Sponsorship
Herewith are the new Rules of Parrainage (Sponsorship) which govern the rights and the duties of Volontariat in regard to the sponsored children and their families.
The earlier procedures which have been followed over years needed modification in response to the changing circumstances. These are being implemented since 2010.
The Government of Pondicherry has improved the provisions for children in Government schools: : better education in public schools, text books and notebooks, midday meals a snack before leaving etc. Deprived families are also given aid to build houses and to replace their huts destroyed in a fire.
The previous rules of Parrainage did not enable all the children to benefit fully from the services Many parents were not involved with the role of Volontariat which they considered as a simple provider of financial services.
In India, public, aided private and private schools co-exist.. The private schools are often costly and the education is rarely good. But they are favoured by the families who believe that the education is in proportion with the school fees! So the families insist on admitting their children to these schools, preferably in the English medium. As the children do not understand English which is not spoken at all at home, the results are usually very poor. The school fees are an important service of Parrainage. So those children who study in the private schools would benefit more than those who attend public and Aided schools. It is against our moral code. It is our duty to work for equity for all the sponsored children.
Our objectives :
Volontariat confirms that the receipts of the programme Parrainage is a common pool, but the largest number of sponsored children must benefit from the help of the sponsors
The system must work towards a collective sense of trust among the sponsored children, their parents/families, the social workers and all the team of Volontariat, to ensure a better future for the girls and boys under our care.
Volontariat should not duplicate the services of the Government, which are always welcomed.
Our Organization has always given the top priority for the education of the underprivileged. We have sponsored many thousands of children so far. At present, around 1400 children are under the roll of Volontariat sponsorship. We still have a good number of children on the waiting list for sponsorship.
Rules of Parrainage
1- Choice of the primary and secondary school: Parents must preferably choose public or aided schools, over private schools. An upper limit has been fixed for the reimbursement of the school fees and any amount exceeding such limit shall be contributed by the parents. They may need to change to schools where the fees will fit within our payment limits.
2- For the children who do not receive the full services offered by Volontariat, we provide, on alternative months, food provisions, groceries and other benefits (table, chairs, fan, etc), after enquiry by the social worker of the needs of the family.
3- With the increased strength of Social workers, we visit the children at their homes more often, so that we are acquainted with their needs and problems. Each child has to refer to one social worker who becomes his “referent”. The child or/and his parents have to meet the referent at least once a month.
4- The birthday festivals are organized in small groups of children who come with their parents to have a deep discussion about the child and his/her future. The referent takes part in the discussion.
5- For the students of 1 to 9 Std who are not able to come to our evening classes at Sakthi Vihar or Atelier Shanti because of distance, we will pay the fees for the private tuitions.
6- For higher classes, 10, 11 and 12 we do not have evening classes. In the new system, we pay the students the required amount so that they can have some private tuitions.
7- The children who are not able to come to our extra-scholar activities at Sakthi Vihar during the week because of distance are requested to participate, at least, during the week-ends. These activities are intended for them to develop their other skills, besides academic subjects.
8- The parents are requested to give to the Parrainage administration the correct residence address, phone no and cell phone no to facilitate the contact with Volontariat.
9- A closer relationship between Volontariat and the child/parents will pave the way for us to garner the support and co-operation of the parents who so far have been just spectators, not even performing their basic responsibility towards their children. Our Social workers will be able to make their observation and report on each child.
10- This relationship, based on a mutual trust between the young and Volontariat, will serve at the time when the adolescent will have to choose his field after 12 Std. The career guidance will be followed along with his referent and Volontariat. Advising students to avoid fields where there is no job at the end is an important function. Similarly, they should be warned about a Private college where the level of education is low and the fees high.
11- Many students, in their higher studies at Pondicherry have no possibility to concentrate on their subjects at their home. In that case, Volontariat can welcome them in a place of one of its centres, on condition that they will not disturb the other activities and use the place only for their studies [in the past, we had several bad experiences by giving these facilities to students].
These are the main rights and duties of the Parrainage programme and the relationship between the sponsored child, the parents and Volontariat. The other services such as midday meals, snacks and milk or spirulina, the letters translation of letters etc. are discussed in other chapters of the website.
