|
|
|
Dear Friends,
We, at Parikrma, tend to take the developments happening in our schools for granted because we see them materialize gradually, on a daily basis. It is only the visitors, with their objective view, who perceive the big change and say nice things about our accomplishments. And it is only then that we sit back, amazed at all the big and small things that we have achieved in just 4 years. This newsletter is about sharing these stories of change!
 Our biggest achievement, without doubt, is that when you step into any of our schools, you would never believe that these are Centres for children coming from the slums. This is because our teachers and the rest of us at Parikrma have actually forgotten that our children carry any remnants of the streets and slums, which they leave every morning and return to every evening. To us they are just children. Today, our children and their parents too believe the same – that they are just children. Period.
And this basic belief has fueled four schools across Bangalore with a consistent 98% school attendance and a dropout rate of less than 1%. Our social workers continue their sincere work with our children’s parents and communities. In 4 years our children have won enough medals in interschool competitions to warrant the purchase of a few display units! In 4 years, we have been able to take 42 of our children to Grade 10 and they will sit for their board exams next year. This has been possible because we believed in our model, ourselves, and in our children.
I would like to thank all those Parikrma friends who have been with us all the way through and believed in our children as much as we did. Now I want our friends to stretch that belief a little further and help us take our children to the Junior College that we are all set to build by mid 2008. So, we have crossed the first stage of our journey – our children are ready to pass out of school and go to college. There are a few more stops to make – next the university and then a good job, maybe in your company. Stay with us till the end and you will see a sea change in our country through our children.
Warm regards,
Shukla Bose
|
|
