Tamil Nadu - Kancheepuram   

Teaching these rural children the basics of life

— Photo:R.Shivaji Rao

CARING FOR THEM: David Marriott of the Marriott group and his family members with children at Marriot Home at Thottanaval village on Wednesday.

KANCHEEPURAM: It is always a pleasant experience to teach children. A group of 25 persons from the Marriott family, US, is doing exactly that in a remote hamlet Thottanaval in Uthiramerur taluk in Kancheepuram district.

They arrived at the Rising Stars Outreach India (RSOI) programme run home-cum-school at Thottanaval a fortnight ago and enjoying their stay at the home by teaching the children how to speak English in U.S. accent and other subjects. They also teach the children on how to be neat and clean and as well as keep the buildings and other infrastructure, which have come up in 14-acre plot, tidy.

At present, there were around 140 children at the home and learn the subjects and other languages taught by a set of local teachers hailing from Chennai, Chengalpattu and Kancheepuram areas. Currently, the Matriculation School curriculum is being followed at the school, said the Managing Director, Rising Stars Outreach India, Tagg Grant. Gordon Gibb, a renowned professor from the U.S., has been appointed the principal.

Stating that locals were supporting the efforts of the RSOI team to bring a fresh lease of life among children whose parents were suffering from leprosy, Mr.Grant said these children were picked up from different parts of the State. Apart from the inmates of the home, 40 children from Thottanaval and nearby hamlets have enrolled themselves as students of this school.

The school and home were set up with funds released from the J.Willlard and Alice S Marriott Foundation, US and personal donation from Marriott family members, who own a chain of Marriott group of hotels all over the world. David Marriott, son of Bill Marriott founder of the Marriott group, visited the Thottanaval RSOI premises on Wednesday along with the employees of a hotel run by the group in Chennai, and spent some time with the children.

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Teaching these rural children the basics of life

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