The history of the school: A light that shines in the darkness.

The school was opened in the village of Chinamuthevi in the Krishna area of India on the 1^st July 1996.  A group of supporters came together and contributed sufficient funds to open a school through an indigenous Indian organization.

 From its humble beginnings in a straw hut with 33 children aged from 5-11 years, it quickly grew to 55 pupils.  The children were given uniforms and pumps in order to give them dignity as they embarked on this new adventure called ‘school’.  They were given little slates to write on.  They were all completely illiterate. In time it became possible to build a little brick building which was more comfortable and safe.  In the beginning the children sat on the floor all lined-up in just one room.  Soon the walls were plastered and they had benches to sit on. Some time later a small piece of land was purchased in front of the school and this was made into a play area with a slide and swings.  Today they have their own school building with three new classrooms.  Each classroom has electricity and a fan.  The children are now grouped according to age and ability.  There are 94 children in the Elementary School and another 18 are going to a nearby High School. 

 The school’s curriculum develops skills with numbers, literacy, science, art, crafts and physical education.  The children even have one computer to develop their IT ability.  They are well prepared by qualified caring teachers to go on to High School.

 A part of the increase in the number of students has come from a group of ‘tribal children’ from outside of the village.  Native School is now taking care of them.  Formerly they were completely neglected.  Now they are collected by the school bus each day and taken into a safe haven where their lives are being transformed. All the children are given lunch and the families in the village are given rations of rice to help subsidize their family needs.   This frees the children from work in the  fields allowing them to go to school.

 From the beginning the children were eager to learn although getting started was difficult because they had had no disciplinary training.  The progress has been amazing .  Little by little life in the village has changed as parents are taught by their children not only to read and write, but also how to develop the more simple disciplines.  The poorest people in the village of Chinamukthevi now have the possibility of a new life.  The devastating chain of ignorance is being broken.