Mala old students meet

Sponsors frequently ask what happened to the child they sponsored who passed out from our school.  It is hard for us to keep tabs on all the 7,000 children who have passed through our schools in the last 25 years, but we are trying.  On the 26 February we held a past students day at Guria School and were amazed when 1,200 students turned up.  Add this to the 450 children still at Guria, plus siblings and parents, and we had almost two thousand attend the event (click picture to see film).

We also had Ajay, a student who passed out in 1995 after class 5 and now works as an electrician repairing fans.  Ajay had not been able to continue his education after leaving us but asked to enrol for our middle school and was prepared to sit in a class with children 15 years his junior.    

We have always given special preference to handicapped children and Neelam was one of them. She was very bright, so when she completed her primary school education with us in 1999, we bought her a wheelchair so she could continue her education at a school some distance away. Neelem went on to complete studies to MA level (picture shows her in her chair and attending the reunion as a grown up lady).  Today we could have offered her education through to grade 12 and also in modern India she would not have contracted polio.

Past students came from far and wide to meet up with their class mates.  Each one completed a questionnaire so we can compile a better database.  Professor Zutshi of the Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi has agreed to get one of his students to carry out a study of these records, conduct interviews and compile a report on how the Mala education has helped them in their lives.

More photos can be seen by following this link More Photos.

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