Drafted by: Sailesh Rao, AID Cincinnati, Phone: (513) 533-3870

This report describes the programs conducted by the Cuddalore unit of TamilNadu Science Forum since its inception. It also provides some associated information such as the district demographic profile, District Primary Education Program (DPEP) & a history of the literacy program. The information for this report was collected during two visits (totaling 4 days) to Cuddalore district TNSF in August 2001.

Outline:
* History
* Ditrict Demographics
* Literacy Program
* Savings Program
* Education/School Based Programs
* Health Program
* Details of visit
* Impressions/Comments on visit
 

HISTORY:

TNSF unit in Cuddalore district was started in 1987. TNSF was first started in Chennai in 1980. In 1986, TNSF volunteers travelled through out the state performing street plays/kala jathas to promote the values of science among the masses and educating the people about superstitions etc. As this happened, interested volunteers started TNSF units in their districts.

AIPSN Litercy Program:
All India People's Science Network (AIPSN) created a body called the Bharatiya Gyan Vigyan Parishad (BGVS) to deal with the literacy program. In 1986-1990 period, AIPSN started the literacy program after consulting and gaining support from the central government. Funding was provided by the government. AIPSN/BGVS prepared the primers for literacy.  The literacy experiment was first tested out in Kottayam & Ernakulam districts of Kerala. Kottayam was the first district to achieve 100% literacy. In two years time i.e. 1990-91, Kerala achived 100% literacy.

In Tamilnadu, literacy program was conducted in three phases with the first phase starting in 1991.
First phase - 7 districts completed well
Second phase - 5 districts completed well
Third phase - 7 districts including Cuddalore
 

DISTRICT DEMOGRAPHICS:

District Profile:

General Population & Organizational Data:
Data collected from District Collectorate Office, Directorate of Health, Department of Statistics & Social Welfare Department, Cuddalore. Tables 1-5 give information on the district administrative details, population, crops, lifestock & people's representatives respectively. These tables have been included at the end of the report.
 

Agriculture & Enterprise Data:

On the whole, the irrigation that is provided currently is insufficient. Cuddalore district is at the tail end of the Cauvery delta region. Parts of the district get water from the irrigation canals that bring water from Mettur dam. Grounwater from Neyveli mines provides coverage. According to a rough estimate, 60% of the farms are dependent solely on rainfall and the rest have access to irrigation/groundwater pumps.

In some of the villages, people have agricultural work only for six months during the NE monsoon. In villages that have access to irrigation canals or groudwater pumps, they may have work throughout the year. A number of men & women travel to neighbouring areas (districts??) for work mostly agricultural. Agriculture labour rates are Rs. 50 for men & Rs. 35 for women per day.

Crop concentrations:
Sugarcane - Vridhachalam & Chidambaram - there are also large sugar mills here.
Cashewnuts - Panruti & Vadalur
Groundnuts - Vadalur
Other areas of the district, they grow mainly paddy.

Income is much higher for sugarcane & cashew farmers.  On top of this, no watering/fertilizer is required for cashew.

Land Ownership:
About 40% of the SC/ST population have land. In most cases, they own meager amount of land - 1 acre. Previously, SC/ST people were labourers. But now with improvement in their education, they are getting government jobs and purchasing land from the other castes.

Industries:
Neyveli Lignite Corporation is the largest industry in the district.NLC has two large powerplants and two lignite mines. NLC provides employment to about 40,000 people out of which 25,000 are direct employees and the rest are contractors. There are rich lignite deposits in this district. There are lignite deposits further south in Mannargudi area.
 

LITERACY PROGRAM:

They conducted the literacy program from 1993-1997. Literacy program as designed involves going over three primers in the first phase, 1st primer - basic; 2nd - paragraph reading, addition, multiplication; 3rd primer - writing. The second phase involves continuing education, formation of libraries etc.

The majority of the people involved in Arivoli were teachers, science forum activists and unemployed youth - both men and women. Womens' participation as learners and volunteers was very large. In the first phase, they had 20-25 committed TNSF volunteers. Seven employees of NLC were on deputation for the literacy program.

Out of the target of 6 lakh people, 1.75 lakh people could be reached. Only half of these learned second primer and many did not complete. The first primer took three months to complete.  The lessons were conducted six days a week for 11/2-2 hours.  75-80% of the learners were women. The learners got grades based
on a test of reading/writing ability. Both the primers were taught to a learner irrespective of the performance.

