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Brief History:
A humble beginning was made in 1944, when the Government Lower Primary School, started functioning near a temple, with 15 students. Later, in 1963, the school shifted to its present location, with 3 classrooms donated by Mr. & Mrs. Venkatappa Reddy, which was inaugurated by Mrs. Grace Tucker, the District Education Officer, and had 40 students
up to the 3rd Standard. Subsequently added on were the 4th standard in 1974,
5th standard in 1990 (renamed as the Government Higher Primary School with 250 students), 6th standard in 1991, and 7th standard in 1992.
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LINGARAJAPURAM
SCHOOL as it existed between
1988 and 1998.(top)
Lingarajapuram
School on 2nd Oct
2000,showing
six new class rooms & a vocational training room built on the
first floor.
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Present Status:
The present strength is 450 students -both boys and girls. The school caters mainly to the children of the Lower Income Group. Most of the parents are labourers including construction workers. The school is run by Mr. D. Krishnappa, the Head Master, ably assisted by 9 teachers and 1 helper, and has been an important aspect of RCBC's Community Service Project for a number of years. Housed in a small block, the school has been nursed by RCBC via the Midday Meal Scheme and also by adding many much-needed facilities.
Visits to the school are always a source of great joy, and the gleam on the faces of the children, who are really the "have nots" are really something to be proud of and worth watching. The head master is a dynamic man wanting to do a lot, and has a very supportive set of dedicated teachers.
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LINGARAJAPURAM SCHOOL 2000
RCBC'ians motto for Community Service has been oriented towards education rooted in the firm belief that "it is better to teach someone to fish rather than give him a fish". We had accepted this challenge as early as 1988 with the Midday Meal Scheme. We are proud of and have enjoyed our long association with the School and seen it grow in status and wisdom.
1. Midday Meal Scheme :The Midday Meal Scheme commenced in 1988, for 70 children. The active strength now is 400, as against an enrolled strength
of over 450. An amount of Rs.1,80,000/- (US $ 4,100) is spent by RCBC annually in administering the Midday Meals Scheme. Contributions are made by the RCBC members to sustain this scheme. The children look forward to the midday meal and it is an added incentive for attending the school. The midday meals are prepared under contract by the Multipurpose Industrial Cooperative Society Ltd. for Women, a social service organisation for underprivileged women, run by PHF Mrs. Jayalakshmi, which also caters to the welfare of destitute women. Therefore, the midday meal scheme acts not only as a community service but also as a vocational service.
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Mid Day meal for junior (top) & senior students.
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Academic Incentives:
As part of the 50th year of India's Independence, the RCBC'ians celebrated with a club meeting on
15th August 1997 at the school. As a mark of respect to the "Future Hope of India" - 6 Merit Scholarship were awarded
(Rs.1,000/- per year - US $ 25). The students come from very poor income levels, but have secured high grades of 65 to 81%. In addition, 7 prizes were given to the students, who secured first and second grades at the
7th Standard Public Board Examinations, an outstanding achievement, considering the humble beginning and locale of the school. A circulating text book library was started, to enable the economically weaker children to get text books free for the year. They are to be returned every year for circulation next year. This is a continuing program. Presently using a corpus of
Rs.1,20,000/- ($ 2,700) six scholarships of Rs.1,000/- each are being awarded every year to
5th std students and is continued up to 7th std when they leave the school subject to their maintaining good academic standards.
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2. Other Activities: Independence Day (August
15th), Gandhi Jayanthi Day (October 2nd) and Children's Day (November
14th - Chacha Nehru's birthday), are always celebrated with great joy and enthusiasm. Besides representatives of RCBC, local residents of standing also participate on these
occasions. These occasions also provide these school children an opportunity to display their talent in fine arts.
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INDEPENDENCE DAY CELEBRATIONS Rotary
President addressing the
students on Independence day 1998. |
New Amenities : Every year, since 1992, RCBC has been adding on new facilities, like desk sets, tables, chairs, benches, grills, steel plate for lunch, glasses for drinking water etc.4 additional class rooms were added on by renovating an old
storage room, enclosing and converting passageway and verandah. In addition much needed repairs to ceiling and blackboards were undertaken. A new toilet block was built - none existed even in the vicinity. Vacant place in front of the school, which was dirty and misused, was cordoned off and a slide and flag pole was erected. Apart from the daily assembly, this place is used for special functions as well. Books were also supplied for starting a new library to inculcate reading
habits. Some sports equipment also have been given this year.
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An amount of
Rs. 2,00,000/- ($ 4,600) has been incurred so far on these amenities.
During 1999-2000, 4 new class rooms were added by building a new floor above the existing building at a cost of Rs.
3,00,000/- ($ 6,800).One of these rooms have been converted into a vocational training center which was inaugurated on
2nd October 2000 on Gandhi Jayanthi day. This was appropriate as it
emulates and supports Gandhiji's motto
"Work is Worship". The initial program is to train 15 girls who are school drop outs to become Qualified tailors and to find them employment in garment factories .This is an on going program and a major portion of the initial expenditure of Rs.
1,50,000/- ($ 3,400) was met out of a generous contribution of Rs
1,00,000/- from M/s MOOG Controls Ltd. Over the next few years we wish to provide training facility in other vocations also.
Apart form finding decent jobs some of the trainees will also go into self employment turning into employers themselves.
Future Plans and Funding Requirements:
Our main aim now, is to raise funds urgently, of Rs. 5,00,000/- ($ 11,350) for setting up facilities needed for the vocational training center at a cost of Rs.
2,00,000/-, a science equipments desk and some more desk sets at a cost of Rs.
50,000/- apart from meeting the cost of providing mid day meals on a continuing basis at a cost of Rs.
1,80,000/-. We also need to increase the corpus of the Scholarship fund to be able to generate Rs.
30,000/- annually required to meet the increasing demand and eligibility for scholarship.
Our Own Members have contributed Rs. 54,000/- towards the mid day meal scheme and
Rs. 10,000/- towards corpus of scholarship fund . We are confident of raising almost equivalent amount before the year ends in June 2001.We will still need substantial support from well wishers and kind hearted persons like you to meet the needs of the poor and less fortunate children of this school.
We now look forward, to the ardent support and active participation of well wishers, in our endeavors - the Midday Meal Scheme and Vocational training program and scholarship fund. Contributions may be sent by crossed cheque / demand draft in favour of
Bangalore Cantonment Rotary Trust, ,a public charitable trust recognized by the
Income tax department of the government of India as an eligible charity under S.80G of Income tax Act.
Please note that all cheques and demand drafts are to be sent with a covering letter showing the name and address of the donor to
The President
Rotary Club of Bangalore Cantonment
Rotary House Of Learning
No.11, Promenade
Roadgalore 560 005
Karnataka, India.
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The
Presidents Note ||
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