It happened at school!

An Excursion Trip to Almora

Our Girls can climb not only the trees but also trek mountains. And they had such fun doing that. In January, iDiscoveri sponsored an excursion trip for 20 PPES students. During their adventure in the mountains, the girls went trecking and climbing. One can't imagine the great joy and a little anxiety that these girls had when the ropes were tied to them and they just had to fall freely. This adventure will remind in their mind for a long long time.

Republic Day Celebrations at PPES
26th January 1950 is one of the most important days in Indian history as it was on this day the constitution of India became a totally republican unit. The country finally realized the dream of Gandhi who fought for the Independence of India. The 26th of January has been recognized as the Republic Day of India, ever since.
Like every year, Pardada Pardadi celebrated the Republic Day. Students and teachers prepared dances and decorated the school with orange, green and white flags. Parents were road d to participate in the celebrations. Sam welcomed everybody with a beautiful speech and reminded the importance of education for our girls.

Training on Traffic

PPES decided to take advantage of this day to call the attention of parents and students to a very important issue: Road safety. Traffic in India is known as chaotic and dangerous for pedestrians.
At Anupshahr, the roads are usually empty. However, since it is rare to see traffic agents, the few vehicles often circulate at a high speed. In 2008, Sonu - a 4th grader at that time, was hit by a car while going back home. He lost his left leg and now walks with the help of a prosthesis. This incident led PPES to train its students on road safety measures.
ITC and PPES used art competitions, drills and computer supported programs to alert parents and inform students about traffic rules and road safety.

Holi at Pardada Pardadi!

On March, 1st PPES celebrated Holi. The festival of colors couldn’t have been more colorful at Pardada Pardadi. The girls were colored in all possible colors: dark red, purple, blue. You name it and they had it on them. What real fun it was! Pardada Pardadi looked like a Disney Land of Anupshahr. Not only did the girls color themselves, but also they didn’t let anyone miss reveling in the festivities. If you want to be part of Holi celebrations, you got to come to Pardada Pardadi.

International Women's day

On March, 8th PPES celebrated the International Women’s Day. Ms. Poonam Natarajan, Chairperson, National Trust, was the chief guest for the event and Sandhya Raman, the woman behind Dismania (Fashion Brand) and Chitra, a leading social activist were our special guests.
The students prepared a dance show, organized feld games and folk anecdotes. The men teachers took charge of the kitchen and catering. And they proved equally good at that with the nice meals they brought from the hot kitchen. Just that the tea had salt instead of sugar for an unusual change. Ms. Natrajan’s speech awarded them with an inspiring speech with personal stories of courage.

Education

PPES welcomes 200 new students

On February 1st, PPES was proud to open its doors to 200 new students from the poorest children of the villages surrounding the school. This year PPES targeted socially marginalized Muslim girls aged between 4 to 12 years old. These girls come from a long line of uneducated family members, and have themselves never known the significance of the word 'school'. Read more about our new school on our blog.

Global Youth Connect

Global Youth Connect (GYC) is a non-profit dedicated to empowering youth to advance human rights and create a more just world. One facet of this mission is to build a connection to a global community of youth activists. GYC planted the seeds of activism through a curriculum to be shared between a school based in New York and PPES.
At Anupshahr, our girls from the 7th grade were selected to participate in this cultural exchange programme. A strong friendship has already grown between the students. And as the sessions come to a close, the students are looking forward to keeping in touch with their new pals.

Athletic Competitions at Anupshahr
PPES students have built ties to nearby schools by participating in athletic competitions. In February, our sports teacher organized games between PPES and four other schools. The girls partook in games of long jump, high jump, musical chairs and sack and three legged races.
The victorious teams were awarded trophies for their physical prowess. We are proud to announce that PPES won five of the six competitions, and three girls from our new school came first in three of them. Two weeks into school and they have already demonstrated their confidence and skills!

Team news

CSC Training

A team of employees from Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) volunteered to offer useful computer, English language, and personality development classes to a group of 10 PPES staff members. These volunteers keep aside two Saturdays a month to impart their knowledge onto the PPES staff, and they make it fun too. Thanks to the CSC volunteers' generous efforts, these trained school teachers will slowly be able to teach their classes in English, and design assignments with the use of computers.

Marie Louise is our new volunteer


Marie Louise comes from Washington, D.C. She arrived in India on December 2nd 2009, armed with grammar books, to volunteer at PPES as an English teacher for a year. The girls have already adopted her. From Marie: 'I was overjoyed to see that PPES was exactly what it made itself out to be in its website - an educational and vocational haven for young poor girls of rural India, who work hard to better their social standing.'

Lindsay & Nat

Lindsay Johnson wrapped up her year from Jan 2008-09 at PPES as an English teacher. She taught her final lessons, creating email accounts for her beloved students so that they could keep in touch. By the end of January, Lindsay bid all of her friends farewell, as they swept the tears from their faces.
Nat, from Portugal, joined PPES in July 2009. In 6 months, she became an integral part of PPES. She was always eager to join the girls at Anupahahr and juggling her work at nights for that. Nats fell in love with PPES and the girls at first sight. And the girls love her too. She is back in Portugal now but will be helping PPES as much as possible. We will miss both Lindsay and Nat so so much..

'Adopt a Granny' project update


Walking down the alleys of villages, one can't miss the sight of older women ridden to a charpoy or sitting at the corner. At PPES, girls are encouraged to take care of their older neighbors who otherwise have no one to be looked after by or to just talk with. PPES flags off this project in December every year. Last winter, when these women had nothing to cover themselves with, the girls went to them and gifted blankets for a safe sleep to more than 400 of them. The broader idea is to instill and foster the sense of social responsibility in the students. Even so more as our girls come from the most pressing circumstances. PPES through such projects facilitates the belongingness needs of the society. Mr. Sheel Chandra, a businessman, has been donating blankets to PPES since last 3 years now. His sons and family are an integral part of the program. We are so glad to have them at PPES family!