Greetings to the OPEN community. We are glad to bring you this update on our activities for the first half of 2017, and apologize for the delay in sending this update. The delay was due to collecting as much data as we could re: the final statistics for our 2016-17 Ignite scholarship program, with graduation results trickling in well into September.
Spring Fundraiser: Concert by Rasika
Our fundraising concert in late May, played by Rasika, was a great success. Over 800 people attended the show and supported the education of children in India. We thank Rasika for the time and effort that they put into making this concert a treat for the senses, and we thank the audience, our sponsors, and our long-standing contributors for helping us meet our fundraising goal for the concert.
Post-secondary education: Ignite Scholarship Program
We supported 130 students through this scholarship program for academic year 2016-17. Students are predominantly in college for B.Com., B.Sc., 3 year Polytechnic, or 4-year Engineering degrees. Most students in this program are poor, with average family income of Rs. 8000 per month. Our budget for the 2017-2018 academic year is $23,000.
We are glad to announce that 48 of the 57 final year students have graduated on time. 27 of these graduates have jobs or have enrolled in higher study programs. Given the poverty of these students, graduating is a major success.
We are incredibly glad to announce that R.Karthik, who completed a BE (Mech) program from Coimbatore Institute of Technology in 2016, has now been admitted to a Masters program in Metallurgical Engineering from RwthAachen University in Germany. This program is in the top 20 in the world. We are also glad to note that Ms.Krithika has been admitted to an M.Pharm program after shining in her undergraduate degree. These students would not have completed their undergraduate degrees without your support.
Results-based education: Supplemental Classes by Vidyarambam
We continue working with Vidyarambam Trust to bring their Easy Learning English and Easy Learning Mathematics supplemental programs to 6 partner schools in Chennai. Over 1700 students were coached in English (classes 6-8) and Math (classes 1-5) during academic year 2016-2017. We are glad to report that Vidyarambam have now integrated their curriculum with the Samacheer State Board Curriculum and have been requested to run their program for the entire school year, up from the 5 months that they were running their programs previously. Our budget for the 2017-2018 academic year is $26,000, for 1200 students in 9 Chennai schools, at an annual cost/student of $22.
The Easy Learning English coaching pre-post comparisons below show the great improvement in performance of the children from the diagnostic phase to the final test phase for 2016-17. The vast majority of children progress from C grade (red bar) to A grade (green bar).
Results-based education: Ashraya libraries, Arts and Science Clubs
The Ashraya Foundation runs libraries and Science and Arts clubs at 9 schools in rural Karnataka. We support librarian salaries and salaries for Arts and Science teachers at 5 of these schools. The reading program is open to all students in classes 4-8, and the Arts and Science clubs are open to the best 20 students in classes 6-8 from each school. The reading level of all students is monitored, and remedial instructions are provided to the bottom 20% of each batch. The best 20 students are enrolled in a Book of the Month Club, and get to pick the best books and do book reports. The top 20 students at each school participate in the Arts and Science clubs. Ashraya are focusing their intervention on approximately the top 10%, and bottom 20%, of students. Our budget for academic year 2017-2018 is $7000, and we support 700 children in 5 schools, at an annual cost/student of approx $10.
Ashraya results show that at least 40% of the children improved reading by one level over the course of the year. In particular, 65% of the students in the remedial reading program saw improvement in reading.
Rural Education: Single Teacher Schools
We continue funding the Single Teacher program, run by the Swami Vivekananda Rural Development Society, for operating expenses for 5 schools (168 students) in Tiruvallur district in rural Tamil Nadu. One person teaches all children in the school, who study together though they may be in different grades. After completing Class 5, students are expected to continue education at regular schools.
Ongoing Projects
We continue our support of Ganapathy Iyer Girls’ Higher Secondary School, Gopalapuram, Chennai, with tuition scholarships for poor children, and operating expenses for after-school classes (chess, karate) and breakfast/evening snacks. This program benefits 170 children. This school reported 100% pass rate in the 10th standard board exams.
The Turning Point Trust aims to improve life skills for the children of slum dwellers in Rotary Nagar, Chennai. A Children's parliament, personality development classes, and first aid training classes are conducted on weekends to coach children on public speaking, and help is provided to perform homework. We are looking to fund expansion of this program to two centers in order to keep kids in school.
We are sponsoring 10 children from the Malleswaram Shishu Vihar, Bangalore, with scholarships for school. We are funding after-school Math tuition classes for standards 6-8 in 3 schools in Bangalore, in collaboration with the Adarsh Colony CSRFoundation. We continue to fund computer teacher salaries at Somasundaram School in rural Tamil Nadu
OPEN key statistics, 2003 - June 2017
The OPEN community has supported over 27,000 students in the past 13 years. A breakdown of grants is shown in the chart above.
OPEN Needs You
OPEN has been registered as a non-profit charitable foundation in India and in the U.S. Contributions in both countries are tax-deductible. As always, our ability to fund these projects depends on your generosity. Please use the year-end opportunity to contribute to the children of India, and save on your taxes. Checks payable to OPEN Inc. may be sent to Kumar or Rajesh at:
Kumar Thiagarajan, 25470 Gimbel Dr, South Riding, VA 20152
Rajesh Ramadoss, 38 Ocean St, Millburn, NJ 07041
Tax-deductible contributions may be sent to Sriram in India in favor of OPEN India Charitable Trust: