A routine day

Every morning a blue school bus picks up the children (and me) from several places. The staff reaches the school at 9, while the children come in several waves (depending on what time the school bus picks them up) between 9 and 10. At 10 breakfast is served. The type of breakfast follows a weekly rota: bread and jam, idli (little balls made of lentil and rice paste, see the picture below), uppma (toasted semolina with spices and freshly grated coconut) and bananas, kuttum (made with rice) with chickpeas and dosa (fluffy omelettes made with lentil and rice paste). The first chai of the day is served at breakfast (see my previous post “sipping chai”).

Classes start at 10.20. Each class lasts 50 minutes and there is a 15 minutes break between the second and third class. Children follow classes of Malayalam (the local language), Hindi (the national language), English, General Science, Social Science, Math, Biology, Physics, Crea (drawing and handcrafts) in the morning. The children are divided in 5 groups, depending on their preparation and age.

Lunch is served at 1. The first to be served is the youngest among the students, while the staff lines at the back. The menu follows a monthly rota. Most of the times it consists of rice with vegetables and fish/chicken/beef or egg curry. At least once a week noodles or chapatti are served. On Friday also a piece of fruit or sweet rice is served! I am still amazed by the huge quantity of rice that people manage to eat daily... it is probably an amount that I wouldn’t even eat in 1 week!! Meals are eaten exclusively with the right hand, as the left hand is considered impure in India.

At 2 pm classes start again. In the afternoon children attend Yoga, Dance, Computer and Sport classes. Seventeen years old students work part-time at the Social Employment Project (see my previous post “A good heart and strong will”), so that they learn a job and get an idea of what it means to work.

At 4 pm it’s chai time again! Then the students leave, and the so-called tuition students come (always by school bus). These are previous students of the school who now go to state school. Until 6 pm teachers help them revising and preparing for their exams. I think it is a great idea to keep a connection, so that the children don’t feel abandoned once they leave SISP for state school. Also, they serve as a good example for their friends at SISP, who might want to join them in their new school.

At 6 pm the bell rings (or actually, the secretary hits a metal disc with a hammer.. truly deafening if you happen to be nearby!), everyone leaves and the school is left to the two watchdogs until the next morning.

For more pictures, please visit Friends of SISP Facebook page and click on "Daily life at SISP" album:

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