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Minutes
of Asha Seattle meeting on 04/23/08
Venue : RTC LWSD, Redmond, WA
Attendees: Ken, Arvind,
Vibhavaree, Morena, Shailesh, Mukund, Nagendra, Kannan, Subhashish, Binay,
Brig. Sundaram, lakshmi kumar, Nitin, Hareesh, Mani, Megha, Madhu, Aparajita
1. Sikshana, Aravind:
o Approved 9 lakhs in 2007
o update 04/2008
o budget request for 2008/2009 is 9.32 lakhs
o questions
1. how do they motivate teachers? any data on teacher absentism? can
we replicate this with other projects? education
level of teachers?
2. KPMG study results - follow up when ready
3. megha: work with room-to-read
to get libraries at school - sync up with megha
4. how is reception at schools
where sikshana is not invited by school? any
difference in voluntary participation.
2. Chapter and project coordinator update
o project workshop – 5/3 and 5/11. Please RSVP. All project
stewards must attend one
o CMS, WB additional steward needed
o Asha-zurich may have 3 new projects; proposals available
on asha-wide list serve
o All database may move
to asha-wide DB.
o Site visits needed yearly!
3. Lakshmi Kumar, site visit report
o Goals of balavihar – improve english language learning in
urban schools and create learning ambience outside of academic syllabus
o Paid staff – 4 teachers Chitra Krishnamurthy (full time;
founder), Mr. Manjunath (full time; theatre expert), Mr. Krishnamurthy (part
time; yoga). Ms. Tulsi (part time; yoga and english), 2 volunteers Ms. Radha
and Ms. Sharada assist in evening classes and prepare learning aids.
o 5 schools – 3 govt, 2 private; 1
tutorial, 1 lending library. Total ~ 500 children. Different activities in
different schools – eng classes, personality development activities, yoga, singing,
story-telling. Class range – 2nd through 8th std.
o lakshmi visited 4 sessions.
o Govt school Marenhalli,
Vijanagar – 45 min eng class in 2nd std. found school poorly equipped,
dimensions to be scrapped from final site visit. Children engaged by Mr.
Manjunath via story telling and conversation.
o Luminary School
(private) – yoga class for 8th std. students enjoy class. School better
equipped than govt school.
o Pinewoods school (private) –
singing, yoga and theatre activities by ms. Tulsi, ms. Chitra, mr. Manjunath.
Students from 7th and 8th. Principal happy to have balavihar in school.
o Nachiketa (tutorial for govt
school children) – eng language 4 teachers divided kids into 5-8 batch.
Children focused and peer driven learning was rife. Kids
like it so much that even on holiday class was full at 6pm.
4. Nitin, ARC rep
o Poll asha wide for president and secretary positions.
o Chapter has to pick person and
submit as single entry.
o Nitin to set up voting at yahoogroups
and provide links to candidates Wiki and biodata.
o Voting has to be submitted by
apr 30th. No quorum required on yahoogroups. Majority wins.
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