Over VIEW
Prerana was registered in 1990, under the Karnataka Society Act. The NGO has 80G certificate from the Income Tax Department.Prerana is the brainchild of Mr.Pramod Kulkarni, (M.Sc., PGDM, IIM Ahmedabad, 1981).
Nurture Merit is our effort to help meritorious students from economically challenged families, for their college education.
About Nurture Merit
Nurture Merit : Support students to complete graduation
Poverty is both, cause and effect of lack of education. Pressure of poverty extends beyond issues of daily life, to their abilities to make best use of opportunities.
Prerana, supports bright students from less privileged families, for the college education, through its program “Nurture Merit” since 2003. Prerana was registered in 1990.
Investment in education of a bright student gives good dividends. The student grows, family gets out of poverty and there is an accomplished citizen proud of the society.
Students are selected after the 10th grade. The help is extended for a period of 6 years, till completion of the graduation. Financial assistance covers the college fees.
Selecting the genuinely merited and needy students is the most important responsibility. All the 300 Govt. schools in
Bangalore urban are contacted, where the students from poor families normally go. The message - “the student who is, merited, and aspires for higher education,
need not feel desperate on account of family situation”
is widely disseminated, through news paper. They are advised to apply
to Prerana.
The students, scoring 80% in their 10th exam can apply. Student also need to take a test conducted by Prerana and score a minimum of 50% to be short listed. Around 500 students get selected out of 2000, who appear for this test.
Next, we visit the home of the student to assess whether and how much is the need of financial support. Out of 500 short listed and home visits about 200 students qualify as needy. The parents are typically house maids, garment worker, deserted families, families affected by accidents etc, hotel workers, tea venders, weavers, auto drivers etc. They typically stay in sheeted, one room apt with rents of about Rs 1500/ per month, with very bare household things. Those with VCR, Vehicles are not selected
The average support to an 11th grade student is about Rs. 10,000/year and for a student in engineering college is Rs 25,000/year. Some 10% of students need additional help as their families suffer critical illness, accident etc. Some times support goes to Rs 40,000/-. Year on year the student need to score 70% and above to retain get financial support.
The students we help are merited and, potential. The merit can convert to achievement if it is accompanied with
confidence, aspiration and guidance. The students we support lack in this. Many students are first generation
to go to colleges in their families. They would have
never
gone
beyond
Bangalore. These student do need wider exposer
to develop aspiration. Prerana tries to back up students with
summer camps, spoken English classes, connect students with professionals, expose to industry.
Students at junior level are called on Sunday to check if there is any difficulty in coping up with college studies. Students is counseled. We discuss difficulties in each subject, study systems, study hours, friends etc. Many students respond positively and benefit.
The students from 12th grade are sent to coaching classes. The seats are made available free as a gesture, on our request. The students in 11th and 12th are attached with senior students studying in Engineering, for guidance.
We wish that every student included in the program should do well. The intelligence of this child is the asset to that family, in fact, the only asset of the family. From 100 students joining 11th grade in science, about 60 do well both in 11th and 12th and join good professional courses like BE or MBBS. These students are enrolled in top colleges and under govt. quota as they have good Common Entrance Test rankings.
At the graduation levels, regular programs are conducted in :
Trainings in Soft skill like communication, presentations
Workshops to help the students to be geared to face the interviews and group discussions. Awareness of various competitive exams.
These students have “hunger” to learn and hence normally respond well to the training. Trainers have expressed joy to see this and have experienced fulfillment in training.
A large number of people about 40, from Corporate, from Indian institute of science, have enrolled as volunteers who opt either to teach or mentor the students. They spend 2 hours on every Sunday to meet the students at the “learning centers” and solve the difficulties the students may be facing.
At
Bangalore, in last 6 years some 182 students have passed out and are in jobs. 80% of them are in touch with us. About 25 have paid/ committed yearly donations , though of small amount as. And an equal no of them come on Sunday to teach junior students.
We try linking students to other scholarships like SRTT, F E Excellence, Then the scholarship reaches students directly from those organizations. We are also thinking to attach Professional students ( BE II nd onward) to banks for the loans.
The students we support join reputed colleges as they are merited. These students stand in top ranks in their respective classes and that brings lot of joy to us.
