Dear friends,

This year the monsoon has turned out quite good. Our lakes are filing up with the rain water at the moment. Though the lakes are still empty a little bit; the people in the city are happy with the amount of water received. In villages, some streams are flowing and it is very beautiful and green everywhere. Since the rains have been good this year, people hope to have a good harvest of ‘corn’. Maize is the staple diet in our region.

With this letter, we are sharing a story of one of the rural schools. As you know your contributions to our rural school program is very significant. We are running 205 rural schools in remote rural areas for children between 6-14 years old. We are reaching out to 5000 children every year.

You must have read the progress report we had posted last time. The progress report indicates that not only do children get quality education in these rural schools but a deeper discussion around quality education gets initiated within the communities. In the report you could see how the local community is taking responsibilities of running these schools and in some cases demanding quality education from the government. It is also incredible to see children performing well and learning more and more day by day in these rural schools. This has all been possible because of support from people like you. So thank you very much for all your support and contributions. We very much hope you would be able to visit us someday.

Many thanks once again. We will keep you posted on our progress.

With warm regards,

Deepti

“In Upli Sigri village there is a rural school and also a government school. Due to the inadequate number of teachers against the total number of children and also the insufficient space in the government school, most families in the village send their children to Seva Mandir supported rural school.

The instructor Ratan Lal Khekria at the rural school has completed a Masters degree in addition to a government certified teacher’s training (B.Ed) while working at the rural school. He is very motivated and teach with care and love to his students.

At this rural school, there are 65 children enrolled. The children attend the school regularly and around 15 children graduate from this rural school to the government school for higher studies every year. In order to get into the government schools, the children appear in an exam and if passed they get enrolled for higher studies.

Last year, Renuka from this rural school appeared in the exam conducted by the government school and passed with very good marks. She subsequently got admission in the coveted and prestigious residential government school “Navodaya Vidyalaya. She is now studying in class 6. It is a big honor for all of us since getting into Navodaya Vidyalaya is not an easy task. Renuka’s achievement lifted confidence of other children too in the village. Her parents too are very proud of the fact that their daughter made it and are happy for her. This year again, 4 students from Upli Sigri rural school have secured admission in the Navodaya Vidyalaya.

Links:

• visit our rural school

Pictures:

• girls studying under the shade of a tree (JPG)