OUR VISION AND DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY: AN ILLUSTRATION
IDRF fulfills the dream of an NRI: to have a school in his native village.
Savitri Soni Vidya Mandir Inter College
25 years ago ...
The school at Nagauri, Meerut, UP,
faced tremendous opposition from
villagers who believed once the
children got educated they would
leave the village. The school had a
modest start with two rooms, two
teachers, a hand‐pump and no
electricity and provided free
education to the children.
Within a few years, we bought an old
tractor trolley, as IDRF could not afford a
school bus. Soon, the tractor trolley had to make two trips to take the children to school. IDRF provided a school bus.
Now, the children from even further off wanted to attend this school. So every few years IDRF added more buses, now
totaling to five.
IDRF Funded Computer Lab
Recently … The school expanded beyond Class 10 to
th
include Classes 11th and 12th. Previously IDRF funding could not
support education beyond Class 10th and the students were required
to enroll elsewhere in order to continue their education. However,
due to the villagers’ concerns about the safety of girls traveling far,
IDRF initially funded private classes for them beyond Class 10th. The
enthusiasm of the villagers and availability of funds through IDRF has
resulted in housing the senior classes within the school premises. The
multi‐storied school building has all facilities, including science labs, a
state‐of‐the‐art auditorium and faculty apartments.
In 2014, an IDRF grant enabled the school to build a computer
lab to impart computer education and skills among the students.
The
Success of IDRF's vision and development strategy is
Girls in the Chemistry Lab
reflected by the fact that today 1,200 students from 30 villages are brought by 5 buses to attend
the school and the students perform better in state board exams compared to other schools in
the region. The operational costs of the school are now met by the same villages who opposed
the idea of having a school more than two decades ago.
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