Now there is more reason to SMILE
[Prasad Sarkar, SMILE Administrator]
This year marks the 6th straight year our
High School SMILE (Scholarship Made for
There
are 13 SMILE scholars this year who appeared at Madhyamik
(Secondary School Examination conducted by Board at the state-level). All 13 of
them, without a single exception, are placed in the 1st division. The
average score is 78%, ranging from a 
high of 93% to a low of 66%. This is a phenomenal
success from every angle. The average profile of a student’s family includes one
income earner - usually the father – with a monthly earning of Rupees 1000/-
(less than $22) to take care of 5 members in the family. The family occupations
vary among small farming, day-labor, small-business, private tutoring, factory
work and medical representative.
In
addition to the Madhyamik graduates, we have Higher
Secondary (or Intermediate college) graduates, who are also now in 1st
or high 2nd division.
Our
running list of SMILE scholars exceeded 100 for the first time this academic
year (2006-2007). We smile one more time.
Our
candidate selection process primarily hinges on the family’s economic
background and the student’s academic performance. Other criteria are the
student’s leadership and activities outside the academic area. The Head Master’s
recommendation also plays a role. The selected students are awarded a monthly
grant that covers the cost of books, school uniforms, transportation and any
private tuition required for more difficult academic subjects. Undoubtedly, the
grant provides more. It infuses a sense of pride in the student’s mind, which
in turn brings confidence to overcome the family frustration of financial
hardship. They feel they have hope.
As soon as we start paying the student we begin our
monitoring process. We assign a mentor, who is a respectable person in the
community – a teacher, a doctor, a community leader or a person of position
known for its responsibility. He is made responsible for mentoring the student
by keeping a general track of the student’s social participation, general
behavior and academic progress. The mentor advises the student as required and
sends an annual evaluation to Lily office every December. If he finds problems
anytime during the year, he informs us immediately, in which case we act accordingly.
The
student must read two books of at least 100 pages on the lives of great people
of the world during the two vacations (summer and winter) every year and submit
book-reports to us. All these student responsibilities to Lily Foundation are
listed in the Student Obligation Charter that is handed to the student at the
onset.
As
the students are obligated to us, we are obligated to our sponsors. Every year
during the third quarter we apprise each sponsor with the student’s grade (last
annual exam result) and any notable accomplishment during the school-year.
Sponsors are free to question us anytime about any concerns related to their
assigned students.
In
recent times, we have increased communication with the students significantly
through letters, periodic meetings with Lily area coordinators, Lily office representatives
traveling to locations closer to their homes, occasional contacts with their
Head Masters and meeting them at one annual conference in Kolkata.
The
cost of administration includes the costs of communication with the students,
money remittances, office expenses in
While
we are basking in the success of our High School SMILE program, we ask
ourselves what holds for the future of these graduate students now that they
are out of school. Not many – in fact very few, if at all possible – could
afford to go to college where just tuition runs from a few hundred to thousands
of rupees every month depending on the type of college. Engineering and Medical
colleges’ costs are sky-high, whereas the general colleges’ costs are
relatively much less.
Granted
students after graduating from school are better equipped to fight poverty as
they can hold jobs, though mostly low-paying. But everyone knows well the
job-market in
We
deliberated ourselves as to how to help the poor but meritorious college-goers.
Given Lily Foundation’s limited resources it would be difficult to sustain
school as well as college scholarships together. So, we devised a way that
should be acceptable to the sponsors as well as the students.
We
envisage that after college graduation these students would likely find decent
jobs, at which point they should not have much difficulty paying back a sum in
installments. So, the concept of payback grants should not be unattractive to
them as an alternative to not going for higher education at all, particularly
when the grant money is interest-free. To Lily, it provides better alternative
to doling out the money unconditionally since we can recycle sponsors’ money to
hopefully help many more students in the future. The award money and the
payback installments can be determined on the type of higher education the
student is going to pursue. The monthly grant could average from Rupees 500/-
to 1000/- per month. Repayment would have to start a year after their
graduation in easy installments of Rupees 100/- to 300/- a month.
We
already have received applications this year from a former SMILE scholar and
other outside students. We hope we can bring a smile of satisfaction to them as
much as they have given us, as our goal of “breaking the poverty cycle” is
better achieved through this College SMILE program.
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