Dear Rico/Dr.Gilbert, What we really need is people on the ground. Funding is not so difficult , though generosity of the funders helps. I would think of St. Thomas Boys High School and co-ed Higher Secondary School,run by the Fransalians in Aldona as a good place to promote the reading habit. They have ample built-up space for the library. Good newsmagazines and even professional magazines like Inside-Outside could trigger off some lateral thinking among the students. We could even help introduce books on environment,computers,floriculture,civil engineering,designing,plumbing,carpentry,household appliances,etc that can go into the reference section. St.ThomasGirls School is going to build new premises from September2003.Library development may make sense after another year.
St.Xavier'sHS,Moira and SFX HS,Siolim,are good places to invest in books for the school children.Nothing Hi-fi for the Moira school as the student pool is mostly of first generation learners with an average grasp of English. SFX in Siolim has a HSS section and caters to students from Siolim,and adjoining parts of Pernem. Even city schools could do with funds specifically granted for library books. An informal monitoring by person/s in Goa would improve the delivery of such a project. Aldona Institute, unfortunately ,has become a 'club' for card players. Only reading available here is the newspapers ( although it is registered as a 'reading club' ).The novels and magazines have disappeared. In the last AGM a proposal has been passed to appoint an office assistant to work for two hours each evening.Perhaps she/he can double up as a library assistant. In an Institute that is now unable to find a nominee for the post of the President( after struggling for a Treasurer last year), the less said,the better. Once a flourishing and vibrant club run by repatriates and retired gentlemen with activities round the year,the Aldona Institute is not even a shadow of its earlier self. I sacrificed my time for one year to bring its accounts round and to recover its records /assets .It has leased property in which stands its building that houses the post office(with rent revised for the first time in a quarter century during my Treasurership),has a licenced bar and a large hall that is hired for weddings/events.It has fixed deposits and an annual income of over 150 thousand rupees. Its Presidentship still has no takers,either at the AGM or in response to a notice put up by the Board of Trustees that is currently running its day to day affairs.Perhaps one of the Trustees should resign his post and take up the challenge. I will consider a nomination to be his Secretary,if that post also has no takers . Regards, Miguel ----- Original Message ----- From: "Frederick Noronha ( Subject: [Goanet] English skills, the reading habit... > > Suggestions from Gilbert Lawrence: > > How about statewide or district wide essay writing competitions? How > > about spelling bees in schools, villages, talukas and state-wide? How > > about debating competitions? How about elocutions competitions? > > > > If schools and teachers are too busy, the Parent-teachers Associations can take the > > lead. Rotary, Lions, can also lead and provide the > > backing. But it has to start with one or a core group of interested > > person(s)... And don't get the government involved. Fred responded: > Perhaps before you joined this network (Goanet), we were talking about the > possibility of expats and locals joining hands to build and support > magazine reading centres in local schools and institutions. > > We had then calculated that for the sum of US$100 per year, it was > possible to get access to 25 or so magazines, each month, for an entire > year. Four to five schools in Goa have already taken up this initiative > in some way. In Saligao, my neighbourhood school which Florina D'Souza > and others supported, the school claims students are doing better in > inter-school competitions after the attempt to spread the reading habit. > > In Aldona, the initiative was supported by Frank D'Abreu and another > individual offered the support. It took longer than expected to however > get off the ground at the Aldona Institute... and happened in a smaller > than anticipated way. I've not been able to keep track since. > But to make this work, one needs (i) supporters abroad, not so difficult > to find and (ii) good implementors at the ground, who can push things > further and share the dream. But the latter is more difficult to locate. > > Well it's worth trying? Unless we attempt it, we'll never know.FN > P.S. Finding the right partners in your village is usually the most difficult part of > the job, and one doesn't have any easy ideas on this. > > PPS: At the end of the day, this is a tiny initiative toward tackling on a > wider problem. The lack of reading among Goans... But it's something *we* > can perhaps do within our own abilities...FN --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.491 / Virus Database: 290 - Release Date: 6/18/2003 ########################################################################## # Send submissions for Goanet to [EMAIL PROTECTED] # # PLEASE remember to stay on-topic (related to Goa), and avoid top-posts # # More details on Goanet at http://joingoanet.shorturl.com/ # # Please keep your discussion/tone polite, to reflect respect to others # ##########################################################################