Welcome to the program
Slides 1
School to School
Intermediate primary school cycle (8-10 year olds)
Slides
Slides 1 and 2
KNOWING INDIA
Knowing India
Slides 2
You have probably heard about India, but what do you know about
this country? Could you list three things you know about India? Do
you know where it is?
Knowing India
In this map of the world we can see that India is in Asia, a different
continent to ours, which is Europe. India is one of the largest countries in the world. It’s six times larger than Spain. It’d takes more than a week, nonstop, to drive around
India.
As a large country, it is bordered by many other countries. To the north are China, Nepal, Pakistan and
Bhutan. On the east there are two other countries: Bangladesh and Myanmar. On the south there is the
Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean, which is the third largest ocean on Earth.
India is the second most populous country in the world. There are more than one billion people. Spain
only has forty million. The only country that has more people that India is China, which has a hundred
million more than India.
22 different languages are spoken in India, depending on the region. The main language is Hindi, which
has been established as India’s official language and English, which is spoken in business and politics.
The reason that they speak English is because India was a British colony for 200 years until 1947.
In India there are also a variety of religions. There are Christians, Muslim, Jewish ... but mostly there are
Hindus. Most people are Hindus and Hinduism is important even for the government. Hinduism, unlike
Christianity, for example, is polytheism, i.e. they worship many gods, not just one.
In this map of India you can see some of the main cities in the country as well as its capital city, New
Delhi. There are 28 states in India, which are like the Spanish regions. Schools working with the Vicente Ferrer Foundation are in the state of Andhra Pradesh. It’s that state on the south by the ocean. The
Foundation carries out different projects there for the most disadvantaged people.
Before we continue we will greet like they do in India: for that, you put your hands together as if praying
and say: “Namaste” (“I greet the light of God shining in you”).
Program School to School
Welcome to the program
School to School
Slides 3
Intermediate primary school cycle (8-10 year olds)
Slides
Slides 3, 4 and 5
RURAL AND URBAN AREAS
Most people in India live in the countryside, in rural areas. Living conditions in these areas are different from ours: the houses and huts in
small villages often have no electricity or drinking water.
n areas
Rural and urba
Slides 4
The conditions of the houses of the poorest families in rural areas of
Andhra Pradesh are not sufficient to live a decent life. When these
people lose their jobs or can’t harvest because of drought, they often migrate to the cities to seek new opportunities. Sometimes, the
conditions in cities are even worse.
Rural and urban areas
Slides 5
Although most people live in the countryside, cities are overcrowded. There are many people and loads of pollution.
There are also modern neighbourhoods, with skyscrapers and large
buildings. They are great cars and there are restaurants and luxury
hotels. But very close to them, there is the opposite side: there are
very poor areas and slums with very narrow and unpaved alleys.
There, its inhabitants have no access to basic services such as electricity or running water.
Program School to School
n areas
Rural and urba
Welcome to the program
School to School
Intermediate primary school cycle (8-10 year olds)
Slides 6
Slides
Slide 6
THE CASTES
In this picture you can see a pyramid that explains how castes are
organized in India. Do you know what castes are? Had you heard
this word before?
The castes
Caste is the social organization system in India: people belong to the same caste as their family and that
can never be changed. Although people of different castes work and collaborate with each other, they
hardly ever mix socially. Each caste has its own rules and worship different gods. Each caste also plays
a different role in society.
According to holly texts, the Brahmins are at the top of the pyramid. They are the priests, who represent
the intellectual class. Then, there are the chátriyas: warriors, nobles, administrators ... they have a duty to
protect and defend others. In the third step are the Vaishyas, the merchant people in charge of creating
wealth. The caste on the bottom is the Sudras. They are the artisans and labour who have to do the physical work. In practice, this translates into many different sub-groups in each of the links in this pyramid.
The caste system comes from the Hindu religion. People who are Christian, Muslim or other religions are
outside the system and belong to the group called OC (“other castes”). There are people who change
their religion from Hinduism to Christianity, for example. In theory, if a person changes religion, they change caste, right? However, the community, their closest environment, will never forget the caste to which
this person and their ancestors belonged, and will continue to try them the same way.
At the bottom of the caste system are the so-called unprivileged castes, and outside of it are the Dalits
(who were called “untouchables”), and the tribal groups. Traditionally, Dalits have been responsible for
the works that are considered impure: cleaning bathrooms, picking up trash, or carrying out the crematoria of people who have died. The tribal people traditionally lived in the forest or sold clothing and
accessories and read hands. The unprivileged castes have always worked for others.
The FVF works with Dalits, tribal groups and unprivileged castes to fight the discrimination they are subjected to and offer them new opportunities.
Program School to School
Welcome to the program
School to School
Intermediate primary school cycle (8-10 year olds)
Slides 7
Slides
Slides 7 and 8
AGRICULTURE
Agriculture is India’s main activity, particularly in Andhra Pradesh.
The main crops in India are wheat and rice, but in the state of Andhra Pradesh, peanuts are mainly grown since it’s a product that
resists the drought and the high temperatures of the area. The problem is that the price of peanuts in the market is very low and often
families do not make enough money out of it. When this happens,
either the father, or both father and mother of the family, are forced
to migrate to the city to find work. The sons and daughters stay in
the village with the rest of the family.
Agriculture
Slides 8
Agriculture
Both in Spain and India there are machines to work the toughest field, such as tractors or mechanical
plows. However, they are too expensive for the people the Foundation works with. For this reason they
work using their own strength and their animals.
