Annual
Report
2022
A year of quality education, digital learning, nutrition and child protection for 105 Right to Education children at our Chetpet and Ayanavaram tuition centres.
The year in brief
Karma Corps submits this annual report for 2022 — a record of the year's work towards the holistic wellbeing of the Right to Education children in our care. It covers quality education and digital learning, a safe environment, healthy nutrition, and the protection of every child at the centre.
The year's aim was simple: remove the barriers in front of these children. Free and quality tuition, access to digital learning, healthy food every day, and full supervision for every hour a child spends with us.
Karma Corps invested in the infrastructure and equipment required by its child protection policy across both centres — Chetpet and Ayanavaram — serving 105 children in all.
The pages that follow give the data, records and updates for each part of the work: finance, education, technology, nutrition, safety, monitoring, health, housekeeping, celebration and awareness.
Scholarships awarded to 105 children
Laptops issued under the rental program
Learning time logged by children on IXL
Teaching and training hours by our teachers
People served a balanced snack every centre day
Partner organisations funded alongside our centres
- Overview
- Our children and centres
- The team
- Learning: IXL and teacher training
- Claiming the RTE seat
- Scholarships and parents' meeting
- Nutrition
- Laptops and technology
- Child protection and safety
- The centres: infrastructure and care
- Life at the centres
- Community support
- Finance
- In closing
The year at a glance
105 RTE children · Chetpet and Ayanavaram centres · ₹44,95,035 invested
| Programme | What happened | Figure |
|---|---|---|
| Education | Daily tuition at both centres — one hour online, one offline per child on IXL, with monthly leaderboards and twice-yearly diagnostic reports filed per child. | 635 hrs |
| Teaching | Five teachers, an education co-ordinator and a computer instructor, with Saturday training on methodology and lesson planning. | 1,040 hrs |
| Scholarships | Cheques handed to parents in two batches — 61 families in June, 44 in July — awarded on attendance and IXL work. | ₹9,73,500 |
| RTE advocacy | Three schools visited over fees demanded from RTE families; a grievance filed with the education department cut one family's bill from ₹35,916 to ₹14,495 the same day. | 3 schools |
| Technology | Laptops, dongles and headphones issued to classes 6 and 7 to take home, with signed agreements, a bilingual handbook and two home visits each. | 19 laptops |
| Nutrition | A freshly cooked balanced snack with coffee and RO water on all six centre days, checked before serving and recorded in a tasting register. | 100 served |
| Child protection | CCTV at both centres, biometric attendance, police verification for all staff, a POCSO session for 54 children, a complaint box and a December fire drill. | 13 cameras |
| Centres | Both centres repainted and refitted: air conditioning, RO water, new furniture, labs, UPS and Wi-Fi, extinguishers and smoke detectors. | 2 centres |
| Life at the centres | Monthly birthdays and storytelling, a picnic to VGP Universal Kingdom, Teachers' Day, Deepavali sweets, and Children's Day with seven competitions. | 106 on trip |
| Community support | Monthly grants to five partner organisations, plus ₹5,000 a month in family financial assistance at the Chetpet centre. | ₹98,000/mo |
| Total invested | Salaries, scholarships, devices, school fees, rent, nutrition, safety and celebrations across both centres, May–December 2022. | ₹44,95,035 |
105 children, two centres
Karma Corps runs tuition centres at Chetpet and Ayanavaram for children who hold Right to Education seats in private schools across Chennai. In 2022 we supported 82 children at Chetpet and 23 at Ayanavaram, studying in classes 2 to 7 across 22 schools.
Children by class
Both centres combined. Class 2 children attend Ayanavaram only; class 3 is the largest cohort at 41 children across the two centres.
Schools attended — Chetpet (82 children)
| School | Board | Children |
|---|---|---|
| Chinmaya Vidyalaya | CBSE | 16 |
| Union Christian | Matric | 15 |
| Sherwood Hall | CBSE | 13 |
| Lady Andal (Sir Mutha) | CBSE | 10 |
| Sri Krishnaswamy | Matric | 9 |
| MCC | Matric | 7 |
| Madras Seva Sadan, Our Lady, Sindi Model, Maharishi Vidya Mandir | Govt / Matric | 2 each |
| T. T. Arusu, Good Shepherd, Seventh Day Methodist, DAV | Matric | 1 each |
| Total | 82 |
Schools attended — Ayanavaram (23 children)
| School | Board | Children |
|---|---|---|
| Jaigopal Garodia | CBSE | 7 |
| ICF Silver Jubilee | Matric | 5 |
| Valliammal | Matric | 3 |
| Bharathi Vidyalaya, Bethel, Sri Krishnaswamy | Matric | 2 each |
| Maharishi, Danish Matriculation | Matric | 1 each |
| Total | 23 |
A full roster of enrolled children is maintained at each centre and is available to auditors and funders on request; individual names are not published here.
