eindhoven. Thanks to the efforts of some of my friends from Eindhoven, we were extremely happy to raise funds as a contribution that will benefit the annual cost of education and travel of Ms. Sureatha for the academic year 2011-2012, who is current in her LKG Grade (LowerKinderGarten).
After all the discussions via email and phone, it was a wonderful feeling to finally get to visit their campus and meet the volunteers and the hildren. The enthusiasm and happiness of the children was great to see. We visited them on the first day of the school after the holiday break, and the children were buzzing with excitement to get back to their lessons and school activities. Mrs. Shubha Subramaniam, the Principal, was very happy to show us around the Campus, and the class rooms, and also interact with the children of the VI standard. We shared lively moments with the kids talking about various interests, discussions ranging from Sciences, Karate, Movies, …, and the current hype about the Cricket World Cup being hosted in India in February. We wished them the very best for their future, and handed over our donations, and left the campus, after what was a great inspiring day, and a wonderful beginning to 2011.
On behalf of my friends in Eindhoven, I’d like to extend my gratitude and support to the team of Trust Children for all their wonderful efforts, and the very best wishes for the future.
I’ve uploaded all the pictures taken during my visit here. For any additional information, feel free to reach me via email at zenben@gmx.de.
Kind regards,
Ruben and his friends from Eindhoven.
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
When I went back to school…
“Remember…bus will leave at 8:30 sharp – be ready in the morning” Captain reminded me like a school headmaster. Any why not, it was ages since I went to school in a school bus. Come next morning, like a good student, guess what I was among the first one in the bus with the first and second grade Gurukulam students. Little did I knew, I was in for a big surprise that morning…
The moment I enter the bus, I see these little angles welcoming me like an old friend – I hear a chorus - “Good Morning Sir. Please come and have a seat next to me…” I was literally taken off guard by the confidence and the boldness of these tiny little kids. I was telling myself I was the most shy kid around at that age, and here are the bunch of kids who were literally assaulting me with their confidence! I took a seat next to Pavithra and asked her about her favorite poem, and guess what; the next opera was the “Boogie Woogie” rhyme. If this was less, Asmitha shouted “I like Cinderella story – do you want to hear it?” Pleasantly surprised, I nodded and next 20 minute ride witnessed a chorus on “Cinderella”, “Snow white” and the “Golden Axe” stories. I just couldn’t believe that these kids are first generation learners speaking so fluently to even take a native speaker by surprise. With such a roller coaster ride, I never realized we had already reached the school.
The comment from Pragadeesh really made my day. I’ve been visiting Gurukulam since its humble beginning in 2004 with 20 students and a handful of volunteers who shared Captain’s vision of “breaking the viscous cycle of poverty-manual labor by empowerment through education to the under privileged”. With 143 students and a dedicated staff of 6 teachers and an academic advisor, Gurukulam has come a long way. What really amazes me is the fluency in English of these children and more importantly, the confidence these kids have developed. Hats off to the dedicated teachers, especially in an environment where the children are first generation learners.
The moment I enter the bus, I see these little angles welcoming me like an old friend – I hear a chorus - “Good Morning Sir. Please come and have a seat next to me…” I was literally taken off guard by the confidence and the boldness of these tiny little kids. I was telling myself I was the most shy kid around at that age, and here are the bunch of kids who were literally assaulting me with their confidence! I took a seat next to Pavithra and asked her about her favorite poem, and guess what; the next opera was the “Boogie Woogie” rhyme. If this was less, Asmitha shouted “I like Cinderella story – do you want to hear it?” Pleasantly surprised, I nodded and next 20 minute ride witnessed a chorus on “Cinderella”, “Snow white” and the “Golden Axe” stories. I just couldn’t believe that these kids are first generation learners speaking so fluently to even take a native speaker by surprise. With such a roller coaster ride, I never realized we had already reached the school.
With an assembly of 143 students from LKG to 6th grade, roared with National Anthem during the weekly National Flag hoisting ceremony. I was pleasantly surprised to see the Vice Principal distributing gifts to the birthday kids during the assembly. In no time, students were back in class and school was buzzing with activity. As I enter the first grade, I’m greeted with “Good Morning Sir!” I couldn’t help noticing the artistic “English” on the blackboard with “E” beautifully morphed as a cute little cat. My curiosity zooms and I ask “Who has drawn this beautiful cat?” Quick comes the reply “It’s our English teacher. I can also draw it.” I gesture Aishwarya and with a confident stoke of hand, she mirrors the exact ‘painting’. Not to mention, I was really surprised to see this from a first grader.
I can go on and on with similar surprises throughout the day, but there is one particular incident which I can never forget my life. Its grade 6 and thought for the day on the blackboard is “Dare to do the right, fear to do the wrong”. Interesting I said and asked “Can anyone explain me the meaning of this thought?” I knew this was tricky for anyone to explain, but given the days experience I’d started to expect the unexpected now. Guess what, Pragadeesh summarizes it all – “When you do the right, you should come forward!”
The comment from Pragadeesh really made my day. I’ve been visiting Gurukulam since its humble beginning in 2004 with 20 students and a handful of volunteers who shared Captain’s vision of “breaking the viscous cycle of poverty-manual labor by empowerment through education to the under privileged”. With 143 students and a dedicated staff of 6 teachers and an academic advisor, Gurukulam has come a long way. What really amazes me is the fluency in English of these children and more importantly, the confidence these kids have developed. Hats off to the dedicated teachers, especially in an environment where the children are first generation learners.
I met Captain later in the say with some awe and he is quick to add ”We have come a long way and still have a long way to go. Lets get back to work!” It is with some sense of pride, I sign off my visit signing up for the next mission – raising $12,000 for the construction of upcoming science laboratory. Looks like an upheaval task, but as they say a thousand mile journey starts with a single step…I hope to catch up Gurukulam students working at the lab during my next visit… :-)
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