Send a Child in India to School for a Year

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

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Links:

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