Previously: Friends of the Poor in South India
EVENING TUiTION CENTRE
We fund ten after-school education centres, five nights a week in villages in Tamil Nadu.
These evening centres provide the poorest children with extra tuition, support with homework, and basic supplies like good quality school bags and sandals. This is particularly important for children of illiterate parents who otherwise risk falling behind their peers and becoming disengaged from learning.
Without this help our Dalit children (a better term for ‘untouchable’) tend to receive very inadequate state education and therefore are unlikely ever to progress to secondary education. This results in future unemployment and abject poverty continuing generation after generation.
This project provides evening classes for 235 primary school children annually spread across ten Dalit villages and has resulted in 540 children progressing to secondary school so far, and some have even won university places!.
We have supplied the children with desks to save them sitting on the floor, trying to read and write as best they can, and this has helped with back pain and given them a sense of pride in belonging and being cared for.
Because of the importance of communication in a child’s life, sessions dedicated to improving communicative skills have been introduced. These classes focused on encouraging the students to form practical, everyday sentences, helping them use language with ease and confidence. This helps them to face the world with confidence.
Health Education
As well as curricular education the centres provide sex-education, helping children recognise when behaviour is inappropriate or abusive and how to seek help in these situations.
The older girls and their mothers are also provided with sanitary products and are thus saved from abiding infection.
Outing
We organized a one-day study tour for rural children, giving them the opportunity to play, explore popular sightseeing spots, and experience an airport visit—many for the first time."
This trip wasn’t just a tour; it was a step toward bridging the gap between rural and urban exposure. We believe such experiences can inspire dreams and ambition in young minds, showing them a world full of possibilities.