We are delighted to share with you that the formal name of the UK fundraising organisation for Pardada Pardadi Educational Society is being changed so that we are aligned. Effective immediately, BETI is renamed Pardada Pardadi Educational Society UK.
Over the coming weeks, we will update our website, email and other marketing collaterals. BETI will still be recognised in google searches and our website, whilst being transferred to the new domain will automatically forward everyone to the new domain.
We believe that this alignment will make us more easily identifiable with PPES, and we are delighted that the Charity Commission has approved our application. Our registered charity number remains unchanged (1166879).
If you have any questions, please write to us at info@beti-uk.org.
We are very excited to be the charity partner at the Asian Achiever’s awards this year. But, on top of this, we are thrilled to have been published in the Asian Voice newspaper two weeks ago. Please see the article below!
When I went to visit the Pardada Pardadi school, at first I wasn’t sure what to expect. I had heard about it, and seen pictures, but still I had no idea. Since it would take us three hours to get there, we had to leave early in the morning. After the long journey to the school, we had arrived. Right ahead of us stood the gates, which were placed directly in front of the school. After we had entered inside the gates, we were immediately directed to the steps which led up to the entrance of the school. And there, we were greeted by five girls, who stood waiting with scarves for each and every one of us.
Throughout the rest of the day we explored the rest of the school, including classrooms, the cafeteria where they eat three meals a day, as well as the playground. Some of the younger girls in primary school even prepared a dance, and it made me smile a lot to see how much fun they were having. And on top of that, I got to see what the school meant to them. And whilst I was there, I realised that each and every one of them were happy, and they enjoyed and valued coming to school, with all of their heart. They valued their education more than anything, and they constantly had a smile on their face.
Overall, I found the experience of visiting the school priceless. I got to see what the lives of these girls, some of which were my age, were like. I saw how their lives differed from mine, and how grateful they were for what they had. I also realized how attending the school could affect and change them and their family’s lives for the better. They could earn an income, and help to provide for their families. I want them to have a future where they can be independent, as well as happy. Because each and every one of them deserves that, just as much as anyone else. And if we can have it, then why can’t they?
We would like to share with you, the latest in a long list of successes.
Pardada Pardadi School has been ranked #1 Girls Day School in Bulandhshar (a Region within Uttar Pradesh), and more impressively #10 in the whole of Uttar Pradesh by Education World India School Rankings 2019-2020. To put this into perspective you should be aware that Uttar Pradesh has the highest population of all Indian states which is an incredible achievement. It speaks volumes for the entire PPES community, from our hardworking and dedicated staff to the girls themselves and all the effort they put into their studies.
None of this would be possible without your continued support so we wanted to let you know that every penny donated to BETI and PPES is put to very good use! Please donate for free here;
“Transforming timid, under-valued girls into confident bilingual students”
Our head teacher, KK Sharma, judging the Diwali Rangoli competition (Left), and Nursery class learning about daily brushing of their teeth (Right)
One of the first things that stuck me about working at PPES is that it was a very familiar environment for anyone who works in a school! Fewer resources and more sunshine but I think the daily challenges and many of the highs and lows faced by the senior leader and his team are very similar to what teachers experience around the world.
One of the things that has really struck me about the project is what a huge challenge it is to feed 1400 children a nutritious diet on a limited budget every day. This sight really brought it home for me (and there is more than one sitting.)
This communality of experience means the school is able to really benefit from PPES’s international links and amazing professionals around the world. Teach for America made a noticeable impact when they came to spend time training staff, and support from Caroline Rickard with primary maths, Pie Corbett, the British council and Cambridge English with English lessons and guidance from the senior leadership of schools including Downside, William Perkins, St Swithun’s and Alton 6th form college has been a great support in developing the school and our fantastic team there. We have explored lots of new teaching techniques as well as management and organisation tools.
Pictured left, One of our alumni, home on a visit from her computer science degree course in Delhi at Diwali.
The family of this alumni, faced a problem that is an issue for several of our families. Fellow villagers were negative about a girl going to study away to Delhi and gossiped about what might be going on in the city. They came up with a very neat solution, she and a friend are being chaperoned in Delhi by one of their grandmothers. I thought this was very ingenious and hope that she is having a great opportunity to do some exploring too.
The healthcare provided to the children and their communities is a big element of PPES’s work. Screening for the children picks up things from short sight and a need for glasses to a congenital heart problem that would have been life limiting if it hadn’t been picked up and fixed with surgery. The preventative medicine outreach programme provides education to all our communities and all sorts of things such as subsidised medicines and eye camps in collaboration with other medical services.
India is a country in fast transition where support for agricultural and business initiatives have to strike a balance between established practices and respecting the way of life in the villages. It is a challenging task and the team are rising to it with gusto, developing eCommerce and new products at the Ivillage, implementing intensive farming methods, and adding value to food by processing it on the farming side. We have had marvellous support from the BCVA and from the RVC over the last year and hope to develop those relationships.
I feel so privileged to be a
supporter of this organisation, it gives me such faith in the power of
education and the human spirit and I am looking forward to every single minute
of the rest of my stay at the project. Come and see us – it is an incredible
experience.
I’m Lizzie, I am a solicitor in London, specialising in employment law. In November 2018 I had a fantastic opportunity to spend two weeks at Pardada Pardadi Educational Society volunteering. Although I arrived with several plans and projects, this is India and I quickly realised that my skills from my former life as a teacher of English literature were going to be useful – within hours of arriving I was working on essay planning and structure, and teaching spider plans, aka mind mapping, to several of the senior girls preparing for upcoming scholarship programmes. Volunteering at the school means being prepared to be flexible and adaptable and to roll up your sleeves and just get on with what needs doing. So I spent my time primarily working with those girls to improve their exam and interview techniques. I found myself drawing on skills I hadn’t consciously realised I had to develop their thinking and presentational abilities – it was challenging and such great fun. I loved it. I did manage to fulfil a couple of my projects, including presenting an assembly on the Global Goals, the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, with the support of my two wonderful translators Kalash and Rekha. We put up a display and shared the fantastic teaching resources available online – so I hope I was able to support and enhance the amazing work on human rights being done in the school and demonstrated everywhere, on every wall and in every classroom. My abiding memory from my time is going to be of the intense, absorbed attention shown by the girls I taught – how interested, engaged, hungry they are for the opportunities and education offered to them. I worked closely with six girls in particular and I will never forget any of them, but in truth that intensity and hunger is evident everywhere within the school walls. Every girl I met reminded me what a special opportunity this school offers them. My highlights? Seeing the impact a few simple organisational skills could have on the girls’ ability to present themselves – what a huge difference can be made so quickly. Going with one of my students to her home and meeting the mother who has made such a difference to her life by supporting her education. Watching the infants in the Diwali excitement. Having an honest question and answer session on my last afternoon – their questions were so incisive and perceptive. And the genuine affection that developed between these special young women and me – I felt very lucky indeed. Volunteering at PPES is a privilege. I am so glad I had the chance to do it. I’d recommend it to anyone. I can’t wait to return.
