Afterschool Today...Make Children's Day Happy for ALL Children!

A day celebrating childhood! Your children will have a great day at school - with games, plays, competitions, and maybe sweet treats! How about a differently pitched programme for afterschool?

As children, they do have a responsibility for other children not as privileged as they are. How about a gentle reminder of this reality afterschool? After all, children's day is not just about feeling smug about yourself - it is about making sure that every child gets a safe, nurturing childhood.

Here are a few resources that can help:

UNICEF has a collection of good online games - children can learn about (and take action - though virtual) issues such as sanitation, water supply, fund raising for development, etc. Here is the link.

For a detailed report on the profile of children in India (health, nutrition, education,...) from the Government of India, click here.

Wishing a truly happy children's day for all children.

Local History for Afterschool

Every city, town or village has its own history. While children may find world or national history boring - local history full of familiar names and places is bound to capture their attention.

Resources on local history are not easy to come by - unless you have a good circle of 'old friends' or enough money to buy coffee table books on city history!

The good folk weaving words on the internet however may have something for you! Here for instance is a great resource on Hyderabad at Narendra Luther's blog.

India for Afterschool!

India and loads of it - a great resource on India is Kamat's Potpourri. It is about 'history, mystery and diversity' of India - and it has about 18000 pictures - yes, 18000! There is so much on this site that you can browse and browse... Let me share one way I 'used' it - I hope to include art appreciation in my afterschool programme. I found a great deal about Indian painting on the site - from the cave paintings of Madhya Pradesh to Madhubani paintings to Moghul miniature painting...

Just how many Afterschool Programs out there?

There are several afterschool centres in Indian cities - but how many are there? what do they offer? This is one area where a rigorous search is needed.

They are several websites listing classifieds - one such site on Hyderabad city lists 120 entries under the category afterschool activities. Searching the same site for dance and music classes threw up 83 entries for music and 122 entries for dance. Even after accounting for cross-listing, that is a substantial number for one city. How about Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai? How about smaller cities and towns? A quick search only frustrated me - I know that there are lots - but they are not being captured!