SI Widnes won SI South Lancashire’s 2012 Programme Action award for its work in support of the Brindavan Education Trust in Bangalore, India.
This programme work has been nurtured over several years thanks to the personal contacts “back home” of club members Vathsala Ramamurthy and Radha Narayana. In February 2012 SI Widnes strengthened the project by forming a Friendship Link with SI Bangalore. Together, the clubs continue to support the trust’s work, particularly with girls. At the club’s recent annual dinner Regional President Denise Baldwin was delighted to congratulate President Dot Massey, Vathsala, Radha and all members on persevering with this important project.
The trust was started in 1993 to bring children with various education needs into mainstream schooling. The main goal is to achieve school completion and functional literacy: “Every aspect of the education provided is designed to support the children as they meet the challenge of bridging the gap between potential and performance, and prepare them for a successful and fulfilled adult life.” The trust runs three main schemes.
(1) Special needs education programme for children with learning disabilities, ADHD, autism spectrum disorder, dyslexia etc. Currently 34 children attend at primary school level and 35 at high school level. The programme encourages specific skills such as reading, comprehension and maths. Following completion of the course, the children are either accommodated in mainstream schooling or start vocational training. SI Widnes sponsors two girls on this programme on a part-time basis, at a cost of 1,200 rupees (£14) per month. (It costs 3,000 rupees (£34) per month per child to sponsor a full-time course.)
(2) Remedial programme. This has 80+ children from mainstream schools enrolled for after-school remedial education. There are many success stories – and more than ten students have joined the pre-university course, the first step to getting into university in Karnataka state.
(3) Teachers’ training programme. The trust runs several courses including ‘Understanding the Child with SLD (Specific Learning Difficulties)’ – a 10-month intensive certificate course. This has been instrumental in helping teachers to recognise learning difficulties at an early stage and to streamline the children into special needs education.
SI Bangalore is now developing its ‘Stars of Tomorrow’ project, with the aim of creating a Soroptimist Scholarship to assist poor children from 10th grade (age 16) to go through to University and complete their higher education. The projected cost is 5,000 rupees (£57) per year.