Families usually have animals. Oxen are used for transportation or to carry out the work in the fields.
Thanks to the buffaloes, goats, cows or sheep, they get some milk to drink or to sell to make some
money. The excrement of oxen, cows and buffaloes is used as compost for fields.
In Andhra Pradesh there are big droughts. Therefore, the Foundation works in reforestation projects as
you can see on slide 8. Planting trees is a way to stop the desertification of the area.
Program School to School
Welcome to the program
School to School
Intermediate primary school cycle (8-10 year olds)
Slides 9
Slides
Slides 9 and 10
CLOTHING
Clothing
India is a country with a great variety of climates due to its size and
geographical location. But the climate in Andhra Pradesh is tropical
or semi-arid depending on the area. This means it’s quite hot all year.
That’s why families like the one in the photo are dressed in fresh and
light clothes. In this family photo you can see they are all barefoot:
it is their tradition to remove their shoes or sandals before entering
places like temples or homes. Thus, dirt does not get in.
Slides 10
Clothing
Women, whether young, adults or elderly, wear very pretty dresses
called saris. Saris are a piece of very long fabric, about five meters
long, which is wrapped around the body over the underwear.
Southern men often wear a garment called lungui. It consists of a fabric that is wrapped below the waist
and is very comfortable for walking because it rises above the knee. It is very common among farmers
because it allows them to move freely around the fields.
Girls tend to use a Punjabi, consisting of baggy trousers and a light and a long shirt that covers the waist
and part of the trousers.
Women often wear earrings and jewellery and many of them have a red dot on the forehead called bindi.
The bindi was previously used to indicate that a woman was married, but that meaning has been lost
and now it is only used as body decoration. Even many young people prefer to change the colour of the
bindi so it is no longer just red.
Program School to School
Welcome to the program
School to School
Intermediate primary school cycle (8-10 year olds)
Slides 11
Slides
Slides 11 and 12
HOME
The most common type of house for the people of Andhra Pradesh
is the straw hut. There are also small family houses as you can see in
the picture. These are houses built by the Vicente Ferrer Foundation
for some of the families in the area.
Home
Slides 12
The houses usually have two very defined parts: one, to sleep in and
as a common living area, and the other one for cooking. The latest is
normally used only by women.
Home
Women often choose to cook outside the houses, since it hardly
ever rains. They don’t want to fill the house with smoke and cooking
odours. The smoke is very bad for your health and can cause respiratory diseases.
The porch of the houses is the place where they usually spend most of their time. In India, life is very
social and they spend much time on the street with their neighbours. As you can see in the picture, the
houses are built on a small height step. This serves to protect the families of animals such as scorpions
or snakes, and to avoid possible flooding in the house.
On holidays or important celebrations, women draw a rangoli on the floor or at the entrance of the houses. The rangoli is a colourful welcoming symbol. It protects the house and brings good fortune. It is said
that at dawn, the goddess of fortune, Lakshmidevi, walks through the villages. Women paint a rangoli on
their doorstep each morning to persuade her to enter into their house and spread her gifts to the family.
Every woman tries her best to make hers the most beautiful, to attract the goddess and get her to enter
her house.
Program School to School
Welcome to the program
School to School
Intermediate primary school cycle (8-10 year olds)
Slides 13
Slides
Slide 13 and 14
THEIR DAY TO DAY
There are many things in your daily life that are done with water:
showering, cooking, drinking, watering the plants... So what would
you do if you did not have running water in your house?
Their day to day
Slides 14
The lack of drinking water is one of the main problems of the region
due to the drought. Most families do not have running water in their
homes, and have to go to nearby wells and springs to get water
every day to cook, drink, wash or clean. Families living near a river or
lake usually bathe there.
The food in India is mainly based on cereals, vegetables and legumes, even for breakfast. The most common way to eat in India is
sitting on the ground and taking the food from bowls with the right
hand (the left hand should not be used for eating). This is the traditional way of eating in every home, same as we use cutlery or in other
countries, sticks.
Their day to day
Children have free time to play outdoors, swim in the rivers and lakes and play popular sports. The most
famous sport in India is cricket, which is the national sport. However, in Andhra Pradesh some people
play more kabbadi (similar to the tissue game) or the Kho Kho (similar to the run and catch game).
Program School to School
Welcome to the program
School to School
Intermediate primary school cycle (8-10 year olds)
Slides 15
Slides
Slides 15 and 16
FVF COMPLEMENTARY SCHOOLS
The Vicente Ferrer Foundation has built several complementary
schools in the state of Andhra Pradesh. They are called complementary because they “complement” the classes received in the public
schools of India. The children go to schools in the FVF for half an hour
before class in the morning, and again for two hours after school in
the afternoon. They need to complement their studies, since there
are about 50 children per teacher in the public schools.
In the over a thousand FVF schools, classes are taught to support
children on the most difficult subjects like math, science or Telugu,
which is the language of the Andhra Pradesh region. Teachers also
help children with their homework and teach them games and dances.
FVF complementary schools
Slides 16
tary schools
FVF complemen
Children, especially girls, in the poorest areas need this additional support. In some cases they miss
classes because their family chooses for them to help out at home or on the fields. To catch up with the
rest of kids, they have to work hard.
This year we will prepare some material for the schools in Andhra Pradesh, to explain to the children
there how Spain is and what our schools are like.
At the same time, at the end of the school term, we will receive the material that the Indian students
from the FVF have prepared for us, and so we’ll have a better understanding of what life in that part of
the world is like.
Program School to School