Tuition Center and Micro-credit programs (SRCT)
Background:
Education
remains one of India's biggest problems. An estimated 44% of the population
aged 15 years and above, is illiterate (source: UNESCO, 2000). In this target
population, almost 6 of 10 females are illiterate (57.9%), whereas for males,
3 of 10 are illiterate (31.4%).
Sri Ramacharan Charitable Trust (SRCT),
which is based in Chennai in South India, has focused on three aspects of
education:
- providing needy children tuition assistance in the form of micro credit, and,
- providing children after-school tuition.
- augmenting the curriculum of schools in English instruction and introducing
innovative teaching methods like the Montessori method.
In February, 2003, Sridhar Subramanian visited SRCT, and reported on his findings.
Micro Credit:
This got started when lower middle class parents approached them for help to pay the school fees of their children. They find it difficult to pay the school fees all of which are due at the beginning of the school term. Loans are to be repaid in small installments before the end of the school year.
Why is this necessary?
This is best explained with a personal anecdote from Sridhar Subramanian, which creates a cultural framework for why this works.
In December 2000, I visited SRCT. A gathering of the beneficiaries from its programs were assembled. About 40 people including children were there, some of whom traveled 3 hrs to get there. Several of the benefactors came up on stage and spoke. One was a grandmother of two boys and a girl. The girl was about to start her 10th standard, and her father refused to pay for it. His position was that it was time to get her married. The grandmother, on the other hand wouldn't hear of it. She asked for and got a micro credit loan from SRCT.
The girl came up and spoke, and her words were both moving and illuminating. She felt blessed that when her relatives wouldn't even give her Rs 100 ($2) as a loan, here were strangers having faith in her, and willing to give her Rs 1500 ($30). In her culture where devotion to God, and simple values like trust and faith were cherished, this loan was an act of faith that she had to repay in kind.
Others came up and spoke, and everyone echoed this theme of faith and trust, which is what made SRCT part of the community.
One such beneficiary of the Micro-Credit program is Srinivasan who wrote by email to Ms. Padmini Gopalan as reproduced below:
Hello Mam,
This one letter is not sufficient to explain the timely help from our trust and the pleasure that I have in thanking you.
Hope I am also a member of this wonderful humanitarian group! Please let me know when ever you need some support or volunteers. I will do that with pleasure.
with regards,
Srinivasan[Letter Attached below:]
Hello,
I am Srinivasan working with ATMEL R&D India Pvt.Ltd in Chennai. We had a financial crisis in my life after a fire accident; there was NO help from any of our family's resources. Somehow I finished my tenth public exam without any books J But to proceed further in my career, I had 2 options.
One to finish my XII and then BE, which will be a cost and time consuming way to bring my family back to normal.
Second is to do Diploma and find some job in 3 Years of time. We didn't had money arranged in time even to proceed with that It's where we approached SRI RAMACHARAN TRUST through one of my mom's friend Mrs.Kalyani[God] and got our requirement fulfilled and got admission in polytechnic.
After my education I struggled a lot in various part of our nation to get a well settled carrier After 7 years I got stabilized financially. For these many years I thought of giving my contribution back to the trust which remained an impossible task.
Now by GOD's grace I am able to give back my contribution of some part of my earning every month. One more thing I must say about this trust is, there is no partiality, caste differences, or rational wish-lists in helping the people. Here they really look into the needs and utilizing the funds that they have in a RIGHT way and no doubt about it. That's the reason I am contributing (very little than what they deserves) from myside to give moral support to their humanity.
I am really very happy to take this opportunity to write the letter and convey my thanks (which is not only a word) to all their timely help and assure that I will be in the loop along with them to make this world a better place to live with humanity.
HATS OFF TO THE TREMENDOUS SOCIAL SERVICE.
After-school programs:
After-school programs are held in schools where the children study. Teachers are hired by SRCT, and help the students go over the day's lectures and complete their homework.
Children are either from lower-middle class families or from poor families. Children from poor families study at free schools, known as "corporation schools".
Why is this necessary?
Reasons are similar to those in the US: poverty, lack of a suitable space for children to study, no one to teach and guide them, bad peer infuences, ie. not many peers to mentor and encourage them, etc.
This was true not only for the marginalized castes (scheduled caste, etc), but also for the "poor brahmins". One such incident related to Sridhar Subramanian, is recorded here:
Aishwarya is a bright girl of about 16 who wants to excel in studies, but feels she doesn't have any place to study. Ishwarya's father passed away when she was 2. Since her mother had mental problems, she was looked after by her grandparents. Her grandfather earns about Rs 2500/month ($50), but he needed to support all of his 3 children. Ishwarya, her elder brother, her aunt with a newborn baby, all lived with him in a cramped house in Triplicane.
Update: February, 2011
The girl, Aishwarya, mentioned in the above anecdote, wrote to Ms. Padmini Gopalan on Dec 12, 2011. This letter is reproduced below:
Hi,
I am Aishwarya Ranganathan doing Chartered Accountancy. I did my schooling in a government aided school. When I was in my 8th standard, I first happened to meet Mrs. Padmini Gopalan of Shri Ramacharan Trust. I was very less exposed to the real world. I had no clue about my future. I hail from a underprivileged family. She used to like a friend. I gained lot of confidence after seeing her in my life.
When I finished my 10th Standard I told her let me do accountancy, work somewhere, fetch my family some income and simultaneously do a degree. That seemed to be great idea that time. After finishing 12th I did join an auditor's firm. I got good marks in 12th. So I thought of doing CA which is more like a correspondence course. Padmini Aunty happlily accepted and helped me to join. She also introduced her friend Mrs.Raji Krishnan who is a CA. With her guidance I joined an Auditor firm. From that day till now they are with me. They are my guide, friend, sponsers and everything. I am now in CA final.
All the help and guidance I got from them can't be explained but must be felt. Its like how a father really care for a kid's growth. They take my problem as theirs and use to come out with a solution. They are the same to everyone. Helps every girl without partiality. Its very hard to see such understanding and caring people who make us stand in our own leg.
Today I can happliy say that I am able to stand on my own leg and keep my family people secure. Thanking them staight away is not easy as they wont expect and bother for that from me. I am really happy to write this letter and take it as an oppurtunity to thank her. Thanks aunty
Regards,
R.Aishwarya
Montessori Programs:
Sri Ramacharan Trust has embarked on an ambitious program to use the Montessori method of education to teach Balwadi (day-care) and kindergarten children in the corporation schools, something that is getting a lot of publicity.
The Chennai Corporation, in charge of government-funded education has embraced this system of education for all its kindergarten children. For advanced classes, a related methodology known as ABL (Activity-based Learning) is used. The Chennai Corporation is in the process of training its teachers in the Montessori method, a startling vindication of Sri Ramacharan Charitable Trust's vision.
Sri Ramacharan has made this video to explain the Monetessori method.
Reports and Accounts from SRCT:
2010
2009-2010: Annual Report
2008
Oct: Report on Slum Children project (Balwadi) in Saidapet
Oct: Report on Slum Children project (Balwadi) in Thiruvanmiyur
2007
2006
Aug 1: Report
2005
End of year: Report
Press story in The Hindu on Montessori system.
2004
2003
2003: Accounts
2002
June-October 2002: Accounts and Report