Greetings from OPEN. We have been remiss in our updates this year, but that is not for want of progress towards our goals. Please read on for a description of our grants.
Siragu Montessori School, Avadi, Chennai district - OPEN continues to support this school, with a contribution of Rs 11.7 lakhs for Q1 and Q2 2012. It costs approximately Rs 10,000 to educate a student for a year, and OPEN is supporting 250 students. Activity-based learning system is used in teaching. About 120 children reside in the school and all their expenses are borne by the school. In addition, the school serves day-scholars from near-by villages and operates two buses for pick-up and drop-off.
Somasundaram school, located at Siravayal, Kallal Taluk, Sivagangai, Tamil Nadu, has classes from I – VIII. It has about 90 students and currently has 4 teachers who are paid by the government. OPEN supports the school by contributing Rs 8000/quarter for private teachers.
Single Teacher School - If children cannot go to school, then the school goes to the children, claims Swami Vivekananda. Rural Development Society is the implementing agency of this unique project in several villages of Thiruvallur District, TN, benefiting the children in education and health. In a country that aspires to be a shining star in the comity of nations, it is unthinkable to achieve that goal by leaving a section of its own people way behind. Yet for thousands of children living in far-flung areas – in forests, hills and coastal fishing villages in India - basic education remains a distant dream. Educating these children is not charity but a national necessity.
OPEN has been supporting the single teacher program in two villages for the last two years and after a field visit decided to increase to five villages. The following is the list of Single teacher villages supported by OPEN
Melakondaiyar Village - 31 students
Kizhanur Village - 30 students
Vinobha Nagar - 32 students
Thottilkkulai - 30 students
Ayyathur - 32 student
The Hope Foundation runs a school in the Kannagi Nagar slum area near OMR, Chennai. The slum area predominantly consists of people from the fishing community and others who are economically backward. The school operates up to Class V and does not collect fees from students. The medium of instruction is English. OPEN contributed Rs 70,000 for classroom construction.
Santosh Home is a home for about 30 destitute children in Bangalore. OPEN supports 6 students this year for their educational and their living expenses and contributed Rs 90,000 for Q1 and Q2.
Malleswaram Shishu Vihar school, Bangalore - OPEN began partnering with this school since 2011. 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 school has classes from 1 through 10 and has 150 students. OPEN contributed Rs 1,20,000 towards operating expenses.
Our support for scholarships at the Ganapathy Iyer Girls' School in Gopalapuram continues, with a total of Rs 2,50,000 spent this year. OPEN also contributed Rs 70,000 towards uniforms for students.
We continue to provide infrastructure support to our long standing partner, the Jaigopal Garodia Foundation schools of Chennai. OPEN contributed $2,750 towards purchase of cupboards and desks.
We also continue our Polytechnic and College scholarship program in partnership with IGNITE. We conducted Counselling in July, and got a big response. Additional details will be provided in the next update.
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 Rajesh at:
Kumar Thiagarajan, 25470 Gimbel Dr, South Riding, VA 20547
Rajesh Ramadoss, 38 Ocean St, Millburn, NJ 07041
If you would like your contribution to go towards the Educate a Child program, please mention it in your check memo section.
Tax-deductible contributions may be sent to Sriram or Arvind in India in favor of OPEN India Charitable Trust: