Last summer, I visited my home town Chidambaram, India and came to know about a school run by Art of Living Foundation in a nearby village. With the help of a local volunteer I went to the Sri Sri Vidya Mandir School in Anaikoil village. The village was badly affected by 2004 Tsunami. Agriculture is the major source of income for the people in the village and the lands were devastated by Tsunami, making it not feasible for agriculture. As part of the rehabilitation, Art of Living foundation started a school and built houses for victims in that village.
The school is well maintained and has the best infrastructure. It provides the students with academic materials, food and clothing. Kids start the day at school with yoga, pranayama and followed by meditation. I told myself what a way to start the day. I visited the kindergarten class rooms and found that the kids are taught by following Montessori methods. The school provides the students with balanced nutritious lunch every day. The kids have their lunch together and the teachers make sure they finish it. Most of the kid’s parents are not even literate. The school also has an Industrial education center for adults.
All of this is possible because of Care for Children; a service project of Art of Living foundation started in 1981 to provide school education for under privileged kids. Its main goal is to reach out to areas where there is no school or transportation facility. All of us can be part of this transformation, to know more about Care for Children, you can visit the website or contact Raj @ rajr@artoflivingaustin.org for more details.
Here are some more pictures I took during my visit to the school.
2 comments:
Nice post Vidhya. I look forward to visiting the school someday.
Dear Vidhya,
The school was initially started by the Art of Living and International Association of Human Values. However, now it is fully supported by Shriram Foundation. CARE and Art of Living are, more or less, removed from anything that happens in the school.
The school has started a Montessori wing and students are making considerable progress. However, much work needs to be done with regards to helping bring synergy between the school and community to which it belongs.
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