Changes always have at their helm a visionary. Such is the story of Ms. Lakshmi Suryannarayan, the Principal of The Olcott Memorial High School (OMHS).
Located in Besant Nagar, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, the school is in an area, which comprises of the rich and the very poor. While some lived in palatial bungalows, most of those who attended this school, didn’t know where their next meal was coming from.
Ms. Lakshmi took over as Head teacher of Olcott, She was very distressed to see, that in a town which boasted of a high level of education, this little school had children who lived well below the poverty line. They belonged to the socially under privileged sections and were burdened not just by poverty, but also class discrimination.
The school, though a part of the Olcott Education Society (OES), an International Organization run by the Theosophical Society (TS) was completely dependent for its funds, on the goodwill of philanthropists and donors from the world at large.
Right from the beginning, she understood that in order to empower these children she had to give them not just an education, but also an introduction to practical skills which would sustain them and help them generate an income.
Ms. Lakshmi had the ideas, the enthusiasm and the dedication but she had neither the resources nor the funds. She also knew in her heart that this education was the only way these children could fight against the social discrimination of their class.
She needed a window to the outside world.
It was at this juncture that Intel® Teach offered to train a few staff members as Master Trainers provided the school had computers. The Principal saw this as the opportunity she had been waiting for. Even though, she had only one computer in her school at this time she succeeded in managing to get the rest.
Olcott High went on to receive ‘The Intel Award’ for exemplary use of resources for 2002. Over a period of 4 years from 1999 to 2003 they not only introduced more computers with multimedia packages but have also trained about 50 teachers. They also received a cash award of Rs. 1 lakh.
Ms. Lakshmi’s vision led her on from there. She introduced an English Language Lab with the prize money, by buying a computer linked to a big screen television, and headphones for listening to English stories read out from books, films, language games and phonic exercises. She strongly believed that a working knowledge of the English language was an essential component for bridging the digital divide.
The school’s efforts were now being publicly appreciated and the local newspaper carried many articles praising them. Not only did they receive approval from the community but also received computers as donations from as far as Japan.
Olcott High, was now also able to introduce technology assisted learning (TAL) of subjects as a tool to help teachers and students. Digital Lessons were made available from resources available in the market. These were made easily available to teachers for preparation for their classes. An Audio Visual room with low cost projection equipment was also provided
The change which began slowly has now geared up to a revolution.
The teachers are delighted with these resources at their fingertips. Great improvement has been seen in the students too. Learning is no longer restricted to repetitive revision techniques but through relevant audio-visual learning experiences.
Today, the children have an Internet connection in the library for gathering information and research. A Computer Lab is functioning with 5 computers for the last year in the kiosk model. Due to their regular exposure to the computers, the children are not afraid of handling machines. A few of those who passed out in the last few years even took up a career in computers.
As part of the school’s attempt to bridge the digital divide they are in the process of setting up a full fledged Computer Lab with old and new computers that have come as donation.
Students are proudly handling projects using technology for parent’s health education programmes, anti alcohol, tobacco and drug abuse.
An Alumnus ran a marathon in the US to benefit the school and collected US $2000 to upgrade school infrastructure.
Determined to keep working ahead, Ms. Lakshmi along with the school Alumni and the teachers created digital lessons for a project called ECTAL (http://www.ashanet.org/chennai/projects/tal.htm*).
Today Olcott stands aloft as one of the best schools for underprivileged children. Undoubtedly it is because of Ms. Lakshmi's indefatigable efforts and hard work. In her usual humble manner, she views her work as a challenge, a mission. To provide, for all her students "gainful employment and the ability to perform well outside the school campus".
