Community School

OUR EDUCATION PROGRAM

Lets EDUCATE to EMPOWER and ENABLE to lead a long, creative, and healthy life. CHILDREN deserve to have basic services, freedom from fear, good relations with others, friendship, love, peace of mind, choice, creativity, fulfillment, and fun.

Our School,

BRIEF HISTORY

Called Sinclairs High School,

BCM runs a school mainly for poor children. This school started in the year 1990 in the Paul Raj’s house with a few little children who were working in a rock quarry. A very dangerous job even for adults because of dynamite blasting and very poor safety measures. Mrs. Violet Paul who is one of the pioneers of the mission used to personally rob the employer of these children and bring them to the school, which was in her house, and teach them. Apart from teaching in the school, she also used to bathe them, cut their hair, clip their nails, and buy them books to learn.

Initially, the children’s parents did object, because these children had a part to play in the family’s maintenance. Their earnings were used by the parents to drink. (Alcoholism is rampant in this community of laborers who work for daily wages). The mission encountered a lot of difficulty in doing so, and had to brush aside conflicts and oppositions from the people there. All these children were much below the line of poverty. They could never imagine the cost towards paying for studying in a school. I am talking of both material and human poverty.

The Community School that was started in the year 1990 now has 150 children, and in its history has educated over 700 children most of whom are from the quarry, and all of them from below poverty levels who cannot afford schooling. The school also plans to teach the kids life skills like tailoring, carpentry, farming, teaching, which they can use in the future to give them confidence to find a meaningful and productive employment. The kids are educated on a strong Christian foundation, so that they find Jesus in their lives because without whom life on earth is not worth living.

It is with a feeling of great pride that we inform you that BCM has in fact achieved its primary goal of educating huge communities. There has been a dramatic change in the minds of people from the rock quarry. Now all their children go to school instead of breaking gravel and rock. They all carry books instead of a shovel and hammers, and many have become Christians and accepted Him as their Savior. BCM believes a child has the right to a school environment that is free of gender bias, safe, effective, healthy, and protective.

These kids are from very backward areas and would have gone without any form of formal education if it wasn’t for our school.

This year we have a huge task to accomplish . The Government Education Board, recognizing our commitment, has decided to give us permission (recognition) to have up to 10 th grade which is the first basic schooling for a child.

In order to go ahead with the recognition, we need to upgrade our school’s infrastructure according to Government standards. Our school which was once sufficient now proves insufficient by a long extent. For growth up to 10 th grade we need infrastructure like labs (Chemistry, physics, and computers), class rooms, toilets, and an office room. The need for more room is crucial now. We need at least 4 more class rooms, 2 labs, an office room, more land space, and toilets. We also need to build an overhead water tank, a sump, and a good water system.

WHY NORMAL SCHOOLS DON’T TAKE SUCH CHILDREN.

Children from poverty-stricken neighborhoods suffer from limited access to resources such as education. Not many schools are willing to take such kids, mainly destitute children (orphaned, abandoned) who cannot afford the cost of educating themselves. Secondly, because these children lack a proper support network and live in the open and are left to fend for themselves, destitute street children are considered a menace and often disallowed to mingle with fortunate kids.

We at BCM believe that destitute children do deserve a fair chance in life. They need to have their voices heard. They should be made a part of society and be given equal opportunities to develop themselves.

Why IS EDUCATION IMPRORTANT

In India, literacy is a weapon. It can change the future of a person. Many people are exploited because they are illiterate. Educating children is only going to give the child a bright future, equipping a poor child to be at par with the fortunate ones, sharpening him to go into good positions and removing their menace from the society making the next generation in the country a better one.