A headmistress is trying hard to transform a rural school
J. Banu Reka.
SINGAPORE: When J. Banu Reka, a teacher from Keezharippalayam Perundurai in Erode district, appeared before a panel of judges for a State-level award, it took her 15 minutes to explain that she headed a school of 60 children that had just one other teacher and a room. Most students came in for the noon meal because both parents were at work, and they had nowhere else to go.
“They [the interviewers] did not know such schools existed,” Ms. Reka said.
Five years after she joined as headmistress, the Keezharipplayam Perundurai Union School has undergone a transformation. Annual day — an occasion none in the village of Siruvallur in the district had heard of — is celebrated. A cupboard graces the classroom, besides two chairs. A local philanthropist has had a small stage constructed for children to perform. And thanks to an accent research project carried out by the headmistress, Standard I students who speak only Telugu are taught basic Tamil in their first two months in school.
Beating 115 contestants from Tamil Nadu, Ms. Reka bagged the Broad Outlook Learner-Teacher (BOLT) award, which is part of Air India’s outreach project and was instituted in 2002 to honour teachers and students from every State for excellence outside academics.
It seeks to promote responsible and active citizenship and a desire to help conserve the environment. The award includes a five-day, fully-sponsored tour to Singapore. After the tour, her first trip abroad, Ms. Reka, impressed by Singapore’s cleanliness and conservation, has decided on a number of new projects she can implement in her school. Making her school a no-plastic zone, teaching children to conserve rainwater, conducting lessons on the importance of wildlife protection and taking her students on a trip outside the village are among her plans. The photographs and videos she has taken in Singapore will be shown to the students.
“Many of them have never even seen a bus stop or been on a bus. I’ll explain the videos to them connecting it with movies they have seen on TV,” she says in Tamil.
Her only regret is not getting to know the ideas and views of the other teachers during the trip. “You see there was a language barrier. I can’t speak English or Hindi,” she said, smiling shyly.
“So I couldn’t interact much with the other teachers or students. Now I’m going to learn both.”
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