Report by John Broadhurst, one of Heal UK’s trustees:
On the 10th November 2009 a party of us from Heal, Bhavani, Vijayalakshmi, Arlene, Prasada Rao and John had the pleasure of visiting this fine village Government school. You may wonder why we visited a Government school. The Government funding for the school is adequate and it is through the energy of the donors, the Headmaster and the teachers that progress has been and is being made and why Heal is engaged.
As we arrived at lunch time we saw the children eating their lunch on the porch right in front of their classrooms. This is the whole school taken from a central position on the porch:
Mr Anne Siva Nageswara Rao, (second from left – picture below), was our host and introduced us to his staff and to the exuberant children. It is clearly Siva’s calling to give these children a good education and lead them into further education once they leave the school. He started the school, hence it has his name.
He is justly proud of his children’s academic performance, despite the limited resources. These are the statistics that are displayed openly in all Indian schools. An 88% pass rate in the national examinations is no mean feat.
With Heal’s support these scores are bound to creep up and the further education scholarships will help the children take advantage of this beginning.
Heal is now funding school uniforms and shoes, school bags and books, for almost 400 children, as well as further education scholarships for some of the school leavers. As we know in the Heal Village at Guntur we cannot stop supporting a child when they are just beginning to engage successfully with the future. So Heal will be gradually increasing its funding for children leaving the school, and Siva too will be out hunting for support to ensure these children achieve their ambitions.
Everywhere we went we were met by the cheerfulness and enthusiasm of the children.
And it is wonderful to see girls also being able to take advantage of education.
After receiving funds from Heal for the basics and scholarships, Siva’s next ambition is to build a science laboratory to enhance the chances of his children achieving the standards needed in the national exams to compete successfully for places in higher education colleges to realise their ambitions.
Good luck to them with all their ambitions and their life adventures.
What a pleasure it has been to be engaged in this endeavour.
John Broadhurst