STRETCHING AFAR
 

The Rishi Valley Education Centre (RVEC), rishivanam, is located in Chittoor district in Andhra Pradesh. The RVEC, set up in 1976, is located on 14 acres of land and is situated near the Rishi Valley School. Both the school and the Centre were set up by the Krishnamurti Foundation India (KFI), Madras.

The RVEC prepares students upto Class VII of the Andhra Education Board. The Centre has on roll 100 students from the neighbouring villages. It is a day school and provides free mid-day meal, free health care and two sets of clothes to children. Academic training is supplemented by a rich programme in crafts, music, athletics, puppetry and organic methods of farming.

The Centre has a network 16 satellite schools within a distance of a few kms. Most of these are one room schools and are located on land held in common by the villagers or donated by individual villagers. Each school has around 30 children and in the evening these are the adult education or non-formal supplementary centres, literacy centres - where issues such as reforestation, bee-keeping, land reclamation and other issues become the contents for learning. The population whose needs are catered to consists largely of shep- herds and marginal farmers.

Students are taught in groups and work at their own pace. Teachers act as facilitators. The teaching emphasis is on Telugu (the local language), mathematics and environmental science. Self-learning is stimulated through games, peer-group interaction and continuous self-evaluation through graded materials. Learning about health, hygiene and nutrition are related to daily life. Cultural, social and esthetic sensitivity are promoted through activities such as stories, songs, artwork, puppetry, decoration, etc. In short, curriculum has been designed to ensure all round development of the child.

Over the years, the Centre has developed an innovative educational kit consisting of 1,500 graded cards, 500 cards on each subject-language, mathematics and environmental science-for Classes I to V. These have been developed in collaboration with educationists, and writers. The education kit costs about Rs. 1,200.

Melas are held for demonstrating various mathematical concepts such as money transactions, metric system, multiplication tables, etc.

The staff at Rishivanam maintain an active training programme for youth who may have minimum qualifications such as school leaving certificates. Young men and women are prepared as teachers in basic elementary education-mathematics, language and environmental studies.

Objectives of RVEC

To EXTEND the educational resources of the Rishi Valley School into the neighbouring countryside of Chittoor district;

To REGENERATE the surrounding drought affected region and that of degraded forests;

To DEVELOP an integrated curriculum which is relevant to the needs of the people;

To PROVIDE opportunities for teachers and children of Rishi valley school for meaningful interaction with village children; and

To ULTIMATELY promote a village based educational system with the hope that in due course these satellite schools would not only provide quality education but also become a nucleus for reviving village com- mons abounding in natural flora.

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RISHI VALLEY EDUCATION CENTRE

The Metric Mela: An Innovative Concept

AT MANDAMVARIPALLI, a village about 20 minute walking distance from the Rishi Valley school an entire street was decorated. At the gate, groups of youth were filling out cards noting down names. The card allows one to participate in the mela. On both sides, children be- tween the ages of 7-1 0 were taking charge of their stalls. One could buy hot doses (for 50p), vadas, sundal, sweets and water melons or have one's weight or height taken or have the length of ones nose measured. Coloured ribbons were strung across for one to guess the length and poles stuck in the ground to guess heights. At the end of the row one could time oneself and see how many pebbles could be transferred from one box to another in a matter of 60 seconds.

So THERE was - weights, heights and lengths, time concept, money concept, addition and subtraction.

THE CROWD soon thickened and everybody was having a good time. The young children, especially the girls, were a sight to behold. Dressed in silk saris, they attended to the customers in pairs. Whatever was sold or measured was noted down against each customers' number. These sheets are a practice for the children in simple calculations.

They are used in the class to work out further problems. These problems are real ones which they have experienced. The names are familiar and they are interested to check out in class about each other's family members.

ON THE next day the names of the villagers who guessed the height and weight correctly are announced and their prize is

a coloured photograph of themselves. There are also announcements regarding the tallest, the shortest and heaviest in the village.

SUCH MELAs are an event to be remembered. One could see the pride on the people's face for these were their children who were at the Centre of all the activity. Each village organizes these melas once in every 6 months or once a year.

A School with a Difference

VALMIKIVANAM, the first satellite school was opened in 1986. The school was built on barren land donated by the boyas (the local com- munity of settled woodsmen).Today,it presents a picturesque scene with fruit trees, vegetable garden and brilliant flowers of bougainvillea. Initially, there were thirty students, but in due course additional land was donated and now perched on an adjacent hill is a nursery school for twenty young children from the village. Venugopal, the teacher is a local village youth who has gained the confidence of the villagers. Today he not only teaches, but is also an advisor to the village panchayat and participates actively in local decision making. The first two batches of Venugopal's students have successfully passed the Andhra Board Examination. In the evening, an adult education Centre is run here.

THE VILLAGE which was once virtually illiterate has now a 75 per cent literacy rate. The villagers are proud of their school and this is evident from the clock that adorns the walls of the school, which is their gift.

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