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Qualitative Research in Asia

Vidyaranya Educational Trust

A project at Kamarpukur, District Hoogly, West Bengal:

In our nation, begging is an unfortunate blight.

Vidyaranya Educational Trust trustee Nivedita Patnaik, is currently resident at the village of Kamarpukur (incidentally the birthplace of Sri Ramakrishna, the Guru of Swami Vivekananda), and runs an active service of morning school for underprivileged children - mainly, from families where parents think begging is the most lucrative profession.

 


Fondly known as 'Amma', she has been staying personally at the village, and now has over 50 children under her care. With the help of four young adults (local enthusiastic, so far unemployed youth representatives), more and more families are coming under our  care and tutoring, and supervision from the surrounding villages.
The classrooms are provided by the Nayantara High school, in the early hours of the morning (7 am to 10 am). Here they are given a nourishing breakfast to start the day. The children who attend our sessions go on to the regular state run day schools later through the hours of the day.

Within a year, a group of children considered marginalized, are doing extremely well in the examinations of the state run schools. More importantly, they  have developed  a deep sense of self-respect and love.

Our project at Kakdwip, the Sunderbans, The Bay of Bengal:

A certain section of  children stayed illiterate -  they were not sent to the (free) school run by the government  that was across in another village. Reasons:
a) They had to cross a little rivulet to reach it  in the early years with no chaperone. The cost of crossing the rivulet : 25 paise each time - unaffordable four times a day by the parents
b) Often, the children were taken in the capacity of  'additional' hands at work and the families did not want to 'spare' them for school,
c) with parents uneducated, no one  figured the real  need to send them .
 


 
Our little school here, runs for a few hours in the morning - so that they are free to 'work' with their parents the rest of the day... this way we get a lot of children to join up! It used to be a problem housing the classes in the open -  during monsoons and also in Jan-Feb when its extremely cold. However, we constructed a structure next to a pond within the ashram complex. It's made of  bamboo matting, with a proper roof, as you can see in the pix, and we are inordinately proud of it :-)

 
The space has been provided to us by a local temple, in their open verandah like premises.  The construction is through a grant gratefully received from Jem Fawcus of Firefish Limited, London.
 
 
 
 
We could stretch the money  quite a bit before it ran out -  It  paid for a year of teacher's remuneration, daily milk plus biscuits / moodi (pressed rice)  as well as the construction, that Nivedita Patnaik  got done by personal supervision over a period of 15 days. Enclosing a few pictures of its construction as well as a pic of the students & my  mom  Nivedita. 
 

The photo of the kids here, has just a small section of the class since the previous day there was a cyclonic storm (called a 'kaal boisakhi') and many had stayed back to assist their parents with their devastated homes.

 
More About Vidyaranya Educational Trust :
 

Vidyaranya Trust is registered with the Charity Commisioner No. E-20202, at Mumbai. Individuals at Proact are encouraged to utilize their managerial skills for the betterment of society. With this in mind, a social & educational trust also operates from our Proact office premises. The Trust is registered under Sec. 80G, of the Income Tax Act.

This Trust,  currently is running a few programs of sponsoring the education of children in West Bengal & Mumbai.

It all began when  the town of Anjaar in earthquake ravaged Gujarat was affected,  back in 2001. Vidyaranya ensured that 30 children could continue studying, along with extra tuitions.  Those with a background in Psychology or Social Sciences, also provide quality time for the critical task of counseling to trauma affected people. Any assistance to Vidyaranya is also accepted in the same spirit, wherein it is hoped that the donors take an active role in the Trust activities.

If you would like to assist in any way, kindly contact us. The Vidyaranya Trust aims to propagate education and brilliance. It is not a faceless charity organisation that doles out money for 'free'. Instead every child (and its family) who receives a grant agrees to regularly educate (provide free tutorial / tuition) to other younger children in their own vicinity / locality.

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