GlobalGiving.org: Send a Child in India to School for a Year

You, Seva Mandir and Happy 2012

Deepti Ameta — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 03:17:41 GMT

Wish you a very Happy New Year 2012!

Dear Friend,

I very much hope that you are enjoying the holiday season. From all of us here at Seva Mandir, a very Happy and Prosperous New Year to you. May 2012 brings peace and success to you and to your family. We thank you for your kindness that you gift us always. With this letter, we love to share some key highlights of year 2011.

For Seva Mandir, the year 2011 has been a year of changes and success. Ms. Neelima Khetan stepped down after 12 years of her excellent leadership (total 25 years of association with Seva Mandir) in March. Ms. Priyanka Singh became our new Chief Executive in April 2011. Seva Mandir is ready to see many more years of its successful engagement with rural communities in Southern Rajasthan in her leadership.

In October, Seva Mandir became the implementing agency for the MNREGA projects for 32 sites in rural Udaipur. It is a significant achievement as well as an indicator of the faith of the 74 Panchayats in Seva Mandir’s work. These Panchayats have endorsed us to be their implementing agency for MNREGA. Of these 32 sites that were sanctioned, the work has begun on the 22 sites. Most of these sites of pastureland development and currently the building of boundary wall is going on.

In 2011, Seva Mandir has been included in two working (sub) groups – {i) Child Survival & Development and Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) and ii) Girl Child} constituted by the Ministry of Women and Child Development to review the existing priorities, policies, strategies, programs and their implementation for fulfilling the rights of children to survival, development (including early childhood care, early learning, elementary education). Also, to highlight emerging issues and recommendations, resources allocation and utilization for Twelfth Five Year Plan of Government of India.

Several of Seva Mandir's programs have seen a maturing in the last years. For example, in the villages where Seva Mandir organized regular immunization camps, the complete immunization of children is 60%, while in comparison villages it is only 35%.

Similarly, the work on Natural Resources is yielding a lot of benefits to the poor. Every year grass worth Rs. 52 lacs (5.2 million rupees) is being harvested from the common lands developed under this program.

In April 2011, Champa Devi from Vassela village was awarded the "Woman Exemplar Award 2011". It is another reason to look back and feel joyous to see that a community member of Seva Mandir was being recognized by rest of the society for her selfless services.

We are privileged to experience exciting stories of women like Champa Devi. A big credit goes to friends like you for this. Your support has always been the source of our emotional strength. It helps us keep going with our work. It is gratifying that with your support we have been able to create spaces where ordinary people can exercise truth force to bring about social and political transformation.

We hope you will continue to be with us in future too. Your faith and untiring support is very critical to us at the moment. Especially, when national and international scenario is changing rapidly for civil societies and the definitions of ‘development’ are being re-explored.

We believe that the full and deep impact of Seva Mandir's work lies not so much in the tangible development activities that it promotes, but more in bringing the poor and rich together and enabling them to work for the commons of building more just and oppression free communities.

We look forward to your continuing contribution in the year 2012 too. Wish you a very bright and successful New Year.

With warm regards,

Deepti

You sent 1178 'Alchemist' boys & girls to schools

Deepti Ameta — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 06:13:59 GMT

Children playing

Dear Friends,

Greetings and Happy Holiday Season!

We hope you are looking forward to your holiday season. You have been adding to our happiness every year with your support and faith, we would like to extend our gratitude to you for your most generous and regular donations every year.

I am sharing the half yearly progress report of the program you are supporting - "Send a Child in India to School for a year". This year 1,178 children graduated from rural schools and were enrolled in Government Schools for higher studies. The 1,879 more children got enrolled in rural schools this year.

These children are also trying to realize their dreams of quality education. They are also on a journey like Santiago of the book 'Alchemist' who was searching for his treasure. Most of these village children are also shepherds as they also take care of their cattle, if they are not going to schools. Those who go to school may take care of their cattle after coming back home from rural schools. They may not cross the boundaries of their villages while taking their cattle out for grazing, but they do all aspire to see good things in their lives. They too, learn to communicate with the their natural environ. In order to make their dreams come true, you are supporting rural schools every year. In these children's lives, you appear as the Old King to help them translate their aspirations into real.

Thank you very much for all your support. We hope we will see many more children to have an access to education in Rajasthan in the years to come. Below my letter, there is a small story of hope which is a small gift to all of us for this Holiday season.

Please do take a look at the report enclosed and encourage us with your feedback. Your support to 178 rural schools is very critical for 5,749 children in Rajasthan. They all are our Santiago.

Thank you once again and with warm regards,

Deepti

-------------------------------------------------------

Story of hope:

The Rural School (Shiksha Kendra or SK) was set up in 1994 in Khara Fala, Jhadol with 50 children. For 3 years the community was very happy with the progress made by the school. In 1997 a Government school was set up near the SK. Most children got enrolled in the Government School.

Since now there was a government school the SK was closed down in Khara Fala. The village decided to take it to some other remotest hamlet of the village where there was no Government School. In the other remotest hamlet, the first year 30 children got enrolled. However in the second year, the enrollment was raised to 50 children because the parents were not satisfied with the performance of the Government school in Khara Fala. It meant that children who got enrolled in the government school began to come to the rural school which was located very far from their homes. Every year, more and more children got enrolled in the rural school. In village discussions the parents reported that they would not send their children to government schools because their children were receiving better education in the rural school.

Currently there are 107 children at the rural school. The children who have graduated in the past are excelling in their higher studies. Two children have acquired Bachelor degree (Under Graduation) , one is pursuing his Masters in Hotel Management, the other one is pursuing a Nursing course and 2 others are pursuing their B.S.T.C (Basic School Teaching Certificate).

Some children who have more recently graduated from the rural school are also pursuing higher education including – two children are in their first year of under graduation degree (Bachelor), five children are in 12^th standard, 11 children are in 11^th standard and fifteen children are in 10^th standard.

The children who are graduating from the school have secured good grades in their higher studies too. They are all very happy to have access to quality education which will help them live a good life that they aspire to.

Links:

More stories of children you are supporting

Attachments:

Rural Schools Half Yearly Report 2011 (DOC)

You supported 5,694 children to attend schools

Deepti Ameta — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 12:01:35 GMT

Children busy in studies

Dear Friends,

Greetings from Seva Mandir!

Hope you are well. Thank you for supporting eduction of children in our region.

The monsoon has been active in Rajasthan. It has rained a little well but more rains will be great. We still have another month of monsoon. Hopefully it will be a great monsoon year. The lakes in the city, however, are not full yet. The city, however, is all green and beautiful.

I am sharing the annual report of Education Program that you are supporting. The report accounts detailed information on the total number of children enrolled in 2010-2011, teachers trained and various other activities carried out with your support.

Following is a brief fact sheet for your quick reference –

1. 5,694 children were enrolled last year. It includes - 3,288 boys and 2,406 girls.

