This fulfills an
agreement with the Ami Chandra School that on the
provision of new furniture surplus furniture can be
relocated. It was taken to Lovu Sangam Primary School.
Unusable furniture and shelving was taken to the
Koroipita Village to be used for the construction of
shelving in the new shop and bakery.
Lovu
Sangam School
(17 Koroipita students)
2007
The Lovu Sangam School is the second closest
school to the Koroipita Village and when the second stage
of the village begins in 2008, more children from the
village will attend this school. The project team
therefore, has established a relationship with the school
and signed an agreement to provide support to the school.
The school is well run and maintained with
the caring attitude of the Head Teacher setting the ethos
of the school. Regular communication takes place between
the project team and the Secretary of the School
Committee, Mr Vija Ratnam.
Library
The existing Library was well
organized, but needed new books. The books were removed
and the library painted by the school, with paint
provided from project funds. The library books were then
sorted, catalogued and re-shelved by project team
members. Adjustable steel and wooden shelving were
provided as well as boxes of books from the Rotary
Donations-in-Kind store in Geelong,.
Computer Lab
The school had started to
renovate an old two-classroom building for computer
studies. The partition wall was removed by the school to
create one large classroom. The project team painted the
room and removed old floor tiles. .Benches were then
constructed for the computer lab, with all materials were
provided by the project. Twenty computers were provided,
by arrangement with Anton Van Doornik from the Rotary
Donations-in-Kind store in Geelong
List of School's Needs for 2008: Head
Teacher- Ms Naicker.
- Individual chairs and desks
was listed as a priority for Grades 1 to 5.
- Classroom shelving for
books.
- Playground equipment for the
kindergarten as existing equipment was broken or very
old. (Ms Naicker was proud of the kindergarten
refurbishment as the school had recently spent
$3,000.)
- The school and the committee
are to secure the computer room and install power
points when funds become available so the room can be
used as planned.
-
3. Drasa Secondary School.
While Drasa Secondary did not have any
Koroipita students in 2007, the school was brought to our
attention by Jeremy Woodcock from the Rotary Club of
Saltram in England. Mr Woodcock made a personal donation
to the Lautoka Schools Project to assist with the
container cost.
The Principal, Mr Shashi Kumar was keen to
expand access to computers for the students. and to
further develop vocational courses in; cooking not only
for students at the school but for members of the local
community.
The innovative programs being implemented at
Drasa Secondary is a motivating factor for the project
team in facilitating further support in 2008. A Rotarian,
Mr David Barkley from Geelong visited the school during
the time the project work was taking place and he was
also encouraged by what he saw.
Mr Kumar, has plans to attract students from
the Koroipita Village by organising bus transport and
offering reduced school fees for students in
2008.
2006
One hundred chairs and sixty desks were
delivered by Terry Lobban from the Lautoka Schools
Project.
2007
Library
Approximately 3,500 books were delivered to
the library through D9830 Donations-in-Kind and the
Rotary Donations-in-Kind Geelong. The books were
gratefully received. Boxes of books were also delivered
to the primary school library.
Computer Lab
Thirty computers were supplied and tested by
project team members. These computers were provided from
the Rotary Donations-in-Kind Geelong. A server, two hubs
and network cables were supplied from the Ami Chandra
School project to enable Rajnesh Lal (Deputy Principal)
to network the computers. Mr Lal completed the
installation of the computers within a few days and the
lab was operational.
Drasa Secondary has the expertise to manage
a network computer system and has recently been connected
to wireless broadband. This is an extremely positive
outcome, as previously the school with 600 students had
three computers to teach computer studies. They now have
thirty networked computers on-line with internet access.
Literacy
Workshop for Teachers September 2007
Background:
Veena Tilly and Rae Wells, who were members
of the project teams in both 2005 and 2006, recognized
that just providing materials for teachers was not fully
meeting their needs. Teachers needed professional
learning in ways of using these materials more
effectively. In 2007, a one day literacy workshop was
organized through the office of Mr Rajendra Singh from
the Western Divisional Office, Ministry of Education.
Veena and Rae have been teaching English in
high schools in Hobart for many years. Veena has had
various leadership positions within the Tasmanian
Education Department in the area of professional learning
for teachers in literacy and English teaching.
2007 Literacy Workshop:
An
invitation was issued through the Ministry of Education
and twenty five teachers, from twenty-five different
school in the Lautoka area attended the literacy workshop
at Natabua High School on the 13th September
2007.
Teachers
were presented with practical information and different
strategies that could be readily used in the classroom.
The response from the enthusiastic, relatively young
group of teachers was very positive as they embraced new
ideas on the teaching of literacy in their schools.
Feedback sheets from the teachers indicated
that the workshop was well received, and all participants
expressed their appreciation in being involved in the
session.
