Dear Friends,
July saw new students settling in at Pardada Pardadi School and entering our educational philosophy.
At the beginning of the month, Amarpur Village enrolled 20 students at the school for the first time. Within a week 16 of these students had dropped out. When parents were questioned about why their students were pulled out of school, they replied, “Our kids will not eat with the same utensils as the kids from lower castes.” Repeated meetings were held with the villagers. In the end, 10 families agreed to reconsider their decision and their daughters have returned to the school.
The parents who agreed to send their daughters to the school are true change-makers and a ray of hope for the future. PPES believes that one day villages like Amarpur will be more concerned about their development, quality of education, and quality of human life than about the caste of their daughters' classmates. However, this can only happen with consistent interventions from all of us to work for the development of underdeveloped.
Activities at the School
On an exposure trip thirty students and five teachers visited the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC). The students learned about power generation. It was a good learning experience and picnic for everyone. We are very thankful to NTPC for providing this wonderful opportunity.
On 25th July a cultural program was held at the school. Parents of new students were invited to join the student audience for this program. Through this program, we welcomed new parents and students to PPES family. At the same time, the program was an opportunity for the students to show off their talents and for PPES to tell parents more about the school's vision.
The summer months also saw many school-wide competitions in disciplines ranging from debate to drawing to sports. The best students in each area received prizes for their efforts.
US Visit
Ms. Suman Tomar student of class XI was selected to visit the US for five weeks. Members of the Bitiya Organsiation (Ms.Vinita Garg, Ms. Sandhya) were kind enough to host her for two weeks, followed by Mrs. & Mr. Javid Sonde. Suman was able to visit many places in Washington D.C. and New York. PPES expresses its heartfelt gratitude to all the hosts for hosting Suman and providing her with such a fulfilling experience.
I also had a fruitful visit to the Unitied States. In Chicago I attended a fundraising party organized by Mr. Kush Agarwal. It was really nice to interact with such a diverse group of people. On behalf of PPES I would like to thank him for all his support and guidance.
Volunteers and Visitors
Ms. Elissa Desani came to volunteer at the school for two and a half months. She is going to make a documentary on PPES. Along with this she is teaching spoken English to the students of class VI. She is also developing profiles of the students.
Ms. Teresa Kozakova visited Pardada Pardadi School. She has agreed to help us in recruitment of volunteers.
Mr. Rohit Gandhi along with his colleagues came back to the school to take shorts to update the present file on Pardada Pardadi. PPES is very thankful to Rohit for his voluntary contribution on making the film “ Pardada Pardadi”.
Trainings
Beginning this year PPES will be paying extra attention to developing its staff. As a part of this initiative, teacher training sessions were conducted by faculty from K.R. Manglam School, Digantar and the Bharti Foundation.
PPES is very thankful to K. R. Manglam School for offering their technical expertise to train PPES teachers in teaching science and maths to students from class VI to VIII.
Digantar has been one PPES longest partners and PPES has benefited a lot from this association. The organization conducted a week-long training session on issues related to 'the role of teachers and the community'.
The Bharti Foundation conducted a two-day training session with Primary School teachers.
Rags to Pads Fundraiser
Rags-to-Pads is an initiative to provide safe sanitary napkins and employment opportunities for rural girls. We have received very encouraging response. For further information on and to donate to this project please visit www.RagstoPads.com.
I would also like to thank Mr. Ron Fuchs and Ms. Sherry Fuchs for their continued support. I am also thankful to Mrs. & Mr. William Smith for showing me such beautiful handicrafts and giving us an inspiration to reach up to that level. I also gave a presentation about PPES at Chan Meditation Center in Elmhurst, New York. I am very thankful to Prof. Rikki Asher for organizing this event.
And finally, I would to thank all of you for your continued interest and commitment. PPES is continually searching for new ways to spread the word about the organization and the school. Most recently, PPES has joined Facebook! Now you can also spread messages about PPES through www.facebook.com by adding Pardada Pardadi ( vsingh00@hotmail.com ) as your friend and sharing its profile with others.
With Kind Regards,
Sam
PPES is very thankful to K. R. Manglam School for offering their technical expertise to train PPES teachers in teaching science and maths to students from class VI to VIII. 
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