Grace Model School

My roommate, Priya, has been volunteering at a school in Old City for a few weekends now. So today, I decide to tag along.

Grace Model School is a low-cost private school; tuition is Rs 80/month (a little less than $2). Started about nine years ago, there are currently 350 students enrolled in the school.

The school recently opened a library, which is open three hours a day after classes (school is six days a week). Charging just Rs 10/month (about 25 cents) to interested students enrolled in the school, it became profitable in its first month alone. This library is where we volunteered today. To say we "taught English" is definitely a huge overstatement... but we did have fun with the kids. Separating the group of about 35 by age, we read (and acted and drew) Goldilocks and the Three Bears... followed by singing "I'm a Little Teapot" -- by far their favorite activity of the hour, followed by a close second of *screaming* each letter that was drawn on the board.

One of the star pupils was Riaz (posing below), a very bright 12-year old. Talking to Ember, who is a Fellow working with the school this year, I was surprised to hear that there is a sharp drop in enrollment of boys at around sixth grade. In the communities where our hospitals run, I am used to hearing about the drop in girls enrollment at around age 14. She talked about many of the boys staying home to work with their fathers.

The afternoon was amazingly fun. But more than that, it's a sharp reminder of things we take for granted in the US.