The last newsletter on Shoshit Seva Sangh was issued on December 10, 2011. Since then the following developments have taken place which may be of interest –
i) The annual examinations at the school, Shoshit Samadhan Kendra, the fully free English medium residential school for the poorest of the poor, was held in March 2012. The performance of the children was indeed very satisfactory with many students in all the classes from Pre-school to class VIII excelling at the examinations. Class X students appeared at the Secondary Board Examination and their results are expected in April-May this year.
ii) The school closed down last month for 15 days at the end of the academic year. The students went home during the holidays. On their return the senior students were asked to write their experiences during the holidays. Some of the observations are indeed extremely interesting and indicate that the education imparted at the school is succeeding in creating social awareness among the children which is the primary objective of this project apart from imparting quality education to them. The students brought up the issues among parents, relatives and friends of alcohol addiction, child marriage and the need to go to school and be serious about studies.
iii) 49 art works of the famous painter F.N. Souza owned by Shri K.B. Goel, a well known art critic and a close friend of Souza was put on sale and the proceeds were donated to Shoshit Seva Sangh by Shri Goel. The preview of the art work was held at the Claridges Hotel at New Delhi on March 14, 2012. The event was well attended and well covered by the press. The funds raised are earmarked for the proposed school building. The total estimated cost of the residential school is Rs.7 crores. The challenge is to raise the funds for the construction.
iv) It is proposed to offer to prospective donors options for donations for specific facilities to be constructed in the school building and naming that particular facility as per the wishes of the donor. The options are given below –
Classrooms (14 nos) – Rs.10 lacs per classroom
Science labs (2 nos.), computer lab (1 no.), library (2 nos.) – Rs.15 lacs each
Dining Hall (1 no.) – Rs.75 lacs
Auditorium (1 no.) – Rs.75 lacs
Dormitories (4 nos.) – Rs.50 lacs each
There shall be a black granite tablet with letters written in gold giving the name of the donor / nominee at the entrance door of the facility. A portrait of the donor / nominee can also be affixed on the granite tablet, if so requested by the donor. In the entrance foyer of the school building there shall be a granite tablet with name of donors giving Rs.5 lacs inscribed in gold. Those who may wish to donate may please click here – http://sssfoundation.com/members.plProjectss.
v) 49 new children have joined the school at the commencement of the new academic year i.e. April 2012. All except one have joined in the pre-school class. With this the total of number of students in the school now is 285. Most of the new students have been drawn from extremely remote villages of various districts of Bihar.
J.K. Sinha
Founder-Chairman