From the 1998 Annual Report of TS, Adyar
The Olcott Memorial School is developing well, bpth academically and in other areas, under the guidance of Mrs Padma Srinath, who was appointed as Director of the school, and Dr Aruna, who is Coordinator of Studies with Mr G. Gautama as Secretary of the School. Dr Aruna is also Director of the Banyan Centre for Educators. The last annual check-up of children in the first three classes showed that no child suffered from manlnutrition, which may be attributed to the nutritious breakfast and midday meal provided. This is an achievement, considering the deprivation in which their families live. Improved health has helped children to perform better on the sports field. Teaqhers have benefited firom workshops organized by Banyan to upgrade skills and enlarge their perception of the educator's role. A year-long workshop on spoken En^ish, and another one on Mathematics curricula were very useful. Banyan will also collect data on careers and higher educational opportunities in order to guide children leaving school. The HPB hostel has now 30 children, which is about twice the number it had before. They receive much more educational support than earlier under the new Warden, Mr Anantapadmanabhan, assisted by Mrs Girija Rangarajan. The Social Welfare Centre has continued to serve pre-school children (of whom there are about 150} and their mothers. During the year, more than three thousand scouts, guides and children camped in our beautiful Besant Camping Centre. Among them were 98 deaf and dumb children and 58 tribal children from the neighbouring State of Karnataka. During their stay a number of children cleaned the beach as part of their study of environmental needs. A programme called ‘Dear Population* highlighted the multi¬ farious problems resulting from overpopulation. In all these camping activities, the emphasis was on cleanliness, character and protection of Nature. I take this opportunity to express hearty appreciation of the dedicated work done by the Director of the Camping Centre, Mr S. Venkataraman, and his colleague Mr Victor Frank.
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