Edoovillage #1160 - India, Tirunelveli: Friends of India

The aim of the school is to provide top quality education to children of all backgrounds - including those who cannot afford school fees.

We have now added a primary school to the main building and we desperately need to equip the learning centre. We already have 5 working laptops but need another 25 to complete the project.

In today's world the whole area of artificial intelligence has to become an integral part of the learning process. Children need to discover knowledge for themselves and not rely totally on a teacher. We are planning to link up with the International school in Geneva so that the pupils from both schools can not only increase their knowledge but also improve their language skills. This will be done by Skype and email.

Friends of India and its working relationship with the Brothers of the Sacred Heart: FOI’s association with the Brothers of the Sacred Heart started some 12 years ago and since then FOI has worked closely and successfully with the Brothers on projects that have included the building of a music school for blind children, kitchens for tribal schools, a hostel for HIV AIDS orphans and a school where fee paying children and the poorest learn side by side.

In 2013 the Banque Cantonale Vaudoise (BCV) chose Friends of India as the recipient of their annual donation of CHF150'000. Thanks to this gift and other generous donations we have built an International school.

The aim is provide high quality English language education for a mix of paying and scholarship students. The scholarship children are selected from the very poorest backgrounds, known as Dalits, who are victims of India's officially defunct caste system. Dalits still suffer widespread discrimination, end up doing the most menial 'dirty' jobs, and have little chance of breaking out of this cycle of deprivation except through education. We are proud that out of the 225 children enrolled there are now 75 scholarship children who are flourishing in this innovative school.

This year 2018 we inaugurated the primary school and opened the Des George Learning centre.