Good Samaritan Trust Project: School Uniforms and Books For Poor Children

Name of the Project: School Uniforms and Books for Poor Childrens
The Application: Good Samaritan Trust,- Bro.Ravichandran, Managing Trustee
#.54,Ahamead Colony,Ramalinganagar,Woraiyur, Trichy - 3. Ph : 2774172
E-mail :goodsamaritantrusttrichy@gmail.com
Web Site : www.goodsamaritantrust.org

The Implementating Organisation : Good Samaritan Trust
registered under foreign contribution (regulation) Act,1976 as a non-profit social service organization under the Indian Trust Act.
The Registration Number is :- 076040092

Good Samaritan Trust has been approved by the Income Tax Department of the Government of India under Section 80G of the Income Tax Act.
Good Samaritan Trust is managed by a Members Board of trustees as food in the Trust Deed enclosed as Annexure. The day-to-day management is looked after by the Applicant in his capacity as the Managing Trustee.

Location Specifies
Lalgudi is junction of over 150 villages. It is 22 kilometers north east of Trichy Town. It is lying an the Highways between Trichy and Jayankodam. It is connected by Railways an Trichy - Chennai chord line. It is situated along the banks of River Cauvery.

Lalgudi is a quari town with Taluk Head Quarter Offices, Taluk Hospital, Taluk Educational Institutions, Police Station, Banks and Shopping Complexes. The Bus Station and the Railway Station are adjacent to each other. The State Transport Department has opened a branch depot at Lalgudi.

The Population of Lalgudi is over a lakh of people with male-female ration being 52:48. Lalgudi service as a meeting point for various needs for over 3,00,000 people from the surrounding 150 villages.

The population consists 93% Hindus, 4% Christians, and 3% Muslims. There is good harmony between the people of different religious. In Lalgudi, there are Hindu Temples, Christian churches and Muslim Mosques.

Though the people would like to live together, skill, there is caste discrimination as the so called high caste, backward classes and low caste people. The socalled low castes are more one third of the population and the backward classes are around 60% of the population. Hence, only a handful is the so-called high caste group. But, the high caste people dominate and grab the opportunities in education, government services and property rights. Thus, the so called low caste people are landless subjected to poverty all through their life. The low caste people are also deprived of educational facilities and hence most of them are illiterates. Illiteracy is dangerously high among the low caste women. The situation is not bright in the case of the backward class people too since most of them are small farmers.

Agriculture is the main occupation. But, because of lack of water in the river and failure of monsoon as well as due to hike in cost of hybrid seeds, chemical fertilizers and chemical inputs, agriculture has been food less and less viable and hence stopped forthwith. This has led to service poverty in the life of over 75% of the population. 18% are employed in government and private department. 7% are involved in trading and petty shops.

The Problem Situation

Due to poverty, the emphasis on education is missing among the poor people in Lalgudi and in the surrounding villages. The poor argue the while this go hungry often and live and inhuman life, now can they think about education of children? They are right because there is rampant poverty in their homes leading to even frequent starvation. Neither the government nor the religious institutions came to their help, For, the government departments are managed by the upper cost people and do not care to deliver goats to the poor people. The religious institutions are more bothered about their, Survival and the development of the poor. Of course, little exception is with Christian institutions who care for the poor and too educational institutions and hospitals for the benefit of the poor.

Good Samaritan Trust started to interact with the poor people in and around Lalgudi and felt that there is serious lack of educational opportunities for the poor. Though the poor realize that knowledge is power, skill, they cannot afford to send their children to schools because of their inability to meet with the expenditure relating to school fees, books, note books, uniforms nd travel. Hence, they decided to rather involve their children in domestic labour, field work and other child labour practices in brick kilns, construction units and other Lazarduious industries.

Children labour practices may be seen as temporary relief for the poor families because of the additional income earned by the working children. The parents may also be relieved of the expenditure on children for their schooling. But, great injustice is done to children because they are deprived of education and are subjected to physical pain, mental aghony and psychological depression. Yes, the working children become in the age of 20 as if they are 60 years old. They are worn out and unable to forge ahead in life. They become psychological weeks and succumb to pressures in young age.

It is detrimental to the well being of the family in particular and society at large to have children uneducated. The present and future of society is at State. For, today’s children are tomorrow’s leaders. It, children are not educated now, tomorrow’s society will be affected of today’s children is a miserable one too, because, the working children are facing problems of serious nature.

Good Samaritan Trust approaches to Possible Solutions

Good Samaritan Trust has come forward to enable the working children to solve their problems. Forcing the government to stop Child Labour has not worked so far. Motivating parents of working children to send their wards to school has also not worked either.

Need for This Project

500 Poor children have expressed their difficulties to stitch school uniforms and to purchase books and note books for their studies in the school. Such as action is not possible due to family poverty. Morever, the parents are already complaining that they have lost out the additional income because of the earnings of working children and hence they cannot afford to bhear the cost of school uniforms and books and note books besides travel cost to come to school daily. It these expenses are forced into them the parents will decide to return the children to child labour practices.

Hence, there is an urgent need to provide for school uniforms and books and note books for 500 poor children at a cost of Rs.1500/- per school student. This expenditure the cost of the cloth, stitching charges and purchase of books and note books. The total cost come to Rs.7.5-.000/- In US Dollars, it is approximately $ 17,000.

Activities Under this Project

With your help for this project, uniform cloth will be purchased in bulk and school uniforms stitched for 500 poor children. Minimum 3 sets will be stitched so that they can get the soiled uniforms washed alternate days for weaving clean uniforms everyday. The quality of cloth wil be verified to suit the children and also to with stand frequent washing.

Also, books will be purchased as per the list prescribed by the Directorate Elementary School Education of the government so that these 500 children study the same lesions.Such as arrangement will be beneficial to the poor children studying under Good Samaritan Trust project.

Likewise, note books will be purchased besides other study resource materials for helping each of these 500 poor children to avail the educational supports provided to them by you. yes, your generous help for them will enable them to cope up with the educational standards required for laying a good foundation in life.

The continuity of the project will be discussed with you, the government and the parents and necessary follow-up activities wil be initiated in the coming years. Local fund raising will also be thought of to minimize the grant applications in future.

Benefits of this Project

Because of your help for this project, 500 poor children wil be enabled to join schooling for getting basic education as the first and firm step towards their educational empowerment. This will be a great benefit for these children who have been so far forced into child labour practices by their poor parents in villages around Lalgudi. Because of your support for this project, 700 poor parents will be assisted to send their children to school for laying a strong foundation for their bright future as well as the integrated development of rural communities in and around Lalgudi.

Cost of the Project

Towards stitchng of I sets of School uniforms and purchasing of books and note books at Rs.1500/- per child for 500 poor children = Rs. 7,50,000

(Indian Rupees seven lakhs and fifty thousands or approximately 17000/- US.$ )