A school should reflect the soul of it's community
Our schools are built in quiet, shady areas on the outskirts of the tribal villages, in huts with coconut leaf roofs that are environmentally friendly and easily built by local communities.
Our teachers are a mix of experienced teachers from outside Jawadhi Hills, and qualified teachers from within the tribal community, who understand the dialect and culture better than anyone else. Passionate about providing first generation education, our teachers stay in the villages all week, providing tuition, counselling and advocacy services to the community in the evenings.
The schools are managed by the village elders, in partnership with Seb's staff and school teachers. The community maintain the building and take care of the teachers, and Seb's Projects India facilitates infrastructure, materials, salaries, manages the teachers and maintains the running of the school.
Thandayankottai School was the first Seb's Tribal School to be built in Jawadhi Hills in 2004. Children from the village were struggling to walk 14km a day to the nearest school, and the community asked our staff for help.
The school was built as a temporary hut in the valley in 2004, and by 2006 the government recognised the wonderful impact it was having on the community, and approved it as a Primary School. Today, Seb's Projects India continues to work hand in hand with the government, working to provide stimulating education and daily noon meals to it's 25 attendees.
Periyathattankottai was our second school, built on a hill in 2009. Before the school was available, some children from this village tried to come down the flashflood paths to our first school in Thandayankottai, but it was too far and too dangerous to be a sustainable solution to the problem.
In partnership with the community, Seb's Projects India constructed a small hut school for the 45 children in the village, and the government acknowledged the success and impact of the school and started proividing supplies and food to our school.
Today Seb's Projects works hand in hand with the government and private donors to run the school and has converted the hut into a permanent building thanks to support from Kite Foundation in Vellore.
Koupsoor School is the newest of Sebs Schools, it was started in July 2014 and now has over 50 children enrolled. It is run by tribal teachers Jagadesan and Roja, who are experienced Seb's teachers and have started schools in 3 villages.
This is the first chance any of these children have had to go to school, and children come from across 4 neighbouring hamlets to attend every day. It is a great success, and we are really proud of what our teachers are accomplishing.
Periyapannaparai School was started in 2012, with support from Humanitarian Clowns Abroad. From the very first day we had over 50 children enrolled in the school, which is over 7km from the nearest school. This school continues to be supported by Humanitarian Clowns, and has proved a great success already as we have seen a significant improvement in nutrition, counselled many out of school youth back into school and college, and have seen a 100% student retention in the last year.
Maraduvellimedu is a small village with 25 students, 6km from the nearest school in Thattankuttai on top of a hill. Since 2010, a youth in the village who dropped out of school at just 14 years has taken the initiative to try to educate the children of his village to the bestof his ability.
However, with no school hut, no qualified teacher for guidance and no money for materials, Sivaraj was struggling, and Seb's Projects India started a school in 2013. Today, that school has 100% enrolment, and has been recognised by the government and awarded the NRBC
Palamarthukollai school was started in April 2014 .This schools serves the children from 6 surrounding hamlets, and has an enrolment of over 6 children. Before this schools started there was no functional school for over 8km, and children had to migrate down the hill to attend our Thandayankottai School to access education. Today, we not only provide primary education for over 60 children, but have counselled 40 out of school youths into training programs and back into school in the surrounding area.
Dhanimarathur school was started in June 2015. It now has an enrolment of 43 children, who come to school from up to 3.5km away. It was started because the local government school was not functioning, and with no teach even coming to school for days at a time, the children had no hope of ever getting to seconary school level. After discussing with the government, Seb's stepped in to start our own school, which is now thriving!