Greetings from OPEN.We wish everyone a Happy Holiday season, and a Happy and Prosperous New Year. This is a milestone year for OPEN - with your support, we have completed 20 years of operation.
Post-secondary education: Ignite scholarship program
As previously reported, 94% of the 16 final year students for the 2022-23 academic year graduated on time, and 88% found jobs or had higher studies planned at graduation.
We have found that these children really benefit from help in spoken English, mock interviews, and resume-writing. English classes were held by Mr.Naren of Power My English over 4 weekends in Chennai. The cost to us was Rs.2,500 per student.
We expect our budget for this academic year to be around $25,000, benefiting about 100 children. Scholarships are capped at Rs.20,000 per year for 2 and 3 year college/polytechnic students; and are capped at Rs.30,000 per year for 4 and 5 year college students.
Students are predominantly in college for B.Com., B.Sc., 2-3 year Polytechnic, or 4-year Engineering degrees. Most students in this program are poor, with average family income of Rs. 8,000 per month, and we only admit new students to this program after income verification and house visits or video calls, as appropriate.
Many of our past scholarship recipients remain in touch with us. Ms.Vinodhini, who graduated from the IGNITE program in 2010, is now a Business Integration Manager at Accenture Solutions. Ms.Anjana Jayashri is pursuing a MS at Texas A&M. Mr.Chiranjeevi, a polytechnic graduate from our program, recently spoke to our latest IGNITE class.
Supplemental education: English classes by Vidyarambam
We continue working with Vidyarambam Trust and delivered their Easy Learning Englishsupplemental classes to 2900 children in classes 5-8, at 9 Government schools in Chennai. Our budget for academic year 2023-24 is $33,000.
The plan is to continue classes at these schools for multiple years so that a child that starts in class 5 for academic year 2022-23 will receive 4 years of instruction in English.
Skills involved are tested for each students using about 5-7 minutes of questioning and evaluation. Letters, words, sentences, paragraphs, negative sentences, jumbled words organization into sentences - are some of the skills tested. These metrics are closely aligned with the ASER reports released by the NGO Pratham, and measure actual outcomes.
Keeping slum children in school: After-school center run by Turning Point Trust
The Turning Point Trust aims to keep children of slum dwellers in Kannagi Nagar, Chennai, in school. An after-school center for 65 children is being supported by OPEN. Students come to the center for help with academics, and are obtaining about 67% marks on average. Monthly family income averages Rs.8,500 in these blue collar families. Turning Point conducts various activities for children to increase their exposure to the world, and counseling sessions about staying out of trouble.
26 of 29 children at the various Turning Point centers (including non-OPEN centers) passed their 12th exams, with the highest marks being 513/600.
The center's teachers were themselves coached in English pronunciation and reading using Phonics by Dr.Tiruveni, the spouse of a serving Chennai Police Superintendent. At the final coaching session, the children of the center demonstrated their own pronunciations, learnt using this method.
Turning Point children also participated in a beach cleaning exercise that was held as part of the My Beach My Pride event under the G20 summit umbrella of events in India.
K-12 Education: Ganapathy Iyer Girls’ Higher Secondary School
We continue our support of Ganapathy Iyer Girls’ Higher Secondary School, Gopalapuram, Chennai, with tuition and uniforms scholarships for poor children, and operating expenses for morning breakfast. Our budget is approximately $8,500. We continue supporting this school in memory of late OPEN supporter Mr.Nat Kumar of Northern Virginia. IGNITE scholarship counseling takes place at this school, as do the IGNITE English classes. The teachers and students recently did a festive celebration of Teachers Day.
OPEN needs you
The OPEN community has supported over 40,000 students in the past 20 years with over $1.2 million in grants. As always, our ability to fund these projects depends on your generosity. OPEN is a non-profit charitable foundation in India and in the U.S. Contributions in both countries are tax-deductible.
Contributions in USD may be made online or by check.
Checks payable to OPEN Inc. may be sent to one of:
Sriram Sankaran, 7213 Lembert Hills Dr, Dublin, CA 94558
Rajesh Ramadoss, 21 S Mountain Rd, Millburn, NJ 07041
Cheques in INR may be sent in favor of:
Open India Charitable Trust # 26/91, 3rd Street, Karpagam Avenue, R.A.Puram, Chennai - 600028 Phone : +91 77086-79797.
You may also donate online in INR thru NEFT/IMPS:
Bank: Canara Bank Branch: St. Mary’s Road, Chennai Account Number: 1 2871 01 01 8901 MICR Number: 60001 5037 IFSC Code Number: CNRB0001287
Please consider investing in India's future. To delay may mean to forget.