"Where is my school???"
“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to
change the world”- Nelson Mandela.
India being a democratic provides for right of every single
child to be educated and utilize the education constructively. However, given
the economic backdrop of India, the existence of most schools in towns is a sphinx.
There are various government -run schools dilapidated and battered, despite
which the young hearts wish to pursue their education.
My friend Vignesh Gopalakrishnan (GV) and I happened to
enter into a discussion regarding the system of education here in India where
kids fight over whether Vidya Mandir beat PSBB in the inter-school Basketball
tournament or which school gets to host the Reverberations when nearly 60% of
the students in the country side go to school just to utilize the mid-day free
meal scheme.
Background
At this point, GV interjected and gave me an insight into
something I had been talking only theoretically all this while. He had paid a
long-due visit his village Vilagam in the Chidambaram Taluk (Cuddalore
district) and was deeply disturbed at the state of the school and while on his
way back home, he had a proposal in mind. He sought to return something to his
village, and having studied for years together at Singapore where he had
enjoyed infrastructural facilities at its pinnacle, he was distraught at the
sight of the education in his motherland. Hence, he has been all the more
insistent in taking up the expansion projects of the school. He gave me a brief
on the background and as to what he has in mind.
His father, namely Mr. M. Gopalakrishnan Iyer and his
brothers decided to donate their family land as they realized the sad state of
affairs in their hometown three years back. In their younger days, they had
difficulty in studying beyond 5th standard and had to either move
out to their relatives house or walk miles to study. This was an acceptable
state of affairs for a young India on the verge of building its infrastructure
and reaching out to the villages. However, exactly 50 years later nothing seems
to have changed in this place. This situation sparked the idea of donating
their land to the Government for the functioning of the Higher Secondary school
(Grades 6 to 10) which has been operational since 2010.
Current Situation - Problem
In the current school, owing to the lack of space where
there are only three classrooms for nearly 300 students, the children wait
outside whilst waiting for their turn for the classes which are conducted
inside the classrooms.
The Government provides all the necessary amenities such as
books, notebooks, uniforms and food. The headmaster has committed that he shall
ensure that this aid be made available to the students, regularly, post
expansion as well.
Solution
There is however, a way out. Given the same land, there is
additional space for construction of a few more classrooms.
However, the expansion plans have been paused due to paucity
in financing the same. The projected amount of inflow required for this project
is estimated at Rs. 1 Lakh INR (USD 2000). This amount represents the amount of
caution deposit that is required to be paid by the village to the Government of
Tamil Nadu, as a result of which the entire funding thereon will be taken care
by the Government. This could result in
the erection of an edifice as similar to those of the Government schools in bigger
towns.
With this, GV took a deep breath and told me “We’ll make
this happen. No matter what. I am more determined than ever.” We really intend
this to happen and if you believe that this cause is noble and worthy of your
donation, please reach out to us at vigneshgopalakrishnan@yahoo.co.in and to all those Facebookers, do a search for Vignesh
Gopalakrishnan or on Linkedin and drop a
message. We would sincerely thank every one of you and we will post a receipt
of the funds in this blog.
FAQ:
Post
this brainstorming and upon strategizing the course of action, something struck
us and this was something that had to be thought through- Transparency in Fund
management. Hence, we proposed to have this FAQ and the relevant solutions to
cast more light upon this project.
1.
Q: I am really interested in
contributing to this project. How do I go about it?
A: You can reach Vignesh Gopalakrishnan via mail or FB or LinkedIn
and take it from there.
2. Q: How should I satisfy myself
that the funds actually reach the project and how transparent is your dealing?
A: This is a major road block GV and I discovered while
discussing this initiative. As this is done on a one time transfer (at least at
the moment) we can get the receipt of the total funds transfer and post it in
this blog. This will be done once the required amount is generated and sent
out. We expect to get this done within a month at the most.
3. Q: Will you be able to provide us a
receipt for the funds contributed?
A: Unfortunately as this initiative is done by an individual, we won’t
be able to provide receipts for individual contributions. However once the
final transfer is done, the receipt from the school will be posted in this
space.
However to acknowledge the receipt of the money, the names of the
contributors will be posted here and maintained.
We promised to post the receipts in this blog. A ton of thank you's would never suffice. The contributors are as follows:
1. Mr. Vivek Seetharaman- 100 SGD
2. Mrs. Nirmala Ramdas and Ms. Shwetha Ramdas- INR 10,000
3. Mr. R. Aravind- USD 500
4. Mr. Ananthanarayanan- INR 5,000
5. Mr. Karthik Arun- 50 SGD
6. Mr. Varun Nagarajan- 100 SGD
7. Mr. Roshan- 100 SGD
8. Ms. Chandini- 100 SGD
9. Mr. B.R. Venkatesh- INR 3,000
10.Mr. Mani Rajagopalan- INR 25,000
Net funds received: A little more than 1 Lakh INR :) (Most of it used towards the school registration and the remaining used for the repairs and reconstruction of the building)
All good deeds end even better. Take a look at the progress of the school and the outcome of the fund utilisation. :) A mere thank you to all of you would never suffice:)
