| Frequently Asked Questions for your better understanding of the programme |
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| To teach a Dalit is social service but to destroy the social structure which made him illiterate is social transformation. To open a new school in a Dalit village is a social service but to motivate the Dalit hungry and illiterate parent to send his child to school even if it meant less income for the household is social transformation. To provide free food to a Dalit is a social service but to educate and empower him to earn his own food is social transformation. |
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| The Background |
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| The Dalits |
| The Dalits of India are the oppressed majority for more than three thousand years of India's history. This oppression is due to the Hindu caste system - an integral part of Indian society, deeply embedded in the Indian worldview. Dalits across the nation, however, have experienced an awakening and are now demanding equal human rights and dignity. They believe rejecting the Hindu caste system and getting education are the keys to find liberation. On November 4, 2001, Dalit community gathered in New Delhi to break free from the Hindu caste system. On that day, Indian Christians stood in solidarity with the Dalits in their quest for liberation. |
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| Education for the Dalits |
| The Dalit community has invited Indian Christians to provide education which will lead to Dalit empowerment in India. In response to this invitation, Christian leaders from all parts of India agreed on an initial goal of 1,000 Dalit Education Centers (DECs) across the nation. Of these, our Indian partner OMCC (Operation Mercy Charitable Company), agreed to take responsibility to start and maintain 100 schools. These DECs are placed in strategic locations as directed by the local Dalit leadership.Ideally, each Dalit Education Center will eventually cater to the educational needs of 250 - 500 children. |
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| The education will be built on high academic standards and will be based on the Christian worldview about God, human dignity, spiritual freedom and social equality. This education will be offered from Kindergarten through Grade Ten (3 – 15 years). It will be conducted in English, the language of commerce and empowerment in India. OMCC India and the Dalit leadership would like to see the next generation of Dalits educated so their exploitation by the upper castes will end. |
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| A Partnership for Education |
| Each DEC student is required to pay a minimum monthly fee, no matter how poor their family might be. This helps to create a sense of ownership and accountability in the lives of the students and their parents. The actual cost of their schooling is much higher than the school fees collected. Thus, these children must rely on partnership by others to provide the necessary scholarships to allow them to continue with their schooling. You can be involved in the education of these Dalit children. |
How much does it cost to pay for a child's education?
What information do I get about the child?
How can you begin to support a child's education or choose a child to support?
Does the child get the money directly?
What can you do as an educational supporter?
What financial accountability is there?
What can you expect from the child?
What do we recommend for group sponsors?
How long do I need to support a child?
How often do I need to send support?
How do I pay?
How to set up regular payments by Direct Debit?
When can I access the details of my sponsored student online?
How to Gift Aid your sponsorship payments?
Can I make single lump sum payment to sponsor one or more years of a child's education?
Other methods of payments?
Can I send gifts to my child?
What we don't encourage if you visit?
Why isn't my child smiling?
What happens if my child stops attending their school?
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 How much does it cost to pay for a child's education? |
It costs £12 per child per month. This £12 covers expenses such as uniforms, shoes, textbooks, notebooks, teacher's salary, stationery, administration costs, utility bills for the school etc.
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| What information do I get about the child? |
When you support a child, you will be given the profile of that particular child which has the following information:
- Photograph of the child
- School in which he/she is studying
- The class in which he/she is studying
- Information on family background
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| How can you begin to support a child's education or choose a child to support? |
- You can go to the Dalit website to sponsor a child online: www.daliteducation.org
- You can write to the following address for a profile card of a child (please state the preferred sex): - Dalit Education Sponsorship Team, c/o OM, The Quinta, Weston Rhyn, Oswestry, Shropshire. SY10 7LT
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- You can E-mail us at: dalit@uk.om.org
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| Does the child get the money directly? |
No. The money is sent to our partner organisation OMCC which pays some of the DEC costs centrally. The remainder is then distributed to the Managers of the DECs to be used to cover the daily running costs of the schools. As required, some of the money may also be used to cover the costs of further development of the DECs that will benefit all the children at the school.
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| What can you do as an educational supporter? |
- Support the child's education by monthly contribution of £12.
- You are invited to write twice a year to the child whom you have chosen through the OM UK office. Please be aware however, that mail can sometimes take months to reach the child.
- You can also send birthday and Christmas cards through the same address as on the letter form.
- You can visit the school in which the child is studying.Please contact us for further details.
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| What financial accountability is there? |
OMCC complies with all the educational, legal and financial requirements of the Indian Government, including an annual external audit. In addition to this we have our own internal auditor who visits India to check the books and financial processes, give advice and report to the Indian leadership. A copy of the latest accounts from OMCC is available on request.
