Deepalaya School: India - Dec 2011

First day and I'm doing whatever little I can in the time I'm here.

Role #1 - set up a learning center with books, reference materials and rooms for both group discussion and self study

Role #2 - observe and participate in classes that face challenges of large class sizes and varying learning levels

It's cold, my hands are numb and my nose is running. I'm in a concrete room with another teacher, reading out dusty book titles and thinking up ways to turn this into a functioning learning center. It's a long way from the glass panels of the North York Center Library.

The school is down a dirty alley. There are 14 classes and 500 children. Every morning at 11:15 the kids take recess and eat a quick boxed lunch of folded roti and daal or subzi. 15 min later and I'm back in the cold, concrete room. Don't underestimate the number of pesky administrative tasks I have to deal with. It's the stuff we all think we're above and all hate doing. The only thing that makes it bearable is seeing what your efforts are going toward.

The children of Deepalaya come from poor homes. Their parents are illiterate. Most of them live in the slums and some suffer from abuse. When they go home their families need their help to either run errands or earn money, so they get little to no studying done. Teaching is approached with the idea that they'll do most of their learning in class.

A learning center with the right materials and supervision will promote discipline and self study, first at school and then hopefully later on at home to properly accelerate learning and give these children hope for a future.

Enjoy the pics ..

d.