This is a description of activities at the Anugriha project based on our visit in January of this year. Situated 20 miles from Kumbakkonam on the outskirts of Arashavanamkaadu village, it caters to the educational needs of 35 children.
School starts in the morning with prayers held in the main classroom.
Thereafter, the children split into small groups and head towards their own classrooms. A team of four teachers led by Aruna and Raghavan, the founders of the school, oversee the reading and learning activities of the children. The younger children are taught geography and environmental studies from books written and illustrated by Aruna. In a novel approach, each book tells a story whose main character is one of the students. This generates a great deal of interest among the children who can choose the book they want to read that day.