-Dilip Thakore (Bengaluru)
Needy Illiterate Children Education (NICE) School
An indefatigable champion of orphaned and marginalised children, P. Purnachandra Rao is the promoter (founder-secretary) of the Needy Illiterate Children Education (NICE) School (estb.2002). Sited in Mynampadu village (pop.5,900), an hour’s drive from Guntur (pop.800,000), NICE is a free-of-charge K-10 English-medium residential school affiliated with the Delhi-based Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) which has 24,000 upscale schools countrywide affiliated with it. NICE has 200 children including 50 girls — 70 percent of whom are orphaned — on its muster rolls.
P. Purnachandra Rao
Newspeg. NICE is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year in sombre circumstances. For the first time in its history, the aggregate number of students has declined and the school’s income has fallen because of Covid-10 pandemic disruption of the economy.
The forced and unduly long closure (275 days in 2020) because of the Covid lockdown, has cast a shadow over this residential school’s celebrations. “In 2019-20, we had 270 children. This number fell to 150 in 2021-22 because of the pandemic. Simultaneously, our annual income — the school is entirely dependent on donations — dipped from Rs.1.48 crore to Rs.1.05 crore. But with the school having reopened on June 1 for the new academic year 2022-23, we have welcomed 80 new students of whom 60 children are from educationally neglected tribal areas who desperately need good quality education,” says Rao.
Moreover, the pain of the pandemic has been assuaged by NICE School having recorded its best-ever pass percentage in the CBSE board exam written in April this year. The school’s cohort of 24 children who wrote the exam averaged 69 percent with the topper averaging 94 percent.
History. Born into a family of small farmers, Rao suffered the early misfortune of losing his father when he was only four years of age, and had to depend on the generosity of village elders to complete his school education. Subsequently, he funded his higher education by working part-time and graduated from Nagarjuna University, Guntur with a degree in English literature. “The hardships faced by my mother to provide for me — I was an only child — and the deprivations I suffered made me sensitive to the plight of children without any parents at all, and I resolved to start a free-of-charge residential school for orphaned and marginalised children,” recalls Rao.
Steadfast in intent, after graduation he worked in industry for 12 years with Suven Pharmaceuticals and Lokesh Mechanics, and at age 33 registered NICE Society in the millennium year. In 2002, he started the eponymous school in Mynampadu with an investment of Rs.85,000 mobilised from his savings and proceeds of sale of his ancestral home in neighbouring Bollapally village and admitted his first batch of ten orphan children in a 400 sq. ft building. Since then, the school has grown into a full-fledged K-10 English-medium boarding school whose 48,000 sq. ft main block houses 12 classrooms. Moreover, the two-acre campus hosts a library with 4,500 volumes, science and maths labs, a 1.2-acre sports field and separate hostels for girls and boys.
Inevitably, resource mobilisation for continuous capacity expansion and campus upgradation required strenuous and sustained fund-raising effort. Travelling mainly on a battered scooter, during the two past decades, Rao has connected with over 100,000 individuals to build a donor base of 750 corporates, trusts and individuals.
Direct talk. “Our per-child expenditure including education, board and lodging is Rs.27,000 per year. During the past decade, we have graduated over 350 students who are now well-placed as software engineers, chartered accountants, among other professions,” says Rao.
Future plans. For the current fiscal year, Rao has set a fund raising target of Rs.1.5 crore. “Because of the pandemic and also due to changes in FCRA regulations which require too much documentation from foreign donors, there was a sharp drop in donations from NRIs. This year, I hope to make up and have set a target of Rs.1.5 crore. I am determined to do my best to nurture under-privileged children into well-educated, future-ready citizens,” says this untiring children’s champion.
The Force be with you!
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