Send a Child in India to School for a Year

Dear Friends, Happy Holiday Season! Hope you are enjoying the holiday season. This year the winter has started a little later here but it is pleasantly cold right now. We hope it is also nice weather where you are. I am sharing the half yearly report (April to September 2010) which my colleagues have prepared for you with much enthusiasm and gratitude. With this letter we would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to you for all your support to this project. During these six months a lot of work was done and on many occasions the village communities and the students have come together to exhibit their solidarity on the issues of Education in our region. In the report one such incidence of village Chhali is narrated. I hope you will enjoy reading more about it. By September 2010 we were running 192 schools with 208 teachers. Total enrollment has been 5,703 with 3,310 boys and 2,393 girls. 227 teachers were enrolled for the certification course which is an in-depth training course for the teachers that Seva Mandir offers in the project you are supporting. However, this year, the village communities also selected some teachers from the Government Schools. This shows that the investments in teachers made by Seva Mandir are of great value in the local community and people are able to see positive impact on their children’s learning. More than 1000 children got enrolled in Government schools this year after graduating from Seva Mandir supported Rural Schools (SKs). We are very excited to share all the progress we have made. We believe that our success is your success. We are delighted sharing it with you and we hope you are also glad to hear about it. Thank you for being a wonderful partner to us. We hope to continue receiving your support as your contribution and support brings us a lot of strength and positive energy. Do consider to donate to us again and tell your friends about this project. Thank you very much once again. A small story at the end of my letter is given for your reference. I hope this holiday season is the best of all you have had so far. With warm regards, Deepti ------------- In Losing Dhana village the Government School was located 2 kms away. During monsoon it was even more difficult for children to walk to it as the stream in the village divided it into two halves. Considering these hardships the village community proposed to open a rural school in their neighborhood. Therefore, Seva Mandir supported the rural community to set up an SK in 2004. At present there are 22 children enrolled in the centre, including 11 boys’ and 11 girls. The SK is run by a local instructor, Premlata, who has studied till class 8th. She teaches children with lot of care and attention, and makes sure that the environment is child friendly and comfortable. One of the students at this centre is Meethalal Rawat (12 years old). He came to this centre in 2009. He had passed out of the Government school in Losing Dhana from class 5th, but could hardly read any letter in Hindi nor could count till 20. After 1 ½ years now at this centre he can now count till 100, can do basic mathematic calculations and read and write small sentences in Hindi. As per the instructor he is friendly to all his classmates and is much disciplined. He loves playing cricket and Kabaddi (Indian sport) too. Lakshmi (12 years old) another student at this centre also studied in government school till 4th class. After realizing that she has not learnt much in 4 years, her parents enrolled her with the SK in 2008. Now after spending 2 years her academic performance has improved drastically. She can read and write sentences, count till 100 and can do basic ma thematic calculations. She enjoys reciting poems in the class. She works hard and is very bright. She dreams to be a teacher in future.

Links:

• annual report 2008-09

• Half Yearly Report April-September 2010 (DOC)

Dear friends,

This year the monsoon has turned out quite good. Our lakes are filing up with the rain water at the moment. Though the lakes are still empty a little bit; the people in the city are happy with the amount of water received. In villages, some streams are flowing and it is very beautiful and green everywhere. Since the rains have been good this year, people hope to have a good harvest of ‘corn’. Maize is the staple diet in our region.

With this letter, we are sharing a story of one of the rural schools. As you know your contributions to our rural school program is very significant. We are running 205 rural schools in remote rural areas for children between 6-14 years old. We are reaching out to 5000 children every year.

You must have read the progress report we had posted last time. The progress report indicates that not only do children get quality education in these rural schools but a deeper discussion around quality education gets initiated within the communities. In the report you could see how the local community is taking responsibilities of running these schools and in some cases demanding quality education from the government. It is also incredible to see children performing well and learning more and more day by day in these rural schools. This has all been possible because of support from people like you. So thank you very much for all your support and contributions. We very much hope you would be able to visit us someday.

Many thanks once again. We will keep you posted on our progress.

With warm regards,

Deepti

“In Upli Sigri village there is a rural school and also a government school. Due to the inadequate number of teachers against the total number of children and also the insufficient space in the government school, most families in the village send their children to Seva Mandir supported rural school.

The instructor Ratan Lal Khekria at the rural school has completed a Masters degree in addition to a government certified teacher’s training (B.Ed) while working at the rural school. He is very motivated and teach with care and love to his students.

At this rural school, there are 65 children enrolled. The children attend the school regularly and around 15 children graduate from this rural school to the government school for higher studies every year. In order to get into the government schools, the children appear in an exam and if passed they get enrolled for higher studies.

Last year, Renuka from this rural school appeared in the exam conducted by the government school and passed with very good marks. She subsequently got admission in the coveted and prestigious residential government school “Navodaya Vidyalaya. She is now studying in class 6. It is a big honor for all of us since getting into Navodaya Vidyalaya is not an easy task. Renuka’s achievement lifted confidence of other children too in the village. Her parents too are very proud of the fact that their daughter made it and are happy for her. This year again, 4 students from Upli Sigri rural school have secured admission in the Navodaya Vidyalaya.

Links:

• visit our rural school