2nd, June 05
Dear Friends,
I had the opportunity of accompanying Ann Sushila, Ms.Sathya and Tim Robinson to the Genl Cariappa School on Tuesday last.
The Genl Cariappa School which is located at the end of the Ramakrishna(?) Rd in Saligramam is a spacious block of buildings .The speciality of this school is that it has + 2 programmes with VOCATIONAL TRAINING AND SUBJECTS. Being a government school ( corporation schools are different), the vast majority of the students are from the very poor sections of society and yet,it was a pleasure to see the bright, well groomed young faces,They are confident, are not shy of their modest means and have the ambition to get ahead in life.
My confidence in the future of our country is further strengthened when I see these young people .
However, career counselling is an area which is acutely missing here and the kids seem not to know the several options that are available to them.
The principal also pointed out to us that several of these kids gravitate to the vocational schools as a result of poor marks in the tenth class .But when they pass out with good marks, their chances at the ITI's etc are brighter because of their vocational training .
Rotary can , as one their projects, encourage their industrialist members to see if campus interviews of trainees can be arranged from these streams so that kids with aptitude are picked up young and given training.Then, as part of grooming these kids as part of theirwork force, may be after a work experience of say one year give these students sponsorship to a chosen ITI for specific education.
I find that most ITI people who come to us have no clue of what is expected of them .Their work ethics are non existent and in many cases they have just gone to the institute because
there is a stipend for some special caegories of people . Government resources are being wasted .The way to overcome this is to
a) select the kids and sponsor the education(with or without govt help) so that they are serious abt their studies view future employment prospects.
b)help organise campus selection of kids so there is a hunger to excel .because only that will help them get selected.
I think incoming president Srivatsa can do wonders in this area of service.
The visit to Pudukuppam was also memorable. All the 28 boats were ready .All had Rotary Club Of Chennai Kilpauk painted on them.. I wish the name of the major donor's son/daughter
from Tim's club( he mentioned it ,we fogot may be) had been put on some. Three boats were put to sea which was rough.Tim got some very good shots of how well these people manage
on these waters with the very rudimentary tools that they have .
Rajamanickam who supplied the logs was there too.He has now given all the papers and hopes to get paid.Indeed remarkable that he delivered the logs and waited for the money all this while..a tribute to
Vidya's credibility !!!
Devraj made touching remarks about Tim and Vidya and RCCK and I think we have done well in helping these people .Very thoughtfully, they presented Tim with a miniature of the Catamaran.
Next we visited Little Drops which is a destitute home and school off Porur in Ayypanthangal (take the road adjecent to The Bus Depot).John has resigned from The Indian Airlines and like Mother Theresa
helping the aged destitutes live in dignity in their last days.There are 209 in mates.There is also a home for about 50 people who are mentally disturbed .He has managed to build one a time,six blocks of a school building which now caters to about 400 children ..fees of about 60.00 per child.His wife is in charge and another from Padma Seshadri has joined.
Daily expenses on food is about 3000/00 which is met by donations from individuals. Medicine bills are about 40,000/00.
John's daughter was also working with the mentally disabled group .The facilities are primitive but then he has done what others only talk about !!!! Bravo .Karthik has built one of the blocks for the destitutes and Shiva sent money on"Akshiya Thithi" day !!!!
mohan roy
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