Hi,
My name is Apoorv. I work for an organisation called Teach For India and as a part of my fellowship, I teach in a school where students from low income families come to study.
I teach 95 students in Divine Child High School, Malad East Mumbai. They are currently in the 8th standard. I taught them in the 7th standard as well. They are the most amazing bunch of students I have ever met in my life. They are inquisitive, joyful, eager and have an unquenchable thirst for knowledge.
They come from families who are completely invested in wanting to improve their child's life. They are kids who have achieved a lot over the past few years but are still just warming up. They are kids who don't get confused when they see a new word. They find out its meaning and then try to use it in day to day conversations. They are kids who can ask you probing questions about your field of expertise. They are kids who are can surprise you with their answers and their level of critical thinking. They are kids who know that understanding everything and connecting it to real life is more important than just remembering it. They are kids who work harder and smarter than most kids their age and they do it under trying circumstances. They are kids who are always ready for a challenge.
All they need is a little support from you.
I am trying to raise funds for sponsoring their fees. They study in a private school and the monthly fees from 9th grade onwards will be Rs 1200 per month. They also have to pay Rs 2000 for books and Rs 1000 as exam fees. This brings their total education related expenditure to Rs 17,400. For most of them, this is 10% of their family’s yearly income. Add to that the fact that most of them have more than one sibling and you can only imagine the financial strain on the family to keep all their kids in the school.
I am at the end of my fellowship which means that as hard as it might be for me, I won't be able to give my complete attention to all of them. I will need help in making sure that the effort that has been put into these student's lives, does not go to waste.
For this, we are looking for people who can sponsor and mentor a few students. Based on their financial needs and their classroom performance, we have identified 45 students who would greatly benefit from scholarships.
We are looking for 45 people who could fund/mentor one student each for a year.
What would you have to commit to?
1. Commit to paying Rs 5000 or Rs 10,000 or Rs 15000 per year. You can pay this amount in instalments of Rs 5000.
2. If you wish to mentor, the student will call you once a fortnight or once a month for updates and advice.
We will make sure the student sends you updates via phone call or messages or emails (whichever you prefer). We will put you in touch with the parents of the student so you could also talk to them if you want. In a way, you will be their friend and guide. If you want, we could get the updates for you and send them to you whenever you want.
If you want, we could send you student profiles and you could choose a student from that list.
The money that you donate will go directly to the school and the student will send you a receipt so you don't need to worry about how the money is going to be used.
We want to make sure that they do amazingly well in their board exams and get into a college of their choice. We want to make sure we do as much as we can and that they don’t have to worry about finances while making a career choice. They are doing their best, we are just trying to remove a few obstacles from their path.
Trust me, there is no better feeling. :)
If you want to visit us and just talk to the students then we can arrange that as well. Just send me an email and I will get back to you. If you are in a company/organisation/firm and you want to go a CSR event then also we can arrange it. We have done the same with a couple of MNCs before and they will tell you how much fun they had! Here’s a photo from the day a few people from TCS decided to come over!
If you have any doubts/questions about anything then please feel free to email me at apoorv.shah2013@teachforindia.org or call me at +91 9925027956 [Anytime after 2pm because school ends at that time]. I will be happy to reply to all your queries.
Please send the link to this page to your friends and family so that more people know about us and please encourage them to help us. We thank you for giving us the time to tell our story. :)
Regards
Apoorv
P.S. – I am leaving you with a few photos from our first year. It was eventful to say the least! Click on the photos to make them bigger.
This is us at American School of Business as a part of Teach For India's annual conference InspirEd.
We did a parliamentary debate session on education related topics. Did I mention we won the inaugural Teach For India parliamentary debate competition called Halla Bol? No? Well, now you know!
We sometimes sit quietly and write. Rare event so photos had to be taken.
My name is Apoorv. I work for an organisation called Teach For India and as a part of my fellowship, I teach in a school where students from low income families come to study.