Thirteen people, one team
Our tuition centres are run by a team of thirteen: five teachers, a computer instructor, an education co-ordinator, an accounts manager, a programs director, two nutrition aides and two cleaning aides. Together they make sure every child gets good food, a safe environment and uninterrupted digital learning.
| Name | Role |
|---|---|
| Kavitha | Programs Director |
| Kothai Nayaki | Education Co-ordinator |
| Bhavani | Accounts Manager |
| Sharmila | Computer Instructor |
| Lizy, Shobana, Gladys, Hepsiba, Nivedha | Teachers |
| Kothai Ramani, Bharathi | Nutrition aides |
| Poongodi, Mangairkarasi | Cleaning aides |
Every member of staff has submitted a police verification certificate and a signed declaration that they have never been accused of an offence under child-related law, including the POCSO Act 2012 and the JJ Act 2015.
IXL, teacher training and toppers
IXL is the digital learning platform at the centre of our teaching. It covers the K–12 curriculum in mathematics, English language arts, science and social studies, and it lets each child work at the level they are actually at rather than the level their class assumes.
Maths practice covers equations, graphs, fractions and comparison; language work focuses on grammar, vocabulary and comprehension. Children who master a skill are awarded virtual prizes, and the platform's diagnostic reports tell teachers exactly where each child is strong and where they need help.
Every child has an IXL username and password created by our co-founder, and works on a laptop or a lab monitor at the centre. Teachers meet every Saturday for training — study methodology, lesson planning, how to guide a child through a concept, and IXL updates. These sessions were begun by our co-founder and are now led by the education co-ordinator.
Each month the ten children who answered the most questions are named on the IXL leaderboard and receive certificates and gifts. Diagnostic reports are printed twice a year and filed in each child's folder, alongside school mark sheets collected from parents.
Every centre day per child — one hour online, one hour offline
Total learning time logged by children in 2022
Teaching, training and lesson planning by our teachers
Claiming the RTE seat
An RTE seat is only worth what a school honours. Several of our families were being asked for fees they do not owe. Our team took each case to the school, and where that failed, to the education department.
Fees demanded from one RTE family, reduced the same afternoon our co-founder and programs director filed a grievance with the Director of Matriculation Schools and the Chief Educational Officer.
The visits
- T. T. Arusu Matriculation. Two visits by the programs director over heavy fees demanded from a class 7 RTE child. The school reduced the amount.
- Sindi Model. Two school visits, then a grievance filed at the DPI office with Director Mr Karupusamy and Joint Director Ms Anandhi, and a second copy filed with the Chief Educational Officer. Fees were reduced from ₹35,916 to ₹14,495 within hours. The family later returned with a thank-you letter for the officials.
- ICF Silver Jubilee. A visit with two mothers over ₹13,053 in fees and ₹2,780 in book charges for two class 3 children who had received only seven books. The school maintains its position, but the pressure on the families stopped.
₹9,73,500 in scholarships to 105 children
Scholarships help families buy what school demands — book fees, uniforms, shoes and bags — and they are also a token of appreciation for a child's effort and attendance. Awards were made on two criteria: the number of days a child attended the centre, and their work on IXL.
Cheques were handed to parents in two batches: 61 families on 25 June and 44 families on 2 July. Parents were reminded that absence and damage to rented devices both reduce the following year's award.
Parents' meeting, 16 May
Around 120 parents, children and staff attended the first parents' meeting of the year, held after the renovation and installation of new infrastructure so families could see the centre for themselves. Points covered:
- IXL learning and its role in each child's progress
- Academic coverage and digital learning content
- Mark sheets and school fee receipts now mandatory
- Leave and permission to be informed in advance
- A parent or sibling to drop and collect each child
- Suggestion and complaint box available to all families
- Regular attendance affects scholarship awards
- Care of rented laptops and devices is the family's responsibility
A balanced snack, every centre day
Children arrive at the centre straight from school. A cooked snack — carbohydrate, protein, fat, vitamins and minerals — is prepared fresh each day by our nutrition aides and served to about 100 people including staff, with coffee and safe drinking water on all six centre days.
The food does more than feed. It gives children energy for two hours of study, it makes the centre feel like home, and eating together at a table is how much of the day's talking gets done.
