SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT PROJECT
IMPROVING THE FACILITIES IN SCHOOLS TO PROVIDE A SANITISED AND HEALTHY ENVIRONMENT FOR THE SCHOOL CHILDREN AND HELPING WITH NOURISHING FOOD PROVISION TO IMPROVE EDUCATION PERFORMANCE.
SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT
Our School Improvement Program continues to grow and we are now actively involved in 5 schools in Ajmer, Rajasthan.
We are delighted to have partnered with One Stage who, as a licenced Indian NGO, have been a crucial part in ensuring our programs are delivered to the highest standards, on time and to budget and that every rupee we donate is accounted for.
There are two main elements to the School Improvement Program :
INFRASTRUCTURE IMPROVEMENT – TOILETS AND WASH FACILITIES
The schools we have visited either have extremely poor toilet and wash facilities or, in some cases, none at all. This leads to children leaving school to use facilities at home which in turn often results in pupils not returning with the consequence of negative effects on their education.
To be able to build new facilities for them significantly enhances their lives both through general hygiene and better conditions in which to thrive in the classroom.
RASM (RIGHT TO ACCESS SUSTAINABLE MENSTRUATION)
We are helping to establish an educational program for the school girls surrounding the correct practices and understanding of all the issues regarding menstruation. The lack of awareness and incorrect understanding in this area causes many problems including health issues, problems at home and a significant and detrimental affect on education.
Through the creation of a full program in classes, delivered by trained teachers and youth leaders, the positive effects on the school children both in and out of school is a marked one.
Find out more here RASM
FEEDING PROGRAM
Where our involvement began…
Our continued involvement with the schools in Ajmer, Rajasthan is driven by two factors :
Firstly, Paul, our founder, has family history with the region and was very determined to help in this area as a starting point for our work in India.
Secondly, we had given some assistance in the UK to a great organisation called Akshaya Patra, and the opportunity arose to sponsor a yearly feeding program at a school in Ajmer that they supply food to – the GGSSS Rajandra Pahadganj school. It felt like the obvious thing to do and we have continued to provide daily hot meals for 386 schoolchildren each year. The organisation themself provide over 2.2 million (yes million) each day across India, mind boggling numbers.
Food, or lack of it, in schools is a huge issue worldwide causing absenteeism, inability to learn and ultimately poor levels of education.
We continue to look to expand the feeding program in other schools.
IMPACT REPORT
You can view the latest impact report regarding the feeding program HERE:
SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT
GGSSS RAJANDRA PAHADGANJ, AJMER
Our first project in Ajmer, Rajasthan was a complete build of a toilet block and the installation of sanitary incinerators at the GGSSS RAJANDRA PAHADGANJ school. Having already been involved in their feeding program it was brought to our attention just how poor the toilet and wash facilities were and this laid the foundations for our involvement.
A steep learning curve for the foundation, venturing into new countries and the protocols and due diligence necessary on such projects. Once budgets were negotiated and the build started we were kept up to date regularly to ensure time scales and quality standards were being maintained.
It was a thrill to go out and visit as the build was completed and afforded us the opportunity to visit more schools that would benefit from the same and that project is now underway, in four more schools.
NEWS ABOUT OUR WORK IN INDIA
Keep up to date with what the foundation and all the great organisations are doing – initiatives, campaigns and everything else that is making such a difference in tackling food poverty.
Would you like to help ?
If you have any enquiries or would like to find out how you can become involved with the foundation then please do get in touch. We would love to hear from you.
We will do our best to respond to all enquiries as quickly as possible.