Thogur village diploma student

We got a request for help from a diploma student from Thogur village, near Trichy. He has scored 93.6% in first year, 970/1200 in 12th, 447/500 in 10th. He is doing his diploma at The Seshasayee Institute Of Technology, Trichy. His parents are daily wage workers. Considering his diploma marks and economic background, HM has decided to help him and given Rs. 10000 towards his college fees on 8th June '09.

Continuing help for Vignesh

Vignesh, a student of Final Computer Science at SASTRA, whom we helped with Rs 10,000 during his first year towards mess bill, now requested help for this year.

He has got very good marks till 5th sem:1st - 8.67, 2nd - 9.25, 3rd - 9.93, 4th - 9.48 and 5th 9.0.

HM has given Rs. 10000 towards his college fees.

BEd student from Avadi

HM got a request from another visually challenged student from Avaid. She is doing BEd at Gonsalo college of education. is single-parented - taken care by her mother, who is working for daily wages. Her elder brother is a lorry driver and is married. He can suppport for her little finanacial needs but not able to fund for her education. She may get suspended from specific training programe/regular college owing to the delay in fee payment. She has been trying for education loan at Bank and to get aid from other sources. She has scored 80% in her 10th and 70% in +2. HM has given Rs. 10000 towards her fees on 26th May '09.

BEd student from Kundrathur

HM had got a request for help from a visually challenged student doing BEd from Kundrathur, Chennai. She is doing BEd at Gonsola college of education.She finished her B.A(Tamil) with second class. Her mother is no more and her father is aged. Her husband is mentally retarded and a drunkerd, not bothering about the family. Her only daughter is 4 years old, and she has not yet joined her school due to financial problems. She doesn't have any sources of income. She manages to run the family with the commodities supplied in the meetings conducted for visually challenged people and with the money of Rs.400 given by government for physically challenged. HM has given Rs. 10000 towards her fees on 21st May '09.

Water tank and toilet repair for Nathakadu Govt school

We had got a request for help for a government school from a rural village through Senthil of Payir trust. The school is in need of repair for water tank and toilet. The school name is Adi Dravidar Welfare Elementary School. There are about 105 students studying in this school. Nathakadu is a small village at Kunnam taluk, Perambalur District.

Senthil had approached the government and they are taking up Rs. 20k out of the total budget of Rs. 32k and are in need of the remaining amount.

HM has contributed Rs. 3000 towards this request on 16th Mar '09 and the remaining amount was provided by few other NGOs. Senthil had co-ordinated the work completely.

Scholarships for the year - from April 2009

#	Date	Recipient	Amount
01	06-Apr-09	Hari Narayanan mess fees	1020
02	06-Apr-09	Hari Krishnan mess fees	1135
03	20-Apr-09	Monthly Mess Fees for Snkl Teacher training student	654
04	29-Apr-09	Monthly Mess Fees for Snkl Teacher training student	588
05	21-May-09	B.Ed student from Kundrathur	10000
06	26-May-09	B.Ed student from Avadi	10000
07	08-Jun-09	Continuing help for Vignesh	10000
08	08-Jun-09	Thogur village diploma student	10000
Total			43397

The details of the scholarships for the year 2008 is available here and for the year 2007 is at here

HM Request for a Snkl Teacher training student

A boy, who is a physically challenged person from Subbulapuram, near Sankarankovil is doing first year teacher training at Government Teacher training institute at Vanaramutty near Tirunelveli. His father is a handloom weaver; his sister is also physically challenged. He has somehow managed to pay the college fees and requested for help for mess fees from HM. HM has paid the mess fees for the past 3 months - Rs. 776 on 16th March, Rs. 654 on 20th April and Rs. 588 on 6th May.

Drainage pipes for Komarapalayam Govt school

HM trust got a request for the 'drainage facility for the toilets' for 'Municipal Middle School, C.N.Palayam, B.Komarapalayam, Namakkal Dt'.

There was no provision to let the toilet waste water into the main drainage system and was let out in the open. The class room windows were closed due to this. There was a possibility of disease spreading because of this open drainage. The school was looking for help for laying pipes to connect the drainage to the main drainage system.

HM has provided Rs. 9800 towards this request. The below photos show the drainage before the pipe work, during the work and after the work.

Update on Parandur Govt school water tank

Here is a photo of the water tank constructed by Helping Minds at Parandur school. More details about this activity can be found here

Mess fees for Jan, February and March 2009

HM has paid Rs. 943 for Hari Narayanan and Rs. 1097 for Hari Krishnan for their January mess bills on 19th Feb '09, Rs. 2020 for Srinivasalu on 16th Mar '09 for the previous 2 months' mess bills. The february mess bills Rs. 907 for Hari Krishnan and Rs. 892 for Hari Narayanan were paid on 24th Mar '09. HM has paid Rs. 1020 for Hari Narayanan and Rs. 1135 for Hari Krishnan for their March mess bills on 6th Apr '09.

Library setup for one more Government school

Helping Minds has decided to setup a library for one more Government school in association with India Sudar trust. We have given Rs. 14000 to India Sudar on 31st March towards the same. More details on the library project can be found here

Update on Nagapattinam tuition class

Here is a photo of the Nagapattinam tuition class.

Help for a Tambaram BEd student

We got a request for help from a BEd student from Tambaram. Her mother is working as a house maid, her father had expired few years back, her brother had expired one year back. She had completed BSc and went to a job working in a weaving shop in a village near Chennai.
The total fees for her course is 60k. She has so far paid 30k (from savings from her salary, jewels and help from others) and have got permission till Feb 15th for rest of the 30k. The school principal in which she underwent training (as part of her course) has said that he will get her a job in the school for a salary of about Rs. 3500 per month. She is confident that the Principal will keep up his word. The course teachers have also said that they will recommend her for teacher job in couple of schools. So job prospects are pretty ok for her once she finishes the course. Her mother is doing house hold work to run the family and has had an eye operation recently. This course and the subsequent job seems to be the only hope for them.
Helping Minds has provided Rs. 10000 towards her fees. We have refered this student to other trusts. Sneham has given Rs. 5000 and Dream India trust has provided Rs. 10000 towards her fees.

Continuing help for Saravanan - 2009

Saravanan is doing B.E. Computer Science at Anna University Trichy - Panruti campus. Helping Minds trust has helped him for his semester fees for the past semester. He has requested help for this semester also. HM trust has decided to give Rs. 9160 towards his college fees.

Update on Nagapattinam tuition class

Here is an update on the tuition classes at Nagapattinam:

HM member Bala went and observed the tuition class last week. The teacher maintains attendance and 14 students are very regular to the classes. Remaining 8 are irregular and the teacher has taken steps to make them also come to the classes regularly.

Marks scored by the students in the half-yearly exam has been recorded. Six students have performed very bad. Their total marks in five subjects is in the range of 50-80. Others have just managed to pass. One girl in the group seems to be studying very well. The immediate goal of the teacher is to make all of them pass the annual examination.

On knowing our initiative, Mr Ramalingam, a teacher working in a nearby Government primary school has come forward to offer his services voluntarily for the primary classes. He will take classes for three days in a week for now..