Adopt a School
Number of Schools : 5-7 Public Schools
Multiple Locations: Adoor, Trivandrum, Kochi, Malapurram (Kerala), Chennai (Tamil Nadu), Bangalore (Karnataka), New Delhi (Delhi)
Contact Information: Sujith Koshy
Current Budget (Annual) : $ 2850 per school ~ $20,000
UN Sustainable Development Goals that are addressed: Quality Education, No Poverty, Zero Hunger, Gender Equality, Reduced Inequalities
Project Start Date: 10/1/2017
Current Status: Working with school principals to identify needs, devising solutions, & project management plan
Problem
Education until the age of 14 years is provided for FREE in India through public schools. Public schools also provide hot lunch for students just like many public schools in the US. While in a developed country like the US, the school meal is a source of nutritious meals, in developing countries like India, it is an incentive for parents to send children to school and continue their education. There are many public schools in India that could use a bit of touch, love and care. Some of these schools have the infrastructure but unfortunately it lacks the environment needed for healthy education. There are too many fingers to point at but we decided to be part of the solution. Visit this page for monthly updates on this project.
Solution
Our goal is to pick 7 public schools for this pilot project, identify problem areas and see how we can make a difference as a team (Parents, teachers and public support) and present this model for other cities around India and the world. I-believe Project Manager Sujith Koshy helped us identify the 1st public school in our list. The school located in Adoor, Kerala, has 400+ children where a little bit of help could make a huge difference. We have worked with the head mistress and head master (principal) to identify the areas where I-believe, the parents and teachers could work together. Sujith himself has taken the lead to clean school surroundings, make fixes to a leaky roof and clean bathrooms among other things.
This is our wishlist for the public schools:
- Take care of immediate needs that prevents proper functioning of the school. Examples include a helping fix minor issues in the kitchen, cleanliness of bathrooms, issues with operating the existing school bus,etc.
- Access to playground and garden
- Access to library, books and newspapers
- Communication training in English
- Computer Training
- Leadership/Communication training for teachers
- Getting Parents, Teachers and Community involved in everything