2. There were 192 Rural Schools or SKs (Shiksha Kendras) but by the end of March 2011 there are 188 schools. Some of them were closed down for various reasons. Please see the report enclosed for more details.

3. 72% of the total token fee across 188 centers was collected. Token fee for each child is Rs. 100 per year. Each rural school spends the collected fee to buy uniforms or shoes or lunch boxes for children at the school. This is a community decision.

4. 193 teachers completed the ‘Teacher certification course’. Please see the enclosed report for more details on the course.

5. A children’s fair was organized in December 2010. It was a successful event with more than 500 children and 200 villagers participation. Children from 16 SK’s, 4 Youth Resource Center (YRC) and Umariya Government school participated in various activities and competitions (Essay writing, drawing, heena tattoo etc).

6. Read more about the story of Himanshu in the report enclosed.

Please do check out the report enclosed. I hope you will enjoy reading all the progress your support has afforded to these children. Many thanks to all of you for your continuing support to this program. Please do write to us if you have any queries. We will keep you updated about the progress of this program as well as about the monsoon.

With warm regards,

Deepti

Links:

Attachments:

Annual Report Education 2010-2011 (DOC)

You are helping villagers in India with the business plan

Deepti Ameta — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 07:01:42 GMT

Business planning at community level

Dear friends,

Hope you are well. Thank you for your continuing support. We are very grateful to you donations and inputs .

Every time with our letter to you, we wish to acquaint you with Seva Mandir a bit more. In this letter, you will get to know about the process of our business planning.

Seva Mandir focuses on communities rather than on individual/s. The belief is that in order to bring about the durable changes in the society; the constructive work involving all the community members is important because social problems are complex. It therefore, takes longer but the outcomes are more sustainable and long lived. Therefore, Seva Mandir has a three pronged strategy –

1) To create and strengthen institutions for development (at the village, organization and society levels)

2) To enhance people’s capabilities for self-development (both at individual and community level); and

3) To create sustainable improvements in the livelihoods base.

Our bottom-up approach allows creating stakes for every section of society to participate in their own development. We very much hope that you will enjoy knowing about our business planning phase that we are going through right now.

It has been a very hot summer here in Rajasthan this year. We are now all prepared to welcome the monsoon which should be here in the next week and half. Gradually it is getting humid day by day and we are trying not to let the rising temperatures effect us and are currently in the midst of the exciting organization wide planning process to develop our 7^th Comprehensive Plan.

The Comprehensive Plan outlines the strategic direction and action-plans for Seva Mandir over the next three-year plan period (2012-2015).

Seva Mandir has been preparing Comprehensive Plans since 1990 as a way to systematically review and evolve its near-term strategic priorities across all programmatic areas. The process of putting together the Comprehensive Plan also serves as an opportunity for Seva Mandir to reflect upon the work we have done, examine the environment we work in and evolve our strategies accordingly, within the context of past lessons learnt and the overall long-term vision of the organization.

The process for creating the 7^th Comprehensive Plan began in late 2010 and includes all levels of Seva Mandir’s tiers viz. - from the villages where we work all the way up to the Chief Executive Officer. The Comprehensive Plan process is consistent with Seva Mandir’s bottom-up approach, with the kick-off meetings taking place at the village level with the Chief Executive present. After these initial meetings, the staff members at the zone and block offices had an opportunity to share their thoughts, observations and information. Using the information gathered from the field, the Programs devised their strategies for the upcoming years. These were presented to the organization as a whole, where debate, discussion, criticism and suggestions took place.

We are now headed into the final stages of this exciting process. Programs are incorporating the comments and suggestions into their reports, and putting the final touches in to the operating frameworks. This is an exciting time at Seva Mandir and we are really looking forward to the next few years when we can put these strategies into effect and watch the change they make.

The integrated approach allows all our partners, friends, donors and well wishers to contribute to the holistic development of our communities. Any project/program that you support for Seva Mandir is a part of this comprehensive plan. Thank you so much for regularly supporting our cause and making a difference.

We will soon be providing you with an annual report of our programs you are supporting on Global Giving. In the meantime, if you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.

With warm regards,

Mithori received a solar lamp at rural school

Deepti Ameta — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 11:12:07 GMT

Children at a rural school

Dear Friends,

Greetings from Seva Mandir!

I have three things to say before we talk about the project you are supporting.

One - we recently participated in a fund raising event on Global Giving UK. The challenge Top 10 wins challenge (1st to 14th March) required the participant projects to raise at least of £ 500 with minimum of 25 donors. Seva Mandir participated with its project “Improving Food Security for Tribal Farmers in India”. This project helps 5000 poor, marginalized farmers in rural Udaipur to have better crops and thus earn more money/food. This is done through a variety of programs including – seed bank program, using organic manure prepared with the help of earth worms (vermin-composting), growing cash crops like vegetables (preparing nurseries) for self sustenance and income generation. You would be very happy to note that this project raised £705 from 31 donors in the Top 10 Wins Challenge and therefore it won a bonus prize of £300. It is a perfect gift on this Holi for our farmers.

Secondly, on the 19th and 20th March we celebrated our festival Holi (festival of colors in India http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holi). The festival is also a symbol of celebrating the harvest of winter crop in our region. This festival signifies the end of our winters and beginning of summer. March is also our financial year end and therefore it is wonderful to end our year with lots of support from people like you and having a good harvest at this Holi. And

Finally, this year, at this point of time, Seva Mandir is going through some change. Our ex Chief Executive Ms. Neelima Khetan has stepped down on March 31st. She has spent 25 years with Seva Mandir and the last twelve years as the Chief Executive. The organization excelled during her time and with her leadership marked a number of achievements. Though she has left us due to our constitutional norms, we are very happy to have her as our Trustee on Seva Mandir Board. Her continuing association with Seva Mandir is very assuring for all of us.

Ms. Priyanka Singh has taken over as Chief Executive of Seva Mandir from April 2011. She has spent over thirteen years with Seva Mandir heading Education and Health program and leading Badgaon Block (a geographical unit for our work). She has a post graduate degree in rural development from the same institute as Ms. Khetan did. She is very capable and a great person to work with. With her deep understanding of issues in rural development and support from all our friends like you, we are very much looking forward to seeing Seva Mandir keep doing its good work in the next years to come. At this point of time, we all look for your continuous support and faith for many more years of working together.

In the work area of Seva Mandir several villages do not have access to electricity. It may have some impact on studying after sunset. Last year a solar light company approached Seva Mandir for solar lights in the villages. The company donated 80 solar lamps (Rs.1,600 each) to Seva Mandir.

These lamps were distributed to 80 children in four of our Blocks who are currently in rural schools. These children agreed to share the light with children from other families.

In each Block the rural schools were selected based on the fact that they were remote and do not have electricity connection. The students from these centers were chosen on the basis of their economic background, number of children per family, distance of their house from the school, availability of light in the vicinity etc. Results show that the children who were given the solar lamps are using it to study at night. This has also reduced the family’s dependence on oil for lighting lanterns. With reduced usage of oil, villagers are considering using solar lights against oil lamps.

