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The Lily Foundation
27/5A, K. M. Naskar Rd, Kolkata-700 040
Best Performers Rewarded at Annual Conference
Attended by invited guests, SMILE students, AALO teachers and field staff, the conference was hosted at Birla Academy of Arts on January 30th. Prof. Soumen Mahapatra, WB Minister and philanthropist, honored the event as Chief Guest. Two hundred-strong audience listened to eminent personalities giving messages and students expressing gratitude with suggestions. Everyone enjoyed lighter moments as small skits were played by SMILE students and TORCHs staff.
New Delhi Ramakrishna Mission was awarded the coveted Friend-of-Lily honor, received by Swami Gyanalokananda of Baranagore, who delivered inspiring messages welcomed by students. Bandana Mohanta got Pride-of -Lily award.
Every year, annual education conference is held end of the year in tandem with AGM. Students and teachers from all over the country unite on this occassion to comingle and share ideas.
Performance award recipients are: Best AALO Study Home (AALO Ratna): AALO-1 Behala; Best High School Coaching Home (AALO Ratna): AALO-17 Narrah ;
SMILE High Achievement Awards went to: Madan Mondal 80% from Kanailal Vidyamandir in Higher Secondary; Mahadeb Mukherjee 82% in HS from Narrah High School; Manasapada Gorai 81% in HS from Narrah High School; Pabitra Maji 81% in HS from Kenduadihi High School; Sabyasachi Goswami 86% in HS from Tajpur High School; Shyamali Gorai 81% in HS from C. M. Tayyeb Institution; Tanusree Dey 87% in HS from Narrah High School
SMILE scholarships are meant for success in academics which in turn should bring material success. Recent graduates are about to demonstrate the whole truth behind the theory.
Bandana Mohanta graduates with diploma in Nursing (G.N.M.) and is employed in Siliguri Anandalok Hospital; Sourav Chakravorty completes M.B.B.S. from Calcutta Medical College and is serving as intern in Calcutta Medical College and Hospital; Jyoti Karmakar gets Programmer Analyst job offer from Cognizant Technology after completing B. Tech in Information Technology from WBUT; Shampa Das graduates with Diploma in Nursing (G.N.M.) from Calcutta Medical Research Institute and is serving as intern there; Buddhadeb Mondal completed B. Sc. from Vidyasagar University and is employed in Allied Pigments; Sangita Ghosh completed diploma in Computer Engineering and is employed as teacher for vocational training in a govt-sponsored school; Paromita Ghosh completed M.Sc. from Jharkhand and is employed in Ravishankar Art of Living School.
SMILE (Scholarship Made for India's Less-advantaged Entrants in High School/College) program remains a high draw for the sponsors. 170 plus sponsors around the world contribute $15 a month ($30 for college) to support a poor-but-meritorious student from grade IX. The sponsor receives annual progress report of academics as well as general development feedback from the mentor. For more info, visit www.lilyfoundation.org/lilysponsoringoptions.html
Established late last year in Ghatsila and sponsored by SRAI, BDSL High School for girls and JC High School hosts AALO-34 and AALO-33 where each home coaches 20 students. The BDSL-hosted home became so popular that the school authority wished us taking responsibility of teaching all students of grade IX and X. Rather than laughing out as a joke we accepted their comment as a commendation.
The IERG, Sabre group of Dallas sponsors Narrah AALO-17 of 20 students and Hijaldiha AALO-32 of 20 students, each for a period of more than one year.
Lily Foundation runs High School Coaching Homes in 6 locations around West Bengal and Jharkhand helping 150 students. Sponsoring one such Home costs $900 for a year. You get an annual report of the students' family background and academic progress with pictures. The school displays a framed appreciation certificate with your picture.
All 7 Study Homes educating more than 175 kids with a good order of discipline continue to earn respect in the locality they are established, namely Behala, Boral, Narendrapur, Akra and Santoshpur. The kids after receiving plentiful of lessons for 2 years in native language, English and basic math are admitted into the main-stream govt. schools and madrasas.
After the project's 8 years of operation, we checked out how our ex-students were faring in the main-stream schools. Contrary to general expectation, 92% of them are still continuing in school, many performing above-average, thanks to the original hard work by Lily teachers and volunteers. The top-ranking ex-students were recognised with Good Studentship Award in the last Annual Education Conference.