Menus rotate daily. Every batch is checked by the co-ordinator before it is served, and food quality and tasting are recorded in a register. Groceries are stored in sealed containers, and wire mesh on the kitchen windows keeps insects out.
Our nutrition aides were given aprons and hairnets this year — 70 hairnets and two aprons each — both for hygiene and for the professional standing the job deserves.
Laptops, labs and the rental program
On 17 June and 16 July, 19 children in classes 6 and 7 received a laptop of their own to use at home — 11 in class 7 and 8 in class 6 — each with a charger, a dongle and headphones.
How it works
- SIM and modem configured and tested at the centre before handover.
- A rental agreement in English and Tamil, signed with a self-declaration and an inventory of items issued.
- Handover of the laptop, charger, dongle, headphones and the rental handbook.
- A practical demonstration by our computer instructor on care and safe use.
Keeping it working
- Two home visits to every rental family during the year to check network, speed and actual use.
- Kaspersky installed on all machines; browsing history reviewed and reported.
- Reinstallation on laptops 13, 17 and 21; games uninstalled across the fleet.
- Six-month biometric attendance reports extracted for all children and staff.
What the children said
Seventeen of the nineteen rental students attended a feedback session with the programs director and education co-ordinator. Shy at first, they were drawn out with specific questions about how they use the machine.
They reported learning grammar, mathematics and general knowledge on their own; clarifying doubts the same day instead of waiting for class; a wider vocabulary; and real pride at having an expensive device trusted to their care.
Asha Kanini training, 9 July
Trainers Ms Nirmala and Ms Jeyasri ran a session on the new 112 GB version of the Asha Kanini app for our staff and the 19 rental students. The app works without a network after first download and is curriculum and language independent. The new version was installed on every monitor and laptop at both centres, and the session was filmed for future reference.
Safety is a system, not a promise
Karma Corps has adopted a Child Protection Policy that applies to management, staff, teachers, trainers, aides, volunteers, parents and visitors alike. Every child is treated with respect and dignity, and any report of abuse is acted on immediately.
CCTV, both centres
Thirteen cameras monitored regularly to confirm activity, identify intruders and ensure nothing goes unseen. No incidents were reported in 2022.
Biometric attendance
Fingerprint attendance for children and staff, so teachers spend their time teaching rather than taking registers.
Staff verification
Police verification certificates and signed affidavits on file for all thirteen staff, with standing instructions on conduct towards children.
Suggestion and complaint box
Placed where children and parents can reach it, so a concern can be raised anonymously and acted on.
Cyber safety
Kaspersky filtering on every machine, social networking blocked, supervised lab sessions and browsing reviews by the computer instructor.
Emergency preparedness
Three fire extinguishers, smoke detectors at both centres, a first aid kit, an evacuation map and a December fire drill for children and aides.
POCSO awareness and good touch / bad touch
Police Inspector Ms Amudha and Sub-Inspector Ms Chitra spoke to 54 children and our staff on the rights of children aged 0 to 18 and on the POCSO Act, with a demonstration on good touch and bad touch and clear instructions to report anything uncomfortable to an adult they trust. Child Line information and good touch / bad touch posters remain on the notice boards at both centres so children can read them at any time.
Child Safety Checklist 2022
Our annual safety checklist was completed and cross-checked for both centres across five sections: physical safety (building, electrical, fire, water, kitchen); emotional and personal safety; social safety (bullying, peer respect, grievance committee); emergency preparedness; and cyber safety.
The full checklist, with a recorded answer against every indicator, is held at each centre.
What we built and how we keep it
A large part of this year's investment went into the buildings themselves. Children attend more regularly when the room is cool, the toilet is clean and the lab works — so that is where the money went.
Building
Repainted, well-ventilated classrooms and computer labs; new furniture; four air conditioners for cooler rooms and cooler machines; clean toilets with soap, towels and handwashing posters.
Learning
Printer for study material, stationery stocked in advance, large notice boards, laptops and monitors for every child in the lab, a library of readable books, and a tripod for recording sessions.
Health and hygiene
Reverse osmosis drinking water, first aid kits, monthly disinfectant supply, a ventilated kitchen with sealed storage and wire-mesh windows, and health posters in the dining hall.
Electrical and electronic
Fitted and monitored switchboards with safety notices, UPS units, Wi-Fi and routers, monitor covers, and a television for group sessions.
Sanitation
Our cleaning aides Poongodi and Mangai at Chetpet and Bharathi at Ayanavaram clean daily with disinfectant; Kothai keeps the Chetpet kitchen and washes every vessel.
Records
Children's folders with diagnostic reports and mark sheets, food stock and tasting registers, device inventories, lesson plans and daily work registers — all updated as a matter of course.