Mithori Kumari lives in Palesar village of Kotra Block. She is attending the rural school and is good in her studies. She received the solar light a few months ago. She says that the solar light works for up to 5 hours a day. This allows her and her 2 siblings to study at night when all the household work is completed. Her mother is also happy as the solar light has meant reduced usage of oil for lighting. Their neighbors are also now thinking of having a solar lamp so as they don’t have to worry about getting an electricity connection which is very expensive.

“Send a child in India to School” is an ongoing program and we are very fortunate to have friends like you who support it regularly. We are excited every time communicating with you these stories and achievements. This project is close to its goal of raising support on Global Giving. We will be submitting a final progress report of April 2010 to March 2011 by early April this year. By that time, we would have raised the remaining goal, hopefully.

Since it is an ongoing program, we would seek your support for the next year too. We hope you will support your favorite program again and help hundreds of children to attend schools.

Thank you once again for your contribution. We are grateful to you for your continuing faith. We hope that you will be able to visit/write to encourage our new team and leadership.

Happy Holi to you and your family from all of us here.

With regards,

Deepti

deepti@sevamandir.org

succesor to current Chief Executive Seva Mandir

Links:

Jenny writes about solar lights

Happy 2011 from Durga Kumari and all of us here

Deepti Ameta — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 08:02:35 GMT

Durga Kumari sends you her greetings

Wishing you a very happy, prosperous and wonderful 2011. Thank you friends for extending peace, love and support to all of us in 2010. We look forward to another great year with you. Year by year, our association is getting stronger. Thank you very much for adding happiness to our lives.

A small drawing made by Durga Kumari is presented as a token of our wishes to you.

Have an awesome year ahead.

Warm regards,

Deepti

Links:

December Newsletter 2010

You have helped Meethalal to count till 100

Deepti Ameta — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 12:12:30 GMT

Meethalal with his teacher

Dear Friends, Happy Holiday Season! Hope you are enjoying the holiday season. This year the winter has started a little later here but it is pleasantly cold right now. We hope it is also nice weather where you are. I am sharing the half yearly report (April to September 2010) which my colleagues have prepared for you with much enthusiasm and gratitude. With this letter we would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to you for all your support to this project. During these six months a lot of work was done and on many occasions the village communities and the students have come together to exhibit their solidarity on the issues of Education in our region. In the report one such incidence of village Chhali is narrated. I hope you will enjoy reading more about it. By September 2010 we were running 192 schools with 208 teachers. Total enrollment has been 5,703 with 3,310 boys and 2,393 girls. 227 teachers were enrolled for the certification course which is an in-depth training course for the teachers that Seva Mandir offers in the project you are supporting. However, this year, the village communities also selected some teachers from the Government Schools. This shows that the investments in teachers made by Seva Mandir are of great value in the local community and people are able to see positive impact on their children’s learning. More than 1000 children got enrolled in Government schools this year after graduating from Seva Mandir supported Rural Schools (SKs). We are very excited to share all the progress we have made. We believe that our success is your success. We are delighted sharing it with you and we hope you are also glad to hear about it. Thank you for being a wonderful partner to us. We hope to continue receiving your support as your contribution and support brings us a lot of strength and positive energy. Do consider to donate to us again and tell your friends about this project. Thank you very much once again. A small story at the end of my letter is given for your reference. I hope this holiday season is the best of all you have had so far. With warm regards, Deepti ------------- In Losing Dhana village the Government School was located 2 kms away. During monsoon it was even more difficult for children to walk to it as the stream in the village divided it into two halves. Considering these hardships the village community proposed to open a rural school in their neighborhood. Therefore, Seva Mandir supported the rural community to set up an SK in 2004. At present there are 22 children enrolled in the centre, including 11 boys’ and 11 girls. The SK is run by a local instructor, Premlata, who has studied till class 8th. She teaches children with lot of care and attention, and makes sure that the environment is child friendly and comfortable. One of the students at this centre is Meethalal Rawat (12 years old). He came to this centre in 2009. He had passed out of the Government school in Losing Dhana from class 5th, but could hardly read any letter in Hindi nor could count till 20. After 1 ½ years now at this centre he can now count till 100, can do basic mathematic calculations and read and write small sentences in Hindi. As per the instructor he is friendly to all his classmates and is much disciplined. He loves playing cricket and Kabaddi (Indian sport) too. Lakshmi (12 years old) another student at this centre also studied in government school till 4th class. After realizing that she has not learnt much in 4 years, her parents enrolled her with the SK in 2008. Now after spending 2 years her academic performance has improved drastically. She can read and write sentences, count till 100 and can do basic ma thematic calculations. She enjoys reciting poems in the class. She works hard and is very bright. She dreams to be a teacher in future.

Links:

annual report 2008-09

Attachments:

Half Yearly Report April-September 2010 (DOC)

Renuka got the highest marks...

Deept Ameta — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 13:32:53 GMT

girls studying under the shade of a tree

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

3351 new children in schools - with your support

Deepti Ameta — Wed, 19 May 2010 05:53:23 GMT

intently reading...

Dear Friends,

Greetings from Seva Mandir!

With this letter, I am very happy to share with you some news and updates about the program you have been supporting. As you may be aware, by January 2010 ‘Send a child to school in India’ was fully funded by Global Giving. This project first appeared on Global Giving in November 2007 and since then we have received a lot of support for it from people like you. So many, many thanks for your generous support.

In three years we have generated a total of approximately Rs. 4,950,065 ($110,001 or £70,715) from donors through Global Giving (USA & UK) for the NFE (Non Formal Education) program. Every one of us here is truly grateful to all your support over the past three years and we hope to receive your continued help for this project in the years to come. Non Formal Education Centers or Shiksha Kendra (SK) are an ongoing initiative which reaches around 6,000 school children (6-14 years of age) in the remote and tribal areas of Southern Rajasthan, India, every year.

Enclosed with this letter is a detailed report to share what we have been able to do with the funds received from you, and other donors, in this program. Even though the project went live in November 2007 on Global Giving, the report enclosed provides you with the details from April 2007 to March 2010, in line with our financial year structure. I would like to present a brief summary of the report for those who would like to refer the more detailed report at their leisure.

Some figures at a glance – 1. By the end of March 2010, we had 201 NFE centers with 219 instructors and 5,612 children enrolled. 2. We have also seen an encouraging increase in women instructors (from 7 to 16 in the 2007 – 2010 review period). 3. From April 2007 to March 2010, we saw about 3351 new children enrolled across all the 201 NFEs/SKs. 4. In past 3 years a total of 2460 students have graduated to government schools. 5. The retention level of NFEs/SKs graduates to the Government Schools is as high as 84%.

