St Joseph's Band

St Joseph's school in Gitdubling has expanded to accommodate pupils from grade 7 to Grade 10 at which stage they can sit the State Leaving Examinations. Prior to this year 2010, the pupils have had to transfer to another secondary school in either the town of Pedong or Kalimpong. Many could not continue in education after Grade 7 as they could not afford to financially.

The new primary school has been built to free up class rooms for the increasing numbers of secondary school pupils.

The New primary School was inaugurated during my visit last December It was a very happy and joyous occasion.

St Mary's Tribal School love singing

The people of the Hill Region love to sing and dance. St Mary's Tribal school is in the village of Nok Dara. There is no vehicle access road to the village and no electricity.

St. Mary's School does not have access to any musical instruments, hence the children learn to sing via the sound of the human voice, making it very difficult to keep in perfect tune.

All celebrations: religious, social and educational involve much singing and dancing.The villagers also enjoy sharing food as a way of celebrating special occasions. Meat is only eaten on special occasions and is greatly prized. Main meats eaten are goat, pig, and chicken. For every day meals, no meat is eaten, it is considered a luxury.

BOOKS URGENTLY REQUIRED FOR LIBARY FOR ST. JOSEPH'S SCHOOL GITDUBLING

T This class was divided into 2 classes for Grade 7 in 2009. Pupils are wearing House uniform.

St. Joseph School Pupils Pupils are wearing everyday school uniform

Uniforms are very important and greatly valued in all schools in India. They are a source of pride for the children as they show that they are at school. Education is much appreciated and valued.

With reference to my blog entry of Thurs. March 18 "Urgently needed a Libary for St. Joseph's School"

What is required? MONEY to be sent to the school, so that books for a libary can be purchased in India. It is not practical and it is too expensive to send books from the UK to India, especially as the Region the School is situated in, is in the Kalimpong Hill Region and is not easily accessible.

The Director of St. Joseph's has been given an assurance that books for the libary can be purchased at a discount price.

I have many second hand books and am available to hold sales to sell these books at a very reasonable price. I would very much appreciate venues at which I could hold a book sale.

All money raised by sales organised through this appeal, will be used for books for St. Joe's libary.

Also my suggestion of individuals donating £1, see blog entry of March 18, and any other fund raising suggestions which you may have, would be very much appreciate: all money raised to go towards books for the libary.

I apologise for making this additional appeal, as many of my contacts have been so generous in supporting the HCET, since it was set up in August 2007, and which is at present an ongoing appeal.

Any help would be very much appreciated.

I am trying at present to get a charity Paypal account for my web site which is still being finalised

address of web site http://sites.google.com/site/hcetproject/