Visit of Sahasra Deepika Institute for Education (India), Bangalore

31-MAR-2007
BANGALORE, KA
Hello All,

Myself, Shiva Narayana visited Sahasra Deepika Institute for Education along with Arun on last sunday. He is frequent visitor to this school and he is one of volunteer.

Website: www.sdie.org

We have to keep going from Diary circle on Bannerghatta Road and you can see Meenakshi-Sundaresan temple on right hand side, from there it is about 4 km, you can see TULIP RESORT BOARD and take a left turn and keep going for another 4 km – you will that beautiful resort with fruit trees stand in measured distance of one another and you will see a good building.

That is Sahasra Deepika Institute for Education. Sahasra Deepika means, “a thousand lights”. This home built by T.V. Ramakrishna in 1998, opened with 12 children. they have currently have 56 children ages 4-12 living and learning at Sahasra Deepika.
About the School:

• Sahasra Deepika Instiute for Education (SDI) is residential school with 56 students.
• The school complex is situated close to the village of Sakalavara.
• The main building has been designed to accommodate 1000 children with five
• classrooms and separate boys and girls sleeping areas.
• Their English-medium curriculum is focused. Currently, they are providing from 1st to 7th Standard and they are extending the school to provide higher education along with different oganization.
• The founders donated the land and the initial building for the establishment of the SDI campus.
• One housemother is taking care of 56 children now including cooking and serving food.
• Students are very desciplined and they keep their environment clean.
• We had interacted with students and they gave their self introduction with one quote from Swami Vivekandanda, Mahatma Gandhi and many others.
• They all have different ambitions to become doctor, engineer, dancers, singers, scientist, police, soldier and etc. There are good singers as well. They sang few songs for us, it was excellant experience.
• They have small library, science lab and computer rooms.
• They have deployed 5 teachers and they come and go everyday.
• Their average monthly expenses comes around 2 to 3 lakhs

Admision Criteria:

Admission to the Sahasra Deepika Institute (SDI) is open to any child irrespective of caste, creed, religion, gender, and nationality.

The priority of the institute is to accept children who have inadequate care, either because of being orphaned, deserted or homeless, living under abject poverty, or as a consequence of a dysfunctional family environment (i.e. battered mothers etc.,).

Children must be between 3 and 6 years old and satisfy one of the following criteria:
Orphaned with no caregiver.

Loss of one parent with inadequate care by the remaining parent.
Deserted/homeless children with poor family structure/abject poverty.

Applications for admission to SDI can be obtained by contacting the Secretary, SDIE, Bangalore. Children admitted to SDI are given free education/boarding until they complete high school.

Donations:
TARGET USA Company donated few computers and they are looking for a teacher to provide computer education.

RORATY CLUB Bangalore provided Solar power systems

HoneyWell provided solar systems

Many friends from ARM Company are visiting this place and spending their weekend with those kids.
About the Founders Dr. Ramakrishna and his wife Ms. Vijaya

Dr. Ramakrishna was born in a village called Thallagavara, 60 k.m. from Bangalore. His father died when he was very young and his widowed mother did her best to educate him. The teachers in the remote rural school spotted the young boy’s potential and encouraged him to study with small amounts of scholarships that came his way. His first scholarship amount was six rupees. As he continued to maintain high scholastic standards, his scholarship money increased to a princely sum of ten rupees! He lived in hostels that served him measured food. His degree in Civil Engineering got him a job at the PWD, where he worked for over a year only to realise that this was not his calling. So he started to teach at the Visveswaraya College of Engineering before leaving for the U.S to do a Master’s in Engineering and Planning and later his doctorate.
Dr. Ramakrishna and his wife Ms. Vijaya spend most of their time travelling through villages to see if they can help a truly deserving child.
“Give them food, they are hungry again. Give them education, they are forever away from poverty.” This is the maxim that governs the Sahasra Deepika Project.

How can we support them:
(1)The major help would be spending time with them to teach and interact.
(2) We can help poor kids to get admission there or make their parents to aware of this school.
(3) They are looking for donations also.

Contact details:
Sahasra Deepika International for Education
Viswamanavakshetra, Anekal Taluk
Sakalavara Post, Bangalore 560 083, India
Phone: (011-91-80) 27803504
By Bus: Take route No. 367 at Kalasipalyam bus stand and get down at Viswamanavakshetra-Hulukasvanahalli

By Car: proceed from Bangalore on Bannerghatta road for about 12km till you see the sign for Sahasra Deepika on the left. Make a left turn onto Sakalavara Road and proceed for 2 km and then make a left turn onto Sakalavara Road and proceed 1km to the Institute gate on the left.

You can contact Arun for more help to visit this place : +91-98861-32507

Shiva and Arun – Please add your comments, if i have missed something. Uday – Please add the photographs in INDIA SUDAR BLOG.

Regards
K.Ravikumar
Bangalore, KA Team Lead, INDIA SUDAR.

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