p style=”text-align: center;”>MEET MITHU MANDAL, COMPUTER TEACHER: OKHLA CENTRE, PROJECT WHY, NEW DELHI
Mithu Mandal lost his legs to polio at the age of 3, and he was never interested in formal education. At Project WHY he not only learnt about computers but became good enough to teach children how to use them.
The Project Why Okhla Centre where he teaches, supports the education of 350 children, quite a few of whom also learn computers from Mithu. Without this centre, Mithu would not have a job. In the coming year, this centre is about to lose its funding and faces a very real possibility of a shutdown.
PROJECT WHY ACTIVITIES
Project WHY is a flagship programme of Sri Ram Goburdhun Charitable Trust, which provides educational support to underprivileged children. This non-profit, after-school support programme goes beyond academics, to include life skills and all-around development.
Project WHY reaches out to 1200 children and 160 women.
Since 2005, Project WHY runs a computer education programme. Mithu started as a student, worked his way up to being a teacher’s aide, and then took over as the computer teacher.
WHY THE PROJECT WHY OKHLA CENTRE SHOULD REMAIN OPEN
The Okhla education centre began its activities in 2004 to address the problems of an extremely vulnerable group of children who were targeted by drug and other mafias.
Space was not easy to find and the only option was a space near a garbage dump, which was ‘reclaimed’ and classes began under a plastic sheet held by bamboo poles. This centre is the result of hard work by it’s staff and founders, who have faced everything from littering to assault from criminal elements in order to keep it running for all these years.
Today, the Okhla Centre has a stable structure, and Mithu runs its computer programme. It helps retain children in school, offering primary and secondary education along with the computer classes.
The centre is an important component of the neighbourhood, keeping crime, drugs and negative elements at bay and replacing it with education and employment.
WHAT IS NEEDED
To give us time to find a sustainable source of funding, the Project WHY Okhla centre needs:
1. 4 Staff honorariums for 6 months: 379, 104 (5,330 USD)
2. Electricity for 6 months: 9, 000 (125 USD)
3. Learning aids and stationery 15, 000 (210 USD)
4. Laptop for Mithu 33, 700 (475 USD)
5. Internet 3, 000 (45 USD)
6. Bank fees for fundraiser 48, 379
(680 USD)
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Total 488,183 (6, 865 USD)
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WHY YOU SHOULD DONATE
▪ Computer education has changed Mithu’s life, and he’s passing on his expertise to others who are gaining the skills essential at a modern workplace.
▪ The teachers Mithu Mandal, Pushpa Kumar, Sophiya Tirkey, Naresh Bhardwaj belong to the underprivileged community, so when you donate towards their salaries, you’re directly donating to the community and not a non-profit overhead. Over the coming weeks, we will be sharing their stories, each just as inspiring and full of spirit as Mithu’s.
▪ Children gaining secondary education at the centre will be going in for higher education and staying away from life on the streets.
▪ The laptop will be given to Mithu. This will enable him to take courses, which he will use to improve his teaching curriculum.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE DONATION PROCESS
- If you’re donating from India, your donation is 50% tax deductible under section 80G.
- If you’re donating from the USA: you can make tax-deductible donations via the OMPRAKASH foundation.
- If you’re making a donation from France, UK, or Germany, you can make donations via these avenues.
DONOR FEEDBACK AND COMMUNICATION
▪ The entire expense account would be put up on the Project Why website once the amount is raised. You can check out an account of our previous fundraiser.
▪ Join the Project Why family by supporting Mithu, so he can help others in his community. No amount is too small, and every little bit would help keep Mithu’s workplace, the Project WHY Okhla Centre, safe from a shutdown.
▪ Read the Project WHY story at www.projectwhy.org.
Find us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and please help share the story to your friends and family on the hashtag #HelpMithuSaveSchool
Each share can bring us three times the donation, and make the dreams of these brave teachers a reality.
If you ever visit our neighbourhood, please do stop by for a chat with the teachers and children at our centres: just drop us an email at anouradha.bakshi@projectwhy.org and we will help organise a trip.
Mithu’s story is inspiring and I’m so glad you spoke for him. Initiatives like this one need to be encouraged. It would be an absolute pity if the school were to shut down.
Thank you so much for your support, Mayuri! With support from bloggers and kind donors we have reached 3.2 lacs out of the target of 4.8 lacs.
Appreciate all the help we can get to keep this school open!
Such initiatives help and support many like Mitthu, you have shared an amazingly inspiring story here Mayuri.
I am sharing this in my circles.
Floating this post in my circle because a school should never shut down. Glad to see you tried spreading a word with the blog, M.