Twin School in India

Our Twin School in India

A retired Wooler doctor (Noel Roy) has worked for Action Health in central India with tribal people. He worked at Panchsheel School, which is home to 200 boys and girls from poor families in surrounding villages. They sleep in their classrooms; their five teachers live on the veranda. Board and education at the school is free. Teaching is in the local language and there is a well organised sports and work programme.

This raised Dr. Roy’s awareness of the prime need for education if people are to escape from poverty. The children of Wooler First School support Dr. Roy in helping children from Panchsheel School, which is in one of the poorest regions of India.

The Director of the school, Bajirao Gawai, came from a poor family and has been the school’s inspiration. He and his committee, both Hindu and Christian, are unpaid.

Our school soon became the centre for UK fundraising and set up a special Panchsheel Fund. Regular teaching, using Panchsheel as a model and based on the National Curriculum, has forged a special relationship between the two schools. Our children not only correspond with the pupils in India but they also make presentations to their parents and the local community about life in an Indian village similar in size to their own.

The children of Wooler First School hope to raise sufficient money to allow Panchsheel School to take up to 400 tribal children aged 5 – 15 years. This will involve building more classrooms, teacher accommodation and a dining shelter.

So far they have raised enough money to build a dormitory and a classroom. They have done this by having a variety of fund-raising events, by asking for donations at their concerts and by asking the school’s PTA to give an annual donation.