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A school at Chettipalayam

Photo: Pheroze L. Vincent

Showing the way Barbara Goodwin Zeibots, Sunbeam Viswanath and Barbara Galbraith of Global Pathways School

“We had never even dreamt that our children could go to such a good school,” says Vasanthi, a mother of one of the first 50 children that have joined the Global Pathways School in Chettipalayam. The school is English medium and caters mainly to economically weaker sections of society.

The students are from Chettipalayam, Kalaignar Nagar and Anna Nagar. There is a van to pick up and drop them home, and they get lunch and snacks at school.

This driving force behind this project has been a dynamic duo from Toronto, Canada. Barbara Galbraith and Barbara Goodwin-Zeibots are two retired schoolteachers from The York School, which sends its students to do community work in India every year.

After retiring, Barbara and Barbara walked in the footsteps of their former students and started working with orphans and children with special needs in Podanur. It was then that they thought of starting such a school.

Speaking of her experiences here, Goodwin says that the biggest difficulty was the frequent power-cuts. They also had a long wait for a telephone connection. “Once the villagers came to know of the school and how they would gain from it, they came forward to help,’ says Sunbeam Viswanath, who is the Administrator.

The school now has a large UPS. It also has computers with Internet. The funding has largely come from Canada and the school is looking for local donors and land.

Students have enrolled for the kindergarten and first standard and the school hopes to upgrade to the tenth standard. The Montessori method of teaching is used and Global Pathways is seeking affiliation from any of the national boards of education.

Teachers are trained for a week before joining. “Teaching here is different from teaching in matriculation schools,” says Julianna, a teacher. Children are taught using activity based learning (ABL) techniques.

Apart from the three Rs, they are also taught music, dance and yoga; all of this for Rs. 100 a month.

Teachers admit that they too are learning more here, far from the city.

At the inaugural function on 1 June, Murali Taran’s dance troupe put up a stellar performance of classical and folk dances. Students of the school will be training under Taran.

“Rich people can get an English medium education from elite schools by paying donations. Now, we poor people can also get this education,” says Anbalagan, a father of a student. The parents are confident that their children will soon learn the queen’s language.

Anyone interested in getting involved with this initiative can visit www.global-pathways.org or call the administrator Sunbeam Viswanath on her mobile-9894654111.

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