nice Needy Illiterate Children Education 6th Annual Report for the year 2007-2008 www.nice-india.org Office Address: Plot 60, Satavahana HMT Colony, Kukatpally, Hyderabad 500072. Phone: 098482 35103 School Address: Mynampadu Village, Kanaparthi Panchayat, Nadendla Mandal, Guntur District, Pincode : 522 549, Andhra Pradesh, India. Phone: 08647-213325, 99481 59329 -1- Events during the year 2007-2008 NICE receiving a donation cheque from Silver Oaks School students. Venue: Silver Oaks – ‘The school of Hyderabad’ Participants: School founder and Director, Mr. V. Dhanunjaya I.I.M. & Ms. Seetha Murthy, Principal, Dr. Sandeep Pandey, Ramon Magsasay Awardee & founder of Asha, and Mr. Purnachander Rao, founder of NICE Mr. V. Dhanunjaya , Dr. Sandeep Pandey and Mr. Purnachander Rao with the students of Silver Oaks School Dr. Sandeep Pandey, Founder of Asha and Ramon Magasaysay awardee advising Silver Oaks students. -2- Dear Friends Thanks to every one of you for having continued to support NICE for the 6th year. Our progress from 10 children (2003) to 100 children today is because of this amazing encouragement and support from donors like you. We have also been able to increase our school infrastructure from 400 Sqft (2003) to 12,000 Sqft. What is significant is the fact that most of our funds are from individuals unlike many other schools like us. It is also a fact that NICE is probably the only fully free residential high school offering CBSE (English medium) providing free food, education, health and shelter for poor orphans, single parent children, and underprivileged children. From a modest 2.37 lakh contribution during April-2002 to March-2003, we were able to raise 28.22 Lakhs this year 2007-08 because NICE has proven that up to 97% of the donation is spent entirely for the children and their education, shelter and nutritious food. Just 3% towards administrative expenses is undoubtedly the lowest in this category of schools, which rely on individual donations. We are also one of the best governed NGOs in terms of our transparency in accounts and finance management. None of our board members have claimed a single rupee so far and are committed to serve free. Even though I work full-time with NICE, I do not draw a single rupee as salary. However I am supported by friends and well wishers from the USA and Asha Volunteers like Abhilash Nama, Kashyap, Deep Karan, Sreekanth Voorakaranam and Karthikeyan, Prasanna Kumar, Giri Kolanupaka. and ‘Bibo Water’ Most of the donors who have personally visited the school have appreciated the infrastructure, hygienic conditions and student discipline and have introduced more donors to NICE. However donations are not the only help we expect, we welcome you to visit us to give your feedback and advise to become better. Our heart-felt thanks to Mr Giri Kolanupaka, Asha-Hyderabad for maintaining the website www.nice- india.org. The website is updated regularly and allows website visitors download all our Annual Reports. This academic year (2008-09) we are planning to add 25 more children, taking our school strength to 125 and to add 3 teachers taking its total to 9 teachers. The teachers have been provided with residential units to stay within the campus and are available 24/7. We also added a library facility this year equipping it with 500 books, 5 kinds of monthly magazines and 3 different daily newspapers. The children have welcomed this facility and spend at least one hour in the library every day. Students from the ‘Silver Oaks School’-Hyderabad and its management evaluated our school and raised 2 lakhs from parents of their students and teachers as donation to NICE as the school management facilitated the entire process as a part of their CSR. We are very grateful to the management for their kind gesture. Our thanks to Asha volunteers to have raised money under their ‘Asha Work An Hour 2007 (WAH 2007)’ initiative which took care of our teachers salaries Our sincere thanks to other corporate companies like Microsoft India, NESS IBS, Invensys, SVS Projects, Sivasakthi group, Computer Associates, Satyam Venture Engineering Services Ltd, Dr. Raman foundation, Helping Indians, Samida, Nachiketa Tapovan, HBL, Valmiki Edu Foundation, “Gamyam” Movie Director Jagarlamudi Radhakrishna who have helped our organization and to have kept us motivated. For Needy Illiterate Children Education P Purnachandra Rao Secretary -3- About the School Our ‘NICE’ school is located in Mynampadu village, Kanaparthi Panchayat, a remote village between Narsaopet and Chilakaluripeta in Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh, India. Admission process We admit students in to the school between the 5th to 10th Standard under the CBSE system. These students are typically school dropouts who