The second primer was delayed by four months and they could not sustain the interest among the learners and the volunteers. There was a lot of interference from the district administration in the program and towards the end it became virtually a government program. The district collector was changed four times during the period.

Though the literacy program could not be completed properly, it did have some impact. There was a greater awareness among the people and reduced dropout of school children. About 90-95% of the children in the district are now enrolled. Prior to the literacy program, 50% of the children dropped out by 5th standard. More women come forward and participate in TNSF programs.

The literacy contacts are still alive. Some of the literacy activists are now coordinating the health/savings program in Bhuvanagiri block. The blocks that did well from Cuddalore district were Nellore, Bhuvanagiri and Chidambaram municipalities. Bhuvanagiri's performance was very impressive.

Post Literacy: A proposal was given. Govt has not released funds. So it was not conducted. In 1996-97, they selected volunteers for this program.
 

SAVINGS PROGRAM:

The savings group program was started 2 years back. Currently, there are 37 savings groups in the block. The maximum number of members in a group is 20. For every member, there is a service charge of Rs. 10 initially & Rs.2 per month after that. Loans are issued at an interest rate of 24% and need to be repaid in 10 equal
installments. Every month, a savings group member is supposed to pay the savings amount + loan repayment (if any) + interest on loan (if any) + service charge. Three members of the savings groups (office bearers???) are given training once in 3 months.

The health activists are also looking after the savings groups. The savings program can sustain itself if there are 150 groups in the whole district and they all pay the service charges. From an awareness standpoint, a publication Arivu Thendral is discussed in the savings groups meetings. From the next month, September 2001,
the savings groups will be given another book - Pen Viduthali.

Loan Utilization: Loan amounts are between Rs.500 and Rs.1000. Loans are used mainly for temporary/short term needs such as hospital treatment, education, functions in household. Loans are also used at times for buying cows or sewing machines. For enterprise creation, people need a larger sum than
what can be provided by savings groups and need to approach banks like NABARD.

Problems:
There are other NGOs in the district promoting savings groups. These NGOs are supported by foreign agencies and subsidise the groups. They do not require service charges and sometimes provide free passbooks and bus passes. They also do not impart much awareness. This makes it difficult for TNSF volunteers to collect service charges from savings groups which is required for sustaining the program. Among the 51 registered NGOs in the district, only 7 NGOs are listed inthe Mahalir Thittum scheme of the government.  According to KPN, the savings groups formed by these NGOs get some sort of preference from banks while applying for loans. Some of the women have left the TNSF savings groups and joined groups run by these NGOs.

Total savings of the groups to date - Rs. 2,04,145
Total Amount of Loans Borrowed - Rs. 2,23,200

Beneficial Aspects of the savings program - Villagers now cooperate with the science forum activists and assemble for the health program. The savings groups have not reached the stage where women discuss the village problems and solved the village problems. In the two savings groups I met during my field visit, women were talking about how everyone was just seeing if the other members were going to the meeting and then decide to participate.

More women from SC/ST come out & participate in the health/savings programs. People of other caste sometimes stay back because of false prestige. In these  upper" castes, women are prevented from participating.
 

EDUCATION/SCHOOL BASED PROGRAMS:

Cuddalore Science Forum has conducted the following educational projects -
* Science Festival
* Quiz Program
* National Childrens Science Congress
* Universalization of Primary Education

* Science Festival
This program has been conducted every year since 1987. In this event usually held over two days, programs such as Imagination Creativity (creation of models), Oregamy (paper arts), Simple Science Experiments Demonstrations, Maths Made Easy are featured. They have been able to attract students from 40 schools of the district. 20-25 of the schools participating are from Neyveli. The rest of the schools are from Pennadum, Titagudi, Cuddalore, Chidambaram, Bhuvanagiri, Panruti and a few other areas.

15,000 children from Neyveli, Pennadum, Cuddalore, Tittrakudi and Vridachalam attended a recent science festival held on August 9th-10th, 2001 in Neyveli. This festival featured film show on science, two science vans, slide show lecture, speech competition, display of models, science behind magic and an exhibition of books and toys. They raised Rs. 5000 from book sales and donations.

* Quiz Program
The quiz program has been conducted every year since 1987. About 80-100 schools throughout the district participate in it. The quiz program is held at three levels - Middle (6th-8th standard), High (9th-10th), and Higher Secondary (11th-12th). They start from the taluk level where about 20-25 schools participate.
 

