VSEI
	VOLUNTEERS IN SERVICE TO EDUCATION IN INDIA, INC.
	A nonprofit, tax-exempt organization working to help education in India

The Amherst chapter of VSEI has been active since 1991 and has been supporting projects in Gujarat, Karnataka and West Bengal. Letters from the recipients of our support have been very inspiring and encouraging. Last year we collected about $1000 in support of three instituitions in Guajrat, Karnataka, and West Bengal. These projects have been identified based on personal visits and immediacy of needs

Rashtriya Vidyalaya Education Consortium, Bangalore

R. V. higher primary school is managed by R. V. Consortium which runs a teacher training school, elementary and high schools, including a section for the deaf. Students use computers from VIII std. Their attempts at innovation and in making effective use of indigenous material for imparting education in science and mathematics is inspiring. Past VSEI support has been in the form of assistantships to teacher trainees (Rs. 500 for four) and students, plus subscriptions to magazines. They have a variety of needs, including upgrading their computing facilities (used by high-school students). What is more pressing perhaps is the fact that at the high school they have space for a science laboratory, but little or no equipment.

Rural Science Center project in a rural area outside Bangalore. Doing science with simple materials in ways that are relevant to people's daily life.

Welfare Society for the Deaf and Retarded, Hooghly, West Bengal.

The society runs, among other things, a school for the deaf, a school for the mentally handicapped, and a complex for vocational training for handicapped persons. During the last session, the school for the deaf admitted ten students 4 to 6 years of age, but on the waiting list were 85! Their needs range from rechargable Ni-Cd batteries and teaching aids for the deaf and handicapped to funds for a new building.

National Association for the Blind, Panchmahal Dist., Gujarat.

Stree Seva Mandir and Prayoga, Chennai.

Assistance to Anand Ashram and to the science projects of Prayoga.

VSEI Sponsor-a-Child Plan.

In this program, VSEI helps find sponsors for needy children in India. A sponsor makes a commitment for a year at a time; however, most sponsors have continued supporting a child for several years, typically until the child has completed school. For many of the sponsors, the objective is to help a child get educated through high school, and perhaps also through College, to enable the child to grow up as a self-reliant person. The sponsor and child communicate directly after VSEI has set up the sponsorship. A sponsor typically donates $ 100 to $ 200 per year towards the partial support of the child.