Showing posts with label vocational training. Show all posts
Showing posts with label vocational training. Show all posts

September Update

10 October 2008

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Dear Friends,

I want to introduce you to Neetu Tomar. This month, at the age of 21, Neetu will be doing something she would never have dreamed growing in the small village of Karanpur, miles away from the nearest Indian Railways station: she'll be flying to London.

Neetu is a true success story for PPES. Since graduating she has been teaching at the school, helping educate a new generation of girls coming from the same situation she transcended. Neetu was chosen by Sahara Means Support, a London-based NGO, for a 3-month intensive course in English. The skills she'll learn over the next three months will help her better pass her knowledge on to other students. She will see and experience things she never expected (in fact, she tried McDonalds in Delhi for the first time ever last week! She liked the fries, but the McAloo Tikki? Not so much.)


Neetu is very excited about this opportunity to see the world outside of
India and to improve her English skills, and so are we. We wish her the best of luck.

UPDATE: Due to last-minute visa problems, Neetu is not going to London this year. We are hopefully she will get the opportunity again next year.


Independence Day Celebrations


August 15th was Indian Independence Day and we had great fun despite a huge rain downpour. Select students performed for a packed room of parents, teachers and students.


Notice how some of the children in the photo aren't wearing uniforms? We don't issue issue uniforms to new students until they have been at the school for two months. At this time, all students have uniforms.

High School students visit from California


We were delighted to have five students and one teacher from the Head-Royce School located in Oakland, California spend a week at our school (PPGVS). The high school students spent time with individual girls of PPGVS, going to their homes and spending the whole day with them in order to better understand the plight of girls in rural India. They also played games with our students, taught computer skills, participated in the Independence Day celebrations and even squeezed in some sightseeing in Agra, Jaipur and Delhi.

Special thanks to Paul Chapman and Ms. Carmen for making this possible!

We're coming to San Francisco

From October 5th to October 25th our Director, Mrs. Renuka, will be in San Francisco along with two Pardada Pardadi Girls Vocational School graduates to visit high schools and speak about PPES's efforts to improve the lives of disadvantaged girls in rural India.

If you would like to host a fundraiser for PPES during this time or would like Mrs. Renuka and the graduates to speak at any functions, please contact Renuka at: renuka@pardadapardadi.org.

We're growing!

With more students than ever, it was time to expand. We have recruited new teachers, a new School Director, Mrs. Rana, and also added people to our administrative office. Poonam Sharma will be heading up fundraising efforts, Jenny Steeves to manage communications, and Vinod Kumartewari to handle billing.

To accommodate this growth, we have shifted to a new office (pictured) in Delhi located at: A-47 Lajpat Nagar - 1, New Delhi - 110024. Our phone number is: 91- 011- 46502621/31.

Rice donation

We received a very generous donation of five tons of rice from Mr. V.K. Arora from LT Overseas. This is enough rice to last the school for eight months. We are extremely grateful!


Boys vocational school

PPES has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Indian Builders Congress to open a vocational school for boys. PPES is providing local contacts and land; Indian Builders Congress brings technical expertise and financial backing. This project will be jointly managed by both organizations.

Why boys? The girls who graduate from our school are better educated and have more skills than most boys in their villages. But because we want to create a gender-sensitive society, we need to educate and empower both sexes with good values and good skills.

With kind regards,
Sam

June Update

22 July 2008

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Dear Friends,

June has been a very busy month for our organization. Pardada Pardadi has progressed a great deal through the constant support and encouragement from you all. I feel very happy to share the PPES news with all of you.

Toilet Project
www.poopreport.com/village

Through the initiative of Mr. Dave Praeger, PPES has been able to raise $15,000 from 166 donors. PPES welcomes all these members to the family and thanks once again for your kind donations. With this donation PPES will be able to make at least 60 toilets in the homes of its students.

Examinations

May was a month of examinations for all PPES students. Group Counseling sessions were held with students appearing for class Xth and XII Board examination. There were 17 students appearing for class Xth Board exams and, for the first time, all took Maths as one of their subjects. Unfortunately, the results for class Xth were not very encouraging, as only five students passed their exams. PPES is reconsidering its education programme to improve future exam results.

Happily, 100% of the students who appeared for class V and VIII Board examinations passed!


New School Session

There was a huge demand for admission to the school for the coming year. So much, in fact, that PPES had to refuse many students. Currently, enrollment tops one thousand students! New teaching staff has been recruited, and PPES hopes that they will join the school with strong commitment and fresh ideas.


Admission to Other Institutions

Two students have been admitted to Rockwood School in Noida, an English medium Private School. There they will complete classes XI & XII. The students received this opportunity through the generous sponsorship of Mr. Badri Agarwal and Mr. Ramesh Bajpai. PPES would like to express its gratitude to both of them.

