Parameshwaraiah Soppimata

This Project was amicably cancelled based on reasons mutually agreed upon by the Project Coordinator and IFA due to unavoidable circumstances.

This Foundation Project implemented by IFA engages sixth and seventh grade students of the Government Model Higher Primary School in Maalavi village in Vijayanagara district, with a project titled Nammade Bank Nammade Duddu (Our Bank Our Money) - a study of the banking system in India, connecting it to their mathematics curriculum. Parameshwaraiah Soppimata will be the Coordinator for this project.

Parameshwaraiah Soppimata is a mathematics and language teacher at the Government Model Higher Primary School. He was a Block Resource Person for the past three years. He has raised Rs 10 lakh from various donors across Karnataka for the overall development of the school. He is currently pursuing his PhD on makkala sahityadalli parisara prajne – environmental knowledge in children’s literature. He has written over 750 articles for many local newspapers and has received awards for his work. In 2021, he was awarded the ‘Best Teacher’ award from Karnataka State Educational Department.

Nammade Bank Nammade Duddu (Our Bank Our Money) is a project to make students understand the importance of money. Parameshwaraiah along with the group of students has already started a students’ bank called chiguru (sprout), wherein students are managing the financial operations and have made transactions of Rs 1.5 lakh over the past three years. This project will help them to continue their activities by providing them with resources as well as expertise. As a project coordinator, Parameshwaraiah is planning to conduct workshops by inviting resource persons from the banking sector to provide detailed picture of banking system in India.

Apart from this, students will also participate in sessions on understanding money in everyday life, working structure of banks, role of regional and co-operative banks in Karnataka, and stories behind the logos of some of the banks. Students will be encouraged to design a logo for their chiguru bank. They will also learn about why and how banks fail and the precautions they as customers need to take in order to safeguard them from mal practices of some banks. Many people in rural areas see banks as loan givers only. This project will break their ignorance and open them up to the various possibilities of investments and savings in banks. The project will also touch upon the recent chaos that was created due to demonetisation in the country. Children will also learn popular songs that talk about money and financial matters like kurudu kanchaana, aane bantondu aane, and a play nadu beedi Narayana which entertain audiences with their humor, irony and satire. 

Students will write their learnings into articles which will be made into a publication at the end of the project. They will also create a theatrical production from their learnings and using the mathematics curriculum. Alongside this, students will participate in debates at the taluk level on themes around money.

The outcomes of the project will be a performance in the presence of school staff and villagers and a publication. The Project Coordinator’s deliverables to IFA with the final report will include the publication, along with photographs and video documentation of the performance and the entire project.

This project suitably addresses the framework of IFA’s Arts Education programme in the manner in which it attempts to connect students and their curriculum to on ground realities of the financial world.  

IFA will ensure that the implementation of this project happens in a timely manner and funds expended are accounted for. IFA will also review the progress of the project at midterm and document it through an Implementation Memorandum. After the project is finished and all deliverables are submitted, IFA will put together a Final Evaluation to share with Trustees.