Asha for Education

Project Brief: The trust supports formal education for underprivileged children from surrounding villages. The children are supported from class 6 through polytechnic or higher education. Once they graduate, the trust helps them in finding gainful employment.
Project Type: Support a Child (description)
Primary Focus: other (description)

Secondary Focus: other

Area: Tribal
Supporting Chapter Contact:
Silicon Valley

Status: CLOSED - ENDED
Project Steward: Santhosh Sundararaman
Co-Steward: Subhashree Rajagopal
Project Partner(s): Mrs. Jayalakshmi Rajagopal
Project Address: Sowbhagya Educational Trust
Neelankarai, Tamil Nadu
Stewarding Chapter: Silicon Valley

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<b>Meet Vidhya from the Sowbhagya Project</b>
<p>Vidhya lives in Neelankarai, a suburb of Chennai along the coast. Her date of birth is March 4, 1990. Her father Shanmugam works as a coolie. Her mother's name is S.Saraswathi.
<p>She is studying at St.Joseph's Higher Secondary School in Vettuvankeni. Her favorite subject in school is Social Science, and she loves to dance.
<p>In her own words: The person I most admire is: Thomas Alva Edison,for his invention of light. My favorite activity is: Speech and dance. I participate in all programmes in school.</p>
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<b>Support a Child. Enrich a Life!</b>
<b><font color=green>You can support a student from this project for $20 a month</font></b>.
<a href='http://www.ashanet.org/siliconvalley/sac/'>Click here to become a sponsor</a>
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<p>The Sowbhagya trust supports formal education for children from Class 6 through Polytechnic or Higher Education. Once the children graduate, the trust helps them in finding gainful employment.<br>
The trust sponsors 8 children every year, starting from Class 6 and supports the child till the child completes his/her education and finds a good job.<br>
With Asha's support the number of children supported by the trust has steadily increased, from 23 children in 2001 to 57 children in 2003. The children come from economically disadvantaged communities engaged in fishing, daily wage labour and the local construction industry. <br>
The funds are used for educational materials for the children, providing books, uniforms and fees. Three teachers are engaged to provide additional coaching for 2-4 hours every evening and more during exam times.<br>
The first batches of polytechnic students are now holding jobs in various disciplines like Information Technology, Electronics, Leather Technology, Corporate Secretaryship etc. In 2003, there were 5 students pursuing college education in fields such as Information Technology and Commerce. These students are being supported through the Higher Ed component of Asha-Silicon Valley's SAC program.