* National Children Science Congress
NCSC program has been organized since 1993. Children complete a project that is judged at taluk, district, state and national levels. A guide book for teachers is prepared at the national level. There is a central theme to the NCSC project and several sub-themes, that could be formulated locally in a district.

* National Service Scheme (NSS)
Cuddalore science forum also tries to reach students through the NSS activities in schools. They have reached about 70-75 schools' NSS programs. NSS camps have been held over ten days in villages. Slide shows and lectures were held at NSS programs.

* Science & Education Clubs: They are running 7 science clubs in schools in Neyveli. They provide Thulir and conduct programs.

* Mobile Science Lab: A mobile science lab would be useful but lack of finances and availability of volunteers dissuades them from holding any additional program using the van at this point of time. Moreover they are already getting a mobile lab from the government.

* Enrollment & Dropout Figures:
The District Primary Education Programme (DPEP) is currently being implemented in Cuddalore district. In this scheme, teachers are imparted training on "Joy of Learning" and various activity based teaching techniques. Teachers are also given an amount of Rs. 500 to prepare visual teaching material and learning aids. Mr. Balasubramanian, the district President, works as a trainer in the DPEP resource center for Vridhaachalam block. There is one officer and three trainers in each block resource center.

Statistics from Mr. P. Rajaram - Supervisor, Block Resource Center, Pudukuraipettai, Vriddachalam Block

Achievements of DPEP (Not sure if statistics are for Vriddachalam block or Cuddalore Dt.)
* 30% improvement in achievement levels (don't know how this is measured)
* Dropout decreased from 19.4% to 10%
* Access to elementary school - 100% - no hamlet is without elementary school.
* Enrollment - 100%
* Completion - 65.5%; Boys - 61%; Girls - 70%
* Achievement (on the basis of common test for whole district) - 50.2%

For access & enrollment, the DPEP staff approach village education committee (VEC) and give awareness twice a year. The enrollment campaign was held over 5 years. According to Mr. Rajaram, child labour is minimal in the block. A handful of children work in a ceramic factory. After dropping out, boys typically work in cashewnuts & groudnut farms. Girls help with household work. KPN estimates the child labour to be less than 5% (for district as a whole??). Earning from child labour in rural areas is very less. According to KPN, in cities there are more avenues for better earnings from child labour.

* Non Formal Education Centers (NFE): THey are not running NFE centers. Because of minimal child labour, NFE is not required to the extent it is in other districts.

* Universalization of Primary Education (UPE):
The UPE program was implemented in 10 villages of Nellore Block. In this program, dropout children were identified & their age and standard at which they dropped out is noted. A survey is also conducted in primary schools to identify children with low achievement levels as well as children who do not atend school regularly. A volunteer was selected in each village and paid Rs. 300. Classes were conducted six days in a week. The state government provided primers for the dropouts and also 2/3 of the funding. Affter 1year of this program, an evaluation was done and found to be not very encouraging. Currently, they have stopped the program.
 

HEALTH PROGRAM:

Cuddalore district science forum has been conducting a health program in Bhuvanagiri block for the last 2 years. This program is being carried out with four full-time volunteers and volunteers in each of the 64 village for record keeping purposes. Each full time volunteer works in about 15 villages. Earlier six full time volunteers were working on this program with each volunteer taking up about 10-11 villages. In each village, a health register is maintained in which they record births, deaths, pregnancies, marriage age, weight of children and medicine administration (A-vitamin, pills, nutrition). To track malnutrition, children are weighed every three months and then graded into five? categories according to their weight relative to their age.  After the UNICEF funding stopped, they weigh the children every six months. So far, children have been wieghed three times. Table 6 in the data section of the report contains details on the health program.

The full-timers accompany the health volunteer on house visits as they counsel the women. The full-timers also assist the village nurse (government appointed) in distributing the nutrition food, iron tablets and vitamins. There is a PHC in the block but it is not functioning properly. According to KPN, the doctors in this
PHC are not always available.  There is a health committee in each village. Their next objective is to hold camps for tuberculosis, asthma and kasanoi (in English?).

Training-
Training has been given to full time as well as volunteers for each village. The full-time volunteers got intensive state level training. The village volunteers have been given training for recording purposes.

