Spoken English course - Inauguration April 2011

In order to bridge the communication gap among students from rural schools, Parasuram Salammal Trust has started a new “Spoken English” course this year. This program will involve a full month of spoken English training to the students from Allinagaram Govt. School. The twin objectives of the program are:

• Help the students to improve their communication skills in English
• Boost the confidence of the students while using English as their communication medium

The Inaugural function of the course was held on April 8, 2011 at the school premises. This function was primarily organized so that Dr. Parasuraman, who is the course co-coordinator and tutor could spend some time with the students and understand their expectations from the course. He also broadly outlined the program of the course and stated that he deliberately did not want to organize the course in the school as this would give the students a “boring” atmosphere. The month-long course will be conducted in Dr. Parasuraman’s house.

The Headmaster of the school Mr. Abduljappar in his speech thanked the Trust for choosing their school students for this program. While praising the efforts of the Trust, he advised the students to make full-use of this golden opportunity. Dr. Anburajan, a member of the Trust, spoke about the importance of English and recollected memories of his school days, when his principal insisted on the importance of English as a communication tool. He said that he greatly benefited from her advice and requested the students to continue practicing what they learnt in the course after its completion also. 

Selvi. Dhanalakshmi, who spoke on the behalf of the students, thanked the school and the Trust for organizing the course free of cost for the students. A total of 32 students (from Std X & XI) from the school have volunteered and benefit from this course, which is done on a trial-basis this year. The course would start from the first week of May.

Special Model Exams - Jan 2011

Model exams are conducted with the objective of helping the students to brush up their knowledge when they are preparing for their XII std Board exams. Students from private schools have the privilege of preparing themselves thoroughly through several such examinations conducted by their schools. In order to provide the students from rural schools also with the same examination experience, Parasuram Salammal Trust organised special model exams last year for students from 3 government schools. This year the same program was expanded to benefit XII std students from 5 Govt schools around Theni district. A total of 331 students enthusiastically took the special model exams in Physics, Chemistry & Mathematics in January 2011. The answer sheets were evaluated by experienced teachers, who  gave detailed comments on how to improve the performance of the students. There was excellent support and co-operation from the Principals and staff members of the schools in conducting the model exams. They remarked that such model exams motivated the students to perform better in the final Board examinations. They requested the Director of the Trust, Mr. Asokan to continue these efforts in future too.

School	No. of students	Name of Principal
Allinagaram	91 students	Mr. R Abduljappar
Koduvilarpatti	35 students	Mrs. Chellapappu
Lakshmipuram	95 students	Mr. Vasudevan
Gandamanoor	77 students	Mr. Maharajan
Veerapandi	33 students	Mr. Vairusamy

Rather than being just a simulation exercise, the Trust went a step further and awarded prizes to the students who secured the first three ranks in the respective schools, as we believe that when students are awarded for their excellence, their confidence boosts up.

School	1st Rank	2nd Rank	3rd Rank
Allinagaram	N. Surulivel	M.Gopinath	P.Nivetha
Koduvilarpatti	A.Arun Kumar	L.Prabakaran	G.Thirumani
Lakshmipuram	G.Abinaya	S.Anupriya	M.Nalla Jeeva
Gandamanoor	S.Sridevi	P.Satheesh Kumar	A.Saravanan
Veerapandi	R.Dhanalakshmi	R.Sivasakthi	T.Ranjith Kumar

As a part of the awards-presentation ceremony, the Trust, along with the Rotary Club of Theni, organised a motivation-cum-career guidance program for XII std students on January 22, 2011. Prof R. Mohanasundaram from C.P.A college, Bodinayakanur gave a 90-minute speech to the XII students about the ways and means of preparing for the examination in a  better way. He gave a few tips to the students as to how to plan their future careers and what courses they should opt for. He also took an IQ test to kindle the interest among the students. It received an excellent response from the students, which pleasantly surprised the teachers also. The Headmaster of the Allinagaram Govt. school, Mr. Abduljappar commented that he had never seen his students participate in a motivational session with so much of interest and enthusiasm and looked forward to more such activities not just for XII students, but for the rest of the students of the school also. He also hoped that with the support of the Rotary Club and the PST more such projects will be organised for the students of the school. 

Our sincere thanks to Mr. Dhanam, Ms. Amirtham and Mr. Pannerselvam for evaluating the Maths, Physics and Chemistry exam papers of the students.

Computer Courses for students - May 2011

Knowledge of computers has become an essential requirement in today's technology-driven world, irrespective of one's career or field of work. With the objective of introducing the world of computers to the students from the rural Govt. schools, PST arranged computer courses for 5 deserving students in VET Centre @ Theni.

S.No	Name of the Student	Computer Course	Remarks
1	S. Padmanaban	Senior DCA	Secured 1st Mark in X Std Exam, Konduraja School
2	N. Surulivel	Senior DCA	Secured 1st Rank in PST XII Std Model Exam, Govt School Allinagaram
3	M. Gopinath	Summer DCP	Secured 2nd Rank in PST XII Std Model Exam, Govt School Allinagaram
4	N.  Balamurugan	DTP	Secured 2nd Rank in PST XII Std Model Exam, Govt. School Koduvilarpatti
5	L. Prabakaran	Senior DCA	Secured 1st Rank in PST XII Std Model Exam, Govt. School Koduvilarpatti

The courses were selected based on the students' proficiency with computers and also their interest. These courses, which normally cost Rs. 1100, were offered at a subsidised rate of Rs. 200, as they were referred by the Trust. The fees of Rs. 200 for the course was also sponsored by PST for all the students. The students, who underwent these courses during the months of summer vacation (April-May) have found them extremely useful. Master Gopinath remarked that the course gave him  much needed exposure to computers, which he has never seen before.