Two students have been admitted to the Rai Foundation to their graduation program, one student in fashion design and the other in hospitality. We are very thankful to the Rai Foundation for admitting our students and providing them with scholarships.

PPES is hopeful that this kind of exposure will help the girls develop into smart and strong young women.

Job Opportunities

In line with the school’s expansion, we are also looking to hire a new manager and a fundraiser. We are looking for motivated applicants with a desire to work to help the underprivileged. Please help us find suitable people for the position.

To view the Manager job description, please click here.
To view the Fundraiser job description, please click here.

Visitors and Volunteers

Mr. K. B. Rajoria and Mr. P. B. Vijay from Indian Building Congress visited PPES to do a site survey. PPES and IBC are soon going to launch a vocational training center for boys. This facility will train the boys of the local area in the construction work e.g. masonry, carpentry etc.

Mr. Rambabu Khambapati (Team Leader of Kusuma Foundation) visited Pardada Pardadi to learn about the school’s operations.

Ms. Subha Rajan, CEO of Overseas Indian Facilitation Center also spent one day at the School with two other guests, Mr. Mukul Anand (Director, IMMACULATE) and Ms. Nayantara (A student of Duke University. They all interacted extensively with the students.

Ms. Riti a post-graduate student spent a week at the school, teaching students, computers and dance.

Vocational training cum Production centre

Recently Pardada Pardadi opened a production cum training center. The idea behind this training center is to empower its graduates, senior girls and women of the villages of Anupshahr. Along with training to make home furnishing, participants would also be given training on literacy skills, gender, health & sanitation etc.


During the training period participants are given a stipend of Rs. 250 (USD 6.25) per month as per their attendance in the training center. And after their training is complete they would be able to earn nearly Rs.3,000 (USD 75) per month on the basis of their production.

Marketing initiatives

A summer carnival was organized in Meerut to encourage the sale of PPES products. As part of its commitment to its students, PPES employed two of its graduates in the marketing department. The girls gained valuable first hand experience at the carnival which in turn helps PPES by developing a second line of leadership in marketing.

PPES continues to explore new avenues for marketing its products. As part of this initiative our marketing department secured an order from Mr. V. S. Ramana (Head of Corporate Communications, Larsen & Toubro – Engineering Construction and Contacts division) to make laptop bags for the India-US Global Business and PR Conference to be held in Chennai on 6th June 2008. Mr. Ramana also organized an exhibition of Pardada Pardadi products during this conference. PPES is very thankful to Mr. V. S. Ramana for his support.

Seasons, a large chain of home stores, gave an order to make stuffed toys as a gift for the children visiting their stores. We hope this relationship between Seasons and PPES continues for a long time to come.

Madhya Pradesh Tourism appreciated the products made at PPES and decided to decorate some of its tourist’s bungalows with PPES products. Similarly Reliance also placed the orders with PPES.

As always we look forward to hearing your ideas and suggestions for the promotion and marketing of our products.

Capacity Building

DLF Ltd. has been kind enough to give a donation for capacity building of the organization for one year. This has instilled confidence in the team of PPES. It is planning to hire more team members. PPES is very thankful to DLF for the support

US Advisory board

PPES has set up a US Advisory Board. The first meeting of the US board was held on 28th June in US and produced many suggestions and ideas. We are hopeful that the formation of this Board will strengthen and further PPES’s mission.

The board members are:

1. Mr. Bill Snook – Marketing expert and former Dupont employee
2. Mr. Ken Hostelley- Marketing expert and former Dupont employee
3. Mr. G. Irv Lipp- APR, Principal Lipp Services, LLC & Hillis Group
4. Mr. Gene Kreuzberger – Marketing expert and former Dupont employee

5. Mr. Ray Whalen - Businessman

6. Prof. Sunil Chopra- Professor at
Kellogg Business School
7. Mr. Kush Agarwal- President & CEO of Vein Clinics of
America
8. Mr. Andrew Webster- Principal,
Wardlaw Hartridge School
9. Mr. Paul Chapman – Principal,
Head Royce School
10. Dr. Gary Fountain – Principal,
Chatham Hall School
11. Ms. Sue Henderson – Vice President, Institutional Advances at
Queens College
12. Ms. Sherry Fuchs – MS psychology, MS business, former child development specialist, Grant writer.

Thank you once again for being a part of PPES family.

With kind regards,
Sam

PPES again featured in Times of India

10 July 2008

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Pardada Pardadi was again covered by Times of India's Education Times in an article on vocational training. The article, written by Sakshi Khattar, details ways in which several educational institutions, including PPES, work to teach their students employable skills as part of their curriculum. To read the article click the image at left or navigate to p. 8 of 30 June 2008 issue of Education Times in TOI's epaper, which can be found here.