"Where is my school?"

                                                       
                                                       

"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 5^th 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.

 In some situations, classes are conducted outside the classrooms under the scorching sun. On a discussion he had with the Headmaster of the school, a resolute man in his fifties, who has been highly instrumental in building and running this school, is highly oriented towards expanding the school and enhancing the children’s education. The head master firmly believes that providing a more structured and constructive means of education will ensure the regular stream of students, if not for which most children either trudge miles to go to the next village or altogether discontinue their education.

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.

Reference: The first photo in the blog has been lifted from the internet using Google's search engine.

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:)