Hi

This is the fundraising page for the Truepotential project 2009/10.  Over the coming months we will be raising funds via many events which will be listed on this site soon.  Our aim is to raise as much as possible towards the construction of a new school for The Tibetan Homes Foundation. 

Tibetan Homes Foundation was set up in 1962 in Mussoorie, North India, to educate and care for Tibetan refugee children. Currently Tibetan Homes Foundation has over 2,400 children under its care, most of whom have come directly from Tibet.  Every year around 250 new children arrive, having made the dangerous journey over the Himalayas from Tibet.  Following the recent turbulent events in Tibet, Tibetan Homes Foundation expects to see an increase in children arriving at the school in the coming months.  Children arrive from Tibet with very low levels of education.  This is mainly due to the fact that only 55% of school-aged children in the Tibet Autonomous Region go to school and illiteracy levels are extremely high. Of the Tibetan children that do attend,many are often discriminated against, with their Chinese counterparts receiving lessons from more qualified teaching staff in better facilities.  This has the effect of leaving many Tibetan children uneducated and disadvantaged.

Consequently, Tibetan Homes Foundation deals with a large group of children, all with very different levels of education. Having recently arrived from Tibet, the children need a substantial amount of care and support, particularly during their first few months at the school: they are often traumatised from their journey and experiences in Tibet and now have to adjust to a new and unfamiliar environment.

One of the major issues currently facing Tibetan Homes Foundation is serious overcrowding.

The family homes that were initially built for 25 children are now home to between 45 to 50. Classroom space is extremely limited and the demands upon staff resources are particularly high with the challenge to accommodate the needs of all the children, in particular those who have recently arrived from Tibet. Currently Tibetan Homes Foundation is working to prepare the newly arrived groups of children for mainstream syllabus education by offering specially designed classes at the school. The children are placed here initally and receive an education tailored to their age and level of ability. However, the classes are particularly difficult to run alongside the main activities of the school, even though they are proving to help newly arrived children adapt to their new lives. With a limited availability of space, classes for newly arrived children are having to be held in the dining rooms of nearby family homes. The impact of this combined with the high demand upon teaching staff means that the children are not receiving the time or attention that is truly needed to enable them to progress.

Tibetan Homes Foundation now urgently needs to construct a new school specifically for recently arrived children from Tibet.

The new school will cater for 200 children and will offer both boarding and education in one combined site. The site for the school and boarding house is already owned by Tibetan Homes Foundation. The facilities will comprise of:

2 accommodation hostels with bathrooms

Kitchen and dining room

7 school classrooms

A staff room

School Toilets

Storage Space

A first aid area and dispensary

Playground

17 staff

The aim is to offer a greater amount of education, guidance and support to newly arrived Tibetan refugee children.Each child will be given detailed individual care, which will include carefully tailored education and support programmes designed to cater for each childs needs. By providing individually designed programmes, Tibetan Homes Foundation believes that the children will have more opportunity to move onto mainstream education at the main campus. They would have a seperate curriculum and receive an education programme to suit their level and background, with the intention of enabling them to move on to access mainstream education.  In addition, their specific needs, in terms of emotional support, guidance and help in adjusting to a new environmentwould be met in this specialized environment. The project would involve the construction of the new buidings, furniture, fixtures and fittings.

Infrastructure(including water, electicity,telephone etc) is already in place at the site.

Running expenses of the school will be met by existing sponsorship program.

Tibetan Homes Foundation has received very little funding as yet for the project and is in desperate need of support.