Jhalak School
Baruipur, West Bengal, India

Background:
The Jhalak School opened in February 2007 in Baruipur, India (near Kolkata). This new school is designed to complement the existing government school by operating outside of normal school hours, providing help with homework and education in topics not covered by the government schools. Because this is a newly developed program in the village, there is a great deal that a Fellow could do to contribute and add to the school.

Opportunities:
Computer Set-Up/Training
One possible project for a fellow would be to set up computer equipment and train the teachers at the school how to use the computer. The fellow could help develop a curriculum for the computer training and opportunities for the children to use the computer.

Evaluating/Developing Curriculum at Jhalak School
The curriculum at the Jhalak School is still being formed and revised. A fellow could research useful curriculum that would complement what is being taught in the government schools. They could work with the teachers and students to evaluate and improve the instruction for most impact.

Adult Learning/ Women's Classes
The fellow could investigate the possibility of running an adult learning curriculum at the school. This would require the fellow to get information about when adults may be able to come to the school and what they would be interested in learning. Particular attention could be spent on women's skills for income generation.

Commercial Fishing Project
The village is currently reliant on subsistence farming, but also has many ponds that could be used for commercial fishing. A fellow could research the details of how commercial fishing could be done in the village – what fish are commercially viable and how they can be grown. Then training would need to be developed for the people in the village.

Qualifications:
Local people speak Bengali, so familiarity with Bengali would be an advantage but is not required. The school principal and project supervisor speaks English.

Supervisor:
Sita Roy, Principal of Jhalak School

Sita does not currently have email access, so interested students should contact the school founder in order to develop more detailed project plans:
Piali De, Founder
978.858.1028 (Work); 978.456.8577 (Home)
Piali_De@Raytheon.com; depiali@earthlink.net