Rural DevelopmentFoundation

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Director’s Annual ReportDecember 2009

Chief Executive’s ReportThe last year was a year of consolidation – consolidating what we have and not expanding beyond our means. We have also expended much energy in preserving the RDF “culture” that was so painstakingly nurtured over the last 13 years for which RDF stands out.

The General Body, at the last (2008) AGM conducted on the 20th of December, reflecting the views of the Founders, endorsed the concept that “sustainability was more important than replication”. This was further “set in stone” by the board at their first meeting immediately after the AGM, mandating the Office Bearers to achieve sustainability within the next three years. Consequently the year 2008-2009 has been devoted to achieving sustainability without sacrificing the quality. Efforts for achieving sustainability have been multi directional. They included:

1. Making the beneficiary community share a bigger percentage of the operating costs,

2. Increasing internal revenues, 3. Reducing costs, 4. Getting free services from

volunteers, 5. Enlarging the donor base.

Beneficiary community contributionDuring 08-09, the five schools beneficiary community contributed about 20% of the operating costs. In earlier years it used to be about 16%. For the year 2009-10, on account of the increase in fees, which the community has willingly accepted, this figure is likely to come up to 38%.

Raising internal resources Action has been taken to improve the

efficiency of our agricultural operations by introducing drip irrigation in two acres of land where it is proposed to raise the entire vegetable requirement (amounting to about Rs. 4,00,000 per annum) for the 3 RDF schools in Warangal district.

Kitchen waste is also being used as feedstock for wormi-culture.

Bank interest income has increased substantially on account of parking the money in fixed deposits.

Reducing costs.Systems have been put in place to monitor and prevent unauthorized expenditure. The monthly budgetary requests are scrutinized to distinguish between the “must haves” from the “nice to haves” that are summarily slashed. This practice has resulted in greater participation of the school staff in fund raising at the grass roots level. They have become very proactive in raising “in-kind” donations for items that they think the head office might not approve!

One experimental “rocket stove” has demonstrated that it can save firewood consumption of about 67%. Several are under manufacture and will be standard issue at all RDF institutions.

On account of the steep rise in the price of rice, thought is being given to the idea of serving “idly sambar” a couple of times a week. Idlys can be made from broken rice, and hence reduce the cost of the meal substantially and at the same time increase the nutritional value.

Free Services from VolunteersA large number of volunteers have donated their time to impart special skills not covered under the normal curriculum. Our only expenditure has been the cost of food. More details of their activities are mentioned further below.

Increasing the donor baseDuring the last year, the donor base has been expanded substantially. Several new corporate donors, Cargill Global, Ivy Computech and Microsoft have given substantial donations under their Corporate Social Initiative Programs. We have also received our first Corpus Fund donation from Ashna Reddy, a six year old donor. Class and individual sponsors have increased in substantial numbers.

DonationsDonations continue to form the cornerstone for sustaining the foundation’s activities. Another year has been successfully concluded only because of the generosity of the donors. It is therefore fitting to acknowledge their contribution through this annual report.

Corporate donorsSeveral corporations have taken it upon themselves to support us through their Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives. Among them are:

Cargill GlobalCargill was introduced to us by a well wisher and past donor, Mr. Dilip Advani of New York. After some telephone exchanges and a day long meeting at Cargill’s offices in New Delhi they took a decision to support us on a regular basis. Several of their employees donated money and became child sponsors. Their official, Mrs. Jayashree Ramaswamy took the trouble of visiting the RDF School at Kalleda. Subsequently, Cargill conducted a campaign within their branches worldwide and raised more money and promised to support us on a year to year basis. Their total support during the last year amounted to Rs. 6,31,591.

Ivy ComputechA Hyderabad based IT company, headed by Mr. Sachin Wagh was introduced to us by Mr. Ahlad Ninoy, a nephew of our chairman Mr. Manohar Prasad. After several meetings and a visit to our schools, they decided to sponsor 50 of the poorest children on an annual basis. Apart from this they have spent another three lakhs and odd to purchase education materials for the schools. IvyComputech’s and its employee contributions upto now amounts to Rs. 6,43,001.

MicrosoftMicrosoft employees have been donating money to us on a regular basis. Their donations have been matched on a rupee for rupee basis by

Microsoft. This year, we were invited to several meetings with them and allowed to publicize our activities at their premises over several days. We are hopeful that Microsoft will select us to be one of their preferred NGOs.