Good Studentship Award recipients are: Janaki Sharma of AALO-1 stands first in class VI, Dharambir Sharma of AALO-16 first in class V, Jinna Tunessa Khatoon of AALO-7 second in class VII, Ajay Koley of AALO-7 second in class VII, Sk. Saddam of AALO-11 in top 10% in class VIII, Sk. Sahabaz of AALO-12 in top 10% in class VII
Study Home sponsoring for a 6-mo period costs $840 for full cost, other options for sponsoring text books, school bags , uniforms and nutrition program exist (visit www.lilyfoundation.org/lilysponsoringoptions.html)
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Our computer center graduates in increasing numbers get placed in decent jobs. For them, WEBEL certification, based on standard tests, is assumed to be of help in job search. RNP Institute in Hotar and DMS Institute in Dhulai are the centers that produce students trained in Computer Basics, Office Computer Applications and TALLY professional accounting course. Hijaldiha Kuntala Bagchi Memorial center provides training in basic and advanced course. The centers at Ghatsila and Kulbani are high school-based and train students only in Computer Basics. Some recent placements are: Labanee Mal as teacher under ICDS program at Sonamukhi block, Tanmoy Dutta as clerk in Indian Army, Anjana Ghosh as staff in Dhulai Gram Panchayat, Astik Kanra as jawan in Indian Army, Anupam Naskar as staff at IQST, Gitashree Chakraborty as teacher in Children's Academy school at Sonarpur, Anju Basu as staff at Sarada Ramakrishna Sevashram, Nilima Naskar as teacher in a primary school, Kush Halder as employee in a private company, Gobinda Mondal as a data-entry operator in s private company Opening a new computer center in memory of your beloved person, possibly at a place of your choice, cost $6000 for first year, $3000 for each of the following years. The institute will instruct and graduate 60-100 students every year in basic and advanced courses. |
In this context, we must appreciate the liberal support of Yugacharya Vivekananda Seva Samity, a Ramakrishna Mission outfit, with text books every year. The most recent such support from the Samity was 450 books. Help also came from another source - Registrar of Publications Dept. (WB) which supported us by 308 books.
Sponsoring a bookbank cost $200 a year
New Delhi Ramakrishna Mission Chief Swami Shantatmananda donated the books to Lily Foundation.
Thakurpukur - Behala unemployed youth get opportunity to train in "Electrician" trade that would boost their employability or help start a business of their own. Lily Foundation runs Thakurpukur Vocational Center equipped by a modern workshop facility and taught by professionally-qualified teachers, that is fully funded by Andrew Yule Co. It trains 20 high school graduates in home and industry electrification and electrical machine repair. State board licensing exam preparation is also to be supported.
Mobile Phone Repairing trade as a new vocation has also been agreed to be funded for the same location by Andrew Yule. Classes are to begin late April
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Vocational Center at Narrah, Bankura saw some extraordinary help coming in the form of two new sewing machines for selected former students to start their own small businesses. The value of the machines will be paid back in easy installments of zero interest, so the support becomes recyclable for future students. Anirudh and Meenakshi Maitra are the sponsors. |
Dhulai DMS Institute hosted a free eye checkup camp under total sponsorship of Durgapur Cement Works in March. Villagers from as far as Pakhanna (13 KM) attended the event. A total of 349 patients were examined for vision impairment, color blindness, cataract and other opthalmic disorder. Appropriate eye drops were distributed free. In some cases, spectacles were provided free, and in some other cases, recommendation for cataract operation was communicated to Birla Eye Clinic, Kolkata. 99 out of 138 recommended patients were operated free. Comments such as "Very well organized high volume camp" from the doctor and "Organizing the camp was a fruitful exercise because of the help and coordination rendered by DMS institute" from GM, Birla Cement Works were feathers on the cap for the organizers.
Dental Checkup Camp
In Akra, a suburb of Kolkata, a free dental checkup camp was arranged in the campus of Akra High Madrasa Free Primary School in April. Dr. Saurav Mukherjee, B.D.S. was the attending doctor. Sponsor of the event Mr. Kalyan Mukherjee was present with him. 64 persons including children were examined, out of which 7% children were detected to be suffering from tooth decays, cavities and other dental disorders that required treatment. The follow-up treatment is to be made by the patients at their initiative.
