A group of IIT Kharagpur students has started a fundraising drive to meet the monthly expenses of 70-odd school students from underprivileged families who live in a hostel developed by the group.
Most of the children who live in the hostel study in Jagriti Vidya Mandir, a primary school run by the Gopali Youth Welfare Society, an organisation managed by IIT students and teachers. The school was started in 2008.
The group from IIT had earlier raised Rs 25 lakh to develop the hostel.
The 4,000sq-ft hostel for 100 students was inaugurated in March this year to prevent the children from dropping out of school.
A section of guardians has sent their children to the hostel so far.
The welfare society started the fundraising drive for running the hostel from early-June.
Running the hostel is a challenge, the group said.
The monthly mess expense for the 70 students in the hostel is around Rs 1.89 lakh per month — Rs 2,700 per student per month — an IIT student said. The amount includes the cost for food and cooking staff.
“Apart from the mess expenses, funds are also needed to take care of electricity and pool car expenses. Since we developed the hostel, we had an idea what the monthly expenses for each student would be,” said Ayushi Sharma, a third-year student of computer science and engineering.
The IIT students decided to develop the hostel after they found out through a survey that many of the schoolchildren could not focus on their education because of non-conducive home environments. The children lacked mentors and were dropping out of school, the survey had found.
The problem became more acute in the pandemic because the parents of some of the children lost their jobs. Most of the parents do odd jobs for a living.
“Our hostel initiative was launched as part of a drive to help our students manage issues like unsupportive study environment at home and the lack of a nutritious diet. Since we have a sizable number of students in the hostel, we need funds to sustain it. So, we are reaching out to everyone for help. A generous contribution will help these underprivileged children,” said a student who is also a member of the society.
The links for donation have been posted on the society’s Facebook page.
Jagriti Vidya Mandir was started on the premises of Indranarayan Memorial High School in Kharagpur’s Gopali panchayat area. Later, the school shifted to Salua, about 7.5km from IIT Kharagpur.
The group of students from IIT go to the school on cycles early in the morning to monitor its functioning and take classes.
During the pandemic, when the school was shut for over two years, the group gave smartphones to the school students so they could attend classes over digital platforms.