SIS Infotech Pvt. Ltd.A long time supporter of RDF, have donated 50 computers and a large number of tables.

Cosmos Ignite InnovationsThrough an initiative of one Mr. Anil Tata, a native of Warangal and now resident of San Diego, USA who came to know of us through our website, managed to get us a donation of 50 Solar Powered LED Lights worth Rs. 82,000. These lights are to be used at the VAPV hostel to help the students study in the nights whenever there no electricity available.

Spoorthy A grass roots level organization based in Siddipet of Medak District has been supporting the RDF School at Matendla on a regular basis. The efforts to develop this contact and make them into a regular donor are entirely to the credit of the school staff and their head master Sri Vishnu Murthy.

Traditional Corporate DonorsWe are always grateful to our regular corporate donors, without whose support things would have been difficult if not impossible. We gratefully acknowledge support from ValueLabs, Tulip Granites, AngAuto, JK Tyres, Yellowline Heavy Equipment, Kala Jyothi Printing Press, IRDF and Washington University.

Corpus FundWe are thankful to six year old Ashna Reddy for becoming our first corpus fund donor by donating Rs. 60,000.

Corporate DonorsContributions

Company In2008-09

Upto Nov 2009

Total

IRDF 9,258,800 2,319,500 11,578,300

Value Labs 1,100,000 900,000 2,000,000

ANG Auto 1,020,000 375,000 1,395,000

Washinton University 831,680 838,414 1,670,094

Yellow Line Heavy Equipments & Spare parts 463,850   463,850

Tulip Granites P. Ltd. 451,500   451,500

Silver Oaks School 402,100   402,100

J.K Tyres & Industries Ltd. 339,000 250,990 589,990

GAR Corporation Private Ltd 300,000 200,000 500,000

M/s. Cargill Global Trading India 250,000 436,000 686,000

Ranee Shankaramma Memorial Trust 100,000   100,000

Wanaparthy Education and Charitable Trust 100,000   100,000

KKPC Mumbai 59,820   59,820

Microsoft India (R&D) Pvt. Ltd. 35,000 500 35,500

Anigos Creations Pvt. Ltd. 25,000   25,000

Microsoft Matching Grant (through CAF, India) 24,885 27,360 52,245

Kapil Foods 8,000 8,000 16,000

Green Crop 2,500   2,500

Eurokids 2,000   2,000

Dietron Engineers Pvt. Ltd. 1,500   1,500

CFBT 700   700

Spectrum Creations 300   300

M/s. IVY Comptech Pvt. Ltd   318,000 318,000

Child In Need Institute (CINI)   73,850 73,850

Sri Venkateshwara Water Plant   10,000 10,000

Spoorthi Circle, (Siddipet)   1,050 1,050

Mor Jewellers (Rishika)   266 266

Grand Total 14,776,635 5,758,930 20,535,565

Donors (in-kind)Contributions (Notional Value)

Company/Individual PurposeIn

2008-09Upto

Nov 2009Total

Kakatiya School Furniture for RDF Institutions 150,000   150,000

S.I.S Infotech Private Ltd. Furniture for RDF Institutions   258,000 258,000

Kala Jyothi Printing PressDiscarded Paper for all schools - will save on paper budget

75,000 25,000 100,000

Friends ofMrs. E. Vanditha Rao

Digital Photo Camera, Video Camera, CD's & Cassettes

24,000 1,590 25,590

Friends ofMr. E. Rammohan Rao

Dell Monitors 30 Nos   30,000 30,000

Mr. Venkateshwarlu Inverter for RDF School Kalleda 15,000   15,000

Mr. T. Rajeshwar RaoHand held Microphone for RDF School Kalleda

800   800

Mr. Dinakar Babu 20 Kg Rice 460   460

Dr. NarsimhacharyMedicines for RDF School Matendla

  15,000 15,000

Dr. VikramCamel Pencils and Skech pens for RDF School Matendla

  3,281 3,281

Vasavi Club Fans for RDF School Kalleda   3,000 3,000

Govt. Hospital, Chinnakodur

Medicines for RDF School Matendla

  2,130 2,130

Mr. Aravid & Venu ReddyPendrives for for RDF School Kalleda & Matendla

  2,000 2,000

Vishwas Agriculture Long Note Books 100 Nos   1,500 1,500

Through Govt. SchoolText books for RDF School Matendla

  1,060 1,060

Mr. SrinivasDictionaries for RDF School Matendla

  720 720

IVY Comptech. EmployeesTape Recorder, Walkman for RDF School Kalleda

  500 500

Mr. Bhaskar, Ramagundam

Diaries for RDF School Matendla   130 130

Grand Total 265,260 343,911 609,171

Individual Donors Contributions

Name of Donor In2008-09

Upto Nov 2009

Mrs. Rasika Reddy + Kalahita 218,588  Mr.Vidya Sagar Rao 203,000  Mr. Subba Rao Dukkipati 163,285 64,840Smt. B. Nirmala Rao 125,000  Mr. Collin Gent 84,170 118,800Mr. KVL Narayana Rao 50,000  

