Detailed Information
Educating Rural India
2002
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AIM for Seva, a registered pan-Indian charitable trust began its journey to provide value-based education and transform the lives of rural and tribal children in India in the year 2000.Founded as a movement by Swami Dayananda Saraswati, AIM for Seva addresses the five major challenges faced by the children in rural India in gaining access to education.
• Poverty
• Unavailability fo schools
• Inaccessibility to schools
• Lack of quality education
• Lack of a supportive family environment
As a first step, AIM for Seva launched Chatralayams (flagship project) to end the school drop out crisis and to bring schools and quality education right to the children’s doorstep. Chatralayams are residential facilitiesthat provide uninterrupted access to education in a nurturing environment. Accomodation, nutritious food, clothing, after-school academic support, extracurricular activities, value education are provided to all children at no cost. In simple terms children are given the opportunity to go to school and are encouraged to stay on in school, pursue higher education and find employment.The first Chatralayam was launched in Anaikatti, Tamil Nadu in 2001. Today, we have 97 Chatralayams across 16 states in India, from Kanyakumari to Karnaprayag.
A deeper understanding of rural problems also revealed that education cannot be viewed in isolation and must complement interventions that address issues of poverty and healthcare. Subsequent interventions were designed to establish better health infrastructure, improve access to healthcare services and empower villagers through vocational training programs and sustainable livelihood models.
In the last decade since its inception, AIM for Seva has delivered steady and spectacular growth:129 projects in 216 months or nearly a project for every two months of the year and from 1 state of operation to 16 states, all through donations. The impact is far reaching: 2267 villages and 20 million people, touched by this novel experiment in innovative education. In qualitative terms, school drop-out rate reduced by 90%, a 95% pass rate in the board examinations and many school toppers, since the first batch of students appeared for their board exams and 80% undertook higher education or secured employment. The success stories of our alumni stands as a testimony.
The vision for the future is clear: by 2020, to set up one Chatralayam in every district of the country. A challenging goal, but one that has to be realized so that every socially and educationally disadvantaged child can realize their dream of a prosperous future.
1960.93
1. 97 Chatralayams (Free Student Hostels), catering to 3800 children across 16 states of India.
2. Reduced dropout rate by 90%
3. 95% pass rate record for over 9 years in the final board exams, demonstrating the high quality of overall inputs of the programme. Our students success stories stands as a testimony.
2017-18
1. Student Achievements
a. C. Santhosh Kumar from the chatralayam in Anaikatti,TN secured 1st position in his school with 89% score in the class Xth board examination
b. N. Priya from the chatralayam in Sembangudi, TN secured 1st position in his school with 88% score in the class XIIth board examination
c. Sahilkumar Santilal Chaudhari from the chatralayam in Dungri, Gujarat scored 74.67 % and Stavan Girishbhai Chaudhari scored 73.50 % in their SSC Board Examination conducted in April 2018 and have secured school (Prabhu Premi Vidhyalaya, Dungri) 1st and 2nd position.
4. Foundation laid for 4 new hostels and 1 co-educational school
5. Inauguration of new building premises at Chatralayams in Udupi, Karnataka and Pune, Maharashtra
6. Inauguration of 2 new hostels in Andhrapradesh and Telangana
7. 59 women trained in tailoring through Sewing Training Programme
8. 1,62,000 patients served in healthcare facilities
2018-19
1.Student Achievements
a. S. Triveni who is from our Chatralayam located in Nandyal, AP maxed her class X board examination with a - GPA 10 and she is one of the toppers from her school, Sri Shantiniketan School, Nandyal.
b. K. Mohan from the Bobbili Chatralayam, AP also scored a perfect GPA 10 and secured 1st position in his school, Gayathri High School, Bobbili in the class Xth board examination.
c. Akkamahadevi from the chatralayam in Yelahanka, Karnataka secured 1st position in her school with 88% score in the class Xth board examination.
d. K. Maruthi from the chatralayam in Utnoor, Telangana secured 1st position in his school with 85% score in the class Xth board examination.
e. Veeramma S. Hurali from the chatralayam in Yelahanka, Karnataka - 73.60 % - secured school 3rd position in 10th Board Exam.
2.Foundation laid for five new chatralayams in Gujarat, Karnataka, Telangana & Uttar Pradesh
3.Inauguration of :
a. 1 Co-educational school, Khargone, Madhya Pradesh
b. Chatralayam (Free Student Hostel), Bhadohi, Uttar Pradesh
c. Chatralayam (Free Student Hostel), Unnao, Uttar Pradesh
d. Chatralayam (Free Student Hostel), West Godavari, Andhra Pradesh
5. 70 women trained in tailoring
6. 152900 patients treated in healthcare facilities
Recognitions:
Smt. Sheela Balaji, Chairperson and Managing Trustee of AIM for Seva received the Devi Award from the New Indian Express on September 11, 2018.Smt. Sheela Balaji was honoured for her extraordinary impact in rural India through rural education, community development projects and pioneering efforts towards sustainable living.
AIM for Seva has been conferred with Enantra award on February 10, 2019 under the best Non-profit start-up category by CEG (College of Engineering, Guindy) at their annual event Enantra Entrepreneurship Mantra fest organized by Capitalize - student run entrepreneurship club of Anna Universtity.
Campaigns:
Inland letter campaign : We have been successfully doing the ILC (inland letter campaign) since 2011. We do four campaigns every year under ILC—
• Go to school campaign in June month of every year —for our Chatralayam and school going students
• Deepavali campaign in the month of October/November every year
• World disability day campaign in the month of December— towards Krupa Care, our residential facility for differently-abled men
• Axe the tax camkpaign in the month of March every year —targeting the tax payers
We are happy to share that during 2017-18, our fund raising from the ILC campaigns was 5 times the expenses incurred for this campaign during the same period. In 2018-19, there was a further 5% increase in revenues over the ILC campaign of 2017-18.
Donate a Book campaign : We successfully managed a online campaign to raise funds (Rs. 14000) for buying books for our children in Karnataka hostels in 2017-18. In 2018-19 we raised Rs. 25000 to help with books for five of our hostels in Karnataka.
TCS World 10K Run
a. 2018-19
We had Anthem Biosciences Private Limited, a contract research organisation, to participate at the 11th edition of the 'Tata Consultancy Services Run' to support AIM for Seva. They raised Rs. 1.5 lakh.
b. 2019-20
We had Anthem Biosciences Private Limited, a contract research organisation, and Himalaya Drug Company to participate at the 12th edition of the 'Tata Consultancy Services Run' to support AIM for Seva. They raised Rs. 3 lakh.
Annual Fundraisers
2017-18
Antra Yatra - a dance programme toured across 12 cities in the USA to raise funds and it was successful
2018-19
Jagat Pavani Ganga – a dance production toured across 20 cities in the USA to raise funds and were successful
Nandalala – a dance production toured across 20 cities in the USA to raise funds and were successful
Ananda, the first of our annual fundraiser series held in March 2019 in Chennai was a resounding success. Over 2,000 people witnessed the three day cultural extravaganza comprising music-theatre-dance. We had 30 corporate and high net worth individuals coming forward to support our cause of educating rural India, assist our differently-abled brothers in Krupa Care and fund our integrated community development programme in Manjakkudi
II Floor, Desika Road, Mylapore Chennai,
Chennai, Tamil Nadu 600004
91-44-24987955
91-44-24987966
sheelabalaji@gmail.com
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231660209
