Scholarships to enable 12 children to go to school

There are 190 students being sponsored this year through our scholarship programme. The Indian school year starts in April, they then have their summer holidays from the end of May until end of June and start again on 1 July. This is the story of one of the students sponsored through the Scholarship Programme as told to our tutor Vimlesh Solanki. All the students are very grateful to all their sponsors and to those sponsoring through GlobalGiving. It really does help to improvie their lives. 

Name of student Lajwanti.

I am 17 years old. My father used to work but he never gave any money to my mother for household expenses as he used to spend it all on alcohol. My mother worked at a private job and she earned 4000rs per month, but that was not enough for running a household including me and my sister.  My father also suffered from diabetes and all he did was drink alcohol and constantly fight with us. He did not bring any food to eat for us.  After he died a few years ago, all the family’s responsibility came onto my mother’s shoulders and we had very little money. In 2013 we came to Sambhali Trust and told our story and Sambhali were able to help me and my sister, Kalyani go to school. I finished my last year of school this year and I got a final grade of 61.60%.  I am now continuing to college following my sister learning typing and computer skills. I would like to become a school teacher, but we will both get a job to help my mother and the responsibility of the family.

A year of education is now coming to an end.

Students in our scholarship programme are taking their final exams of the year at the moment. We have children sponsored in schools from 3 years old onwards. Some of our students have studied for several years, have progressed to higher education and have finished their degrees and diplomas. We are very proud of them. Some of the young girls and boys have become role models for many children that are following. Our participants are poor and needy; their mothers or women in their family are participants of the Trust. This is the reason these children have been properly evaluated and the Trust has been able to invest in their education with generous and continuous sponsorship by their sponsors including all those who have supported this programme through Global Giving.

Some of our students have a school break after their final exams in the first week of April. Their schools will then re-open and provide them their report cards and enroll children into the next standard (school class). From 15 May students will have their summer break until 1 July if because it is too hot to study and temperatures in the region hover around 35 °C (95 °F), with daily maxima occasionally topping 50 °C in the rural desert areas (122 °F).  It is then time for the participants to write thank you letters, send personal reports and photos to the sponsors and we have already started looking for new sponsors and for new children to sponsor. 

We would like to share a story with you about Mr. M who is a taxi driver in Jodhpur and father of six daughters and a son. He kept on having children because his family thought they needed a boy child to carry on the family name. Mr. M. is a heart patient and has had surgery to put stents in his heart. He is the only earning member of his family and earns about 8000 rupees a month which is not even sufficient for the running of his household. He was recommended to Sambhali Trust by a former member of our National Board of Advisers. He came to the office and wanted the Trust to help him send his daughters to school. The Trust met with the girls and was very happy to see them enthusiastic about education and the need to go to school or continue their schooling. With the help of individual sponsors all the six girls are now back in school and enjoy studying very much. Mr M and his wife are very proud of their daughters. They realize that education can make their daughters independent and strong.

2011 Literacy Rate in Rajasthan (population 68.5 million)

We would like to share some data about education with you from our state Rajasthan, India.

In the 2011 Census, the Rajasthan literacy rate was 66.11%, (less than Cameroon, Egypt and Ghana). The male literacy rate was 79.19% however the female literacy was only 52.12%

Total number of literate people = 38,275,282

23,688,412 Males

14,586,870 Females

Male-female difference in literacy rate in Rajasthan = 28% (the national average = 16.7%).

24% of Rajasthan’s population is between the ages of 6 and 14 years old of which 5% don’t attend school.

References you may like to read:

http://www.jagranjosh.com/general-knowledge/rajasthan-literacy-rate-as-per-census-2011-1373625972-1

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/jaipur/Male-female-literacy-gap-highest-in-Rajasthan/articleshow/7870288.cms

http://www.business-standard.com/article/current-affairs/rajasthan-india-s-seventh-largest-state-lowest-in-female-literacy-117011100734_1.html