The situation of schooling -

In all the areas where Seva Mandir works, children have little access to quality education. The conditions of schooling in tribal areas is often one of severe neglect, with high rates of teacher absenteeism, use of poor and old pedagogical methods, lack of learning materials, inadequate infrastructure, and above all, an apathetic atmosphere. Parents and communities in general are not able to get the government to address these issues. Their own poverty creates pressures to put every available hand to work. The supply and demand inadequacies compound each other and reduce the likelihood of a child going to or staying in a school. Often many children migrate either daily or seasonally for work.

Why NFEs/SKs -

In these circumstances, Seva Mandir-run NFEs/SKs aim to ensure quality education in remote rural areas to children who are out of school. These SKs are single teacher/instructor schools with creative and joyful classroom environments where studying is more than ‘reading and remembering’. Most of these instructors have studied only up to class 8 or 9. Therefore, a number of trainings and meetings are organized by Seva Mandir on a regular basis for them to enhance their capacities and to also boost their motivation levels. Investments in teachers’ capacities-

The trainings and meetings are also very important because the NFE/SK classroom is constituted by children of various age groups (between 6-14 years) and learning levels. Therefore the instructor must know how to engage all children with their relative studies meaningfully. The instructors also learn organizing various activities and using different study materials to make learning for children enjoyable. The enclosed report will give you an in-depth description of the kinds of trainings has been imparted to these instructors. The enclosed report also contains numerous stories and anecdotes about the NFEs/SKs from the field.

English as the new subject –

There has been also a constant demand from the community and the teacher to teach English at the NFE/SK. Therefore we did a pilot in October 2007 to initiate the English Language Teaching (ELT). The results have been encouraging so far. The children and the teachers are quite excited about learning a new language. About 25 NFEs/SKs are teaching English to their students.

The community’s involvement –

The report also recounts incidences in which the local community has participated actively to ensure education for their children in the areas where a large number of children were out of school. In many cases the communities are supporting these NFEs/SKs financially or encouraging education by making contributions in kind. The parents pay a small token fee of Rs. 5 per month for their children attending the NFEs/SKs. In most cases, the community buys uniforms for their children attending NFEs/SKs with the fee collected every year. It is a very good ‘community work’ to encourage children’s education and show fraternity. A study conducted showed that most parents prefer paying the fee in one or two installments every year and are willing to pay Rs. 100 every year. Therefore, from now on the parents will be requested to pay their children’s fee in one or two installments.

It is also very encouraging to observe that the parent-teacher meetings have also become quite frequent, helping to build a good relationship between the two. We learnt that most parents are happy to attend these meetings and learn about their children’s progress. At times, parents would stop by at the centre to see how and what the instructor was teaching. The report enclosed gives stories of some emotional parents, delighted with their children’s desire to study. Experiencing quality education and its impact-

It is also very encouraging to observe that these NFEs/SKs have been able to provide an experience to the local communities of quality education and a guarantee to parents that their children are learning how to read and write Such assurances have led some of these communities to demand quality education from the Government. Moreover, in many cases the communities have attempted to work with the existing system to improve the situation.

Overall, these NFEs/SKs are providing a platform for mutual learning for both the teacher and the students. The presence of these centers also motivates the community to think about the issue of ‘quality education’ and its role in ensuring it is available to all children. Those children who graduate from these centers outperform others in the government schools, due to the deep educational foundations they have gained from the NFEs/SKs, rooted in curiosity and a desire to learn, not mindless repetition. They have better comprehension skills, socialize better and are able to explore ideas and think independently.

The results of a good education are well known to us. However, what is really remarkable about this program is the relationships forged because of the program: the relationship between the teacher and his/her children; the relationship between the child and his/her parents; the relationship of the community as a whole with the instructor; the relationship of one section/caste of the community with the other section/caste and the relationship of the parents with the teacher. The report enclosed gives a detailed account of the impact the NFEs/SKs have had on various sections of society.

All of this has been possible because of the regular support and deep faith you and our other friends have put in us for all these years. The project is not just about ensuring education - together we have been able to invest in transforming thousands of lives not only in the rural areas of Southern Rajasthan. The program will continue to reach out to thousands of children and hundreds of teachers every year. We hope to connect you with many of these individuals every year with your continuing support to this program.

A very big thank you from all of us at Seva Mandir. We hope to keep building on this foundation and continue to transform lives and expand the dialogue around the issue of education. It would be an absolute pleasure for us should you ever visit us.

Many many thanks once again to all of you. We are very fortunate to have you with us on this important journey.

With warm regards,

Deepti

Links:

Visit a Rural School - in Jamun village India

Attachments:

Rural School Progress Report 2007-2010 (DOC)

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Ms. Deepti Ameta — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 12:01:03 GMT

December 7, 2009

Dear Friend,

Greetings from Seva Mandir!

Many thanks to all of you for responding to our call of support during ‘Give More and Get More’ Challenge. We did quite well in the challenge and you would be happy to note that we stood third with receiving over $35,000 across various projects.

The funds are always helpful in continuing our work but that we can write to this community of supporters and rally support is very morale boosting. Thank you for your trust in us. We are truly grateful.

With best regards for the Holiday Season,

Sincerely,

Deepti

why children are not coming....

Ms. Deepti Ameta — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 09:48:59 GMT

Dear Friends,

Greetings from Seva Mandir!

Thank you very much for all your support. It has been indeed very amazing to see how many of you realy beileve in supporting children's education in India. A very big thank you from all of us here. Your donations will support several of rural schools or NFE (non formal education centers) meaning hunderes of children in our region would be able to go to schools for 1 year. Just wanted to share with you a story which I enjoyed reading and I truly hope you will also admire the efforts put in by the teacher in Jharia Mude NFE.

I also would like to update you about some other interesting education programs. Currently we are running the second seasonal residential camp of this financial year. The seasonal residential camp is organized for working tribal children who have either dropped out from schools or have never been to schools. The children between 6-14 years who are not able to go to schools for socio-economic reasons, most often they support the family income by working as labourers. Hence these children can come to such seasonal camps and acquire some basic literacy skills. Every such child has to attend 3 such camps. The teaching method used in these camps is that of interactive and action based. We would be very excited to show you several of our programs, should you happen to visit us some day.

Many many thanks once again for your support, time and faith.

With warm regards,

Deepti

-----------------------

Non Formal Education Center: Jharia Mudi, Kherwada Block

There are 20 children enrolled in Jaria Mudi NFE. There are 3 children who came to this NFE after graduating from Seva Mandir Balwadi. The instructor Phulchand observes that “the children who have been to the Balwadi learn things easily in the NFE and they are also at much ease in interacting with other children because of their exposure in Balwadi (preschool)”.

Phulchand is a dedicated teacher and enjoys teaching his children. He says – “Teaching children while playing, drawing, with music and story telling is very easy. Children learn so much this way”. He has been quite successful in motivating the parents to send their children for schooling. When a child does not come to the NFE for more than four days then Phulchand tries to find out the reason for it. Phulchand says – “When this centre was opened many parents were not interested in education for their children. But talking with them on regular basis and seeing other children’s performances many parents are showing interest in sending their children to the NFE now”.

