Help disadvantaged Bengali children + young people

Alindra Naskar started a school in a small village in West Bengal in 2005 with 35 children. Today there are about 450.

His 'New Life Centre' school has recently been awarded Secondary school status and this will have a huge impact on its future.

It has taken him years to have this status confirmed, involving many visits to government departments and numerous forms to be filled in, but following his vision of educating the children of this poor region, Alindra has been relentless in this pursuit.

This will mean that the children in his school, such as these older boys, will not have to transfer to the government school where 90% of them leave without any qualifications, but can stay at the New Life Centre and leave with qualifications, equipped to sustain themselves and their families.

By comparison, the government schools in this region of West Bengal appear woefully equipped and are left to their own devices. The New Life Centre provides a higher standard of education and a better chance of securing further education should these children want it.

This is the whole point; education is the key to a better future and Alindra has made that possible for these children who until now had little hope of escaping the poverty trap.

Wouldn’t you like to join with us and help create a better future for these children?

My 25 year old daughter accompanied me for the first time to the New Life Centre school in India in February. When we entered the kindergarten classes on the first day, she was bemused that some of the 3 and 4 year olds started to cry as soon as we appeared. ‘What’s wrong Mum’ she asked? ‘They haven’t seen many white people’ I replied, ‘and anyway they are all so young some of them haven’t got used to school yet at all’. The teachers confirmed that a couple of the children still cried each morning when their parents left. My daughter was perturbed until I remarked, ‘Just like you were’!

The little girl in the photo at the front with a hat on was one of those finding it hard to settle at school. She had a captivating face, large eyes that surveyed us suspiciously. This was at the end of a school day, and whilst we waited for some of the parents we sang ‘Heads, shoulders, knees and toes’.

All of the other children joined in as you can see and delighted in the song, but our little one remained serious and unsmiling. The more we tried to engage with her, the more she refused to be involved, and yet she couldn’t help herself from watching with interest as her schoolmates joined in. 

I know that next time I visit, our wary little one will be amongst those eager to shake our hands in the morning as we arrive for school. I gain far more from my visits to this remarkable institution than I ever give. My life has been enriched by my contact with these children, who behave just like all other young ones, but because of this school they are well on their way to reaching their potential.

Wouldn’t you like to be enriched by helping this school?