Funding-
TNSF's health programs were funded by UNICEF. Before the UNICEF funding ended, the State TNSF was giving Rs. 750 + honorarium per volunteer. This amounted to Rs. 4000 in total for the four volunteers. The State TNSF is giving Rs. 2000 currently. So the additional expense has to be met by the district science forum volunteers. When this report was updated in Feb 2002, they had reduced the number of vilages covered by each of the 4 full timers to 10.

They are looking to expand the health program in two other blocks - Parangipettai and Keerapalayam. The full-timers that have been identified previously worked in the literacy program.
 

DETAILS OF VISIT:

Let me start by describing the background to my visit. I had gone home (Chennai) in August of 2001. I met Balaji & told him that I was looking to do a project visit. Balaji said I could take up a documentation project for TNSF and visit Bhuvanagiri/Cuddalore district TNSF. At the time of my visit, the latest HBP proposal was not yet available. I had a standard TNSF questionnaire for which I religiously tried to collect information. I got in touch with KP Narayanan (KPN), the district secretary for TNSF. KPN is a retired engineer (from Neyveli Lignite) and lives in the Neyveli township.

Neyveli is about 4-5 hours by bus (200 km) from Madras. During my visit, I stayed with KPN and travelled to Bhuvanagiri, Cuddalore and VridhacKmchalam. I made two trips to Neyveli spaced over two weeks and stayed there for two days during both trips.

Day 1 (Aug 2nd, 2001):
During the first visit, I left for Neyveli in the afternoon and got there at night. The next morning, KPN & I left for Bhuvanagiri. Bhuvanagiri is roughly 30 km from Neyveli by bus. Bhuvanagiri was among the seven blocks where the Arogya iyakkam program was conducted by TNSF. TNSF has a computer center in the
Bhuvanagiri town. This computer center is like a operational base where the TNSF district resource people and the full-timers meet and do the book-keeping. Besides a computer room, it houses all their educational material and the supplies & finished products from the small scale enterprises. I met the block full-timers : Kavitha, Shakila, Punitha & Anbazhagi. They showed me the books where they maintain accounts from the saving groups and the forms/vouchers they fill out for the
service charges or payments they collect from the savings groups. They also showed to me the records from the health program and explained the information that is collected. I met Sigamani, the block coordinator in Bhuvanagiri. Sigamani has a full time govt job as a Village Administrative Officer.

That afternoon, KPN had to travel to Cuddalore to meet some women who were interested in starting savings groups. I accompanied KPN to Cuddalore as Cuddalore was also the district capital and housed the collectorate office. Cuddalore town is about an hour by bus from Bhuvanagiri. We met a few women that were interested in forming savings groups. KPN explained to them how the savings groups function, where their savings are kept and the interest and service charge payments they need to make. These women did not have land. At one point in time, they were able to have a decent earning by sowing lungis for export. Apparently, their exporter ran into some problems and the women no longer are making the kind of money they were earlier. KPN asked them to identify other women who would be interested and form groups of at least 15 members. We then went to the collectorate office to collect statistics about the district. Some of the offices we visited were Collectorate Office, District Medical Director's Office (something like that), dept of statistics and social welfare office. All these offices were located in the same locality in Cuddalore within walking distance of each other. We were really lucky to collect a decent amount of information in one attempt that too in the closing hours between 5 & 6 PM. It was a long bus ride back to Neyveli. We had to change buses in Panruti and got back in couple of hours.

Day 2: (August 3rd)
The next morning, KPN & I rode on his moped to Kaspa Alampadi village in Bhuvanagiri block. We were to meet women from the savings groups in this village. Kavitha, a full-timer, pulled in about 20 women from two savings groups to discuss some issues with the help of KPN. The women in these groups were not meeting regularly. Before the saving group meetings, members were just looking to see who all were going to attend and then decide to participate. If a few were planning to skip a meeting, it started a vicious cycle and a number of them did not attend. Even if they met, they were silently collecting the money without discussing any issues or problems they had. KPN stressed on the importance of meeting regularly and with one's freewill. I also shared my experiences re the CSHs in AID. KPN also suggested that the women should discuss the problems and they should boldly put these problems to the men and the panchayat. The meeting was concluded by some inspirational songs.

