The Orphanage

The Children and their routine

There are 10 boys and 6 girls in the age group of 5 to 13. We are likely to take in 4 more children by March 2009. They all come from very poor families mostly from near by villages within the radius of 15 Kilometres. All of them are destitute children. The children were taken on the recommendations of the village council (Panchayet) after signing a contract between the guardians and Sishutirtha.

On week days the children get up early in the morning, sit for a prayer where they sing a song and sit quietly for two to three minutes facing the rising sun. Then they have a light breakfast, do a little bit of cleaning and gardening. After this they wash and go to school. During tiffin time the children come back for tiffin and go back to school again.

After school the children come back for lunch and rest. Some of them use the rest hours for different hobbies. In the afternoon the children go for games. After the games they meet for another prayer after tea. Part of the evenings are spent for singing lessons. Best part of the evening is spent doing home work and craft. They retire after dinner.

Once a week they have socials where they recite poems or read out creative writings or performance of dance and singing. They also staged a number of plays. They are encouraged in paintings, clay modelling, and other crafts.

Cottages

Santiniketan Sishutirtha has until now built three cottages approx. 1000 square feet each and can accommodate 20 children and two supervisors ( mothers ).

Staff

There are at present two mothers, one Honorary Administrative Staff Member, an Assistant, a Cook and a part-time Help.

Infrastructure

Well and a pump house have been constructed for uninterrupted supply of water for the inmates. Sanitation facilities have been set up. Four acres of land have been fenced with barbed wire.

A Solar Cooking system has been set up and is running successfully enabling us to save on costly fuel during the months of bright sunshine (especially the summer months).

The new Kitchen and Dining Space has been accomodated in the new building which has been constructed for the purpose. The Dining Space also acts as an open Hall where the cultural programmes are held.

We have begun a Mushroom Cultivation Programme where with necessary training, mushroom is grown in our premises.

We have also begun a Sunflower Cultivation Programme. The first crop has been grown sucessfully. We intend to take the project a step forward whereby the sunflower seeds shall be send to nearby indegenous oil extraction units for extraction of sunflower oil for in-house consumption.

The children at Santiniketan Sishutirtha get full meal as well as all other necessities and amenities.

Development Efforts for neighbouring villages

Santiniketan Sishutirtha participates actively in development efforts of the nearby villages. For example, when the orphanage was first established, the two neighbouring villages had no electricity. At the time, the area was not scheduled to receive electricity for at least two more years. Members of Santinketan Sishutirtha used contacts not only to immediately bring electricity to the school but also to the neighbouring villages. Now, the adjacent villages are in complete harmony with the objectives of Sishutirtha, which is an example in Bengal rural scenario.

Santiniketan Sishutirtha also helps the nearby villages gain access to agricultural experts who can advise the farmers on various types of crops, and plants, as well as farming techniques. The organisation also subsidises vaccinations for cows and other animals of the villages.

Santiniketan Sishutirtha provides health care services to the community.

The School

The school is in operation since 2004 . From Primary School, it was upgraded to Middle School (upto class VIII) in the year 2005. The new section was inaugurated by Sri Somnath Chatterjee, Hon'ble Speaker, Lok Sabha, Parliament of India. Sri Sujit Kumar Basu, Vice-Chancellor, Visva Bharati, was present on the ocassion. It has around 130 students in its rolls at present. The School is registered under West Bengal Government and the salary for teachers are paid by the West Bengal Board.

The teaching techniques are for the most part traditional, following a standardised curriculum in the school. The children have some library time every day and once a week are shown educational videos of all types. In addition, the children are taught singing, dancing (mostly Folk and Tagore-styles), taking care of pets, gardening, painting and pottery. The teachers of the school receive formal training from the West Bengal Board of Education. In addition to this, better trained and more experienced teachers from the nearby private school Patha Bhavana train the teachers of Sishutirtha. This extra training consists of new teaching methods for singing, dancing, and sports.

Additional support to children ( Meals, Educational materials and Health Care)

The Government provides mid-day meal to the children of the school, all necessary educational materials (books, pens, etc.), clothing for children when necessary, and of course health care. The school provides all vaccinations and on-going medical care expenses for all the children of the school.

Caring individual students

Compared to other government schools, the program offered by Santiniketan Sishutirtha provides more attention to individual students. This includes a growing library collection. In addition, the school provides vocational training to the children which the government school does not provide. The school also organises regular sporting events and games for the children as well as teaching them arts such as Singing and Pottery. Training on Weaving, Carpentary and Book Binding have been started. Sishutirtha has begun a Computer Training Module as a part of its vocational training. In addition to this, talented students on