Glimpses of Selected VSEI Projects

VSEI

www.vsei.org

INFORMATION ABOUT SELECTED PROJECTS IN INDIA ASSISTED BY V.S.E.I.

Blind Persons Association (BPA) and National Association for the Blind (NAB), Mumbai: BPA's schemes include Scholarships, Home Teaching & Counselling, Braille & Talking Books Library, Book Banks, and projects which help both blind children & the children of blind parents; VSEI has assisted BPA in some of these projects. VSEI has assisted NAB, Mumbai with educational aids for blind people, equipment for teaching & developing new materials, and more recently, in Computer Education & in the use of text-to-speech software for the blind. VSEI has also assisted NAB branches in Panchmahal District (Gujarat), and in Bangalore (Karnataka). A new scheme initiated by BPA is the "Home Teacher Service", which addresses needs of the vast numbers of blind people in Mumbai who must be directly assisted in their own communities. VSEI has started helping this long-term scheme.

Rashtriya Vidyalaya Educational Consortium, Bangalore ( Karnataka ): VSEI's involvement in this work started with the teacher training institution R.V. Teachers College, whose activities include teacher training, developing new methods and materials for teaching, and workshops & training sessions for teachers. VSEI has assisted them since 1971—in Science & Mathematics education, Computer Education, and in developing curriculum & educational materials for schools. The recent work here includes the RVSEI Educational Resource Center (for the use of teachers & schools ); a workshop series in computer education, language teaching and science education; and a teachers’ forum.

CCDT ( Committed Communities Development Trust ) , Mumbai: Through various programs, CCDT has helped women & children in marginalized communities to develop their potential and become self-reliant. A new project that VSEI has started assisting is their Vocational Training & Income generation programs for disadvantaged women in slum settlements in the Dahisar area in Mumbai. VSEI invites and requests the help of well-wishers in its efforts to assist this and other projects of CCDT.

Blind Welfare Council, Dahod (Gujarat): Their programs for blind, deaf & multiply handicapped persons include vocational training. VSEI has recently helped enhance their vocational programs by supplying equipment for a project for training disabled boys and girls, and helping them develop employable skills.

Education & Training of the Hearing Impaired: VSEI has assisted this since the 1970’s – starting with K.L. Institute for the Deaf in Bhavnagar (Gujarat), & a Higher Secondary School for deaf children in Chennai (Tamil Nadu). Later projects have been with the Delhi Foundation of Deaf Women in New Delhi, the Welfare Society for the Deaf & Retarded in Hooghly (W. Bengal), and the Shastri School for Deaf & Dumb Children in Bangalore. VSEI has assisted them in their children’s programs & vocational training schemes; in providing equipment such as Speech Training Modules & Hearing Aids, and equipment & facilities for Classroom Group teaching; and in providing services for testing children..

Prerana Shishu Vidyalaya, Kanpur (U.P.): In 1985, a group of people in Kanpur formed the organization “Prerana” to combat the ignorance and lack of awareness that caused the social inequity there. In 1987, they started Prerana Shishu Vidyalaya to teach the children of laborers, and increased their scope of activities every year. VSEI assists their two schools in their basic needs and new plans.

Assistance to Rural schools in Different Areas: Several VSEI projects assist rural schools in different areas. Some examples are: (i) Shree Mevli Vidyalaya in village Mevli outside Baroda (Gujarat), which VSEI has assisted since the 1980’s –in its basic classroom needs, and more recently in its computer education needs. (ii) Dhanket Bidyalaya (meaning “Paddy-field School” ) near Kolkata (W. Bengal), which started as a program for teaching science to rural children, and later developed into a wider program encompassing education, health care, and other aspects of rural development.

(iii) Assistance to tsunami-affected schools in Nagapattinam & Kanyakumari districts in Tamil Nadu following the 2005 tsunami, which also led to new rural vocational training projects.

VSEI Scholarship Scheme and VSEI Sponsor-a-Child Plan:   In the Scholarship Scheme, needy & deserving children are given scholarship awards, which have been helpful by many recipients. In the Sponsor-a-Child Plan, a sponsor helps to support a needy child in India.   We invite well-wishers to establish scholarship awards, and/or to sponsor a child.
                  We request your help and support for many such projects we are assisting in India.
               Please email us at vsei@ntplx.net, or write to: VSEI, Box 713, Hartford, CT 06142, USA;