Mrs. Neena Rao 50,000  Mr. Erik Kaeding 32,200  Microsoft Employee (Through CAF, India) 25,885  Mr. Nomula Ramachandra Reddy 25,000 25,000Mr. Nick Horsehurough 20,000  G. Aravind 12,500  

Smt. Jayashree Ramaswamy, (Cargill) 10,000 22,500Mr. & Mrs. Ramesh / Kamala Venkateswaran 10,000 6,500Mr. Subba Rao/ Mr. Sai Ram 10,000  Mr. E.Vasant Rao 10,000  Ms. Javidi Radhika Amarenderreddy 6,000  

Mr. Amit Saini (Cargill) 5,000 6,250Mr. Subramaniam Ganapathy (Cargill) 5,000  

Mr. S.Vamshidhar (Khairatabad) 5,000  Mrs. Samantha Reddy 5,000  Wng. Cmdr. K. Prabhakar Rao 5,000  Mr. Sarvamangal V Parupudi, M/s. Anagha 5,000  P. V. Srinivas 5,000  Mr. T. Bhargav Kumar 5,000  

Miss Fouzya - Kalleda Alumni Student 5,000  

Mr. B. Naresh 5,000  Mr. Saidulu S.I of Chinnakodur 4,500  Mr. E. Ramohan Rao & Familey 4,496  

Mr. Bhikshapathi 4,000  Misc Cash 3,904  Ms. Ipsita Aggarwal (Cargill) 2,500 2,500Mr. Manish Sachdeva (Cargill) 2,500 2,500Mr. Rajanarsu 2,500  

P. Balraju 2,500  

Mr. Kanakaiah RMP 2,500  Ms. Aparna Karnakar 1,001  Anna Liza, Euro kids Teacher 1,000  Mr. Joshila Sainath, Euro kids Teacher 500  Ms. M. Saroja [E.T.T] 500  Mr. Devraj Alumni 500  Mr. Srinu Alumni 500  

Mr. Katerapally Praveen 500  Ms. Nageshwari, Euro kids Teacher 200  Mr. B. Swamy Raja 10  

Sub Total 1,139,739 248,890

Individual Donors (contd.) Contributions

Name of Donor In2008-09

Upto Nov 2009

Brought Forward 1,139,739 248,890

Mr. Bala Brahmanandam   100,000

Ms. Isabela Labak   94,700

Miss Ashna Reddy (Krithiga)   60,000

Ross Hamou Jennings (Cargill)   49,591

Mr. Irfan Hussain   25,000

Dr. T. Dharma Reddy   25,000

Mr. U. Srinivas   15,000

Sudhakar Prasad (IVY)   13,000

Sachin Prakash Wagh (IVY)   13,000

Luiz Prethi (Cargill)   11,684

Mrs. & Mr. Girija & J.N. Jagannath   9,000

Ravindra Babu K (IVY)   7,150

Ananth Krishnan C S (IVY)   6,500

Sivanand Akella (IVY)   6,500

Sriram C (IVY)   6,500

Aditya Satyadev (IVY)   6,500

Renuka Nair (IVY)   6,500

Sreenadh Murthy Kondru (IVY)   6,500

Sivaramakrishna Gutta (IVY)   6,500

Anita Mankala K (IVY)   6,500

Murali Bhavani (IVY)   6,500

Prabodh Saha (IVY)   6,500

Arun Kumar Kokku (IVY)   6,500

Shinoj V. Gangadharan (IVY)   6,500

Subramaniam (IVY)   6,500

Sudhir Kumar. P (IVY)   6,500

Srikanth Sadagopan (IVY)   6,500

Ravishankar. T (IVY)   6,500

Siva Gurusamy (IVY)   6,500

Dinesh Kandakatla (IVY)   6,500

Rajagopalan S (IVY)   6,500

Venkateshara Rao Sanka (IVY)   6,500

Naveen Reddy Alka (IVY)   6,500

Anirudh Rao Gauravaram (IVY)   6,500

Annamraju Raghava Krishna Mohan (IVY)   6,500

Seshadri Avatharam (IVY)   6,500

Sridhar Chavali (IVY)   6,500

Prashanth Reddy R (IVY)   6,500

Arun Kumar Kokku (On behalf of FSS Team) (IVY)   6,500

Ramesh Kumar Navrang Ram (for Client Support Team) (IVY)

