Proposals Submitted for Consideration of AID
Introduction
This page contains proposals submitted to AID for review of its members for funding.
Sarawat Vidyamandir
This page contains supplementary information to the proposal submitted earlier.
Here is my much delayed visit report to the Saraswat Vidya Mandir at Tandipur (Photo of School building) which is about 49 kms from Barahampur.
I arrived at the school at Tandipur on the evening of the 19th of November. Susila had to cance; her trip due to last minute illness. Since it was already pretty late that day, I had my dinner in the adjoining Nigamananda Ashram and went to bed. I woke up early in the morning to earnest singing of vedic hymns.
The school is attached to the Ashram. The whole complex is situated in a large plot of land at the foothills of a mountain. The green mountains formed a beautiful backdrop for both the ashram and the school. Sri Rutuparna Nayak of the Tandipur village (on the other side of the main road, about 1 km) had donated the property for the purpose of Ashram, school and other future community institutions such as health center, old age home and so on.
The ashram itself was inaugurated early in 1998 along with the school. The school can be considered to be the first project of Vishudhananda Sevashram, which is the social service wing of the ashram (similar to Ramkrishna Mission). The purpose of the Sevashram is to build schools, health centers, old age homes and orphanages etc. alongside ashrams at different places in Orissa, Bengal and Andhrapradesh taking advantage of the large number of disciples and their support.
On the morning of the 20th, I had an early breakfast and visited the NGO Gram Vikas, which is very active in the nearby tribal areas. Tandipur itself is situated in the middle of a tribal belt in the mountain range called Kerandimala. The non-tribal population is mostly dependant on agriculture. Gram Vikas is a very large and well established NGO in the area working in the areas of low cost housing, education, village welfare (Bio-gas plant) etc. Its annual budget is in the vicinity of 10 crore rupees making it one of the largest NGO in Orissa employing a staff of over 200 on full-time basis and over 500 on a part-time basis.
On my return I visited the students and teachers of Saraswat Vidyamandir. First I went to a classroom and met all the students together (photograph of students and teachers inside a classroom) ). The students sang several songs including daily prayer in sanskrit. They were all in their school uniform and looked smart. As mentioned in the original project proposal, there are currently 51 students enrolled in the school in four classes (KG 1 & 2 and class 1 & 2). There are eight staff members including five teachers to run the school. the details of the teachers including their qualifications is given in one of the attachments. I found the teachers to be well qualified, experienced, hard working and highly motivated. The government school syllabus is being followed and in addition several subjects such as in topics of sanskrit hymns, moral and ethical conduct, sanitation ect. are being taught following the models of Ramkrishna Mission Schools and Saraswati Vidyamandirs run by RSS. The details of the current budget of the school including the salary of the teachers and student fees are also given in the attachment. Also given is the list of managing committee members, many of whom I met during my visit. After my class visit I had extensive interactions with the teachers, the headmaster in particular and discussed several aspects of the school and its running as well as the future plans for extension into a high school and a partially residential school.
During my discussions with the managing committee members and the teachers, I found that this school is one of its kind in the entire area. Being quite backward and dominated by tribal belts, there are no options for parents except for sending their children to government schools which offer low quality education resulting in high drop-out rate and lack of proper coaching for bright prospects. Saraswat Vidyamandir aims at providing high quality education to all deserving students for a fee and some (those who cannot afford it) with fee waiver. This school has been set up with the enthusiasm of the locals from several villages around Tandipur and celebrated its first annual day few months ago with great spirit and participation of students, teachers, parents and others. So far, the school has been set up and run entirely with the efforts of the locals and student fees.
As mentioned in the original proposal the main difficulty for the school at present is the maintenance of the school vehicle which is required to transport the children from several villages around the area up to 14 kms in distance by road. The vehicle is an absolute necessity for the school and is not a luxury by any means. The current vehicle was purchased last year second hand and has been giving a lot of problems. The managing committee is considering buying anew vehicle with bank loan and run it as a commercial vehicle on part time basis to make up some of the loan. A grant towards the purchase of a vehicle will go a long way towards helping the school.
In summary I can say that in the Saraswat Vidyamandir at Tandipur, there is the potential of a great future educational institution of highest quality available in the entire area excepting the town of Tandipur which is almost 50 kms away. in the least this institution offers hope for young and bright students of the nearby villages, whose talents can go to waste for lack of quality education. The school has many other positive indirect effect on the surrounding villages and its people. The villagers whose children are going to the school are now much more conscious about many subjects such as sanitation, healthy habits and so on. In general the school has created great hope amongst the nearby villages in more ways than one. I can recommend without any reservations whatsoever that AID should support this school in whatever way it finds appropriate. In the long run the school and its parent organisation, Bishudhananda Sevashram has the potential of turning in to an exemplary institution such as the Ramakrishna Mission.
Please feel free to contact me if you have any further questions.
The actual proposal in SEEDS application format is available here:
Original Proposal,
Hand written note on current monthly budget of the school:
Budget,
Details on Managing Committee:
Managing Committee,
Details of Staff and Teachers:
Staff and Teachers,
All discussions on this proposal will be provided here:
Discussions
For further information contact:
Dhanada Mishra
9/2-4 Lower Mount St.
Wentworthville
NSW 2161
Australia
Ph.
61 2 9769 1149 (h)
61 2 9892 2825 (o)
mishrad@rocla.com.au
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