We need be humble. We are just one among many help a student. Their relatives, neighbors, teachers help. It is in our culture. Many students would have continued without our support too. But they would have faced hardships. Our help eases their problems. As one donor put it “The money is meant for them as their name is written on the money. We are happy that we are chosen by God to pass it on to these students.”
Each donor is attached to the students he/she sponsors. Student is informed of the donor. The address are exchanged. They can write to each other. 70% of sponsorship reaches students as cash for fees, 10% used for books, 10% for training and 10% is admin cost.
ACTIVITIES/PROGRAMME 1.
Nurture merit programme in Bangalore ‘Nurture Merit Programme’, identifies students in need of support to pursue higher studies after Class X and provides financial assistance to them till they graduate. From helping 100 students at Bangalore in 2004, the Nurture Merit programme has grown to cover 372 students during 2010-11 [ to be checked ] . This year, only 36 students have been found qualified and they are being invited to attend our College Orientation Programme to be conducted in April/May 2011. This year, under this programme, students, who are studying in 9th std, have also been identified based on their merit and economic condition and Nurture Merit Test has already been conducted. About 41 students, who have qualified in this test and also during house visit, have been invited to attend one month orientation programme which is being conducted during April/May 2011
Prerana's Nurture Merit Test initiative aims to help needy meritorious students for their college education. We provide these students with:
- Financial assistance (for college fee, books etc.)
- Other academic support , including learning centers support
- Training
- Mentoring
- Placement assistance
Identification of needy students
Only genuinely needy, meritorious students are ensured of our support. Here's a brief summary of how we identify the deserving students: - The Nurture Merit initiative is explained to the needy students passing out of Std. X/IX through our visits to about 250 government high schools in Bangalore.
- We also invite applications through newspaper advertisements, bill boards etc in the month of May, after results of Std. X exams are announced. Students from families having annual incomes less than 1,00,000/-,scoring 80% and above, or with a CET rank of less than 4,000, can apply. (to be checked)
- The Nurture Merit Test (NMT)is held to select students from the hundreds of applications received. Successful candidates from this test are then interviewed.*
- To make sure that the donations reach only the truly deserving students, we visit the applicants' homes and assess their economic condition.**
* The applicants are screened through a competitive test-the ‘Nurture Merit Test (NMT)’ which is based on the 8th and 9th standard syllabus.
** We visit the houses of all the students qualified in the NMT, to evaluate their financial / economic conditions.
2. Excellent-30 Programme
This year, under this programme, our ambition is to select brightest of bright students from economically disadvantaged families from few of the rural areas of Southern Karnataka and also students studying in Jawhar Navodaya Vidyalaya in Karnataka, who are, at present, studying in 10th Std., who have scored A or A+ grade in 9th Std. (above 90%) and facilitate them to perform well in their PUC examinations, AIEEE, IIT entrance examinations to get themselves admitted to AIEE and IIT Courses. In order to select students, first round of tests have already been conducted to 1994 students studying in 10th Std. in rural areas and of them, only 211 students have qualified. Now, we have commenced conducting second round test and expect to complete this process by end of February 2011, Thereafter, houses of those students, who are qualified in our second round tests, will be visited to assess their family financial positions. During these visits, discussions will be held with the students and their parents inform them about our motto, in case they are finally selected, -
- To bring them to Bangalore, after SSLC exam, to get themselves admitted to PUC Science in good colleges as decided by Prerana. (80% of college admission fees shall be borne by Prerana and the balance has to be borne by the parents.) - To provide required text books, note books, free of cost.
- To provide free boarding/lodging facilities.
- To provide additional coaching facilities to facilitate them to get prepared well for AIEE/IIT examinations.
The above programme is almost similar to that of Super 30 Programme in Patna and also that of Dakshana Foundation.
3. NTSE Programme
This year, under this programme, our ambition is to select, brightest of the bright students studying in 7th Standard from economically disadvantaged families (parents’ annual income is less than Rs.1,00,000/) in school situated in and around Bangalore South. Students, who have scored A or A+ grade in 6thh std (above 85%) and who have a chance to score more than 85% in 7th Std exam will be selected in order to train them well in National talent Search Exam to be held in October-November 2011 and also to help them in performing well in 8th/9th/10 Std. exams. In order to select students, we Nurture merit test has been conducted in December 2010 for all the students identified by the concerned Head Masters of schools situated in Bangalore South. Only 49 students have qualified in this test. these students have been invited to attend one month orientation to be held in April 2011
