Rotary and ICICI Lombard transform rural school

Rotary Club of Bangalore and ICICI Lombard have set an example of how meaningful Corporate and NGO partnerships can transform the lives of deprived children and offer hope, meaning, and opportunity to them, paving the way for a revolutionary approach to educating the masses, adding sense and value to rural literacy.
One such initiative is the joining of hands in an NGO Corporate partnership between the Rotary Club of Bangalore and the ICICI Lombard G1C Ltd. which has picked the Sakalvara Government School to bring about a significant and visible change. Situated at the Sakalvara Villagge, Jigani Hobli, Anekal Taluk, 3.2 kms from Tulip Resorts, Bannerghatta, are spread over 1 acre. Beginning the 1st of March, the school presently has 3 new classrooms, and would be extended to 7 class rooms and has a hall for computer education, a spanking new and levelled playground, with sports facilities, like Chess, Volleyball court, Basket ball court and separate toilet facilities for both boys and girls, with water storage tanks and sumps. This village is also surrounded by 14 more villages with in a radius of 1 to 2 kms, and expect more students to join free of cost, said President Rtn.Vijay Kumar.
This is probably the only government school to have a water harvesting facility, which is one of its kind in government schools which has Rain harvesting facilities. Plans for the school include cooperating with TIDALDATA Inc., California, to distribute hand held, remarkably cheap e-pods to the children that carry their complete syllabus in several languages that can guide, teach, educate, and rapidly enhance their learning skills and establish credibility in rural education programmes, achieving objectives at affordable costs. It accelerates the education system carry the entire subject, the device can give 7 languages on any lesson and has a voice device. The purpose of this device is to compensate the Teacher-student ratio, because in a government school the student teacher ratio is very high in each class.
President Rtn.Vijay Kumar said "Today the school is adopted by the Rotary Club of Bangalore, the oldest Rotary Club in Bangalore that has spearheaded many initiatives to reach out to the community. The Club, celebrating its Platinum Jubilee, has invited Corporates to partner and support them in fulfilling their corporate social objectives by sharing resources, manpower and logistics to make a difference to the lives of underprivileged and lack the means to initiate social change without a helping hand".

Attendance at this school of 200 children was always poor and interest in education was abysmal, to say the least, until a new team of government appointed teachers in the new millennium believed that they could bring about a healthy change, despite a student teacher ratio of 50:1 said Mr. Ramkumar Seshu, Rotarian. They invited the Vijayam Bharani Trust to support the malnourished children with a mid day meal scheme to offer healthy, nutritious food, that is today partly the incentive for the children to go to school, and encouraged them to post attendance of almost 95%, a record for any government school.
The Trust which has set up a modern eco friendly kitchen in the village, offers tasty and deliciously nutritious meals, 210 days a year, to a couple of schools in the village, including this government school.
For more details contact Rotary House of Friendship Ph: 22120317, Email: rotarycb@vsnl.net