Madurai Seed Education Centers

Education centres in Madurai Seed provides a peaceful learning environment for children. Volunteers’ support for helping them finish their homework, preparing them for term exams are possible only with proper study area. There are 3 education centres for children and 1 education centre for young people, and 1 library. Centre functions from 6 to 9 in the weekday evenings. On holidays, library and indoor activities are carried on in there from morning to evenings. With projectors, and audio – visual aids in one centre, movie screenings and meetings are held. Workshops, online classes, seminars are carried on often. Vandugal Arangam – multipurpose hall that holds 80 to 100 children at a time, Kanavugal arangam holds 60-80 children, Thedalgal arangam with library holds around 30-40 children.

Independence Day 2023

Madurai Seed was all set for the 77th Independence Day with beautiful decorations, and colourful presence of children and young people. One by one they arrived and pinned flag on shirts. Volunteer girls dressed in same colour and boy volunteers in white shirts gingered up the event. It was time to welcome our eminent chief guests Prof. Dr. E. Annamalai and his daughter Dr.Melliyal Annamalai from Asha Boston with handmade flower bouquets.

Usually at Madurai Seed, the national flag is hoisted by Children Federation leader.  In that way, Keerthana in 12th std , MSCF leader was welcomed and honoured with parade. She was introduced to the guests and invited to hoist the flag. With mindful of pride, Keerthana hoisted the flag. Salute and claps of students sowed peace and love in hearts.

Keerthana shared the Independence Day message, "On Every Independence Day, we and our country grow a year older. Like as we age, our thoughts, good deeds and character must grow higher. Religion, caste, and gender-based discrimination, are on the rise in the country. It is the children and youth of the future generations that we need to prepare against this. Let us take pledge and stand together." Along with Keerthana, students took pledge to contribute their best to the society they live in.

Our chief guest Dr. E. Annamalai spoke to the students, " I’m 80 years old and have seen a lot of progress and milestones in the country. You should also see better progress. Flag salutation is not flag worship, it is worship of our country’s principles of freedom, peace, equality and secularism." His presence made the day more memorable and special.

Trustees Elavarasi, Mansur Ali, Mariammal teacher, Alumni forum incharge Sathish Babu and MSYF president Pavithra were honoured with shawl and bouquets. Breakfast was provided for children and guests. The morning went so fast, but not the prior preparation. The day before, children and young people had long rehearsals to parade, welcome guests, and organize without disturbing the public. Karthik provided a mind map on it and volunteers brought it up. Lively celebration with Jeeva's commentary, Keerthana's speech and guests' message and wishes.

Scholarships for young people 2022

Scholarship program was held at Vandugal Arangam. We provided  scholarships to all the young people. 

Here are some details of our young people's courses:

Diploma in Hotel Management - First year - 1 Student

Undergraduate (History, Computer Applications, Economics) - First year - 3 

Undergraduate ( Commerce, Maths, Tamil) - Second year - 3

Undergraduate (English, Business Administration, Microbiology, Physical education) - Third year - 4 

 

Bachelor of Teacher Education - First year - 1

Master of Physical Education - First year - 1

 

Post graduate (Maths) - Second year - 1

Post graduate (Geography) - Second year -1

 

Competitive exam coaching - 2

Total number of benefited young people-  17 (Boys 7 + Girls 10) 

Among them, total number of young people going to government college - 10

Total number of young people going to Govt. aided colleges - 7

Total number of benefited families  - 14

Among 17,

Number of students going to college for the first time from their families - 12

All 17 young people come regularly to Madurai Seed to teach children. 

They are socially deprived and financially weak. They seek only education to come out of the poverty line. With all the kind support of Friends of Madurai Seed in Zurich, they received the Cheque for their college studies. 

Dear friends and donors, we convey our  many thanks to each one of you. Your generous support removes financial barriers and makes them shine through education. 

 

VASANTHAM SUMMER CAMP 2022

 

MADURAI SEED

Vasantham Summer Camp

From 16.05.2022 to 31.05.2022

16 days        72 children              12 young people             6 groups

Sessions

S. No	Topic	Speakers
1	Traditional Trees	Mr. Karthikeyan
2	Children Magazines	Arun Kumar
3	Mobile Phone Etiquettes	Mr. Madhavan
4	Snakes – Facts, Dos and Don’ts	Mr. Vishwanath, Mr. Srini, Wish to Help Trust
5	Story Telling – Book Angel	Mrs. Poonkodi

 

Practical Sessions

S. No	Activity	Resource Persons
1	No oil, No boil Cooking	Mrs. Renuka
2	Science Toys	Mr. Sathya Manickam
3	Mobile Phone Short Films	Madurai Seed Volunteers
4	Thermacol Cutting Crafts	YouTube

 

Trainings

S. No	Training	Trainers
1	Theatre Games	Mr. Vadivel
2	Yoga, Meditation	Mrs. Radhika, Ms. Krishma, Ms. Abhaya
3	Illustrations	Mr. Marion
4	Designing	Ms. Ramya

                                     

Field Trips

1	Valaiyapatti Village	Meeting with Farmer Palani
2	Tamukkam Ground	Government Exhibition

 

Screening: The Way Home

 

Physical Work Day: Cleaning Education centres in and around & Library

                                       

 

Healthy Snacks: Every day, children were provided with healthy snacks like mango, banana, jackfruit, watermelon groundnut, cassava, corn, curd rice, biscuits, ice creams, etc.

