A part of BESTSELLER FUND and SJDT’s Tsunami relief project has focus on the children of Tranquebar. Kindergartens and daycare centres are supported by BESTSELLER FUND. The centres are primarily for the children of day-laborers who find it difficult to give adequate attention to their toddlers in their daily rush to earn a living. Both the daycare centres and complementary schools are main components of SJDT and the BESTSELLER FUND’s tuition centre programme.
Getting nutritious food and education
More than 400 children have benefited through our Daycare Centre Programme the last three years, and more than 90 % of the children have a normal weight due to the nutritious food they receive at the centre. 31 kitchen gardens have been established. Through these gardens the children and their families receive good and nutritious vegetables which they themselves have produced. This plays an important factor in the improvement of the children who used to be underweight. Play materials and drawing books are also given to the Day Care Centre to help educate children.
Being educated and playing at the same time
17 tuition centres - complementary schools are involved in the Tsumani relief project in Tranquebar, and 700 children benefited through the project. The Dalit children, Dalit means people who do not belong to a cast so the “social lowest group” in the Indian society, who receive education at the tuition centres are poor students who cannot afford the tuition fee. The only way forward for these children is doing well at school, as there are many possibilities for scholarships for the best pupils. The tuition centres support the children in their school education as the parents, who are often illiterate, are not able to support them much. Many of the children from the tuition centres rank in the top of their classes.