Buy bricks for an Indian school - latest progress
Jafar Pur school as it was in 2007
Jafar Pur school in 2010 - you can see the two new classrooms on the left
Introduction
Money from the virtual gift scheme plus generous donations from individual donors to the Jafar Pur School appeal, have already made big differences to the school.
Progress report - August 2012
In August 2012, a further £2000 was sent to India to cover the total costs (bricks, labour etc) of building one new classroom.
Progress report - June 2012
The school has slowly continued to grow, and now has 219 pupils of whom 38% are girls and 94% are in "backward or scheduled categories".
In year 2011-12, with assistance from VRI, the school has built two more classrooms and started work on a third.
Progress report - November 2011
In July 2011, a further £1222 was sent to complete a classroom, and £332 for furniture.
By November 2011, the money raised by VRI had now built three complete classrooms, and a fourth was under construction.
Progress report - June 2011
The school now has 187 pupils.
In spite of the fact that the school is in a conservative rural area, the school was able to attract nearly 38% girls in the past year.
Progress report - 2010
Thanks to our generous donors, we were able to send £2,000 to Jafarpur in July 2009 and a further £1,000 in July 2010. As a result, the Jafarpur High School was been able to build up two basic open-sided shelters into two complete classrooms and the Jafarpur villagers began the process of applying for intercollege status which means that their children will be able to study locally up to the age of 18.
Lizzie sees it for herself
A volunteer, Lizzie, who visited the project in 2010, says:
"During my visit to Amarpurkashi this February (2010) I was taken to visit the school in Jafar Pur. I had heard about the online campaign to donate bricks to build this school.
I obviously hadn't interpreted the campaign literally enough! On the site there were four buildings lined up in a row. The building on the right had four walls. As did the building next to it. The third building had three walls. The front wall graduated slowly up from the ground so that the teacher was fully enclosed and the pupils at the back sat in broad daylight.
The pupils in the fourth building were separated from the elements only up to their knees- sitting behind a small wall rather than in a building! As my eyes wandered to the left I realised the fifth class were sitting on the grass. In a pile next to the building sits fifty or so bricks, eagerly waiting to complete their piece of the puzzle.
Each brick really does count. And they are being used daily to build this school. There are few donations a person can make which are so apparently and directly effective."