Season's greetings from OPEN, and a Happy New Year. We are glad to bring you this update on our activities for the second half of 2019. During this time, OPEN hit a milestone: over $1 million in grants made; and over 36,000 students benefited!
Post-secondary education: Ignite scholarship program
We support 110 students through this scholarship program for academic year 2019-20. 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. 8,000 per month, and we only admit new students to this program after income verification and house visits. Our budget for the current academic year is $14,000.
In partnership with the IRT (Institute of Road Transport) Polytechnic College, we will be inducting a fresh batch of 16 students in addition to the normal students who respond to our applications process. A group of 16 deserving students from IRT was already inducted into our 2018-19 academic year program.
Supplemental education: English classes by Vidyarambam
We continue working with Vidyarambam Trust to bring their Easy Learning English supplemental program to partner schools in Chennai. 1075 students from 9 schools are being coached in English during academic year 2019-20, with most of them in classes 6-8. We are piloting English classes for students in grades 1-5 at Chennai Middle School, Gandhigramam. Our budget for academic year 2019-20 is $20,100.
The video shows a 4th standard student reading in English at Chennai Middle School, Gandhigramam.
The video shows a 4th standard student incorporating punctuation into English text at Chennai Middle School, Gandhigramam.
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 Rotary Nagar, Chennai, in school. A new after-school center for 60 children is being supported by OPEN. Students come to the center for help with academics, and are also coached on their civic responsibilities.
75% of time is focused on academics, and the rest of time is spent on extracurricular activities that focus on civic sense, counseling on self-awareness, speaking skills, awareness of societal norms, environment etc.The younger children get to play with games which help teach them maths, values etc. These help develop confidence. There is a lot of focus on getting the students to be aware of their own capabilities and to be responsible.
Past results show that about 57% of Turning Point center graduates go on to attend Polytechnic or College.
Supplemental education: Ashraya libraries, Book of the Month, Arts and Science, Computer 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 6 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. Science experiments from the 1-minute Gupta set are translated into Kannada and taught to the students.
A complete report for the academic year 2018-19, and a plan for the year 2019-2020, is available at this link. Our budget for academic year 2019-2020 is $8500, and we support 700 children in 6 schools, at an annual cost/student of approx $12.
In this current academic year, Ashraya have made a big push towards computer classes for their children, with a series of 9 videos for training. The video below is a tutorial video for school students that shows children the power of the Internet and search.
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.
We sponsor 10 children from the Malleswaram Shishu Vihar, Bangalore, with scholarships for school. We are also sponsoring the school education of 7 children, selected by Samridhdhi, an NGO that focuses on educating migrant laborers' children inBangalore.
OPEN key statistics, 2003 - December 2019
The OPEN community has supported over 36,000 students in the past 15 years with over $1,000,000 in grants. A breakdown of grants is shown in the chart above. As always, our ability to fund these projects depends on your generosity.
OPEN needs you
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:
Kumar Thiagarajan, 25470 Gimbel Dr, South Riding, VA 20152
Rajesh Ramadoss, 21 South 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.