Matching grant opportunity – Please support Seva Mandir

Poonam — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 21:32:26 GMT

It’s the season for Thanks and Giving…and we hope very much that you will continue your support to Seva Mandir.

We wanted to let you know about an exciting opportunity that we are participating in through our partners, Global Giving. A donation made to any of our projects, on Global Giving between November 10 and December 1, will be matched.

Total donations up to $2,500 will be matched at 30%. Donations in the range $2,501 - $7,500 will be matched at 40%. Donations above $7501 will be matched at 50%. However, please note that only donation amounts below $500 will be eligible for matching – any donation above $ 500 will come to us, and make us more eligible for bonus awards but without the matching amount. SO GIVE MORE – GET MORE!

And if we raise the most money or get the most donations, we are eligible for bonus awards. First place for both categories will each receive $5,000, second place in each will receive $3,000 and third place in both categories will each receive $1,000.

Seva Mandir’s page at Global Giving lists 7 projects. Please see http://www.globalgiving.com/dy/v2/content/search.html?q=seva+mandir

Matching funds are limited, so we request you to act as quickly as possible. You can give and also persuade friends and family to give. Minimum donation is $10 and donations are tax-deductible!

Would you consider giving and also sharing this email with others?

Thank you for anything that you are able to do to support Seva Mandir.

With Greetings for the season, Seva Mandir

In Charge - Reporting and Communicaitons

the fund raiser and bonus prize — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 06:18:53 GMT

August 17, 2009

Dear Friends,

Thank you so much for all your help during Alive and Learning Challenge. The challenge ended on 14th August and our project 'Send a child in India to school for a year' has won the first prize of raising most donations. We are very grateful for your generous contribution and help to Seva Mandir.

We raised a total of £ 5,605 with 28 donors. Since we raised the biggest amount of donations among all the other participants our project has won the bonus prize of £ 1000 too.

So the total raise is £ 6,605. This money will be helpful to ensure schooling for over 275 children for a year. Thank you so very much for your valuable support. It would have been not possible without your support.

In addition, our project has been selected for other promotional programs by Global Giving. It means, our project has a better chance to raise more support and awareness about children's education. The following link would be of some interest to you - http://www.globalgiving.com/dy/fundraiser/prevfund/gg.html?regid=2218

We would like to express our heartfelt thanks from all of us here at Seva Mandir. It has been your generous support and deep faith that we are able to work with these children and for their education. I will be posting more stories and updates on this program. Many thanks once again. We would be very happy to hear any feedback from you.

With kindest regards,

Deepti deepti@sevamandir.org

World Bank - Development Marketplace

Ms. Deepti Ameta — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 07:22:49 GMT

August 13, 2009

Greetings from Seva Mandir!

Dear Friends,

Thank you for your continuing support to our programs. I am writing to share with you a bit of news.

Seva Mandir has recently won a Development Marketplace Grant Competition, organized by the Word Bank. The competition was exclusively for grassroots initiatives in South Asia to address the problem of undernutrition.

The Seva Mandir's project on 'Addressing Iron Deficiency Anemia in Rural Rajasthan through Iron Fortification of Flour at Village Level' was one of the 21 projects that won the competition in Development Marketplace.

We are all very excited at this achievement. If you have any queries on this project then please do write to me.

We are very happy to share this news with you. Thank you for all your support and contributions. We really appreciate it.

With warm regards,

Deepti deepti@sevamandir.org

I wish to have a good teacher...

Ms. Deepti Ameta — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 10:48:13 GMT

July 30, 2009

Dear Friends,

Greetings from Seva Mandir!

Thank you very much for your huge support during Alive & Learning Challenge. As you might have noticed that we are at the top position with £ 2,477 and a total of 14 donors.

The challenge will be ending on 14th August and we hope that we will be able to receive the bonus prize too. Many many thanks once again.

My colleague Megha who is closely associated with Non Formal Education Centers program has given a brief update, which she wants to share with you. “We run 202 NFE centers in which now we have 17 women teachers. It is a quite encouraging because in our region women literacy rates are considerably low. The centers are run in village houses which are mud-houses and the roofs are covered with mud tiles. Hence these houses are very dark. In some centers we have provided the fiber-roofs that are good for providing enough light and are rain-proof. Children are excited to have such roofs.” During one of the parents-teachers bimonthly meeting one parent said – “For us to come to the center sit and talk to teacher and to see that our kids study is a really amazing opportunity." Another parent said – “We thank Maar Saab (teacher) for calling us here and teaching us at our village. In the past we could avail of these opportunities, as it was not close to my house. I really wished for a teacher in my village for me when I was small.”

Megha and her team is also working on developing new Flash Cards, Resource Material for English and improving teachers-parents meetings

I hope you find this feedback useful. We would like to communicate our heartfelt thanks to all of you for your kind support.

With warm regards,

Deepti deepti@sevamandir.org

The girl ate away the mango...

Ms. Deepti Ameta — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 12:26:17 GMT

July 16, 2009

Dear Friend,

Greetings from Seva Mandir!

Thank you very much for your continuing support. It is encouraging to see all of our friends and well wishers to support children’s education. I was reading somewhere in our annual reports of last year that about 30% 6-14 years of children in the areas where Seva Mandir works are out of school. It is very heartbreaking. The census of 2001 shows that the literacy rates of Udaipur is merely 59%.

What education means in today’s time, we all know but there are certain areas in the world where children do not have access to quality education for various reasons. Poverty, social constraints, physical access and quality of services are some of the reasons.

Recently, our first Seasonal Residential Learning Camp finished. The camp is another Education effort of Seva Mandir for children who are deprived of education. The camps cater to working children between 7-15 years old age group. Often these children have either never been to schools or have dropped out at a very early stage due to non-comprehension or bad experience in the schools.

I have come across to an interesting piece of writing, written by a boy who has simply learnt how to express his feelings in writing. It is amazing to note that he learnt to write with comprehension only in 50 days. The teacher asked students to complete a story with the help of a picture and two introductory lines.

I am quoting here his (Vahta Ram) story. I hope you will enjoy reading what he has imagined in this story.

“Once upon there was a mango tree. There was one mango on it. A boy was also thinking of eating the mango. He was thinking of dropping the mango. A boy threw a stone and mango was dropped on the ground and a crow picked it up and flew away. The boy hit the crow with a stone and the crow crashed to the ground. A girl picked it and while she was washing her face and the mango sat on her plate. A squirrel picked it up and went to a tree and dropped it into a nest and the eggs of the crow were broken and little babies came out and started crying. The crow followed the squirrel and took away the mango from her. The mango fell down on an old man’s turban who was sitting down the tree. Two rabbits and two boys and the crow came to the old man. The girl took the mango away, so the crow and rabbits and squirrel were very sad. The girl ran away with the mango and everyone was very sad. So the boy and crow followed her to fight with her but she ate away the mango, all right!”

With such sparkling little progress, it enforces our faith in our work. And when we receive support for our programs from people like you it further help deepen our faith and increases the chances of bright future for these children.

Thank you for all your support and helping thousands of children’s education. We very much hope that we will be able to raise huge support in Alive and Learning Challenge too.

We would be very happy if you have any feedback or suggestions to share.

Thank you once again.

With warm regards,

Deepti deepti@sevamandir.org

5000 out of school children...

Ms. Deepti Ameta — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 08:43:07 GMT

July 15, 2009

Dear Friend,

Greetings from Seva Mandir!

First of all, a very big thank you for your continued support to our rural school project.

As you may all know Seva Mandir is participating in Alive & Learning Challenge this July starting from 15th. We are participating with your favorite project ‘Send a child in India to school’. If we raise £ 2000 until the 15th of August 2009 then this project will be a featured project on Global Giving home page. If we could raise the most donations, we will have a bonus prize of £ 1000. If we get most number of donors then we will have an additional £ 250. That means we have to raise a minimum of £ 2000.

This challenge will help us to reach out to more donors who wish to contribute towards children’s education. It will also allow us to spread awareness of education scenario in our region.

The literacy rate of our region is much lower about 59% but together we can help improve this figure by sending more children to schools. It takes only £ 24 to send one child to school for one year. With this programme we are reaching to 5000 out-of-school children in rural areas of our region every year. Most of them are girl children. Your support will ensure their regular schooling.

Please tell all you family and friends to help promote education of the out of school tribal children.

Thank once again for your time and support. I will be posting updates on this project regularly. For questions, please do contact me at deepti@sevamandir.org

With warm regards and we all look forward to your support.

Deepti

teching kids in rural schools...

Ms. Priyanka Singh — Fri, 22 May 2009 09:15:03 GMT

Namaste I am priyanka from seva mandir. I have been with seva mandir for 11 years now. I have headed health and education programs of seva mandir. Non formal education program is the largest and the most successful part of our education program. Seva mandir attempts to ensure quality education to very poor children of remote areas. Precisely because these are very disadvantaged children the learning experience must be one which the children enjoy and find meaningful. Else they will very easily stop studying. The process of learning is made enjoyable and meaningful by making sure that children have plenty of opportunity to read, think, question and argue. The focus is to allowing children to undertake a task in groups and individually. Where they have to apply their minds and not just repeat what the teacher has said. It is ensured that the children are actually learning and not memorizing. After all real knowledge and understanding leads to a happier childhood; satisfy teachers and empower citizens. All this has been possible because of your support and the confidence you proposed in us. A very warm and heartfelt thank you on behalf of Seva Mandir and the numerous children whose lives you have influenced. Thank you once again.

The video is available on the following link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtXETqw3CdY

America is married now

Ms. Deepti Ameta — Tue, 19 May 2009 12:17:20 GMT

May 19, 2009

Dear friends,

First of all, thank you for supporting us ever!

I have some quick news to share. In April end (22nd and 23rd) Margaret and John from Global Giving visited Seva Mandir Projects. We took them around and showed them our work in four villages. We exchanged a lot of ideas and learnt a lot about each other.

During their time here we visited our Pre School Center, Rural School, Immunization Camp, Dal Mill Project (Profit for poor), Village Library and Pastureland Development. They both found these programs very interesting but our meeting with one of the Fellows (Fellowship Project) – Jawan Singh in Barawa village was a special highlight for all of us.

We had lunch with Jawan Singh. It was a very hot day but we all were very happy to be able to wash our feet by a dug-well which still has lots of water. The water in this well is a result of our soil and water conservation work in this village. Margaret and John were very impressed to see our efforts and the strong leadership that has emerged over the years. Jawan Singh is a one such leaders. He is currently a Vikas Mitra Fellow (Fellowship Program). He took us around and showed all the activities that took place over the years. He also explained the caste struggle of his village to Margaret and John.

There were two more striking episodes occurred.

One is – when we visited the village library in Medi village – we met the teacher – Ram Lal who runs the library. He told us that he has 6 kids whose names are after countries like – America, Japan, India, and England etc. We were amused to note that ‘America is married now’.

Another incident – when we were interacting with children in our Rural School in Ushan village, the villagers came to meet the guests. The villagers asked several questions to John and Margaret including – what crops do they grow in America, if they also have a hilly terrain, if the rains are frequent and adequate in their country, what is the mean age of marriage in America etc.

Then, an old man asked if they knew – where the Sun goes in the night and that why sometimes the moon is full and sometimes not???

The people in villages were so happy to have guests. But they were so happy to be able to interact with them. Their innocent questions indicate that they have a desire to learn things and that, they are confident to ask questions.

John and Margaret answered to all these questions very patiently and they both appreciated the fact that they were able to interact with villagers other than development issues.

A very big thank you Margaret and John – it was very nice meeting you and learning all the innovating ways of raising funds, you are trying. We all are very happy meeting you and we appreciate all your support and help that you and your entire team provide us time to time.

I am also taking the opportunity to thank all our friends who have been supporting us through Global Giving. The appreciation we received from Margaret and John for our work is also a result of support from people like you. Thank you once again for all your support.

Do let us know if you like this feedback.

Thank you,

With warm regards,

Deepti

Some good news...

Ms. Deepti Ameta — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 07:47:15 GMT

Dear Friend,

Greetings from Seva Mandir!

Thank you for your continuing support to our programs. I am writing to share with you some good news. On 27th March 2009 Seva Mandir was awarded the first prize ‘The CSO partner’s Outstanding Annual Report Award 2009’ for our Annual Report 07-08 in the category of Large Organizations. The criterion to win the prize was to have transparent accounts, its disclosures in the report and its ability to communicate well (i.e. readable and understandable for readers).

Such awards and appreciation of our work is the result of many people’s contribution towards our work and mission. Therefore, your support and guidance is one of main attributes of this appreciation. You can find more details about this our website www.sevamandir.org and to view our annual report please visit the following link - http://www.sevamandir.org/publications.htm

Many thanks once again for all your support and love. I will be soon in touch with updates on programs you are supporting.

With warm regards,

Deepti

Thank you. You brought us to TOP 5

Deepti Ameta — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 07:17:15 GMT

January 17, 2009

Dear Friend,

New Year Greetings from Seva Mandir!

Thank you very much for your continued supported. I am Deepti and I look after the Reporting and Communication Program in Seva Mandir. I will be staying in touch with you regularly to keep you updated about the program that you have been supporting.

We feel immense pleasure to inform you that our project ‘Send a child in India to School for 1 year’ was the top 5 most active projects last week on GlobalGiving!

This has only been possible because of the support from people like you. Thank You very much for keeping your faith in our work and encouraging us every time. We are indeed very fortunate to have you as our friend.

With this great news, I would also like to share with you an interesting episode that took place in December 2008. I was taking a group of visitors from St. Christopher School, England. We share a very special relationship with them. They have been supporting some of our program for past many years and have contributed in designing the pedagogy we use in schools.