We then went to the computer centre in Bhuvanagiri. That afternoon, all the fulltimers had come to the center to do accounts/book keeping work for the savings  groups. There were a couple of students doing lab exercises at the computer center. The computer center was started in April of 2001. It is affiliated to AISECT
(All India Soceity for Electronics and Computer Technology) and offers a number of courses. There were three computers. While starting the computer center, Cuddalore TNSf received Rs. 30K from state TNSf and raised another Rs. 60K from a bank loan. The objective in starting the computer center was to raise funds to sudpport other programs. According to KPN, they need to have much greater enrollment (> 15) to acheive this objective. At the time of my visit, 5 students were enrolled. The center did not have a phone and hence no internet connection. I feel having an internet connection would help draw more students. We got back to Neyveli in the evening and I left for Chennai the next morning.

Day 3: (August 8th)
I left Chennai in the morning & got to Neyveli around noon. Spent the afternoon talking to KPN about the science forum programs in Cuddalore district. That  evening, KPN called a meeting of the science forum volunteers based in Neyveli. Around 10 volunteers showed up. Almost all of them were full-time employees of Neyveli Lignite. Most of them were involved in the school programs. I have listed the Cuddalore TNSF volunteers at the end of this report. Mr. Selvaraj, a
resource person for Science Behind Magic program, demostrated some of the tricks that he uses.
 

Day 4: (August 9th)
S. Balasubramanyam, Science Forum President, had stopped by at KPN's house in Neyveli. Mr. Balasubramanyam lives in Vridachalam and works as a primary school teacher. He is currently on deputation at a District Primary Education Program (DPEP) resource center in Vridachalam block. That morning, I went along with Mr. Balasubramanyam to the DPEP resource center. This facility was located adjacent to a primary school in the same compound. A supervisor and two resource persons (one of them being Mr. Balasubramanyam) work at this resource center. This center had audio-visual training material. Attached to the walls were several models, posters and learning aids. I met the supervisor, Mr. Rajaram, and collected data on the DPEP program. We stopped briefly at a classroom in the adjoining school and saw some visual aids in use there. After lunch, we took the bus to Bhuvanagiri. Joined up with KPN in Bhuvanagiri and returned to Neyveli in
the afternoon. Took the bus to Chennai that evening.
 

IMPRESSIONS/COMMENTS ON VISIT:

My objectives at the time of the visit were to collect information on the activities of TNSF-Cuddalore through interviews with the volunteers and some field visits. While the HBP proposal focuses on extending the health/savings model to other blocks and health/savings program is really the area where we have a lot of questions currently, I am not really sure about how useful my visit may have been from that viewpoint. The arogya iyakkam report has data on Bhuvanagiri and may be more useful from this viewpoint.

This could be followed up with visits:

* focusing on the health/savings program in Bhuvanagiri, interacting with full-timers, the village health volunteers and talking to the beneficiaries

* Visit Keerapalayam & Parangipettai- the blocks where they plan to expand the program & meet the TNSF volunteers there.

Based on my limited experience and interaction, I sincerely feel that the district level people like KPN, Balasubramanian and the full-timers in Bhuvanagiri are very committed and motivated.  They have been involved since the literacy days.

KPN is not just involved in the health/savings effort in Bhuvanagiri but also helps out with the school/education programs. He is not just putting in time & effort but has also made financial contributions to keep the programs running. He is at the forefront.. talking to women in the savings groups when the full-timers run into problems, motivating students in their school based activities, etc. I did not interact with the others as much and could not really form an opinion.

The programs in Bhuvanagiri block would take a lot more effort and time before they become sustainable (IF). In this direction, they have started the computer center and small scale enterprises less than a year ago. They need to also have many more savings groups if they want to raise more funds. They are having problems retaining existing women and getting new members for their savings groups due to competition with other NGOs. Maybe in Bhuvanagiri, they should not compete with other NGOs on the savings aspect. They could just focus on the health program and some other areas like education where they already have a lot of strength. I am not sure how critical the savings groups are for running a successful health program. They should try to raise funds mainly through the computer center and small scale enterprises. (These are just my ideas).

To expand the savings/health program to new blocks, they will need some full-timers in those blocks. People at the district level with a lot of experience such as KPN have to work with these full-timers to help them get started and overcome any problems they face. According to KPN, they have identified the full-timers for the new blocks of Keerapalayam and Parangipettai. KPN said that the full-timers from Bhuvanagiri will also help out in training the full-timers in the new blocks. After UNICEF's funding stopped, the full-timers in Bhuvanagiri have been given a reduced load of 10 villages each. I feel it may be too much to expect them to help out in other blocks if they are not being paid properly.

