In 2000, a new savings scheme was started for women living in local villages. In each village a group of women (20 to 25 members) join together and form a self-help group. They collect and save money, and borrow and lend to those in need. Interest-free seed money has proved to be one of the major benefits. The scheme is operated through the bank and Russ Foundation takes responsibility for monitoring this revolving credit system amongst the women. On the two-year anniversary of the scheme, Russ Foundation’s evaluation is that the endeavour has been highly successful. So far these groups of women have saved a total of around Rs.150,000. At present, twelve groups of women are officially registered in the scheme. In the next few months we hope to extend the scheme to another nine groups who are waiting for registration.
A new clinic was started in a remote village called Vellayampatti on 14th June, 2002.
The Post Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PNDT) Programme programme was launched in our villages in July 2002 with the financial help from the Government of India through the Family Planning Association of India (FPAI).
The children in the Girls’ Home attained good school results for the academic year 2001/02, and six girls will be appearing for the High School final. Two girls - Pandeeswari and Vijayakumari – have now completed their schooling and shall be joining a local University college to study B.Com. (Computer Applications).
In May 2002, Pandeeswari and Vijayakumari visited the UK. Their trip was sponsored by Brenda Creek, through St. Bedes School, Durham. The trip contributed to the girls’ education and they were able to meet up with old friends from the Sixth Form College, Colchester.
An Evening Tuition Programme was begun in January 2001 with the aim of providing supplementary education to village children. The programme was a response to requests from local people who are aware that education is an important key to the alleviation of poverty and the improvement of life chances.
The need for evening tuition was brought to light when schoolchildren in the villages began sitting on the edge of classes being held for ADULTS in a programme of non-formal education. The children were riveted and saw the chance to sort out the things that puzzled them at school. At a meeting of parents, teachers and pupils the major concern that emerged was the drop-out rate from school. One main reason seemed to be that the children became disheartened: some no progress, some bored. Due to serious under-funding of the primary schools, the teacher/pupil ratio is so inadequate that often one teacher takes two or three Standards together. Set this against the whole picture where the village children are in competition with their city peer groups who not only go to private schools, but have educated parents who can help them with their homework. More importantly, these children have evening tuition to help them with their difficulties.
In each village a local teacher was appointed who met with the teachers in the schools to learn the curriculum and the names of the children with learning blocks. There are two classes per day, one in the late afternoon for Standards I to V when the average attendance is about thirty in each village. In the evening, those in Standards VI to VIII come to receive guidance and advice. Since there are fewer pupils in these standards, they can be given more individual attention at an important time.
The Evening Tuition programme is going on in full swing under the banner of Russ Foundation in five different villages, covering an average student strength of around 175. The villages covered by the scheme are: Saranthangi, Salvarpatti , Chathirapatti, Kallankuthal and Thondamanpatti. There has been a good improvement in achievement in the Annual Exams, with more children being promoted to higher classes and better enrolment. Extremely welcome news has been the reduction in the drop-out rate from school. Indeed, ten children who did drop out of school have been persuaded to return. The success of this programme has helped to bring parents and teachers together to a common platform to discuss various issues, not only academic, but also the overall development of the individuals, their families and the community at large.
In line with our commitment to extending work-training opportunities for local people, a leather production unit has been started and it is now in operation. Currently, there are thirty girls and seven boys receiving training, and we hope to increase this number to around one hundred in the near future. The work these trainees are doing is mainly the making of shoe uppers. We have named this unit/project as BANYAN. Most of the women/girls are from our small saving group (PARAN – see above) and the earnings they receive from this work complements that savings scheme. This is a unique programme and the first of its kind in Madurai.
