Help disadvantaged Bengali children + young people

Celebrations in the NLC!

Education in the broadest sense brings out the individual talents of the children. When I was teaching I enjoyed being involved in the school plays, behind the scenes, as I saw another side to the children who sat in front of me in class. Mr Naskar knows this only too well and despite the difficulties of the past few years he is always keen to balance education with celebration.

There are fixed events in the New Life Centre school timetable, such as Father Ante Gabric’s (the person who inspired Alindra) birthday, Sports day, but also Teacher’s day and Children’s day. World Children’s day in November was celebrated in the school and the parachute we took out with us in 2019 was used for games and fun once again. This is followed by a meal prepared by the teachers for the children, providing nourishment for the body as well as the mind. Then games ensue with Alindra keen to show his football skills!

When we visit the school Alindra always arranges an outing with the staff to foster a sense of teamwork and community. We have been to the Sunderbans National Park for a day out on a boat, but more often we have just taken a boat locally in the delta. One time when we arrived for Diwali we met in the school in the evening and lit candles around the roof and then had fireworks.

As Director of the school Alindra promotes an ethos of family support, which I enjoyed in some UK schools but not all. Of course the childrens’ academic studies are paramount, especially in this poor deprived forgotten area of West Bengal, but what is also essential for a school is to know the children who are sitting in front of you, their family situation, their motivation and their dreams.

Alindra has not only established a school which provides a higher level of education than is seen anywhere locally, but also an ethos of a caring fun environment, a model unparalleled in this region.

Wouldn’t you like to be involved in this inspirational school?

As well as running the New Life Centre school, Mr Naskar has provided a tailoring course and a computer course in the classrooms after school, for young women and men who leave school with no qualifications, and are in need of vocational training.

The computer course has had a difficult time as the electricity in this area is unpredictable, and the pandemic curtailed this activity for the time being. However the tailoring course has been running since 2008, when a group of Hands Around the World volunteers helped to build the second block of classrooms, which provided space for this programme.

One of Alindra’s extended family, who had trained in tailoring has run the course since 2008, and over 200 ladies have completed it, many going on to be self-employed working from home as can be seen in the photos.

This vital source of income in an extremely deprived area is just another way that Mr Naskar enables the local community to broaden their horizons and have more choice in their own lives and their childrens.

Many of the women who have attended the tailoring course have sent their children to the NLC school, thus ensuring a good quality education for the next generation, which they were deprived of themselves.