Concept Of Joyful Learning.

 

LEAF Society is having 30 Joyful learning centers across Namakkal district covering rural children from  Namakkal, Rasipuram and Senthamangalam blocks and tribal  children from Kolli Hills region. LEAF Society strongly believes that, children could be used as the effective change agents, if their leanings and environments are fine tuned effectively.We are keeping these Joyful learning centers as a base for all our project interventions like promotion of safe sanitation and drinking water practices or increasing negotiating skills of rural & tribal com munities using RTI act.  We have more than 450 children from three blocks.  Children from these centers are the key for us and through them; we are trying to bring the desired change among communities.
They learn new – life skill oriented things with fun, joy and happiness. These centers are colorful with plays, games, songs, and sports.These joyful learning centers are not tuition centers replicating what is being done at schools rather are centers filled with Joy for children.  Everyday children meet at the village to share & learn about General Knowledge, Thirukkural, Yoga, child rights, personal hygiene, waste management, Right to Information, kitchen garden, etc. Variety of things and learning’s and responsibilities make children happy and the attendance is normally full in these centers .

Even the attendance in schools & enrollment has also gone up, due to intervention of our centers. Our centers have brought various changes in communities and especially among our center children, the awareness level on personal hygiene, safe drinking water practices, sanitation practices, on their Rights, protection have increased to greater extent.   
 We have also witnessed a change in the perspectives of the parents those who are part of the Parent Teachers’ Association and other groups in the villages. These parents use to share with the local teaches on the changes, that is being brought by evening joyful centers to their children and in turn the changes that their children bringing to their homes. . It’s a visible change that these children are even demanding their parents to follow the same practices, which they are following like, washing hand before meal, maintaining cleanliness at their houses, safe sanitation practices, dental cleanliness, etc.The project has greater scope in reaching many families through their children and our discussions; cross learning’s, sharing, exposure visits, etc has wider impact among families, especially those who belongs to marginal & vulnerable communities. Since, most the children are in their adolescent age – 13- 16, all our learning will be carried forward o their youth & adult life in the villages. This will make them, better citizens of our country. They highly appreciate the kitchen garden, small doctors committees & Child Parliaments at their villages.

They are well aware of the difference between good touch & bad touch and they are aware of various methods to protect them from physical & emotional abuses. Learning about Children’s Rights will give them a new perspective in looking at their schools, families & communities, even some of the teachers in the villages, appreciate us, especially the way, we have been dealing with child rights & positive discipline techniques, Our children have always are the friendly students in the schools and they take plenty of responsibilities in schools and will be a example for other students as well. Joyful learning center children will also be equipped to protect themselves from various abuses, especially, sexual abuses.Your support for the evening joyful centers and training to teachers will have additional value to our activities and we will have the opportunity to train our teachers & children in UNCRC, Rights, protection, Child Parliament, etc and this will have far reaching consequences among children, communities &  families in 20 villages. 

 There are 20 Child Parliaments are active in villages and these parliaments monitor various committees on  Child Rights, Child Protection, Personal Hygiene, safe drinking water & sanitation practice committees, kitchen garden,  time management committee, etc. These centers provides  space for Children take up their own issues, deliberate on them, look for any solutions, if they can   and address them through various mechanisms. These centers promote the practice of local democracy through Child Parliaments, Children committees.Membership in these committees will be rotated on quarterly basis and each child should be a part of any of these committees and 50% ratio is being maintained at all levels. These committees meet on all Saturday, discuss the issues, take decisions and report to the parliaments.