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| What can you expect from the child? |
- An annual report from the class teacher as to the progress of the child.
- An annual update of the student profile including a new photo.
- If you choose to write, you will get at least one reply from the child each year.
- You should also receive a class exercise letter from the child each year.
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| What do we recommend for group sponsors? |
- We recommend that if you are entering into a supporting relationship as a group it will be good if members support children from one particular school. Please contact us at dalit@uk.om.org for details of group sponsorship.
- Group sponsors also have the opportunity to visit their school for 6 to 8 days and participate in various activities including teaching certain classes. Please contact us for further details.
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| How long do I need to support a child? |
- We would like you to support a child all the way through his/her high school education. This is in total twelve years. i.e. Lower Kindergarten, Upper Kindergarten and then class 1 to 10.
- However, if you are not in a position to commit for all of the 12 years the minimum commitment we ask for is one year.
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| How often do I need to send support? |
You can arrange to pay monthly (£12), yearly (£144) or you could make a single payment to cover the total number of years that you wish to support the child.
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| How do I pay? |
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Our preferred method of payment is by Monthly Direct Debit.
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| How to set up regular payments by Direct Debit? |
First you need to register and select a child for sponsorship. You then need to confirm your acceptance of the Terms and Conditions of sponsorship (see separate sheet). Once you have done this you will be able to download the Direct Debit Mandate form. This needs to be printed out, completed, signed and sent to Sponsorship Administrators as soon as possible.
- There are two options for the payment date at the top of the form,either on the 10th or 20th of the month. Please tick the preferred payment date on which you would like the payment taken from your account.
- The form is pre-populated with some of the details from your sponsorship account registration. Please enter the title and first name shown in the details for the bank account from which payments will be taken.
- If you are a tax payer in the UK, you can maximise your giving by signing the Gift Aid declaration on the Direct Debit Form.
Please send completed forms to Dalit Education Sponsorship Team, Operation Mobilisation, The Quinta, Weston Rhyn, Oswestry, Shropshire SY10 7LT.
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| When can I access the details of my sponsored student online? |
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Your sponsorship status will be “pending” until your first payment has been confirmed. However, once we have received your completed Direct Debit form, you will be able to view and print out your child's profile and photograph once you have logged on to your account on the web site.
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| How to Gift Aid your sponsorship payments? |
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If you are a tax payer in the UK, we would encourage you to Gift Aid your sponsorship payments to maximise your giving; this increased value of your gift (25%) will be used in the same way as your sponsorship. You need to make sure you have paid sufficient UK Income Tax/Capital Gains Tax to cover this amount.
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To ensure that we can reclaim the Gift Aid on your sponsorship payments, please sign the Gift Aid Declaration on the Direct Debit form.
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| Can I make a single lump sum payment to sponsor one or more years of a child’s education? |
Yes, this is an option, but please discuss with one of our administration staff regarding this before making any payment. There are two options for one-off payments of this kind.
- Either go online to the Dalit Website under “Make a Donation” and then email us with the details;
- or send a cheque payable to Operation Mobilisation with a child’s name and code.
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| Other methods of payments? |
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If you would prefer another method of payment please contact the Dalit sponsorship administrators to discuss this further.
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| Can I send gifts to my child? |
| Many parcels that are sent from Western countries are opened before they arrive at their destination and things can get lost. In addition, individual gifts sent to one child in a school can cause a great deal of jealously and may create an environment that leads to your child's isolation from the rest of the pupils. Therefore, we do not recommend you sending individual gifts. However, we do understand your desire to send that little something extra. If you wish to do this, we would suggest that you send an additional financial gift, and we will do our best to arrange for it to be used for a special party for your child's class. For example, a party for the class would be covered by a gift of £20.
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| What we don't encourage if you visit? |
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- We don't encourage you to reveal to the child that you are their supporter while visiting the school.
- We don't encourage you to bring or to give gifts to your child while visiting the school. We do this because, there may be children in that particular class whose supporter may not be visiting them or buying any special gift and they will feel hurt and neglected.
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| Why isn't my child smiling? |
When you visit the schools, you are faced with a sea of radiant smiles. However, whenever asked to pose individually for the camera, the cultural response is to become very serious. We have asked our photographers to encourage the children to have a more natural pose in the future, but for the time being, just imagine the ear-to-ear smile that you see on the front of the website and in promotional material.
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| What happens if my child stops attending their school? |
There are several reasons why a child may stop attending: Parents move out of the area; parents send the child to another school; or parents stop sending a child due to family pressures. In each case, a social worker or school manager tries to contact the family to encourage them to continue the child’s schooling. Sometimes it is not possible, and the child has to drop out. We will send out a report explaining the reason for the drop out and a new child will be reassigned.
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