Plants, indoors and out
Soil, manure, seeds, decorative stones and plants were bought for both centres and potted by the housekeeping aides, who water and tend them. The first flowers appeared this year.
A childhood, not just a syllabus
Birthdays. Every child's birthday is celebrated at their centre each month — a decorated room, a cake, candles, a song from everyone, and a gift worth ₹250 to ₹300, usually slippers or a tiffin box. It tells a child plainly that they are noticed.
Picnic to VGP Universal Kingdom, 1 October. After a pilot visit to three parks to compare rides, safety and food, VGP was chosen. A hired bus left Chetpet at 9.30 a.m. with 106 children and staff; the day covered rides, the zoo, the water ride, a 12D show and lunch, and everyone was home by evening.
Children's Day, 14 November. Celebrated at both centres with seven competitions — theme talk, miming, arts and craft, cooking without fire, solo dance, wealth out of waste and T-shirt design — followed by sweets, decorations and prizes.
Teachers' Day, 5 October. The children honoured the teachers and co-ordinator who spend their afternoons on them. Our programs director explained why the day is kept and whose birthday it marks; teachers, children and staff exchanged gifts and sweets.
Deepavali. Our founder Mr Sriram visited both centres before the festival, spoke with the children and handed out sweets to every child and staff member.
Storytelling. A monthly session at both centres. Teachers and children tell stories with props — on friendship, kindness to animals, politeness, turning an obstacle into an opportunity — which is how values are best remembered.
The discipline checklist
Our teachers designed a nine-point checklist and award a prize to children who keep to it daily. It is used preventively — encouragement and attention first, support for a child who slips, correction only where needed.
Beyond our own centres
Standing by one family
Where a family at the centre faces sudden hardship, Karma Corps provides direct monthly financial assistance so a child's schooling is not interrupted. One family received ₹5,000 a month from September onwards.
Organisations we fund
Alongside our own centres, Karma Corps funds organisations working in education, health, livelihood, women's empowerment and agriculture, under contractual agreements and against regular updates on their work.
| Organisation | Project | Per month |
|---|---|---|
| Nethrodaya | Welfare organisation for the visually challenged | ₹30,000 |
| DRIK | Educational intervention for urban and rural children and youth | ₹30,000 |
| TYCL | Youth resource centre | ₹15,000 |
| GNE Foundation | Global Network for Equality — rebuilding the lives of children of prisoners | ₹15,000 |
| Children's Home | Residential care | ₹8,000 |
| Total | ₹98,000 |
₹44,95,035 spent across two centres
Budgets were set against written plans submitted by each centre, and expenses tracked month by month so the team could see what every rupee bought and stop spending that was not needed. The figures below are compiled from the monthly expense records for May to December 2022.
Monthly expenditure
June carries the year's scholarship disbursement and the largest device purchase; May carries the renovation, air conditioners and CCTV installation.
Summary by month
| Month | Principal items | Total |
|---|---|---|
| May | Renovation and painting, 4 air conditioners, 13 CCTV cameras, water purifier, biometric system, 7 desktops and 3 laptops | 9,73,412 |
| June | Scholarships for 105 children, MCC school fees, 7 desktops, 35 headphones, 7 UPS, 15 dongles | 19,16,313 |
| July | Electronic devices, printer and printing, Sindi Model school fees, disinfectants | 2,63,125 |
| August | Smoke detectors, stationery, pilot visit for the picnic | 2,60,253 |
| September | VGP picnic booking, plants and manure, birthday celebrations | 2,99,971 |
| October | VGP picnic, staff bonus, Teachers' Day, family support | 3,26,296 |
| November | Children's Day, 10 headphones, centre repairs, lamination and printing | 2,37,140 |
| December | Centre repairs, fire drill, family support, nutrition and rent | 2,18,525 |
| Total | ₹44,95,035 |
Where the money went
Figures in rupees, compiled from monthly centre expense records, May–December 2022. Bar lengths are relative to the largest category. Grants to partner organisations (₹98,000 per month) are held and reported separately.
What 2022 leaves behind
This year Karma Corps worked to give underprivileged RTE children a quality education inside a safe, protected environment — through the child protection policy, digital learning and direct service at the centre.
It has also made room for a childhood: birthdays, a picnic, competitions, stories, plants on the windowsill.
The staff and the children both ended the year better prepared than they began it — in health and hygiene, in psychosocial wellbeing, in cyber safety, and in knowing that no form of abuse is tolerated here.
The infrastructure built this year is what gives all of that somewhere to happen. We thank our founders, our funders, our staff and the parents who trust us with their children.