Give career training to 100 deaf students in India

Dear Friends,

We are inching slowly and steadily towards our goal of providing career training to 100 deaf students. The construction of the first floor of our modest 2 story school building is complete. We bought chairs, tables, blackboard, and school supplies and last month we bought our very first computer. 15 students are currently enrolled at the center and classes started since August of last year. We have a couple of deaf women students who have enrolled in the past month. We hope to fulfill our promise to these young students to teach them the skills that will allow them to earn a livelihood.

We have hired a sign language interpreter who is also teaching basic computers to the students. Search is still on for a qualified teacher who can teach more complex computer courses to the deaf students and help us to develop a well-planned curriculum for them. We received a generous $850 donation from members of the SEEDS organization in USA which promotes the sustainable advancement of people primarily in the state of Orissa. We are deeply grateful to them for this donation. We are also grateful to our one-time and monthly donors without whose support these steps would have been even harder to take. We plan to buy a couple of more computers and educational books with the funds that we have available. The annual examinations and the Class X Board Examinations are on for many of the regular students. Once the exams are finished in March, the students will be back in the classes and the computers will be bought. Class timings have been changed from Saturdays to Thursdays and Fridays between 4-6 pm.

If you have any ideas or suggestions that will help our school, please feel free to share them with us. We are always within reach at westbengaldeaf@gmail.com.

Thanks for your support.

Links:

• http://www.westbengaldeaf.org