Power cuts and schools in Chennai

The power cuts are here to stay in Chennai.

One and half hour daily in the city limits and three hours in the suburbs. Newspapers and television channels talk on how it affects the industries, workplace and domestic life. Here is an article in today’s Times of India on the effect of power cuts in schools.

Yes, classes under the tree shades is an option now. But with the onset of monsoon in late September / October this would not be the best option.
Generators / inverters and other options are costlier, which means if the school installs them, there will be a hike in the school fee!
The schools with hi-tech facilities like plasma TVs and A/Cs in every classroom may not be able to do with alternate energy sources during the power cuts, as catering to high-consumptions is very difficult through gensets.

One of the teachers I know said, she would experience the power cut at home from 6 am to 7.30 am and leave at 7.30 am to reach the reach the school at 8 am. And there it is 7.30 to 9 am. With the humid weather and no breeze these days, she says she sweats for 3 hours in the morning and this drains her energy away for the whole day!

The same should be the experience of the students living in the same area!

So,what does your school do to manage the situation?
How do you manage your time to do your homework and complete your studies after coming home?
And what in your opinion can solve this problem?

One of my kutty friends suggested why not produce energy out of something which is available in plenty but remain useless. He suggested producing energy out of the noise produced by vehicles during the peak hours!

Hey, if you have any such crazy ideas, do share them here!

Comments

1. September 2, 2008 @ 5:10 pm, by Ramji

   Its too hot in the afternoons to be under a tree or in the open. So alternate source is the only solution. More innovators will be on the job now I guess

Safe surfing of the Net

Have Google and the Chennai City Police come to your school this week?

Yeah, the IT major – Google has joined hands with the cops to guide the students to be net-smart. After all the kids of today turn to the Net for every project of theirs!

But the operation of visiting schools, issuing booklets and guiding is restricted to 12 schools in the city, the reports say. So what do we do for the rest of the kids, who also would benefit if they too get the guidance.

We invite kids who received the booklet from Google and City Police to share the information with others.

You can host put them on your own blog.
Or send your request to be a contributor to YOCee’s blog and put them up here.
Or just sit with your friends and read to them.

To start with here’s CBBC’s guidelines on safe surfing.

Websites of Chennai schools

Recently I came across an article in The Times of India about Chennai schools becoming smarter online.

I felt it was an encouraging trend that the kids and their parents need not always check with their classmates or the parents of their classmates for information they miss at the school.
The info now would be available online.
After all, many parents are cyber savvy these days!

I became curious and clicked on the websites of popular schools in Chennai. What I saw online was quite contrary.
Not many links opened here and no updates on this site. A blank page opened in the news section and the last year’s details are only available under achievements section! Some are fairly updated though the events for this year are yet to find place.
Of course I came across a well maintained and updated website too.

Have you ever looked at your school’s website? Do you see updated information or your parents get to know what the school is doing beyond the activities of your class?

If not so far, please have a look at the website of your school now!

Many teachers like Mrs. Trebilcock have a homework blog which the students and parents can check on a daily basis. (The US schools are enjoying their vacation now. So you will find the last post in this blog in June 2008)
And some teachers of professional courses like Ms. Kalnay have online dialogue and assign homework using blogs!

Do you think such a system will work in Chennai schools? Will the schools make all information available online for the kids and parents? If security is a threat, why not with a password for students and parents?
Do share your thoughts!

But why the websites once made for the schools are not updated? Don’t you think it is necessary? Do you talk to your teachers about the importance of keeping the school’s website current?

The forum is open to you!

Comments

1. August 18, 2008 @ 11:31 am, by Balaji

   Revathi, I’d like to share with the readers a Chennai school web site that I liked: http://www.theschoolkfi.org/ The School by KFI.

Power Shortage!

Posted by Saniya Surana

We all hear about the approaching end of Earth’s resources, but do we really do something to secure the next generation’s future? Well, the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board has taken an initiative to cut down a little on the ever-rising power usage in the city. They have decided to suspend power for an hour everyday in Chennai and for two-hours in its suburbs.

The electricity board has guaranteed to cut the power only during the daytime, mostly between 10am and 6pm, so students are not disturbed and people will not have to spend sleepless nights after a long day. They have assured people that even the residents’ of politicians and other influential people will not be exceptions.

Weaving into a story

Do you love short stories? Do you read the kids’ magazines – Gokulam, Chandamama, Dimdima? Then you should have also read the stories by Geeta Canpadee, a writer for children.

When she spins a new story, she mails them to magazines. After they are published in print, she lets the world read it online. Yes, she publishes them on her blog.

Isn’t it a good idea?

Now, YOCee will let you know whenever she puts up her story online through this blog! Here’s a new story by Geeta aunty!

You can also read the scanned pages from the magazines where her stories are published.
But if you want to read all the stories and have fun reading the fresh-smelling magz, you should buy a copy!

We alert. You read and buy!

Good Tree

Posted by Saniya Surana

Are you concerned about Earth and its residents? If your answer is yes, then ask yourself whether you have ever fought for the cause you are deeply concerned about? I am sure a few have done so as most of us think – ‘What can I alone do anything?’

But we people tend to forget this famous determination quote – “Where there is a will; there is a way”. Yes, even you can make a dent in the hearts and minds of people without paying a penny or even exercising your limbs except for you hands to click on the mouse! You may still wonder ‘How’. Here’s a simple solution: What you need to do is just sign up on Good Tree which is a web portal where you can get to know people who share feelings which are the same as yours and that too for the same cause as you are most concerned about. You may wonder; how you can make a difference by just signing up this web portal and maybe even telling a few people about it. The catch here is that; whatever you do on this site is tracked down and revenue is generated which is given for charity, thus you can help those needy or even reduce the global warming with a simple click of your mouse! So, friends what are you waiting for? Go ahead and sign up.

Witch in a school?

Witch? In a school?
That’s weird!

But not for the kids of Warboys Community Primary School in Cambridgeshire in UK!
They love the witch on their school logo and want it to continue even when there was a poll on new logos proposed.
Read the story from CBBC Newsround here!

Does your school’s logo has something different on it?
What do you think is cool about your school’s logo and what is not?

Post a comment on this blog or mail to editor@yocee.in

Comments

1. July 5, 2008 @ 10:17 am, by Niranjan

   Should be a cool witch!

2. July 5, 2008 @ 10:20 am, by Dhanya

   cutieee… we dont have a weird logo for our school. at least not a witch..

3. July 5, 2008 @ 10:25 am, by Rana Preet

   lovely if it does not shoo away the children :0

4. July 23, 2008 @ 9:50 pm, by r.yashmini

   i wish it was on my school’s logo.

5. September 20, 2008 @ 2:30 pm, by Ani

   Cool:)