Asha for Education

Project Brief: The organization is running an ashram for 14 boarders and a day coaching center for poor children of the surrounding villages. It works in the village of Adisaptagram, in the district of Hooghly, about 50 km. from Calcutta.
Project Type: Non-Formal Educational Centers (description)
Primary Focus: to go to formal school (description)

Secondary Focus: creating resources

Area: Rural
Supporting Chapter Contact: UIUC

Status: completed - sustainable
Project Steward: Prasad Naldurg
Project Partner(s): Santosh Ansumali
Other Contacts:
Project Address: , ,,,
West Bengal 
Tel: 91-33-2634-4821
Stewarding Chapter: UIUC

The Vivekananda Ashram runs a boarding house for 14 children in grades 4 through 12. Many of the boarders have lost one or both their parents. These children go to the schools in the nearby areas and the Ashram provides for all their expenses. In addition, the Ashram runs classes during the day for about 150 children from the surrounding areas. In these classes, the students are assisted in their studies by voluntary teachers. The area where the project operates is rural and many of the students are first generation learners. If it were not for the Ashram, the boarding students would possibly not have come into the sphere of education at all, and among the day students, many would have found the general school curriculum so daunting that they would have dropped out of school. It is in this regard that the project has been very successful. The day school was started with 78 students in August, 2000 and it has already grown to more than 150 with a constant demand for a fresh intake.
For 2002, the project's basic budget requirement is Rs. 92,000 ($1,916 @ Rs.48/$). In addition, there is a proposal for meal for 160 day scholars and an educational tour for the 14 boarders ($1,576), and providing text books to 60 of the day scholars and nominal salaries to 16 teachers ($2,550). This gives rise to a total requirement of $6,042.

Construction proposal : The project would like to build a permanent school building for running the day scholar program and also construct a boundary wall around the compound to prevent encroachment. The costs for these two activities are Rs.4,53,578 ($9,449) and Rs.3,87,995 ($8,083) respectively. Asha-Zurich has approved funding for part of the school building construction. It is going to send a total of Rs. 2.5 lakhs (= 8,000 swiss francs) in three equal instalments in Nov, 2002 and Feb and May, 2003.

Oct 2006 Photos from Andre and Elia - Project Completed
Dec 2002 Photos-Site visit by Arvind