| CKF 2006 |
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A fun and learning event for children Organized by: AID INDIA 2nd - 3rd September 2006 Queen Mary’s College Campus (Opposite Marina Beach)
Three months ago… 15000 children in over 1000 villages began a new venture. These children decided that they had enough of reading other people’s stories and now they would themselves write stories instead! And over the next month, village after village saw a large number of children busily writing stories. It was a sight most people had never seen: Kids – 8 years to 14 years old – sitting seriously and writing and re-writing stories.
Out of these 15000 children, about 5000 children were selected for block level story writing and of these 400 were selected for district level story competitions  On 2nd and 3rd of September… Chennai is going to host 180 of these young story writers from various villages across Tamilnadu for a 2 day mega fun event called the Children’s Knowledge Festival.
What is the Children’s Knowledge Festival ? The Children’s Knowledge Festival is an opportunity for children (and teachers) to realize that Science, Math and Social Sciences are not dead worlds found in textbooks, but the live world inside and around us. They will learn to see Knowledge not as several closed watertight compartments, but rather as an open-ended interconnected exploration of the world around us. The Children’s Knowledge Festival helps to develop in Children confidence in their ability to observe, analyze and interpret. And of course it is also a lot of fun for all the participants! What has been planned for the CKF 2006 ?CKF 2006 is a 2 day affair with about 180 children. Most of these children come from the poorest families in remote villages and this is their first opportunity to attend such an event. So we have planned a series of educational and fun activities for them.
 Each group will attend one of the parallel sessions for 1 hour and then will move on to the next parallel session. By the second day every child would have experienced almost every session. In the evenings, a host of common fun sessions have also been planned for all the children.
The Children from villages will be hosted by volunteers and other children at their homes on night of 2nd September. This cross-cultural exchange will be another exposure and learning experience for both the children and the hosts. We have seen from earlier experiences that this leads to a strong bondage of friendship between the children and their hosts and also helps children understand and appreciate cultural diversity. The Children’s Knowledge Festival will also be used to train a large number of village volunteers and library coordinators as resource persons to conduct the various activity sessions in their villages. After going back, these volunteers will organize Children’s Clubs in their villages. For the children and the volunteers, the Children’s Knowledge Festival is a starting point for a new approach to learning. A large number of such activities are needed to make a dent in the education system. The Children’s Knowledge Festival is a small but significant step in this direction.
How did 15000 children in 1000 villages to write stories? The Answer: Eureka Village Libraries Movement Most villages in Tamilnadu do not have a children’s library. There are libraries for adults – but most children find the books in these libraries difficult to read. To make the libraries reach the poorest children and to encourage reading habit particularly in neo-literate children, we started an innovative Eureka Village Libraries Movement.
 When you think of a library, possibly a room full of books comes into your mind. No. The Eureka Library is NOT a room full of books. No. It is not even a shelf of books. The Eureka Library is a bag! It is a bag full of exciting books for children that is carried from house to house. The children don’t come to the library – the library goes to the children. And today we are running 1800 Eureka Village Libraries for children! We discovered that most children like to read short stories with a lot of cartoons. So we have been developing really short stories – only 1 page long! We have now created about 100 one-page laminated colorful story cards in Tamil that are extremely popular with children. To make it easy for children with weak literacy skills, we have made the sentences short and extremely simple. Most children love these story cards and read them again and again! Along with these story cards, we have also been developing short colorful story books and 4 page comics as well. In each village we initially provide a bag with about 50 books and 30 story cards. A local volunteer maintains the library bag and keeps a simple register of children who borrow books. Children come at different times and borrow the cards and books from the volunteer. To generate excitement in the library, every month we provide an additional set of 15 story cards and booklets. Apart from this, the library coordinators who visits the libraries organizes a fun event around the library each month – magic shows, games, art, origami, toy making, etc. In the 1800 libraries, we have about 80000 children who are members of the library. We have provided 250000 books to these libraries. In 2005 alone there have been 4.5 Lakh book transactions in all the libraries put together! But what’s even more exciting than these numbers is the way children are responding to the libraries. For example, in several villages children start borrowing books at 6 AM in the morning!
In each library, we have now formed Children’s Clubs that meet regularly and try out different learning activities. The library also is the starting point for identifying children’s talents and training them on it – drawing, craft, science, maths, writing, etc. It was in these libraries that we organized the Story Writing Competition. The 15000 children who participated in the story writing were all members of the Eureka Libraries! The library is just a starting point. We visualize the library as a free and open learning resource structure in each village for children and also for adults. We see the Eureka Village Library Movement as the first step towards creating a continuously learning society.
How Can You Help ? We need lots of help…
1. We need funds for the CKF 2006. There are organizing expenses, food for children, gifts and prizes, traveling expenses for all these children who are coming from remote corners of the state… a. You can donate towards the above expenses. b. You can collect funds from your friends or colleagues. c. Maybe you can get a sponsorship for the CKF from your office. d. You can sponsor books, or lunch or ice-cream or snacks for the event… e. You can sponsor a van or a bus for pick ups and local transport within the city. 2. We need lots of volunteers to…a. Help with organizing on the days of the function b. Help with running and planning the activity sessions c. Help with taking photos and documenting the sessions and arranging press coverage 3. We need Hosts for the Children:a. There are 180 children and village organizers accompanying them who need a place to stay on the night of 2nd September. b. We need volunteers who can host 1-3 children and/or 1 village organizer. c. These hosts will have to arrange to pick up the children in the evening from the venue and provide dinner for the children and a safe place to stay. d. If in addition the hosts can plan cartoon videos or some fun games at home that will be a additional bonus J We need lots of help and are counting on you!To Help Please Contact: Suchitra 98407 – 14566 mail2suchi_now@yahoo.com Balaji Sampath 94440 – 61033 balajisampath@gmail.com Chandra 93823 – 30752 chanvish@yahoo.com Srinivasan 98401 – 73823 aid.info@gmail.com Or Contact: AID INDIA New No 34, Rathenam StreetGopalapuram, Chennai – 600086Phone:28350403,42106493 Email: aid.info@gmail.com
About AID INDIA: The Organizers AID INDIA is a voluntary organization working in the areas of Education, Health and Village Development in villages and slums across the state of Tamilnadu. We work on integrated development programs in 250 villages and also run children’s libraries in 1800 villages. We draw our volunteers from a wide section of society and this diversity gives us strength. Our group has scientists and farmers, software professionals and unemployed youth, school teachers, village women and college students – all of whom meet together to plan and implement ideas. Thanks to this range of talents we tap into, we are able to offer a unique perspective in all the areas of our intervention. In the area of Education, AID INDIA pioneered the Padippum Inikkum Tamil Reading Campaign which is now being implemented by the state government in all the schools in the state with our help. A lot of books and materials that AID INDIA has developed are being used across the state by various organizations and schools. Apart from books, we also bring out a large number of science and primary educational kits for children to do experiments and activities to learn by doing. |
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