Send a Child in India to School for a Year

In southern Rajasthan today, a good quality education remains elusive for many rural dwellers. The combination of schools which are too far for young children to walk plus socio-economic pressures means that many children receive little or no education. As poverty is rife in the Udaipur district, many children are discouraged from attending school because their families desperately need the small income they can bring in. However, this adversely affects a child’s life. Once a child leaves school and begins to work, bringing that child back into education becomes an extremely difficult endeavour. Here at Seva Mandir we see this vicious cycle on a daily basis while carrying out our work in the field.

On our last field trip we visited Girwa, which is located 31 km east of Udaipur. During our visit we stopped by one of Seva Mandir’s bridge schools (Shiksha Kendras) which provide basic education to children aged 6-14 in order to prepare them for enrolment in government schools.

We met young Ramesh, a 12 year-old-boy, who has attended the school since 2012. Ramesh’s parents, like many in southern Rajasthan, were reluctant to send him to school as they needed him to generate an income for the family. His four elder siblings did not attend school for this very reason. His parents both earn a living through daily wage labour in Udaipur where on a good day they would earn a modest $2 a day. They are both illiterate, which makes finding skilled employment almost impossible. So their life is very precarious indeed. We want Ramesh’s future to be different.

Our persistent staff were able to convince Ramesh’s parents to enrol him in the Girwa bridge school. Initially he found the transition to education difficult, but now he is flourishing and will continue his studies in the local government school later this year. He has a keen interest in maths and has aspirations to become a doctor. Four years ago Ramesh and those around him would not have entertained this thought. It was a pleasure to talk to Ramesh and hear about the progress he has made through our education programme. 

Last year, 6,310 children who had never been to school or had dropped out started their studies at our bridge schools in rural southern Rajasthan, and 1,303 children graduated from our bridge schools and enrolled in government schools. 

We are immensely proud of what we have achieved so far and hope to continue making a positive impact on the lives of those living in southern Rajasthan. 

Thank you so much for your support.

Kind Regards, 

Atul Lekhra and the Seva Mandir Team

Follow us on www.facebook.com/sevamandir

Links:

• Seva Mandir's Website
• Seva Mandir's Facebook Page

We generally share with you the success stories of the children who are studying or have studied from our education centers, but this time we thought of sharing with you the story of Madan – a Teacher from one of our education centres, whose efforts have completely transformed his centre.

A Shiksha Kendra (Seva Mandir’s education centre) in Girwa block was struggling. A Seva Mandir inspection revealed that its pupils' attendance record was very poor. The school was hard to reach, especially in the rainy season. Also, even though parents acknowledged the benefits of educating their children, they thought that sending them to school three or four times a week was enough, and they had no hesitation in keeping them away from school to work, or even to migrate for seasonal labour.

The teacher himself was demotivated, the parents complained about him, and even his own child failed to attend school regularly.

With Seva Mandir's help, Madan decided to do something about it. He took steps to improve his teaching, adopting some innovative teaching methods, made sure the atmosphere amongst the pupils improved, and he started talking to the parents about the importance of education and of sending children to school regularly. He visited their homes on his way to work and encouraged the pupils to come to school, and on his way home stopped off to check why other children hadn't been there that day.

Regular visits from Seva Mandir staff helped encourage him. After two years, chronic absenteeism plunged from 68% to 11.2%, a dramatic turn-around. Madan's courage in recognizing his own failings and his determination to tackle the problems at his education centre have saved his school and with it the prospects of the children in his area.

I hope Madan’s views have motivated you too to continue to be a part of this journey of providing education to these children. Last year, with the support from friends like you 6,190 children were enrolled in our education centres.

We are happy to share with you that we had recently participated in the GlobalGiving Photo Contest 2017 and our photo secured 1^st position in the Hope category. All thanks to friends like you who had voted for our photo and helped us win the contest.

We are also excited to share with you that, on Wednesday July 12^th, GlobalGiving will be matching donations in the GG Rewards Bonus Day. On this day donations will be matched by 50% and new recurring donations will be matched by 100%.

Every small bit, no matter how small, helps us reach closer to our goal. We do hope that you will continue to support our project. This matching fund campaign will help your contribution go deeper.

Best Wishes,

Atul Lekhra and Seva Mandir Team

Follow us on www.facebook.com/sevamandir

Links:

• Seva Mandir's Website
• Seva Mandir's Facebook Page