We have to realize that TNSF Cuddalore district has a limited volunteer strength at the district level and is conducting a number of programs besides health/savings especially in schools. Most of their Neyveli based volunteers work mainly on school programs. While expanding the health/savings program to other blocks, it
is important to make sure that adequate attention & effort continues to be directed towards making the existing program in Bhuvanagiri successful and sustainable.
 

**********************DATA****************************** ********

Table 1: District Administration Details

Divisions : 3
Taluks : 8
Blocks : 13
Municipalities : 5
Town Panchayats : 16
Townships : 1
Villages (incl.
hamlets) : 841
Village Panchayats : 682

Primary Health Centers : 50
Village Health Nurses : 319
Govt. Hospitals : 8
Revenue Villages : 896
 

Table 2: Population (1991 census) - At the time of data
collection, 2001 census was due in six months.

MALE FEMALE TOTAL
RURAL 792297 768295 1560592
URBAN 286791 275376 562767
 

Table 3: Area & Proportion of Important Crops (1998-99)

CROPS AREA (HECT) PRODUCTION (TONNES)
Rice 110788 370940
Cholam 2801 2520
Cumbu 9305 16830
Ragi 563 1390
Groundnut 34620 82180
Gingelly 7902 2700
Sugarcane 29926 3842380
Cotton 2156 3960 balles

Total Irrigated Area : 1,70,914 Hect.
 

Table 4: Lifestock (1997)

ANIMAL NUMBER
Cattle 724954
Buffalo 69363
Sheep 57664
Poultry 541950
 

Table 5: People's representatives from Cuddalore

NAME POSITION POLITICAL PARTY
Ponnuswamy MP PMK
Adi Sankar MP DMK
M.C.Sampath MLA AIADMK
Pugarendhi MLA DMK
Velmurugan MLA ADMK
Paneerselvam MLA DMK
Arul MLA I-ADMK
Dr. Vallal Perumal MLA Progressive TMC
Govindaswamy MLA ADMK
Tiruvalazhan MLA DPI
 

Table 6: DATA from Health Program in Bhuvanagiri block (May 2001)

Villages : 64

Families : 12,397
Adult Population : 49,628
Male : 25,462
Female : 24,166
Children below 5 : 3,904

Registered Pregnancies : 870
Births : 699
Deaths : 229

Children that died
Below 1 year : 17
1-5 years : 5
Kasanoi : 1

Marriages : 162
Below 20 : 91
Above 20 : 70

No. of children weighed
I Round : 2929
II Round : 2874
Progress obtained : 190 (in one year)
Maintained normal : 101

No. of children in
different grades
Normal : 451
I : 618
II : 355
III : 36
IV : 2
 
 

TABLE 7: SCIENCE FORUM VOLUNTEERS
-----------------------------------
NAME ACTIVITIES
K.P.Narayanan Currently the TNSF district secretary. Since 1992. Was deputed by NLC for the literacy program in 1993-96. Working full time for TNSF after retirement 2 years ago.

S. Sigamani Village Administrative Officer. Currently a block coordinator for Bhuvanairi.

K. Chidambaram Adolescent Program Coordinator

D. Arivalagam Small scale industries. Will be working full-time on the Environment club program.

S. Kavitha Savings/Health activist (Block full-timer) in Bhuvanagiri. Also an activist during literacy program.

Shakila -do-

Punitha -do-

Anbarazhi -do-

M. Rani Since 1990. Involved mainly in school programs/training in Neyveli. Executive committe member during literacy.

V. Venkatesan Since 1997. Involved in activites around Neyveli.

P. Thamizhselvam Since 1996. Coordinating NCSC & Thulir/Jantar Manthar quiz.

D. Selvaraj Since 1989. Science behind magic, street plays.
 

S. Sivakumar Since 1993. introduced to TNSF in 1987. Currently the treasurer. Worked on teachers exchange program. Started Maths clubs.

S. Rajagopalan Since 1998. Coordination/transportation for all programs.

U. Dhayalan Interested in intermediate technologies, support base??.

S. Balagurunathan Since 1990. Simple science experiments, low cost teaching aids, learning disabilities among children. National resource person for science education.

S.Balasubramaniyan President, TNSF Cuddalore since 1987. An elementary school teacher, he is working in a DPEP resource center. Was on deputaion during the literacy program.