|
Location:
The Sacred Heart's School is located in the little
town of Kanthaloor set amongst the foot hills of the Western
Ghat mountain ranges. Surrounded by protected forests, sandlewood
reserves and sugarcane plantations, Kanthaloor is predominantly
a tribal town which supports 15 tribal villages and about
15 other backward community villages. This is a remote town
and accessible only by road. The closest town is Munnar, which
is about 60 kilometers away.
School - A brief note
The Sacred Heart's School is the only school in the region
and was started by a missionary group in the late fifties.
With no schools or education system, the area had zero percent
literacy. An upper primary section was established in 1958
and was upgraded to a high school in 1960. Being a backward
region, there was initial reluctance and opposition from the
tribal communities to send their children to school. It took
more than 20 years before the missionary groups were able
to convince the tribal villagers to send their children to
school. Even now there are a few hill tribal villages that
shun school and contact with outsiders.
The Sacred Heart's School currently has 650+ children from
the surrounding villages. The school is desperately short
of teachers mainly because of the remoteness of the region
and the lack of qualified teachers from within the region.
Being remote and run by a missionary group, they receive very
little funding from the government and rely on fundraising
and donations. The school also runs a children's home for
both boys and girls. This is run as a registered orphanage
and houses children from the age of 4 years to 16 years. Since
the school can't afford any form of transport for the children
and there is very limited public transport system in the area,
the orphanage also doubles up as a hostel for children from
even more remote villages. The school is currently trying
to raise funds for a vehicle.
Achievements :
Since
its inception, the school has been able to raise the
standard of literacy among the tribal villages. Some
of the current heads of the villages are the former
students of this school. The school has also been
able to raise awareness about various issues like
health, hygiene, birth control, social issues like
women's rights, domestic and alcohol abuse among the
community. Through the school, the teachers have also
been able to imbibe values of forest and wildlife
conservation in the children and raise awareness among
the parents of tribal children about poaching, smuggling
and exploitation in the hands of middlemen.
Voluntary
positions available :
Yearoutindia has recently adopted this project after
one of our volunteer coordinators visited the school
and found the dire conditions and desperate lack of
facilities available for the children.
Yearoutindia plans to support the school by providing
assistance in the way of Volunteer Teachers through
its Reach & Teach programs and Volunteer Workers
through its Caring for Orphans & Community Development
programs. We are also attempting to raise much needed
funds for these community development projects.
The
volunteers will be able to live and assist at the
school by teaching the children various subjects including
spoken English, Arts & Crafts, Drama
etc or any other subject depending on the school's
needs and volunteer's interests. You can help with
the training and daycare facilities or help host staff
conduct recreational activities, teach classes and
serve meals.
|
|
|
|
Typical
Classroom |
|
|
|
If you have first-hand experience working with children
with disabilities, professionally or personally, your
expertise can be especially useful at a nearby centre
for disabled children / children with difficulties.
Besides enabling them to interact with someone from a different culture, it will be a wonderful and rare opportunity for children to learn new skills often beyond their present financial, social and educational constraints. Volunteers will also help in repairing and renovating the existing infrastructure of the school and also contributing/helping in building much needed classrooms etc.
Yearoutindia is also looking for enthusiastic individuals
with a flair for sports to come, live and teach/coach
at the school. The school plans to conduct sports camps
throughout the year. This is an ideal opportunity for
sports enthusiasts to be a resident sports coach/teacher
at the school for 4/6/8 weeks. Even if you've never
formally taught/coached before, you can assist the local
sports teachers in their day-to-day work at the school.
You don't need to know the local language or the methods
of the local school system. All you need is enthusiasm
and a desire to share your knowledge with these children.
The outcome could easily be the most rewarding volunteering
experience of your life.
The children range from upper primary to high school.
You could help conduct camps in any sports discipline
from football, cricket, volleyball, badminton, gymnastics,
Aerobics to maybe something new like rugby, rounders
or bocce ball which probably none of the kids have ever
heard of, let alone played. In exchange, they might
teach you the exciting & physically challenging Indian
sport of "Khabaddi" or "Kho-Kho". So be prepared
to get mobbed! |
To
enable a sense of continuity, we request our volunteers to
commit to a minimum of 4 weeks. This will help the children
get used to you and also enable you to settle into the school
community. We have a maximum of two volunteer places available
at any one time at the school. These can be extended according
to the needs of the children and the availability and skills
of the individual volunteer. You'll usually teach about four
hours a day, Monday through Friday, and have 2 hours each
day to collaborate with the staff and prepare for classes.
The rest of the day is for free time. Please apply early.
|
| Brother
Micheal (Head Master)
Brother K.P.Arul Joseph (Manager)
Office : +91 (0)8465-246248
|
|
 Program
Schedule
4/8/12 Week Teaching/Community development
program at a rural school in south India:
Yearoutindia Reach & Teach and Community Development
programs are looking for committed volunteers
with a passion for teaching and child welfare
to come, live and work at this remote tribal village
town of Kanthaloor for 4-12 weeks. As a Yearoutindia
volunteer, you will be able to supplement the
teaching activities and also provide a refreshing
change to the children of this amazing school.
The location being remote, volunteers will need
to be resourceful, flexible, adventurous, patient
and above all have a big heart to work with these
children. Please note that teaching schedules
are planned taking into consideration the current
timetable of the school and teaching volunteers
must be flexible enough to adapt to the teaching
needs of the school.
Program
duration & cost:
RT-SHS103-
English / Art Teacher / Sports Assistant
OR-LFO203-
Teaching / Caring for Orphans
Please
read our Do It All
Program page for opportunities to
mix and match various volunteering activities
according to availability.
|
|
|
