Greetings! The sixth OPEN-Rasika concert held on May 7, 2011 at Dominion HS, Sterling, VA was a big success with a turnout of over 1000 people. OPEN thanks Rasika, the sponsors, volunteers, donors, and everyone who attended the show for helping us make the concert better every year. OPEN netted over $45,000 from the concert enabling OPEN to fund these projects and more.
OPEN is announcing a new partner - Hope Foundation Nursery Primary School. OPEN is funding construction of classrooms for this school. Hope Foundation Schoolwas started in 2001 with just over 60 students selected at random from the community at Kannagi Nagar (off of OMR road, in the middle of all IT parks), a Tamil Nadu Slum Rehabilitation colony. What started off as a humble venture has now grown to a fully fledged family of 250 students. The school is funded partially by the HOPE Foundation and partially by individual donors. Mrs. Manjula, Director of the school is very dedicated to the cause. She is determined to not just run the school but wants more kids to benefit from the only English medium school in the area. The school does not collect any fees from the students and there is no government support either since the medium of instruction is English. School runs classes from Lower Kindergarten till the V Std. and has one batch of students studying in the X Std. through private coaching. They will be appearing for the Tamil Nadu State Board exams in 2012.
Currently the school runs in a rented building. Two years ago the school's Director fought with the slum clearance board and acquired some land for free to build their own school. Construction started with help of multiple donors and currently they need more funding to complete the school. They have seven class rooms to be built in the ground floor which has been partially funded by one of their long term donors, M/s. Chennai Wellingdon Corporate Foundation. The balance money of over Rs.12 lakhs ($26,700) has to be raised by the school. They have raised funds for 3 classrooms at the moment and have submitted a proposal to OPEN to fund 2 classrooms. Cost per class room is Rs. 1.78 lakhs ($4,000). Construction of the ground floor should be completed in about 4 months.
Siragu – We are continuing our funding of $2200 per month to Siragu. They provide monthly updates on their operational expenses and we do a periodic educational audit. Here are some highlights.
Appointment of a new Principal for the school
Obtained NOC from State Government to get affiliation from ICSE Board
Three Siragu students appeared for IGSCE exams
2 Slow learners from Siragu home appeared for 10th Std. State Board exams
105 children wrote Olympiad Examinations and more than half of them secured over 90%
26 children came in the top 500 All India rank holders and were awarded cash prize
Pudiyador - The new Pudiyador center at General Cariappa High Secondary School is being successfully run with about 25 students visiting the center on a daily basis. The center employs two teachers and a coordinator. On weekdays the students are taught using the Montessori system of activity based learning and on weekends, the students take part in extracurricular activities such as Arts, Music, Drama and Games. Distance has become an issue for some students that live too far from the center and a few of them have dropped out. The school is now paying more attention in doing the due diligence to select the students.
OPEN funded the reconstruction of the computer room and it is ready to be used by a group called Bhoomi to offer computer classes on Sundays. Crafts and Origami work has been started and once there are enough items to display there will be a show at the school.
Pudiyador Students
Speak Easy Classes have started in Gen Cariappa Higher Secondary School. Currently classes 6,7,8,9 are undergoing spoken English classes.
Jaigopal Garodia Schools - Quarterly support of $3000 given for benches and desks for their government aided schools
EAC - IGNITE - We had a counseling session on Jun 26 ,2011 f or the new students. Approximately 65 new students applied for scholarships. OPEN, along with IGNITE vetted the applications and has identified the new students for the 2011 batch. The Spoken English class for the 2011 batch started from July 10th at General Cariappa Higher Secondary school, Saligramam, Chennai. EAC updates for H1, 2011 have been sent to all the donors during May and June 2011.
Malleswaram Shishu Vihar schoolOPEN began partnering with this school in the last quarter. The school has never been run on a commercial basis since its inception in 1953. The philosophy of the founder has been “Quality Service at Budget Cost” for children from weaker sections of society. The annual operational deficit of Rs. 2 lakhs ($4,400) is made up with donations. The school was initially run in Kannada medium receiving support from the Government. However, popular demand for English medium instruction led to loss of government aid. There are a total of about 150 students in classes up to 10th standard.
Steps taken so far and proposed to be taken:
A midday meal has been introduced from last year courtesy of Sai Mandali. This may result in increased enrollment.
A High quality Audio-Visual teaching system with computer software specially and exclusively designed for Higher Secondary System of Education of State Govt.
A system of donors sponsoring teachers has been introduced. Two teachers have already been sponsored by two of the alumni residing abroad.
Two experts who are renowned in communication skills and teaching techniques have joined the school to train students and also teachers.
Proposal to increase teachers’ salaries by 10% initially and further gradually to be in par with other schools.
OPEN is funding Rs 1,35,000 ($3000) for this year to cover the increase in pay to teachers and reduction of school fees to encourage more students to sign up.
Single Teacher Schools - Swami Vivekananda Rural Development Society – the founders
of a visionary project is working to achieve exactly this objective. The
Society till date
has promoted 420 single teacher schools including several villages in Thiruvallur
District benefiting 12,500 children, who are given broad based education in
Mathematics and languages along with training in nutrition and health through
local teachers who are screened carefully for their qualifications and
motivation. Even the adult villagers are showing interest in the curriculum of
these schools as the instruction is given after working hours. The Society has
obtained clearance from the Government of India granting 100% exemption for
donations made under section 35AC of the Income Tax Act.
The Single Teacher Schools society is functioning under the Advisory
Board which consists of eminent personalities from varied backgrounds, who have
come together in promoting this noble project. The Society is currently
proposing to expand to another 1500 more villages. Cost to support 30 under-privileged children in a tiny village, address health and hygiene issues and in general transform the future of these children and the village itself is a modest Rs. 3,000 per month and Rs. 36,000 per annum. OPEN is reviewing the proposal and considering to support 2 such schools.
Upcoming Events - OPEN and IGNITE jointly present "RAGA & RHYTHM" on Sunday, 11th December 2011 at Sir Muthu Venkatasubba Rao Concert Hall, Chennai. The special evening will bring masters - Ustad Zakir Hussain, Percussionist Trilok Gurtu and Violin Duo Ganesh Kumaresh on the stage together.
OPEN Needs You
OPEN has been registered as a non-profit charitable foundation in India and the U.S. Contributions in both countries are tax-deductible. As always, our ability to fund these projects depends on your generosity. We request that (tax-deductible) contributions payable to OPEN Inc. be sent to Kumar or Ramprasad at:
Kumar Thiagarajan, 25470 Gimbel Dr, South Riding, VA 20547
Ramprasad Santhanakrishnan, 810 Graywyck Dr, Seven Fields, PA 16046
If you would like your contribution to go towards the Educate a Child program, please mention it on your check memo section.
Tax-deductible contributions may be sent to Sriram or Arvind in India in favor of OPEN India Charitable Trust: