Send a Child in India to School for a Year

Dear Friends,

Thank you for your overwhelming support to our project ‘Send a Child in India to School for a Year’.  With your help, this year we reached out to 5,861 rural, tribal and out of school children through our 178 schools. The main objectives behind running these schools are:

1. To ensure quality education to children of marginalized communities, in the age group of 6 to 14 years, deprived of education. A focused effort is made to help these children to read comprehensively and write independently.
2. Provide these children with a strong educational foundation, in order to prepare them for enrollment in regular government schools and also improve retention rates.
3. Through these interventions on quality education, we enable communities to experience and demand an alternative and meaningful education.

We would like to share that on June 13, 2012 - Bonus Day, all your donations made to our project ‘Send a child to School for a year’ will be matched by 40%. We hope you will join us this Wednesday and support the education of children by donating and spreading the word among friends groups and network.

Below this letter, I share a story from Ranakhera fala, which illustrates a newfound appreciation and demand for quality education at the community level.  

Your contribution will help in sustaining the education of rural, tribal and out of school children of India.  We look forward to fostering this relationship in the future.

Warm Regards,

Deepti

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Ranakhera fala is a small hamlet of Talai Village located in the Jhadol block. In 2007-08, the village was divided into two parts by a man made pond created as a result of a government project, ‘Mansi Wakal.”  As a result of this new division, the only remaining path to reach Ranakhera fala involved crossing the dangerous pond.  Also, this division isolated this hamlet from both schools and shops.

Villagers of Ranakhara hamlet became concerned about the education of their children. Hence, they conducted a meeting and approached Seva Mandir to start a school (Shiksha Kendra) in their hamlet.

Sensing a critical demand for a school from villagers, Seva Mandir responded by opening a school in June 2009. A rural teacher recommended by the villagers was appointed and during the first year, 35 students were enrolled. After graduating from this school, 20 students were admitted in government schools to continue their higher studies. Currently, 28 students are enrolled in this school.

In addition to regular classroom activities, events like Makar Sakranti, Independence Day, and Republic Day are celebrated in school with enthusiasm. Such events inspire villagers to send their children to school, as they want them to experience both cultural and educational activities.

Mr. Feroz, the education in-charge of Jhadol block said, ‘this centre became so famous for its quality of education that children from other parts of villages started coming to this centre by crossing the water pool. We intervened in this practice, as there were higher chances of water accident and requested parents to send their children to near-by schools only’.

Links:

• Know more about our Education program