Kerala: At Nanma, it’s back to basics from today

KOCHI: On this Vijayadasami day, students who would be writing Class X and XII examinations with help from Nanma foundation, will be introduced to special learning at 10am in the Kakkanad centre.
Coordinators and volunteer teachers have decided to start teaching these students basics. “Most of them do not know even to write a sentence because their lives have been totally disrupted.Many of these students are dropouts because of their disinterest towards studies,” said Shibi Hari, Kochi centre coordinator.
On Monday, five students would symbolically start their learning from one of the volunteer teachers. “This time, we have called one of the seniors who passed the examination. We thought he would be able to inspire the students as he had also come from similar circumstances,” she said.
These are children who come under police lens because of their parents, disturbed childhood or incidents that bring the families into clash with the law. However, they are being brought back to life by Hope (Nanma) foundation, an initiative of IG Vijayan who started the it along the lines of our responsibility to children (ORC) — a project of the Kerala police.
Many students are given extra coaching and enrolled in government schools nearby for SSLC. Teachers say since many are victims of substance abuse, they need to be taught at primary class students’ level. “We do manage to ensure that the students score at least 20-25 marks. The rest can be made up with their class assignment and internal marking. However, this is only for them to get into some vocational careers. Making them clear Class XII is very difficult because many are unable to write even a sentence properly. We would be giving them training in reading and writing simple sentences,” said Shibi.