We are very relieved to report that the staff and children at the Buddha Academy Boarding School are safe. The school is not in session at the moment so the number of children is reduced. It is reported that those remaining are living outside in the rain for the next little while in fear of further tremors. We have also heard from our other partners in the region, Voice of Children and READI Nepal, who advise they have been unaffected.
We are deeply saddened to hear of the devastating earthquake in Nepal and are anxiously awaiting word as to how our partners are affected. We will post updates as we learn more.
2014/11/02
The TRAS Scholarship Fund is in its second year and TRAS is delighted at the caliber of the students selected by our partners in the field for support from the Fund.
Each year, two promising students are selected, and are given scholarships of $1,000 each a year for three years.
Thanks to its successes in encouraging and monitoring its students in post-secondary education, TRAS asked Munsel-ling School in the Spiti Valley to select the first recipients.
Four talented young people from Munsel-Ling School are now doing well in their chosen fields, so slowly but surely life will improve as the Spiti Valley welcomes back these graduates.
The first two young ladies are studying to become teachers and the two selected this year are studying mathematics at the famous Miranda College in New Delhi. They both come from extremely poor families in the Spiti Valley, and were given the opportunity to go to school at the Munsel-ling School. They did very well in mathematics, with one gaining 100% in the final state board exams! One hopes become a banker; the other a maths teacher.
Both have written that with TRAS support their dreams and aspirations will come true and they will be able to serve their community and help the children as they themselves have been helped. Each student receives $1000 a year from TRAS for three years.
A donation to the Scholarship Fund will ensure that many more students will be able to fulfill their dreams and use their talents wisely.
The Voice of Children project is run by two local NGOs, one based in Nainital and the other in Almora – towns in the foothills of the Himalaya in India. An excellent report was received in July, detailing the multi-faceted educational programs supported by TRAS. Click here to read interviews with the children, telling their own stories.
Munsel-Ling School in Spiti, north India, has been supported by TRAS since its opening in 1996. TRAS has supported the training of the first teachers and the first housemothers. TRAS has supplied a library, computer room, healthcare centre, toilets, science labs and water systems.
20 years ago there were no schools for the children of what were ignominiously labelled ‘scheduled tribes’* in the Spiti Valley. Today Munsel-Ling School houses nearly 400 students, has been accredited up to Grade 12, and has opened several satellite schools in remote villages.
One of the most important types of support has been given by the many TRAS members who have sponsored children at the school, paying for their board and keep and their schooling.
Since the first group of Grade 1 children reached university age, in 2008, several TRAS members have helped their sponsored child to complete post-secondary education – and now Munsel-ling School has welcomed back to the valley a doctor, a vet and a teacher.
Munsel-ling School has recently sent an article about the wonderful successes of these students, who are about to make a huge difference in their beloved valley.
Sponsorship is so important! To learn more about sponsoring a child through TRAS, please go to sponsorship@tras.ca
