Give A Dalit Child #QualityEducation!
St. Patrick’s Academy, located in the village of V. Salai in the Villupuram District of Tamil Nadu, currently enrolls about 755 students; approximately 80% of these students are members of the Dalit caste in India (also referred to, pejoratively, as “Untouchables”). St. Patrick’s Academy is currently a K-10 school. With the help of a $250,000 grant the school will soon expand to serve students in grades K-12, helping underprivileged senior students qualify for further school education.
The St. Patrick’s is very aware of the role of gender in Indian society and has made a conscious effort to include gender concerns in all its activities. Among the 755 students, 55% are female; of the 63 faculty members at St. Patrick’s Academy, 60% are women. Of the board members of St. Patrick’s Academy 45% are women.
Need of the Hour #ASolarPlant!
With bountiful sunshine throughout the year receiving 4.0 kWp of solar radiation per sq.meter with about 2100-2455 sunshine hours/year, St. Patrick’s Academy proposes to install a 100 kWh solar power plant. The expansion of the school to K-12 level will result in the intake of new students and a larger student population leading to increased academic activities including greater usage of the computer lab. Because of the larger student body and resulting increase in power usage, the school will have a greater demand for electricity, with an approximately ten percent consumption rise in annual usage. Students in Tamil Nadu, who face the constant challenge of coping with frequent “power fluctuation and shedding,” making the flow of an uninterrupted power supply to computer centers, research laboratories, and other campus facilities a rarity.
Give a Gift of Hope!
Help to ensure the education of our students is not compromised by the region’s unreliable electric grid by Gifting a Solar Plant.
