Photo: Students at our Girls Home who will benefit from our on-campus high school in the years to come.
We are happy to report that thanks to a generous matching pledge from one of our donors, any gifts up to $100,000 toward our India high school fund will be doubled now through December 31st! We are seeking to raise $227,539 to purchase 1.32 acres of land adjacent to our main campus and to build an athletic field, locker room, and playground, which are all requirements for our new high school to gain accreditation. This will allow us to officially open the school for tuition-paying day students, while also allowing our own resident students to stay on campus for high school vs. being bussed off campus. So far we have utilized 52% of the matching fund. With your generous support, you can help us make sure we don’t waste any of the remaining matching pledge in this rare opportunity to serve orphans in India.
While our India campus is home to an accredited elementary school, we decided to also start a high school on our campus because our children have to travel very far to attend higher classes, and our children are bullied because they come from families below the standard poverty line — they are Dalits (outside of the caste system, “untouchables”). It’s our desire to provide them with an accredited high school free of discrimination, a safe place for us to cultivate their talent and intelligence, knowing that love and education are the keys to overcoming this dangerous stereotype.
Photo inset: (Top-left): Girls at our on-campus school enjoy playing a game during their recess break. (Top-right): These boys are excited to try out one of the new high school classrooms while their elementary school classrooms are being renovated. (Bottom-left): It’s our desire to provide our high school students with an accredited high school free of discrimination — a safe place for us to cultivate their talent and intelligence. (Bottom-right): The play space at our on-campus school is crowded; the purchase of adjacent land will provide space for a new playground and athletic fields with more room for the children to play.
Construction of the new building for our on-campus high school was recently completed. However, as the high school awaits its accreditation, we are utilizing the new building for our younger students while we make renovations to the existing K-7 school building. We are making use of the new high school classrooms while the younger students await the completion of the improved floor plan in their usual classrooms. The renovations are quite vast — the existing buildings (including dorms) had never been finished. Now they have tiled floors and walls, and they are in the process of expanding and updating the existing classrooms in the old building to include the previous covered breezeway in new square footage. We also installed new security cameras, fire fighting equipment, and a new refrigerator for the kitchen.
We need to purchase the adjacent land as soon as possible so that we can start our high school accreditation application work to submit to the educational department well before the new school year in June 2017. The application process takes 3-5 months, and we need plenty of time to spread the word about our new high school. We strive for sustainability in our programs. This high school project will be no exception. There is no high school in this area, so we will offer half of the school seats to tuition-paying day students from the public. Thanks to the projected cash flow from tuition payments, we expect the investment to pay for itself in 8 to 10 years.
Thank you for considering helping us to fulfill our dream of having an on-campus, accredited high school. No gift is too small! Please use the link below to make your donation double its impact today.
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