Construction Workers Kids Kendra

  The first fortnight of acquaintance with the children of construction workers with no access to education in Greater Noida where their migrant parents engaged in building mansions/flats and villas for the better-to-do fellow Indians helped to build bonding with them.  The eldest kid, Pushparaj at 14 (he is doubtful of his age!) had been to school in Chattisgarh. He is not ready to reveal which class he was studying back home. It does not matter. A slow learner. On the other hand, 5-year-old Tejas and 6-year-old Dimple are sharp and have better grasping abilities. But the best student is Ekeswari. Intelligent. Quick grasp. She was studying class 4 before uprooted from Chattisgarh to Greater Noida on account of her parents' career in the building industry. Once the rapport was established, I began to focus on helping them improve their personal hygiene. They attend the daily 90-minute class after bathing and some food. But their dressing was not good. They wore dirty clothes....

  All work and no play make Jack dull. Not only Jack. Even 14-year-old Pushparaj. Six-year-old Dimple. And several other children gave company to me at the Antriksh Golf Links construction site. Once I week, it was agreed that the kids will play instead of the routine classroom sessions.  They welcomed such a schedule change when I announced it the previous day. They jumped in joy. Who does not like a session away from books and notebooks?  Games we discussed were: skipping, and ball throwing among other options. Of course, running race. 14 and below age group. Instead of the routine 10 a.m. class, we agreed to meet at 8 a.m. to play in the open space. Will they turn up at 8 a.m.? They promised.  Children's promise to be punctual on the sports day is easily achieved. What about items such as the skipping rope? Ball? And what more can be added to the games? Luckily, my daughter bought a lot of indoor exercise items, including the skipping kit. I found it was for profe...

  Education, I feel, ought to be the observation of what is around you. Then it becomes easy to share its name with children. Every time they look at that object or item, they can try to recollect the name we shared in the class.  My students, aged 13 and below, come from a poor backgrounds. Less educated or not educated at all in Chattisgarh. But they are skilled in construction. Otherwise, they would not have been hired in the first place. Not that they went to a technical training institute to learn construction-related skills. Simple skills, under the watchful eyes of a seasoned supervisor who perhaps might have learnt the ropes in a similar fashion. So, my students have less exposure to proper education. Nor that some of them have not gone to school. A girl, Keeleswari, says she was in Class IV. She is bright and quick grasping. Pushparaj, the eldest child in the class, is found wanting. Not complaining but a comparative study. Keeleswari's youngest sibling, Dimple is cut...

  We usually begin the session with a Prayer seeking the Almighty's blessing to keep the kids' parents safe in their workplace. They maintain a one-minute silent prayer. Then we switched over to physical exercise to remove lazy bones: they jump, flail their arms, half-bend, full bend, and touch toes. Once they settle down on the floor, they sing without no prompt, "Early In the Morning" rhyme in unison. They explain the meaning in Hindi when asked. They repeat this thrice. Glad they got it quick. Prompted to sing the Mungphali song, they hesitate and look for the opening line. I provide and they sing. I have to prompt every line. I make them sing a couple of times till they feel confident to sing without any promptings. Then they do the ABCD song. Today, we begin to explore more words in each alphabet. A for Apple. A for Air. Since they are already familiar with "Air" as part of the five elements, they are able to relate without any difficulty. B for Ball. H...

  Out of the blue, Sangeeta said matter of factly: "You need a Bluetooth!"   Sangeetha? Bluetooth?  Why so much incredulity? Can't she possess a Bluetooth? Just because she is a construction worker, is it too much to hear her talking about such modern gadgets?  My challenge was: that the laptop speaker was not audible to the assembled children wanting to hear their favorite rhyme: Found A Peanut... I tried to increase the laptop speaker volume in vain. Still low sound.  That's when the early-thirties Sangeeta broached the subject of Bluetooth. "You have one?" I asked. She nodded.  She was seated on the wooden plank in the open hall where I hold my daily classes for the construction workers' kids. Significantly, she was instrumental in my decision to do this bit of "useful" work: educating the construction workers' children, who are missing school back home because their parents are migrant workers.  Daily she pays a visit to the class to se...

  Week 2 began with children reciting what they learned the previous week. Revision, yes. A to Z alphabet and relevant words and their Hindi equivalent. 1 to 10 - in Hindi and English. Exposing them to new words for several alphabet. For example, L for them is Lion. Shared them about Light (pointing to the electric bulb at their tenements). P for them Peacock. Now they are told about Power (that lights up bulbs at their home), Parachute (they instantly say jumping out of sky... Q for them Rani. They don't say Queen. First the Hindi equivalnet and then the English word when coaxed Y . Yak. Today, showed them a youtube video of yaks fighting. Junglee, they said. B for Ball. Now they know B for Bottle.  What is inside my Bottle/ They say: Water... Otherwise W for Watch.  L for Leopard. Where do you see them? In Junglee, they said. Jungle is Forest.  F for Fish, they know. Now they know Forest. For Z, they say Zebra. Not seen. So showed them a photo. Matching visuals hel...