PRATHAM

Hi guys,
So today is like one of my last days in India, and I hope you guys did enjoy reading this blog...when I come home, i'll being posting all the pictures that I think are suitable on here. Anyway, yesterday was a very intersting day, as I went to this NGO (non govermental organization) called Pratham. Pratham started of in Mumbai, nine years ago and is now in Delhi. We went to the Naveed Sharada area, to visit the schools. Pratham basically sets up a school in the slum area, they figure out how many children are in the community and how many of them do have an education and how many don't.
The little kids (3-5) went to the balwari classes, which was taught usually in the teachers home only...in the one we visited they were playing a game, which is Pratham's way of teaching. Pratham also has library -which is basically set up in the librarian's house. They play games and activities to help the children read books. Some kids are 0 level so they recieve picture books, others only can read a few words - so they get those short stories and then there's the kids who can read paragraphs and recieve stories. The one we visited the kids were playing a memory game. They had to write down their favorite color, food or dress on a piece of paper, and then put in the bucket. One person would pick up a piece of paper and would read out the word on the paper such as
GREEN and then they would try to find the person who wrote that word. If they were correct everyone would clap and the person whose word it was, would go up to have their turn. If the person was wrong, they were hit on the arm and had to change places with the person who they wrongly called out, the word was then repeated until the owner was found. The third and actually first place we visited was the school; now Pratham only educates kids from grades 1 to 5, and then they help the grade 5 students get admission into sixth standard (sixth grade). The class we visited was a mix of third and fourth students, because today is Independence day for India( happy independence day btw) the children had no class, yet they still had to be in school (their school is only half day) The girls were wearing colorful bangles and three of them were not wearing the school uniform. My mom who accompanied me ( actually it's the other way around) asked the girl why she wasn't wearing a school uniform and the girl said that she had a dance earlier (they had this function earlier that day). We got to see her do a few steps of this very intersting dance, it wasn't bollywood if you're wondering. Then some other children (mostly girls) recited poems and one even recited a whole story. When we started to take pictures, the kids kept on saying ' didi , meri bhi!' (sister, mine too!). My mom asked me to take a picture of this little girl with an umbrella, but as I got closer to her, I was surrounded by the rest of the school...it was quite funny. The one thing I noticed about the classrooms was that they had no chairs or tables and the children sat on mats, yet they were so comfertable. I mean, we (american students) would be complaining on the floor, don't you agree? They were also very welled mannered and would get up as soon as some teacher or other adminstrator entered the classroom and they would say ' Good Morning Maam' and they wouldn't sit down until they were told to.
I wish could post the pictures today only of the children, but I don't have any way to get them of my memory stick, so please be patient, and please do check the blog when I post the pics.

BYE - and happy independence day!
JAI HIND

Kuhoo