I got this info thru ASHA www.ashanet.org DC chapter --who in turn got it from
Boston/MIT chapter. Seems like we might get some funding from DC chapter.
Umesh
http://www.outlookindia.com/mad.asp?fodname=20060213&fname=Making&sid=1
That's enough to bring the sheltering shade of education to the
children of a forgotten hamlet Seven-year-old Sanjays father Mahendra Boro
works at a stone quarry. His mother supplements the meagre family income by
selling home-made fermented rice beer. Himashri, 6, is the daughter of a
woodcutter, Haren Basumatary. And four-year-old Apons father Ratneswar Bora is
a daily wage-earner. For these families with uncertain income, living in Pamohi
and three adjoining tribal hamlets on the outskirts of Assams capital
Guwahati, educating their children was a distant dream until Uttam Teron set up
a school with a difference, right at his homestead.
As Uttam watched kids wander about aimlessly, it set him thinking about ways
to keep them occupied. A school was the only answer. It began at his home.
"I would see little children wandering about all day, some of them
venturing dangerously close to the stone quarries near
Pamohi where I live," 30-year-old Uttam told Outlook. That set this man
thinking about a way out to keep these kids engaged during the day when their
parents are out
working or looking for work. Uttam, who graduated in 1999 from a city
college, was already an active member of the Guwahati Zilla Moina Parijat, a
local group working with children, giving them training in leadership, music,
physical education etc. "I "I was training kids anyway and decided to set up a
school at home to take kids around my village under my wings." In 2003, Parijat
Academy was born. The four-room school has a tin roof and bamboo walls. Uttam
had saved Rs 800 from the fees he received after giving tuition to a few
students outside his village. With this amount, he got a pair of desks and
benches made by a village carpenter. The school was ready to enrol students
from nursery to Class III. Today, Parijat Academy has 41 students between three
to seven years of age. "Initially, the parents were reluctant to send their
children. What would they gain by attending school, theyd ask. Our persistence
paid off, and now we have no seat to enrol more than what we
have," says Uttam. If that sounds exclusionary, consider this: only three of
the 41 students at his school pay the fixed monthly fee of Rs 80. The parents
of the rest just cannot manage to pay. "We are too poor," says Ratneswar Bora,
a guardian. So, how does Uttam run such a school and pay his five
teachers? Says he: "Sometimes, if we are lucky, we get small donations from
individuals. A few organisations have helped us in a small way." Once, during a
visit to Bodh Gaya, Uttam learnt of a Buddhist organisation in Thailand that
renders assistance to underprivileged children. He sent an e-mail and within a
month, the Supreme Master Ching, which has an office in Mumbai, sent him a
draft of Rs 30,000 towards uniform for the kids. The blue-and-white uniform
that his students wear have lost their sheen. They are more than a year old
now. A welfare group in Guwahati donated textbooks and a small amount of money
with which Uttam purchased three ceiling fans to beat the summer
heat. "I pay my teachers whenever I have money. Rest of the time, they bear
with me. I dont know how to thank them," he said. What does Uttam need
the most? "We need furniture, funds to pay salaries to the teachers, school
uniforms, textbooks and bags, milk for the undernourished students and medical
check- up and treatment for kids suffering from various diseases."
Tuberculosis, skin diseases and jaundice, he says, are the common illnesses
which the kids suffer from. "Teron sir is working very hard but unless we
receive support, it would be extremely difficult for us to achieve our goal of
educating the poor children in this area," says Baijayanti Teron Handique, the
headmistress. Uttam feels that if he can go ahead in educating the
underprivileged children in the neighbourhood, the lot of the people in the
hamlets can be improved in 15 to 20 years time. A beginning has already been
made. Uttam Teron can be contacted at: Parijat Academy, PO. Garchuk,
Guwahati781
035, Assam. E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Mobile: 098640-41711
Wasbir Hussain
Umesh Sharma
5121 Lackawanna ST
College Park,
(Washington D.C. Metro Region)
MD 20740
1-202-215-4328 [Cell Phone]
Ed.M. - International Education Policy
Harvard Graduate School of Education,
Harvard University,
Class of 2005
weblog: http://jaipurschool.bihu.in/
website: www.gse.harvard.edu/iep
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