Help Enrich The Learning Of Kannammapet Children

“If we teach today as we taught yesterday, then we rob our children of tomorrow.”

We are Aparna, Nitin and Vinusha - three Teach For India Fellows working in a Corporation (public) school in Chennai, Tamil Nadu.

We teach grades 5, 7 and 8 in Kannammapet, an area whose residents consist of daily wage laborers - rickshaw drivers, construction workers, housemaids, unemployed individuals - and known for its violence.

Many of our students come from broken homes. Some do not have a proper roof over their heads. A handful of kids are lucky enough to have parents who recognize the value of education, but even they are unable to further their child’s potential, given the lack of awareness and resources - financial, or otherwise.

As teachers, we cannot do much to change their situation outside of school, but we are fighting every day to make sure our kids want for nothing within the classroom. We dream of a day when every child is given the same opportunities to choose from, a day when quality education is not a right reserved only for those who can afford it. Most importantly, we dream of giving our kids an education that allows them to direct their own learning, long after our time with them is over.

We have big dreams, but we need your help. The funds raised through this initiative will be used for the following things - some of which have been accounted for two years (like Olympiad fee), and some of them beyond that (classroom painting, whiteboards etc) :

1. Painting - repainting classroom and bathroom walls and shelves
2. Pest Control Services - rendering the whole school a mosquito-free zone
3. Emergency Health Supplies - first-aid kits
4. External Opportunities - student registration fees for the IMO, NSO, and other academic/extracurricular activities 
5. Technology Resources - laptops, tablets, projector, speakers, copier, internet
6. Classroom Resources - stationery and storage supplies for the classroom
7. Printing Supplies 

If you’ve read this far and are still thinking twice, we have a task for you:

1. Calculate how much you would spend on your next coffee / dinner with friends.
2. Donate that amount. (I promise you that your sacrifice will not be in vain.)

Please do not hesitate to donate whatever you can, even if you think it’s too small. If you would prefer to contribute in kind, towards meeting any of the needs of the classrooms, please reach out to any of us. Every little bit helps much more than you know - and you will have 100 kids whose lives will change forever because of you.

If you’d like to know more about our children, our work or about Teach For India, please reach out to us at  aparna.ramanujam2018@teachforindia.org , vinusha.v2017@teachforindia.org or nitin.thilagan2018@teachforindia.org. 

Thank you!