Old Boys’ committed to grand project.
P. B. Nooh, Ottapalam sub-collector, interacts with tribal students of Attapady at the SSK initiative, 'Project Shine' programme at Attapadi. Babu Mathew, SSK alumnus and convener of Project Shine is also seen. (Photo: DC)
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The 1991 batch of Sainik School Kazhakootam (SSK) has been training Class V children of Attappady tribes for the past six months to take All India Sainik School Entrance Exam on January 3.
The SSK Old Boys Association, which named its social service initiative as Project Shine, wants to produce army officers from the impoverished settlements as they commemorate 25 years of passing out.
They dedicated the project to the memory of their batchmate, Shine P. Baby, who died in 2006 while working as a lecturer at Rajagiri College, Kalamassery. The students get trained to crack tricky questions to gain admission to Class VI in 2016-17.
Babu Mathew, a child psychologist and Project Shine convener, said 24 students were being coached through the social and emotional learning (SEL) process.
“The SEL approach has incredibly turned things around for the children. We have been able to establish a strong emotional bond with the children, thus significantly influencing their learning curve,” he said.
With his batch mates, he toured the area, interacted with many schools and identified students of the right age group to train.
The children, drawn from GVHSS Agali, Mt. Carmel HS Jellippara, GUPS Kottathara, GUPS Karara, GTHS Puthur and GTHS Sholayur, would get 180 hours of training–80 each for mathematical knowledge and language ability and 20 for reasoning and logical skills.
The teachers were given special training to help the kids understand the concepts not covered in the state syllabus. An activity-oriented module was designed for maths.
The SSK alumni would meet all expenses including transportation for writing the entrance exam. They also handhold the selected candidates throughout their tenure at SSK to ensure they complete their full academic term of seven years till Class XII.
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( Source : deccan chronicle )
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