Organization Background:

Sarada Kalyan Bhandar was set up in 1984 by three professors at the Raja N.L.K. Women's College, Medinipur: Bharati Ghosh, Rekha Sarkar and Tapati Sinha. The organization's primary purpose is to provide education, nutrition and suitable avenues for rural health care.

Current Projects:

1)Remedial classes from Nursery to Bachelors degree, includes providing nutritious refreshments, study materials and school uniforms. 2)Scholarships to meritorious village children wishing to pursue higher studies. 3)Library of reference books for studying. 4)Complete expenditure for higher education (grades 11 and 12 and BSc (3 years) of one female student: Rs. 10000 per year. 5)Care for orphan children. 6)Health awareness programmes.

Background Of Beneficiaries:

The inhabitants of seven villages (with an eighth one added recently) around the city of Medinipur benefit from these projects. The adults are mostly indentured labourers, brick-field workers, godown coolies and Rickshaw pullers. Backgrounds include Hindu, Muslim, tribal and/or Bengali. The prevalent language of communication is Bengali. The Indian government has provided one to several rooms (as a schoolhouse) in each major village along with one or two school teachers for primary education. The lack of dedication of these teachers (as I was informed) results in absentee and disinterested students, with a pass rate of 33%. Children are in general discouraged from going to school and are kept malnourished at home.

Asha-Yale Funded Project:

Our funds are directly supporting Current project 1): Remedial classes, etc. Currently 416 children are benefiting from this endeavour. I found the system to be very self-sufficient and efficient. Remedial coaching for all subjects taught in the government primary school is provided at three different locations in the district for 1 and a half hours every morning six days of the week. Those village adolescents that are beneficiaries of the higher secondary scholarship programmes are obliged to teach the remedial classes three times a week. Thus, the villages' own children are teaching the next generation and seem to be very affectionate and dedicated. Members of the organization visit every child's parents regularly to discuss the child's progress both healthwise and education-wise. If a child is absent from classes enquiries are made. Milk and biscuits, etc. are provided every morning and every child receives a school uniform and school materials.

Needs To Be Met:

Among several necessities funds for a schoolhouse are needed urgently.In some cases the local Panchayats have stubbornly refused to offer the use of the schoolhouse for the remedial classes. So the children have to learn their lessons on the muddy grounds of a monsoon drenched earth, a heartwrenching sight.The organization is close to receiving a large plot of land from the West Bengal government for the construction of a school, however the funds for the construction need to be raised.

General Impression:

The difference between village children prohibited from attending these classes and those attending the classes is evident. The former are in general ill-dressed, uncared for and seem to be less content. The pass rate of attendees is 97-99%! As for the organization itself, both the general members and teaching staff are dedicated and hard-working. The three Professors I mentioned above: Profs. Sarkar, Sinha and Ghosh have dedicated more than fifteen years of their lives to this cause. I can assure you that the funds ASHA-Yale has been fortunate to raise here are being utilized for a very noble cause. Thank you all.

I am hoping that there will be an album of pictures available soon. If you have any more questions I would be happy to answer them.

-Kakoli Mitra