Help disadvantaged Bengali children + young people

The Vocational Training Centre celebrated Teachers Day!

The New Life Centre School incorporates a Vocational Training Centre which operates in the afternoon when the school day is over.

Local women complete a Tailoring course at the VTC under the guidance of Chumpa who has been working here since the school first opened nearly 20 years ago. In that time hundreds of women have passed the Tailoring course, thus providing support for their families, as they make clothes for their dependents and in some cases for local shops. Last year when I was at the school, I visited a lady who had set up her own business selling clothes that she and her husband made after she had completed the Tailoring course years ago, a success story!  

Alindra is always keen to treat everyone the same, and so as the school celebrated Teachers Day so did the VTC.

On 5^th September this year, designated Teachers Day in India, the present Trainees gathered to celebrate with Chumpa and Alindra, with a cake, and the present Trainees.

The school reaps the benefit of being treated as one big family. The staff who have loyally remained at the school are honoured each year by the children who dance and perform for their delight on Teachers Day.

This year the VTC were also included in the celebrations, and of course the Trainees children were invited too!

Wouldn’t you like to be part of the New Life Centre family?

I have always been impressed with the holistic education in the New Life Centre school and, as a retired teacher, I recognise how invaluable it is to get to know all the talents of the children you teach, and not just their academic practice.

So Art plays a big part in the curriculum at the NLC and the Art teacher is committed to entering the children for exams to foster their burgeoning skills, also running an Art class on a Saturday so other local children can join. The children were entered for an exam in April, which is Government sponsored so they will receive a certificate.

The school roll has risen considerably this year to 358, nearly as many as pre covid times. This is hardly surprising in an area where the Government schools continue to fail children, and the system is based on the need for tutors, to enable children to attain any adequate level of schooling. This of course then excludes the poorest who cannot afford tutors, but at the NLC whatever parents can afford allows their child to access this good academic standard, as well as the benefits of an all round education as we see here.

As well as the Vocational Training Centre providing a tailoring course for the local women to give them a means to support themselves, Alindra is about to resume the computer course for local young women and men, who have been failed by the Government schools.

The NLC is a community hub as you can see as well as a beacon of hope for schoolchildren in this corner of India which is largely forgotten because of its rural location.

Wouldn’t you like to make a difference in the lives of these children and young adults in this area of West Bengal.