The visit to Sagwada village was planned particularly because a couple of years ago we bought a few reading/writing tables with a donation from St. Christopher School for children in school of Sagwada village. We thought it would be great for them to see how the tables are being used by children in that school. The children sit in a group while studying and together use the table for reading, writing, drawing etc.

When we arrived the teacher was teaching English to his students. He picked up a bunch of flash cards and started asking each child to name the picture on flash card in English. Every child was able to name the picture in English but to our surprise they were also able to spell each name in English correctly.

It is very impressing as it has only been a few months last year that we have provided the teachers with trainings to teach English in schools. Many of these teachers have not been to University but their ability to learn and teach with great dedication is amazing. Likewise, the dedication with which the children have learnt their lessons is also incredible. We were all very impressed at this.

I very much hope that you find this feedback and photos in Photo Gallery useful.

Thank you to all of you for making it possible for us to share these incredible stories with you. Please feel free to contact me in case of any query or information.

With warm regards,

Deepti Ameta, In Charge Reporting and Communications deepti@sevamandir.org

An update from the Schools Project

Deepti Ameta — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 17:59:06 GMT

The Non Formal Education Program (NFE center) of Seva Mandir, India ensures the quality education to the tribal children in remote rural areas. While doing so, it also helps create capacities in communities to demand meaningful education for children. Thank you for your continuing support which helps ensure education to 5000 such children. Without your support most of such children would have lost their childhood and be out and earning a livelihood for their family.

Most of the children in rural areas have no access to education because of various reasons as the other schooling facilities are either very far or dysfunctional and many children are very poor which makes schooling even more difficult. They are either engaged in wage-labor work to provide supplementary income to their families or tend to their goats or look after their younger siblings while their parents are gone for work. Some who go to the schools often drop out because of non-comprehension or bad experiences with their teachers.

The Non formal Education Centers hence provide 6-14 years old children with an access to education within their reach. These centers also serve as a site for practicing meaningful pedagogy, trusteeship and more respectful ownership between children and teachers. The Program also promotes the children to get admissions in Government Schools after graduating from the NFE centers. This year more than 450 children got enrolled in the Government Schools after graduating from our NFE centers.

Once again many thanks from all of us here.

Independance Day Celebrations

Ms. Angela Jacob — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 07:55:26 GMT

Dear Friend,

Greetings form Seva Mandir!

We would like to communicate our heartfelt thanks to all our donors for their continuing support and faith in our work.

The children in rural Udaipur are not able to access education due to social and economical constraints. The Non Formal Education Program (NFE) of Seva Mandir is providing more than 5000 children with an access to education within their reach. The Non Formal Education centers also help strengthen the understanding for education among the community members.

The children graduating from NFEs are promoted to attend Government School so that they can be associated with the mainstream education. This year in July-August more than 450 children have been enrolled in Government Schools after graduating from NFEs.

In the month of August the children were engaged in plantation and Celebration of Independence Day (26th August). Some children attending the NFEs participated in the celebrations of Independence Day of the nearby Government Schools. They performed dramas, recited poems and sang songs, taught to them by their NFE teachers. The parents of these children were so happy to see them perform. Many of these children have also won prizes in various competitions during the celebrations. The Program hence is also contributing a lot to the overall development of these children. We have been thinking of some other name for ‘The Non Formal Education Program’. Since the core idea of the Non Formal Education Program is not limited to a four-wall classroom. It is rather to provide a space where children can participate in Education more freely and creatively, where children are allowed to express their opinions, ask questions and where learning is fun than the obligation. There have been several rounds of discussion within in the organization and we have a few suggestions to choose from. We would be very happy to share the new name with you once we have selected one.

I very much hope that you find this feedback useful. My team is continuously thinking of innovative ideas for the program in order to make it more rich and useful for the children. Your support therefore, is very critical in the program. It is always encouraging for us to hear from you and receive your suggestions. Thank you once again for your support and encouragement.

Kindly write to me at info@sevamandir.org for any queries or for more information. We look forward to hearing from you.

With regards,

Sincerely,

Angela Jacob In Charge Education Program Seva Mandir, India

It was a pleasure visiting Futangarh...

Ms. Angela Jacob — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 07:38:30 GMT

Dear Friends,

Greetings from Seva Mandir!

Thank you very much for keeping your faith in our work. It is because of the valuable support of people like you that we at Seva Mandir are able to work with our communities. I also would like to thank my entire team at this point for working hard and believing in the wonderful work of Seva Mandir.

I have an interesting story to share with you. I enjoyed it thoroughly when I visited village Futangarh a couple of days ago. Education, which is the right of every child, is still a far-fetched dream for many children in our region. Some people may think that neither children nor parents from poor economic backgrounds have interest in schooling because earning daily bread is what more matter to them but it is probably not the case. The children can perform well if the quality of Education is better, if they are given the chance and also if the access to Education is easy for them. This is what the following story transales. I am sure you will enjoy reading it.

Thanks once again for your valuable donation and I look forward to your continued support in future too. Do write to us if you have any query or doubts at info@sevamandir.org

With regards,

Sincerely,

Angela Jacob, In Charge Education Program, Seva Mandir

The Non Formal Education Center (NFE) of Futangarh was set up in July 2003 after a survey that was conducted to explore the number of out-of-school children (school going aged). In the beginning there were 25 children got enrolled including 12 girls. However gradually the number increased so much that in 2004 the village had to appoint one more Instructor to cater to the needs of increased number of children at the NFE.

Currenly there are 39 children including 19 girls. Both the instructors Kanhiyalal and Babulal enjoy teaching their village children. One of the remarkable qualities of both of these instructors is that they keep encouraging parents in the village to get their children enrolled in Government School when their children graduate from NFE. In this light, it is encouraging to note that ever since the NFE was opened there were as many as 40 children have been enrolled in the Government School after graduating from the Futangarh NFE. One of the ex-students namely Durga who is now in the 8th Standard is currently studying in the Government School and is doing very well in her studies. Durga says – “I stood first in the class when I was there in the NFE a couple of years ago. It was all possible because of the dedicated efforts put in by my teacher. I am happy that the NFE was there, otherwise I could never think beyond tending to my goats”.

The instructors say – “The children who have been admitted in Government School after passing out from our NFEs are doing very well in comparison to the children who never attended our NFEs. When the teachers at the Government School informs us the performance of the ex-students of our NFE, we feel immense pleasure and proud”.

The parents are extremely happy with the instructors and they often wonder on the fact that their children are so good at studying. Some parents believe that in the Government Schools the teachers do not pay much attention on younger children and often these teachers are not regular so the children get de-motivated and as a result drop out.

The NFE of Futangarh is playing a significant role in shaping up the dreams of many children in this village.