are orphans or bonded labor children or single parent children and are admitted in the school without any payments. The background is verified by us to ensure that only genuine and deserving students only are selected. Students Profiles The current school strength is 98 and expected to reach 125 during this academic year. Here are a few profiles of our students: T. Vasudeva: A complete orphan, having lost both parents, he was interested in schooling. He was literally on the roads, when he was spotted by a friend of NICE who brought him and introduced to us in 2007. We were happy to admit him. He is currently in 5th standard/grade and has improved reasonably well. K. Sivaramakrishna: From a village named ‘Velpuru’, he is a complete orphan and belonged to a very poor family. When we admitted him, we found him very weak from mal nourishment and had almost lost his eyes. He is being treated and has recovered most of his eye sight and is getting better at studies (6 th standard/grade) and discipline. Sai Kiran: Also a complete orphan, Sai is in the 7th standard/grades and has completed three years with us. Though unruly and dis-interested in studies, he is now well mannered and improved on social skills. Sheik Imran: A rag picker in Hyderabad. Sheik was identified by a donor of NICE. Though he was very keen in education he could not continue his studies after losing his father. He is a good student and happy to be a part of NICE and loves his friends. The year ahead (2008-09)… There is a strong need to erect a compound wall around the school to ensure safety of the children which is a concern as the school is growing in strength. This is estimated to cost around Rs. 4 to 5 Lakhs. We also need to equip the school with a Computer Lab (5 to 6 computers, All-in-One, multi functional Printer/Scan/Copy machine). The approximate cost for this is around 2 to 2.5 lakhs. -4- What do others think about us! Deepti Rayavarapu, Invensys Development Center India Pvt Ltd. It’s a life time experience. Kids over there are with no mom & dad, no pampering, no warmth kiss, not a single boosting tap on their shoulders, no pocket money & minimal comforts, but still with smiling faces, happy hearts & confident thoughts looking forward for a bright future. And I believe, we need to stretch our hand to help them, in fact it is helping ourselves to make complete citizens of India. I can never forget Jan 26th 2008 in my life. I promise myself that I would continue this kind of activities for the rest of my living. Sudhir Kumar Singh, GSD, Invensys Development Center India Pvt Ltd. I felt that there were getting a fine education as their knowledge on subjects like English and Maths was good. Also they had developed a fine character and were well disciplined. It clearly showed that they had left their past behind to amalgamate with the excellent atmosphere that the school had to offer and all of them seemed to be happy and healthy. Also the school seemed to be well managed with a good vision and its finances very fairly transparent. Visits like this can help the children in interacting with the outer world and in reviving their focus on their studies so that one day they can become like one of us. I feel that we can increase the fraction of donations to this particular school given the fact that this organization seems fairly transparent and accessible when compared to other organizations we donate to. Ganesh Valmiki, founder of Valmiki consultants Pvt Ltd has visited the school along with his colleagues and parents. They felt really happy with the way the school is running and felt that there could not be any such school in such remote area. He promised that he is keen on continuing his support. Pavan Kumar J and Giri Kolanupaka from Asha Hyderabad visited the school and felt very happy about the running the school and satisfied that the support from Asha is being well utilized. This helped spreading the message about NICE across the country. There has been good development in terms of infrastructure, students and beneficiaries. Nagesh, Microsoft India R & D Pvt. Ltd. I thought this is a very genuine organization and felt really happy and thought that we should support such organizations. I will continue to support and spread the message in our company (Microsoft India) and personal friends to make them support as well. I am very much interested in one day meal program. With only small contribution, Rs. 2500 all the children and staff are enjoying quality food per day. P. Sambasiva Rao, Rotary district Governor. This organization has really developed well compared to any other organization. When I came last year, I promised for library infrastructure and based on that word I see that this really happened and quite impressed with the work.