State Of The Art English Medium School, United Way

Project Period: 2004-2006
Project Location: Tamil Nadu
Direct Impact: 1200+ students
Indirect Impact: 6000+ family members
Two English Medium Schools Started in : 2006
Lives Touched : 700 Direct; 3500 Indirect;
Villages Touched : 20

On 26th December 2004, fate as usual as it had done for past 5 to 6 years found me on a bus heading for our annual family holiday to the border of Maharshtra & Karnataka. Suddenly the phone rang and it was a leading multinational corporate asking if United Way was doing anything for the Tsunami. I thought to myself what is a Tsunami ?…being on the bus we were all completely unware that tragedy of immense scale had struck so many parts of the world. My phone kept ringing for the next few days and what ensued was a working Christmas and New Year to see how we could support the Tsunami relief activities that needed to be started immediately.

Rather than immediate relief which was not United Way’s competency I thought it was best to stop and think and see how we can sustainably impact the communities. The next 2 years were spent meticulously working towards building a sustainable response to investing the donation sums raised by a caring public in response to the catastrophic Tsunami.

5 community development projects were developed. 2 of the 5 projects were building 2 English medium school in the heartlands of Tamil Nadu and glimpses of these 2 amazing projects are shared here.

In January 2005, United Way Mumbai reached out to various corporates to seek support for the Tsunami rehabilitation activities. Approximately, 137,000 Samsung employees contributed $2 million to the United Way South Asia Tsunami Response Fund. The grant was designated on the request of the employees to construct and rebuild schools. I spent months working with an amazing volunteer from the US Jeff Schanze, our assistant ED at United Way Deepa Chaudhary and our NGO partner Hope Foundation who led the project in terms of identifying the appropriate land, meeting with local panchayats to identify the appropriate village and panchayat whom we found appropriate to partner with and architects for the school.

Finally the land purchase was finalized and we inaugurated the foundation in 2005.

The Chinnangudi (Small Huts) is located on the Bay of Bengal coastline, in the Nagapattinam district of Tamil Nadu, India. The school, is about a kilometre away from the sea and serves children from families that rely on fishing and agriculture for a living. The government recognized, English medium school is strongly supported by the community and serves 10 hamlets in and around the village. The 2.5-acre Samsung School of Hope today reaches out to over 400+ children from nursery to 10th standard. The school will increase the intake of children every year and also gradually add classes to soon provide higher secondary education to children.

The school has been built according to the specifications of the Tamil Nadu Educational Board and includes large classrooms, a computer lab, a library, two large dining halls, wide corridors and ample play areas. Children at the school will also be served a lunch everyday.

This school built deep inside the heart of Tamil Nadu is a living testament of the fact that great synergies between the implementing partner and donors can create wonderful results. The school building itself has been built keeping in consideration all that a school requires with all modern facilities. The local villagers as well as the district administration have only dreamt of the existence of such a school. But now they are overjoyed that the village has been blessed with one.

Amidst tranquil surroundings, the school stands as a hope for the villagers. For the prime benefactors, the children, the school is a ticket to a better life. The school is just a few minutes walking distance from their village. Previously, they use to wile away their time in the village, but now they eagerly walk to the school daily to be taught. Smartly dressed in uniforms their parents are proud of each one of them. Every day, the children are also provided wholesome mid-day meals cooked in the school’s state of the art kitchen.

The 246 students (Lower kindergarten to 4th standard) enjoy a 1:27 teacher to student ratio. At a recent meeting of correspondents and principals the Chief Education Officer of the district commended the school management for providing the town with high quality infrastucture. This has been made possible by the coming together of the community, the Panchayat, Samsung, United Way and HOPE foundation.