NRIs raise money for Indian schools
Michel W Potts
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) pledged about $100,000 to the newly-formed Indian Council for Advancement and Support of Education at a reception in Los Angeles, a portion of the money being already earmarked for equipping two Gujarat village schools with computers.
In unveiling its ambitious `Computers for Schools' programme, the council asked NRIs to fund a school of their choice, in most cases the very same village school where they received their education, and help Indian students become computer literate.
The response, according to council chairman Haish Amar, was "beyond our dreams". The council, he said, has already evaluated the needs of two schools in India "in terms of the number of computers and the curriculum".
For those two schools, "about $36,000 (out of the $100,000 pledged) will be sent pretty soon so that they can buy the computers and get started," he added. While University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) vice-chancellor C Kumar Patel as chief guest asked those present to become moreactively involved in such programmes as well as mainstream politics, Bharat Patel, who presided over the meeting, and his wife, Nina Patel, went a step further by donating $20,000 to the programme.
"If you want to feel good for an hour, have a nice meal," he told his listeners. "If you want to feel good for two hours, see a movie. If you want to feel good for a week, go to Hawaii. If you want to feel good for a month, get married. If you want to feel good for a year, win the Lotto. If you want to feel good for a lifetime, help other people."
Amar expanded on the Chinese proverb that a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. "As we all know, the first step will be the hardest," he said. "But with the right motivation, skills, talent and passion, we will succeed in providing excellent education to many kids in India."
The council's ultimate goal is to equip a minimum of 2,000 schools in India with computer labs, consisting of 15 computers, one server and two printers over a period of threeyears, all funded by private NRI donations.
The donations made by the NRIs are funnelled through the council, which primarily sets up the village computer labs and purchases the computers, to the Vivekanand Trust, which then closely administers the budgetary, technical and consultation aspects of the programme. For the programme to be viable, the council is asking that each interested NRI donate a minimum of $15,000, which will cover the entire cost of the computers, software and other essential materials.
financialexpress.com |
