Eureka Science Enrichment Center: We are hoping to start a Science Enrichment Center with a lot of attractive and unique experiment and demonstrations. A group of children from the nearby schools will come to the center and spend the day working with the experiments, seeing the demonstrations, attending a video and picture session by the resource persons at the center.  The students will go back with projects to be done over the month. Each day a different batch of students will come to the center – in rotation. Every student will come back once a month.  We expect this center to become a focus for science improvement in all the schools in the area.

These two programs – the Primary School and the Science Enrichment Center – will together form a demonstration model for what can be done in all the schools and will help coordinate the other programs to improve the quality of the existing schools.

Village Level Educational Programs

These are a set of programs that mobilizes community support for education and also work with village volunteers to ensure programs that can be implemented in each village.

Support Centers:  In a typical 4^th or 5^th std class, you will find about half the kids cannot even read a simple Tamil paragraph. Numeracy problems are even greater. The subsequent loss of confidence in these children leaves them vulnerable for the rest of their lives. Most of these kids come from families where the parents cannot read or write and therefore cannot help the children at home.  In each village we have identified local volunteers and trained them and started support centers for these children in the evenings – to build back their confidence and to teach them these basic skills.

Tuition Centers: Depending upon the need we will organize free tuition centers for children in school. In several villages where these centers are already running, we will try to network them and provide them with training and materials.

Village Libraries: Even children who know to read find it hard to get interesting materials that they can read easily.  We have started a large number of village libraries with this in focus.  The library is just a bag full of easy-to-read colorful cartoon books kept with the local volunteer.  She distributed the books to children and get them to read it regularly.  The library also has materials on health education and science.

Village Learning Centers:  These is a small center in the village where the support centers will be run and from where the library can be coordinated. We are also planning to have a video CD player and several videos in the center.  In the mornings the centers will function as a balwadis, in the evenings as a place for support and tuition centers, and throughout as a library cum video center.  Frequently we will organize creativity sessions for the children and science festivals and youth projects around the center. At the second phase, we can introduce computers and try to make this into an information center as well.  We are hoping to get at least part support for this from MSDF and Akansha.