GEMS is an aptly named school. It's truly a gem of a school in the Indian Himalayas. Over 200 village children are receiving a high quality education. Today was Paul's first opportunity to visit this special school, and he was impressed. He's more than delighted that he'll have a chance to help out here while we're in India!
GEMS stands for Garhwal English Medium School. The school was founded 4 years ago by Lori and Kunwar Chauhan in order to "...offer a world class education so [the children of their area] might pull themselves out of poverty, and in turn help their communities...". The challenges are daunting, but GEMS is already making a significant difference in the lives of the children and families it serves.
As illustrated by these images taken yesterday morning, the children of GEMS are beautiful, and they are without doubt engaged and enthusiastic learners!
As illustrated by these images taken yesterday morning, the children of GEMS are beautiful, and they are without doubt engaged and enthusiastic learners!
Here are the children of GEMS singing the Indian national anthem, and then a verse of the English hymn 'Amazing Grace' during opening exercises.
Engaged learners...what a beautiful sight! I am going to share these images with my students to inspire them! Glad you are there, Paul!
ReplyDeleteI don't see the girls singing. They are in the pictures above though. Are there many girls in the school and do they go all the way to graduation?
ReplyDeleteThis school currently goes through Class 7. Next year, the plan is to add Class 8. I was too busy shooting the video to notice who was and who wasn't singing!
ReplyDeleteThe boys and girls were practicing the hymn for an upcoming event. The boys were singing one verse and the girls another. We have about 35% girls. We hope to increase this over time.
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