Moothakurichi
Demographics
School names
Moothakurichi Elementary School
Moothakurichi high School
Location
Moothakurichi village
Thanjavur district
Tamil Nadu.
Nearest railway stations
Pattukkottai
Mannargudi
Nearest bus stops
Major bus station hubs: Madukkur, pattukkottai
Local bus stop: Moothakurichi (on pattukkottai to Madukkur, Mannargudi route)
bus no 451,20,8
Description
Background
Started before 1920 by an Indian government. Originally started as a thinnai pallikoodam (verandah school) for lower classes, it has developed into a high school now, offering classes up to 10th level. The village is primarily (>90%) dependent on agriculture. Due to recent changes in rainfall patterns, the economic conditions of the village families have suffered a lot - so much so that the mid-day meals provided at the school is one of the biggest incentives for most children to come to school, since its their only solid meal for the day. The nearest internet browsing cafe is in a town a few miles away, but it is neither easily accessible (due to distance and price) nor does it provide a supervised learning environment.
Infrastructure
The school recently moved into a newly constructed building. The place has electricity for most parts of the day and has access to a telephone line. It does not have an internet yet, but can be obtained with relative ease once the computers are ready.
Looking for
Looking for sponsors to support the cost of OLPC laptops and for donors willing to donate their used laptops (G1G1). See below for contacts and collection centers.
Why this school?
Apart from being the kind of school that OLPC aims to target, it also has a long track record of a motivated and sincere management. The managing family is committed to bring this project to the school and to give students the access to the web of knowledge.
Also, the Tamil Nadu government's recent introduction <ref>http://www.ssa.tn.nic.in/CurrActivities-A.htm</ref> <ref>http://www.unicef.org/india/education_2276.htm</ref> of Activity Based Learning (ABL) has proved <ref>http://beta.thehindu.com/news/states/tamil-nadu/article49381.ece</ref>
to be very effective. But the ABL method has been implemented in classes 1 to 5 only because the use of low cost activities like rhymes, song, drama and charts does not work in higher classes. The introduction of effective high tech activities (through OLPCs) will complement the ABL in lower classes and will help to continue the ABL methods in higher classes too.
Contacts and collection centers
- Contact in Europe and Coordinator of this project:
Email: {at gmail dot com}
Visiting Card:
- Contact in North America:
<Name>
<Address>
- Contact in India:
<name>
Correspondent, Govt Udayar Middle School
Moothakurichi village
Pattukkottai
Thanjavur district, Tamil Nadu.
<name in chennai>
<address >
Notes
MOOTHAKURICHI CONTACT
A.GOVINDARAJU
SOUTH STREET,
MOOTHAKURICHI