Launch our School for 400 Children in Rural India

Introduction

FOREFRONT School was first opened in 2020-21 for the children from disadvantaged backgrounds to experience excellence in learning. Envisioned to provide opportunity for gender equal quality education for children of different demographics, FOREFRONT Charity has built an international quality school in Kollur, Andhra Pradesh, India. The school has three classes from kindergarten to grade 2. There are around 65 students who benefit from this program.

Surviving the Pandemic

Most of the schools in India went into a lock down for almost the whole year due to the pandemic. This new academic year 2021-22 gave us hope. Keeping the safety concerns of the children coming to school, the parents and the staff members, we tried moving the school to online mode during the lockdown. Since the students are coming from underprivileged families and most parents are not educated, it was a huge challenge for us to think of any practical means to take the school to their door steps. We visited the houses of our students and spoke to the parents regarding the importance of quality education. 

Eventually we were able to start our lessons online. Students were given computer tablets, introduced to some good learning applications and soon they began to excel. We were surprised to see even the youngest ones were becoming comfortable with using tablets. Teachers were given training in using various applications like Seesaw, Epic, Khan Academy, Educeri, etc. Teachers and parents were also trained regarding guiding and monitoring the children for the safe use of the internet. 

As the use of digital devices were exciting for the students, their performance in learning too showed significant progress.  We focused on basic literacy as the students come from a non-English speaking background. We are also working on their basic numeracy skills. With committed work by the teachers and by enthusiastic participation of the students we were able to see a significant improvement in their scores in the term end assessments. 

With the local government finally giving a green signal for reopening the schools for the on-campus learning we cautiously reopened the school with all safety precautions in place. We have divided students into two groups and brought them to school on alternate days. The students are excited to come to school. They are looking forward to coming to school daily instead of on alternate days. We are hoping to see all the students coming together to school and enjoy the facilities gifted by the generous donors. 

In order to encourage equal opportunities in education this year we have waived 50% of the school fee to girl students. The school also provides textbooks and uniforms for the students. 

Future Opportunities

As we will be adding more classes every year we would require more classrooms, labs, furniture and other facilities.

FOREFRONT School’s unique location gives the privilege of providing education to many villages in this surrounding area. But this is only possible if we provide transport facilities for the students. As the villages are in different directions we would need multiple vans to go and collect the students. School vans also provide a safe journey for the students as most of the villages are remote and have only unpaved nonmetal roads. The cost of running the vans, maintenance and the driver allowances can be one of the most expensive operation costs of a school.  We invite you to join us and give towards transportation to help us grow our school next academic year!

We are looking forward to your continued support for many more years to come.

Thank you!

Sincerely,

FOREFRONT School

Links:

• Donation Link
• FOREFRONT School Website