Toplepada - New School Inclusion

Toplepada – New School Inclusion

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The visit of 02-Aug-14 was done with primary objective including our 10th school – Toplepada. Other objectives included following:

Visit to Bahirampada
Visit to Dadade Ashram Shala
Visit to Toplepada
Visit to Janathepada
Common meeting with all sirs at Vikarmgad

Visit to Bahirampada

In addition to teachers, meeting was attended by local leaders and Sarpanch. In addition to regular goodies to children, Tie, Belt, ID card holder and handkerchief were distributed by Suhrid Foundation. Discussion was done with teachers and school committee about proposed mid-day meal plan by Taluka administrator. Team Suhrid also broached the idea of Economical rain-water harvesting project at Bahirampada, which would help the villagers (especially school) capture direct rains as well as flowing water, which can recharge the surroundings for better availability of water throughout the year. We may take Bahirampada as our pilot. This would be along with one of the NGO, Jalvardhi, with whom Suhrid Foundation had contacted for any such opportunity. This is proposed to be done with local participation and not directly funded by Suhrid Foundation. Local leaders to review and share plan with Suhrid Foundation. Medicinal plants were provided to schools (Neem, Tulsi, Aloe-vera, Adulsa, Nirgundi), their benefits were explained to teachers so that some of the routine health related problems of children can be addressed in natural way instead of taking medicines. Impromptu checkup was done for 3-4 teenagers who had complains with their hearing.

Visit to ToplePada – A new school inclusion

This school is managed by Mahesh Bhoir Sir and Madhav Gosavi Sir – extremely enthusiastic and caring teachers. This school is one of the most beautiful school, situated 10km North-east of Vikramgadh. School has 43 students. For more details on the school, please visit school site. As a token of inclusion, handing over Fisrt-aid kit, toys/games to students, cheque for executing mid-day meal nutrition project (SUN project), petty cash for hygiene and cleanliness maintenance etc was carried out. Medicinal tree plantation was done by members of Team Suhrid. With this school, count of schools supported in Suhrid Foundation becomes 10 and students count to 625. Click here for more details on the school.

Visit to Janathepada

Team distributed goodies, Ties, Belts, ID Card holder and Handkerchief to students. Students demonstrated their learning in Phonics. It was impressive. Being the first school for Suhrid Foundation, this school has special place in team’s heart. In this school, it is always noticed that students who have moved to new school (after completing 4th standard in this school), often come back to school during the visit of Suhrid Foundation! Indeed it is an attachment of children and Team Suhrid like-wise. However, it was very disheartening to see their overall health condition appearing to be little degraded from what they had gained in previous years. Medicines for next two months were provided. Plantation of medicinal plants were also done to an already decorated garden at this school. Some plants include bottle guard, bitter guard kind of vegetables and some flowers too. The most encouraging sight was seeing kids using dish washing liquid to wash their plates before and after the meal. They used liquid soap to wash their little hands before having the meal. They have separate tanks for purified drinking water and for other purpose. Inculcating good habits in the tribal kids at the early stage is the biggest achievement and we are very grateful to the teacher for the same.

Visit to Vikramgadh

Common meeting with teaches was held. Except for Talyachapada , representatives from all the school were there. Handed over plants, medicines to rest of the schools. Payment to some schools for whom the funds had exhausted. Weighing scale was provided to Khadeghar school.

Visit to Arvind Ashram Shala - Dadade

This school was established in 1991. It has classes from 1st to 12th. Dr Lipsa Shah wanted to conduct an awareness session for the girl students on gynecological challenges during the adolescence. There are over 1150 odd students (Around 350 odd girls) in the school, out of which almost 800 students stay in the ashram shala. Though the objective was to spend half an hour with the girls and plan out the future activities, we ended up staying there for almost two and half hours to realize that even a full day is not sufficient to appreciate their model. Though they have a staff of 40, there are only two wardens Mr Tare (Male warden) and Ms Ranjana Tai (Ladies). Managing around 1200 tribal kids in trying circumstances can be exceptionally challenging. However, these two have managed the entire ashram shala with tremendous efficiency and positivity. Most of the kids are from the tribal area. Economical constraints, unavailabity of higher education in the vicinity and inability of parents to pay attention to the kidsi etc are few reasons, which make kids move to Ashram shala. Their entire expenses are born by the Ashram, which completely run on donations. The kids have very disciplined routine. They have to get up early, exercise for an hour, have full meal at 10, attend the class at till 2 PM, have a break for snacks (Upma, Poha..), complete the remaining class till 5, take an hour break, have dinner at 6; Recite shlokas till 7, study till 10 and sleep. Due to scarcity of the space, the kids room double up in their class-rooms as well. Even small kids (hardly 6 to 7 years) also have their own Peti (box) with their own stuff. It is a lesson for many urban parents and kids. Proper care, attention and discipline does give great results, The teaches showed us a room full of trophies, which the students won in various competitions. The Kabaddi team has recognition at the national level. They have Surya Namaskar competition on regular basis. A few of the ex students have gone on to become doctors as well. Dr Lipsa was extremely impressed with the attention paid to the girls. Ranjana Tai, who herself is a nurse, is aware of problem of each and every girl, which clearly showed the ownership. Team Suhrid would decide on the action plan in involving ourselves with this residential school for required medical support – their food and other requirements are addressed regularly. We would have a camp in Sept or Oct this year to get to know more about their issues and would work out a plan for the same.

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Livelihood for Saguni

A majority of the tribal inhabitants in Palghar Taluka's Vikramgad hold land plots where they cultivate for daily living. However, a small percentage of them own their houses but do not own any land for cultivation, leading them to work as laborers. Saguni, a read more

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