angels-for-indian-school

 

In the small village of Khajwati in India, near Bodhgaya, in the state of Bihar (picture 1), there is a privately funded village school. Sanjeev Kumar (pictures 3 with me and alone), a 35 year old biologist and father of 2 daughters grew up there.

He started the school to give the children better chances for the future. It is a real concern of his heart. Even the provision of the most basic necessities exceeds his financial means.

Thanks to Sanjeev, about 200 children have the chance to receive schooling, which would otherwise not be possible for most of them. There is no other school nearby and the parents, most of whom are illiterate, have no money to pay for transportation and/or private schools. Many families can only afford one meal a day.

When I first visited the school in 2012, the children were sitting on plastic bags on the floor, some outdoors and some in dilapidated ruins of a former monastery. (pictures 2,4,5, 6,7 and 8).

Apart from ragged notebooks and some pencils, they had no material at all. The lesson that was demonstrated to us consisted of repeating something in chorus. I was deeply affected and decided to support the project as much as I could.

From March 2013 until the outbreak of Corona, I was in Bodhgaya for 8 weeks at a time. With the money I had received from friends and acquaintances, I was able to equip all the children with usable working materials. For little money (from our point of view) I got very good articles.

Having worked in different schools for many years, I was able to help the children learn English.

I was able to give suggestions to the teachers, who had studied various subjects, but not pedagogy, and these were very gratefully received.

 

The construction of a school progressed very slowly, but thanks to many donations it is expected to be finished in May 2023.

 

After that, money will be needed to pay teachers and purchase school supplies.

If more funds could be obtained, the children could have something to eat at the school. This would lead to more regular school attendance because most families are so poor that they can only afford one meal a day.

 

"Promotion of the private village school Khjawati/India".

This association has been recognized by the tax office as a non-profit organization.

This means that I can issue donation receipts upon request.

Every cent goes 100% to India, there are no administrative costs.

 

Ilse Engel