|
 A
school that is 113 years old is in Chennai. Can you believe? If
not, step into Olcott Memorial High School in Besant Nagar.
Principal Lakshmi Suryanarayanan welcomes us and gives us a
background of the historical institution.
“Even though this is an unaided school, we teach the poor
students. However, we get the various grants provided by the
government like mid-day meals and books and notebooks, free of
cost”, she says.
The school, which was earlier called Panchama Free School, was
started by the president-founder of the Theosophical Society,
Colonel Henry Steel Olcott, to provide education for the most
underprivileged sections of society.
Of the various Panchama Free Schools started
by Olcott, this institution at Besant Nagar is the main one. In
1907, after the death of Henry Steel Olcott, the school was
renamed Olcott Memorial High School. The school is governed by
the management of Theosophical Society.
Until 1988, Olcott Memorial School was aided by the government,
but later, it became unaided. “A handful of private schools
coach poor students. We are one among them,” says Lakshmi.
 The school, which has classes from 1 to 10, has a total strength
of around 600. “We focus on life skills activities like baking,
juice making, painting and tailoring, which will enable the
students to live independently. We also stress on health and
hygiene. We provide tasty and healthy food including gruel,
millets, vegetables and biscuits. Our students also excel in
sports. One of the girls has won second position in kabbadi at
the district level. We also have rugby teams for boys and
girls,” she adds and states that the pass percentage in SSLC is
75.
Although the medium of instruction is Tamil, like other
government-aided schools, Olcott Memorial too makes use of
modern technology like computers. The principal says the school
has various labs for English, Computer Science, Science and an
audio visual lab.
Donation is the major source of finance for the school, says
Lakshmi. Many companies like Wipro have volunteered to coach the
students. The students are motivated while interacting with them
and they are urged to respond to the people in English, she
says.
 For around two years, Chennai employees of Verizon Foundation
had volunteered to assist the classes and mentor the students.
Fortunately, Verizon Foundation has granted $ 20,000 to help
students improve their English language and computer skills. The
US-based philanthropic arm of Verizon Communications, for the
first time, is assisting the literacy and education efforts of a
school in India.
Lakshmi says, “We are planning to buy 20 computers, LCD
projectors, various software and furniture from the money
granted. We are indeed very thankful for the Verizon Foundation
and its Chennai employees.”
U Bakialakshmi
|
