Special grant packages by SEVA Trust for two Charitable Originations working in Punjab & Haryana (India)
Social Education Voluntary Association (SEVA) Trust UK, a Bedford based charitable organisation working for the betterment of education, health and environment, will fund a new solar power project for a Primary School of village Burundi in Punjab. This will be the first Government Primary School of Punjab state of rural area to run on solar power. It was formally announced by the District Officer for Elementary Education Mr Sarabjit Singh Toor in a function organised by SEVA team in the village of Barundi attended by area DSP Mr Gurmeet Singh, area Gram Panchayat (village heads and their teams), students & teachers of rural schools, community leaders and social workers from leading NGOs working in Punjab and Haryana.
Chairman of SEVA Trust UK Charan Kanwal Singh Sekhon who is leading these projects in India said ‘SEVA Trust will cover the entire cost of 3KW solar power plant that will be connected to local grid to ensure any unused electricity is sold back to the state grid’
Currently teachers and parents are paying electricity bills for the school due to the lack of funding by the state Government which is putting unnecessary finical burden on school staff and low income village families. Frequent power cuts are also causing issues for some rural areas. There is a smart class room in the school that supposed to be used for interactive learning but all the facilities in the class room powered by electricity have been out of use due to of lack of funds for electric bills. Solar power plant will be capable of meeting all the electricity needs of this school including the smart class room whilst generating pollution free and green electricity said Mr Sekhon.
SEVA Trust UK issued educational grants to 20 students (15 girls and 5 boys) to fund their degree courses from low income families who are academically strong but unable to cover their costs due to poor economic circumstances of their families. Further 38 students of various villages of Pakhowal Block who took top 3 positions in each class (class 1 to 12th class) received financial support and special prizes.
Extending partnerships with local NGOs, SEVA Trust UK awarded financial grant to Ek Nayi Umeed Special Needs School that supports educational needs for special need children and also supported & trained Special Olympics Gold Medal winner for India in cycling Ms Shamli Sharma. Ek Nayi Umeed is also helping low income girls & women. SEVA Trust awarded Shamli a special medal for her achievement.
Zila Yuva Vikas Sanghthan (ZYVS), Ambala based NGO that supports children with special needs, working on girls, women & youth empowerment in Haryana state also received financial grant from SEVA Trust UK.
President of ZYVS, Mr Tarun Kaushal who received National and State Youth Awards in social services and youth engagement thanked SEVA Trust UK for their support and said ‘SEVA Trust UK and ZYVS are working in Education and Health areas and there is huge scope of working in partnership for future to reach out needy students and rural and low income communities in Haryana and Punjab. It is a great effort by SEVA Team from the UK coming to India to help our youth and local communities, the financial support will help us to support more children and the youth’’
On behalf of SEVA Trust UK, a local Retd. Headtecher Mr Narinder Singh of Barundi thanked all the guests. He said that all communities need to work in unity to support our youth and every child should have a full and equal opportunity for education at grassroots level’’
