We have been working with staff and community at the Alamparai Government Middle School (located in the fishing community) for some years now, and have assisted in the following ways:

• Employment of two full time and one part time teacher to assist in the school to combat problem of poor teacher attendance.
• Construction of school’s first toilet facilities and employment of caretaker for these toilets.
• Provision of desks and fans in classrooms
• Ongoing education in health, hygiene and personal development by TEWFI’s community health team.
• Psychosocial activities for children by TEWFI’s community social workers.

• Regular English tuition by TEWFI volunteers

Despite the energy invested in improving facilities and increasing teacher presence, progress is slow and the quality of education remains quite poor. Many of the students at the school can barely read or write Tamil or do basic math, while their English skills are non-existent. We have hope that in the long term, with additional facilities located outside the school and improved infrastructure within the school, improvements will be made.

Current Projects at Alamparai School:

• School fence – construction of a fence is currently underway.
• School kitchen and dining hall – construction to commence shortly
• Landscaping and gardening – this is being done in conjunction with our friends at Pitchandikuluam Bio Resource Centre.
• Supplementary education at TEWOAF Facilities: We are currently fundraising for a vehicle to be used for the daily transport of school children for tuition at the Vicki Standish e-Education Centre (and eventually the Community Library and Coastal Eco-Education Centre).

Other schools in the area:

Unfortunately, TEWFI presently lacks the resources to provide and maintain the same presence and level of engagement in the wider area. Nevertheless we have recently begun to extend our reach by targeting more schools, including those in farming areas – proving them with support in simple and cost-effective ways. We are working with other NGOs to provide additional teacher training at the schools, and attempting to assist them with requests for additional resources. TEWFI is opening a 34-PC computer learning centre in January, and plans to open a community library in the near future, as well as an eco-park and environment education centre (in conjunction with Auroville). Planning for the transport of local school students to the e-Education Centre is underway and similar systems will be developed for the other facilities.