                                         

Madurai Seed - Margazhi Festival 2022

1. Arumbugal Arangam Inauguration on 29.12.2021

2. Margazhi Kolam - 30.12.2021

3. A Trip to Jain hills - 31.12.2021

4. Guest Speech - 01.01.2022

Children's Day

 Cherish the Childhood...

Madurai Seed children are simple, and joyful. Their happiness circle around being together with friends at Madurai Seed.

On this day, we had some splashing and fun time for them.

Special days are meant for special wishes from special friends of Madurai Seed. Artists Ravi Kumar, and Ravi Palatte, Teachers Suresh Kathan and Thilaga Rajan, Mrs. Indhumathi, Short film maker Rambo Kumar wished children through video and audios. Children were happy seeing them on screen and cheered up loudly.

Artist Ravi sir and Ravi Kumar sir conveyed their wishes through their paintings about childhood.

Suresh Kathan sir sent his wishes in recorded video in which he said that "Children are the opportunity for us, hope for us, refuge for us, comfort for us, and medicine for us! They are the glimmer of hope for family, teachers and the community. They play a big role in measuring our inner self, and pounding our mind through their simple and honest questions".

Teacher Thilaga Rajan sir sent his wishes in his beautiful voice by singing a song for children.

Then a short film about a girl child and her volley ball directed by Rambo Kumar was screened. The film itself was a message and greeting from him for our children.

Some fun games and quizzes speeded up the joy inside the children and young people.

A photo session of each class giving different poses with their friends was the highlight of this day. In their Diwali attire, we could see how fresh and beautiful their childhood is. It doesn't care about the future or the past, but does enjoy the present of being happy together.

At last, everyone was given samosa. Also, a petty shop opened for them where they can take any snack they want. Potato chips, traditional peanut candy, cookies, chocolates, honey candies, banana chips, and many items kept in front of them. They had what they wanted..

Later, we had a meaningful time listening to an article about Chacha Nehru read by Karthik. The write ups showed the challenges faced by Nehru to reconstruct India during and after famine in 1870s through his tireless efforts by ending starvation. The young people in this session read along with Karthik and learned about the role of Nehru during that time.

At the end, snacks and photo session for young people brought their childhood back.

Keep the childhood alive in you always, no matter how old you are. Let's celebrate every child not only on this special day but every day.

Clay - Story trail - Madurai Seed

 Kumarshah and Patricia from Clay Movement talked to the children of the Vandugal, Vergal, and Kanavugal separately on 9^th,10^th, & 11^th of November 2021. Drawing and colouring along with stories made the event very successful. For children of all ages, Kumar has known how to get along with them. Kumar is a traveller, story teller, and an artist.

The first day at the Vandugal Arangam was very lively. The curiosity of the children, the chitchats, mischief, and the excitement of the kids were truly amazing. Smiling, laughing, giggling children looked very beautiful. They talked moved freely with the resource person. Children asked Kumar to tell a ghost story. Kumar started to tell with actions, and ended that the story is a dream during his sleep. A boy in the middle is scared and said "Anna, tell us another story". Another girl added “this is not a scary story there are no ghosts”. The conversations developed very interestingly. Next the children were involved in story making. Kumar created a story along with children which involves a lion, a grandma, a snake, and a washing machine. Then papers, pens, and crayons were distributed among children.  The characters of the story were drawn and painted. The day ended colourfully as the joy and interest in drawing is more important than how neatly one draws.

The second day was for Vergal Arangam. The ghost story told on the first day came in a different form here, and the children enjoyed the climax of the story very much.  Kumar is known to capture the minds of children through stories. Stories bring adults closer to children. They sat in a circle and developed a story involving animals. Each person contributed a line for the story. They split the paper into four parts and drew the four scenes in the story. Kumar and Patricia assisted children in drawing, encouraged those who said we don’t know how to draw. Everyone came with nice drawings. Pictures were taken.

Third day was for Kanavugal Arangam who are adolescents. They also listened to stories but not ghost, animal, or fantasy story. It was the story of people, roads, nature and lands. It was the story of Kumarshah as a traveller. His talk was about what travelling teaches, how travelling fills the mind, how we can travel, and how vast the world around us is. Together with Kumar, Karthik Bharathi added about holistic education, how to look at the community, how to find learning in everything, how to link our studies in practical world, etc. Kumar Shah gave interesting answers to the children's questions. He told about his road trip in bicycle through many states of India which was very motivating. Then they drew a road map, marked important places and coloured them in.

Both stories and drawings both are very enjoyable for children. The resource persons linked the two in a joyful, creative manner. The children’s spirit was highly activated. This event was the first event, after the schools were opened after pandemic lockdown. It marked a special place in all of our hearts. Thanks to Kumarshah and Patricia.