Somly - the little girl and her determination

Ms. Angela Jacob — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 10:08:56 GMT

Village Kotla phala: Somly is 8 years old and lives with her two elder brothers and parents. Everyday she walks 2 kms to attend her lessons in the NFE. When Somly first came to the NFE she did not know reading and writing. But soon with the support of the instructor Dashrath and her determination she picked up the reading-writing skills. Currently she is in the level, ‘A’ which is the highest level in an NFE.

One of Somly’s older brothers Jivath started working as wage-laborer after finishing 8th standard to provide supplementary income to the family. Her other brother Naresh is currently in the 7th Standard in the Government School of Sagwada village. Naresh had attended NFE for few years before studying in the Government School.

Somly regrets the fact that her brother Jivath who wanted to continue his studies could not do so due to their poor economic conditions. Somly produdly says that Jivath always encourages her and Naresh to keep studying with full determination. Jivath also helps both of her siblings in their studies with his limited knowledge.

Somly has been able to read and write simple sentences with comprehension as well as is able to execute simple addition, subtraction and multiplication. Somly aspires to be a teacher when she is an adult. However for now she simply enjoys learning in the NFE and she thinks that she will be able to continue further studies if her economic conditions allow her to chase her dreams.

Examination and English Classes...

Ms. Angela Jacob — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 11:02:35 GMT

Seva Mandir helps village communities run Non Formal Education Centers (NFEs) to ensure quality education to out of school children. These NFEs also act as sites of providing experience of quality education to communities. These centers are often single-teacher schools offering education to out of school children up to class 3.

The total number of NFE’ s currently functioning for current financial year is 176 with an enrolment of 4714 students.

Every year there are 2 rounds of evaluations of the students – · An yearly evaluation in March- April and · Half yearly examination in Oct – Nov

To identify the progress of a child we have categorized four levels of their learning from 0 to 4. The levels are roughly equivalent to government classes. Level 0 is when a child enters the NFE and can barely read or write.

Level 1 is where s/he can read write small words and does simple counting; identify some numbers.

When a child can start reading writing and understanding simple texts, in Mathematics can do basic counting and simple operations like addition and subtraction with small numbers, she is placed in Level 2.

At level 3 a child can read, write and understand texts in language and in Mathematics understands concepts of multiplication, division, etc.

In the few months – (Jan – April 2008) – The yearly Evaluation of the children attending NFE centers was conducted for which the data entry is being under process. Around 3000 children had participated in this evaluation. We will keep our donors posted once the entry of the data is done.

Another encouraging news to share with our donors is that the NFE teachers (instructors) were given training in October 2007 to teach English language to the children attending NFE centers. A team of Seva Mandir has recently reported that these instructors have been able to successfully introduce English to these children at NFE. The language English has been introduced because there has been a constant demand from the community and the Government Schools (where the children seek admissions after graduating from these NFE centers).

WE THANK ALL OUR RESOURCE PARTNERS FOR MAKING THE SCHOOLING POSSIBLE FOR THESE CHILDREN

Getting into the main stream of Education

Ms. Angela Jacob — Thu, 15 May 2008 04:34:21 GMT

There are several stories about children like Radhulal who have managed to get adimitted into Government Schools for further education. This has been possible for them because of the confidence and competence gained in these Non Formal Education Centers.

Attachments:

Radhulal gets into Govt. School... (PDF)

A Big Thank You

Neelima Khetan — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 05:40:59 GMT

Dear Friend,

Greetings from Seva Mandir!

The results of the Giving Challenge - after the final audit for unique donations - have come in. Seva Mandir was ranked number 5, and therefore did not get the award of $ 50,000 (which went to the top 4 organizations only).

However, we did raise over $ 40,000 for our Children's Education Programme, due to the support of over 1500 friends like you. This will translate into roughly 1000 children being able to attend a non-formal education centre for one year.

Equally important to all of us at Seva Mandir has been the support itself - the Challenge helped us reconnect with hundreds of old friends and to be connected to several new well wishers - who donated without even knowing us well! Your vote of confidence means a great deal to us, and we hope to continue to do work worthy of all this trust and support.

So, a very big thank you to each one of you who contributed and helped us reach where we did. All of us at Seva Mandir are deeply touched and also re-energized.

We also hope that some of you may stay in touch. We will be grateful for any advice from you. And should any of you have occasion to visit Udaipur / us, we will be honoured to show you the work that you have helped happen.

With warm regards, Yours sincerely, (Neelima Khetan) Chief Executive. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Seva Mandir, Udaipur - 313004, Rajasthan (India). Tel: +91-294-2450960 / 2451041 / 2452001 Fax: +91-294-2450947 e-mail: info@sevamandir.org; smandir@vsnl.com website: www.sevamandir.org

Visitors from Netherlands

Angela Jacob — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 07:53:31 GMT

See I can read it....

On the 18th January 2008 three visitors from Netherlands visited the NFE Center of Kanpur village. The children were so enthusiastic to see them and read them a story written on the black-board.

Take my photo too...

Thanks for making a difference

Angela Jacob — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 07:44:39 GMT

The America's Giving Challenge has helped made a difference in the lives of over 5000 rural school-going-age children of tribal communities. We are thankful to all of our donors and supporters for putting their faith in our work and in our mission.

Attachments:

visit_to_NFE_by_Global_Giving_Donors.pdf (PDF)

The new way of learning

Ms. Angela Jacob — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 04:38:33 GMT

Kishan enjoys teaching and makes learning interesting. See how does he does it....

Attachments:

The monkey and the crocodile (PDF)

Learn how to read and write

Ms. Angela Jacob — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 11:04:42 GMT

Dariya had passed class five from the Govenment School in village Chali but she was not able to read and write. Find out how she learns to read and write and do simple calculations in just few months...

Attachments:

Dariya doing calculations (PDF)

Kids enjoying learning

Ms. Angela Jacob — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 10:54:04 GMT

Kishan the instructor of the Non Formal Education Center of village Dulawaton Ka Guda makes learning easier for children. The Government School is very far for little children to walk to. Find out how the village found an alternative option for their children's schooling.

Attachments:

Drama Played in NFE (PDF)

Story of Non Formal Education Center

Angela Jacob — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 12:43:57 GMT

The story of NFE of village Jamun is very interesting. As the Government School is far and the teachers there were not teaching, many enrolled students had dropped out. How the village leaders and youth have looked for other alternative options for these children's schooling and encouraged the parents to send back to them to the NFE run by Seva Mandir.

Attachments:

nfe_jamun.pdf (PDF)

Story of Non Formal Education Center

Ms. Angela Jacob — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 12:09:30 GMT

The story of Non Formal Education Center (NFE) of village Ushan in an interesting one. The Village has undergone a rigorous struggle with the teacher at Government School in village Ushan. Nither the teacher shows up in the school regularly nor does she teach. The villagers confronted her but she accused the parents for not sending their children to the School. The problem continues but to cater to the needs of children being out-of-school an NFE was set up in January 2007.

Attachments:

nfe_story_kesar_ushan_village.pdf (PDF)