I teach 95 students in Divine Child High School, Malad East Mumbai. They are currently in the 8th standard. I taught them in the 7th standard as well. They are the most amazing bunch of students I have ever met in my life. They are inquisitive, joyful, eager and have an unquenchable thirst for knowledge.
They come from families who are completely invested in wanting to improve their child's life. They are kids who have achieved a lot over the past few years but are still just warming up. They are kids who don't get confused when they see a new word. They find out its meaning and then try to use it in day to day conversations. They are kids who can ask you probing questions about your field of expertise. They are kids who are can surprise you with their answers and their level of critical thinking. They are kids who know that understanding everything and connecting it to real life is more important than just remembering it. They are kids who work harder and smarter than most kids their age and they do it under trying circumstances. They are kids who are always ready for a challenge.
All they need is a little support from you.
I am trying to raise funds for sponsoring their fees. They study in a private school and the monthly fees from 9th grade onwards will be Rs 1200 per month. They also have to pay Rs 2000 for books and Rs 1000 as exam fees. This brings their total education related expenditure to Rs 17,400. For most of them, this is 10% of their family’s yearly income. Add to that the fact that most of them have more than one sibling and you can only imagine the financial strain on the family to keep all their kids in the school.
I am at the end of my fellowship which means that as hard as it might be for me, I won't be able to give my complete attention to all of them. I will need help in making sure that the effort that has been put into these student's lives, does not go to waste.
For this, we are looking for people who can sponsor and mentor a few students. Based on their financial needs and their classroom performance, we have identified 45 students who would greatly benefit from scholarships.
We are looking for 45 people who could fund/mentor one student each for a year.
What would you have to commit to?
1. Commit to paying Rs 5000 or Rs 10,000 or Rs 15000 per year. You can pay this amount in instalments of Rs 5000.
2. If you wish to mentor, the student will call you once a fortnight or once a month for updates and advice.
We will make sure the student sends you updates via phone call or messages or emails (whichever you prefer). We will put you in touch with the parents of the student so you could also talk to them if you want. In a way, you will be their friend and guide. If you want, we could get the updates for you and send them to you whenever you want.
If you want, we could send you student profiles and you could choose a student from that list.
The money that you donate will go directly to the school and the student will send you a receipt so you don't need to worry about how the money is going to be used.
We want to make sure that they do amazingly well in their board exams and get into a college of their choice. We want to make sure we do as much as we can and that they don’t have to worry about finances while making a career choice. They are doing their best, we are just trying to remove a few obstacles from their path.
Trust me, there is no better feeling. :)
If you want to visit us and just talk to the students then we can arrange that as well. Just send me an email and I will get back to you. If you are in a company/organisation/firm and you want to go a CSR event then also we can arrange it. We have done the same with a couple of MNCs before and they will tell you how much fun they had! Here’s a photo from the day a few people from TCS decided to come over!
If you have any doubts/questions about anything then please feel free to email me at apoorv.shah2013@teachforindia.org or call me at +91 9925027956 [Anytime after 2pm because school ends at that time]. I will be happy to reply to all your queries.
Please send the link to this page to your friends and family so that more people know about us and please encourage them to help us. We thank you for giving us the time to tell our story. :)
Regards
Apoorv
P.S. – I am leaving you with a few photos from our first year. It was eventful to say the least! Click on the photos to make them bigger.
This is us at American School of Business as a part of Teach For India's annual conference InspirEd.
I teach 8th standard but I also have buddies in the Sr Kg and Jr Kg and boy do they take their Independence Day celebration seriously!
We like to move it move it! Independence Day dance at school.
We sometimes sit quietly and write. Rare event so photos had to be taken.
Mehjabeen showing you how you can make pretty stuff out of waste products.
Finally, sleep deprived teacher and a part of the debate team!
That's all folks!
Healer Baskar n Rajiv Dixit n Rajiv Malhotra
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