Reporting Period: April 1, 2018 till March 31, 2019
Beneficiaries: 36 children, all drop outs from Permabalur district
SUMMARY OF ACTIVITIES
We nurtured 36 kids in our RSTC program this year. We took care of the boarding, food, health, nutrition, education, exposure and skill development of these kids.
Till this year the children were sharing the same rooms for their boarding as well as school. Morning the rooms were used as classrooms, in the evenings the same rooms were used as living and sleeping quarters for these children. The children had to get ready and clean up by 8am for school to start. With the new School building coming up from the upcoming year, with the funds from Friends of Payir, we should have separate living quarters and classrooms for these children.
Healthy food is served 3 times a day, consisting of small millets, pulses, vegetables and fruits. They also get a snack of our nutritious porridge and laddus, both made at Payir campus.
The kids in our RSTC center are educated part of our Payir school. We also engage them with life skill activities like proper discipline, behavioral education, kitchen gardening, Yoga, Karate, basic vocational training, and many other activities which help them in normal life skills. We have 1 residential staff member, who takes care of these kids. Some significant aspects during this period:
- 4 of our children wrote 10th this year, all of them cleared with 60+% marks
- With Payir’s guidance 3 children joined hostel in Dindigul, 1 child going to Thenur high school
- 7 students went to Kalai Kauveri in Trichy for a month long course in fine arts – barathanatyam, drawing, vocal, drums, table. They have been going for 3 years now, and completed the course and got certificates.
- They went on a 3 day trip to Vaanam festival by Casteless Collective & Neelam at Chennai – conducted by director P. Ranjit – Along with “Budhar Kalai Kuzhu” they performed “Parai aatam” and also witnessed other forms of art programs
- Puvidham – ‘Paradigm shift’ program – 6 of our kids participated in this 8 day program which taught them about sustainable living: minimize use of water and other natural resources key aspect of sustainable living, making their own tooth powder, soap, growing their own vegetables, farming, leadership skills training to name a few. This was a real eye opener training for these kids
- Kids went on a 8 day cultural festival organized by Anaikatti Vidyavanam school – under the theme – Svanubhava – and got introduce to performances and training in Kerala style dances, songs, musical instruments, puppets and various different arts
- Our RSTC children along Payir team are part of Payir’s own cultural troop “Vidhaigal” they are well trained in street plays, dancing, singing and mainly “Parai” aatam
- 11 of our students attended Craft week at Marudham, Thiruvanamalai for 8 days and got trained in various art and crafts
- Our kids participated in Marathon held at Musiri
Children statistics
We started our RSTC program in 2015-16 with 25 students. Over a period of 4 years, we have nurtured the lives of 61 children so far. These children call Payir their HOME and are happy to have a healthy livelihood under the loving care of our Payir staff.
Year on Year children in RSTC program
2015-16: 25 students
2016-17: 22 students
2017-18: 24 students
2018-19: 36 students
Based on the space and resources available in our Payir campus, we can accommodate a max of 35-36 students during a year. These children stay with us till 10th grade, and then they are accommodated in hostel facilities, which share similar philosophies like Payir
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