  6,500

Manish Kumar Trivedi (PVR Team) (IVY)   6,500

Mr. Atul Kumar Verma (Cargill)   6,250

Sub Total 1,139,739 866,765

Individual Donors (contd.) Contributions

Name of Donor In2008-09

Upto Nov 2009

Total

Brought Forward 1,139,739 866,765 2,006,504Mr. Ravi Parmeshwar (Cargill)   6,250 6,250

Mr. Santosh Lalchand Diwani (Cargill)   6,250 6,250

Ms. Jitesh Kantilal Avlani (Cargill)   6,000 6,000

Sun Bin (Cargill)   5,659 5,659

Mr. A. Raju   5,157 5,157

Ms. AVBK Harini   5,000 5,000

Smt. Jayashree (Khairatabad)   5,000 5,000

Mr. Naseeruddin Mohammed   5,000 5,000

Mr. Kiran Addala   5,000 5,000

Mr. Ch. Kanakaiah   5,000 5,000

Nagendra Kumar (IVY)   4,500 4,500

Mutyam Vissamsetti (IVY)   3,500 3,500

Rachna Pande (IVY)   3,250 3,250

Rajanikanth Mandava (IVY)   3,250 3,250

Prakash V Sajjala (IVY)   3,250 3,250

Smruti Ranjan Dwibedy (IVY)   3,250 3,250

Akshay Tandon (IVY) 3,250 3,250

Praveen Kumar B (IVY) 3,250 3,250

Venkata Ramana Sasanapuri (IVY)   3,250 3,250

Ashwin Kumar S (IVY)   3,250 3,250

C. Vamsi Chandra (IVY)   3,250 3,250

Ms. Namita Kapoor (Cargill)   3,000 3,000

Praveen Kumar Devatha (IVY)   3,000 3,000

Mrs. E. Vandita Rao   2,765 2,765

Arudra Kumar (IVY)   2,600 2,600

Sripathi Rajagopal (IVY)   2,600 2,600

Ms. Kuldeep Choudhary (Cargill)   2,500 2,500

Kammela Dasaradhi (IVY)   2,500 2,500

Prabhakar Reddy Nomula (IVY)   2,167 2,167

Raja Rao Yerra (IVY)   2,167 2,167

Sudhakar Gurram (IVY)   2,167 2,167

Ms. Neelam Dhingra (Cargill)   2,000 2,000

Karumuri Vanisri (IVY)   2,000 2,000

Ramachandra Rao Baru (IVY)   2,000 2,000

Anil Kumar Samudrala (IVY)   2,000 2,000

Veeresh Meesala (IVY)   1,500 1,500

Ahlad Ninoy V (IVY)   1,500 1,500

Sumeet Chug (IVY)   1,300 1,300

Neeraja Sanem (IVY)   1,300 1,300

Ankit Malik (IVY)   1,300 1,300

Leela Maheswarao Kollipara (IVY)   1,300 1,300

Phaneendra Kumar Divi (IVY)   1,300 1,300

Subba Rao. L (IVY)   1,300 1,300

Sub Total 1,139,739 1,002,597 2,142,336

Individual Donors (contd.) Contributions

Name of DonorIn

2008-09Upto

Nov 2009

Brought Forward 1,139,739 1,002,597

Kamiya Maini (IVY)   1,300

K. Srinivasulu (IVY)   1,300

Abhishek Patnaik (IVY)   1,300

Ratheesh Radhakrishnan (IVY)   1,300

Sridhar Sajja (IVY)   1,300

Ravikanth Tadikonda (IVY)   1,300

Pinky Sinha (IVY)   1,300

Majeet Chayel (IVY)   1,300

Anshul Kulshrestha (IVY)   1,300

Swaroop Kumar Kokkula (IVY)   1,300

Suresh Kommavarapu (IVY)   1,300

Manikanda Pandian Rajan (IVY)   1,300

Sri Venkata Surya Viswa Rama Krishnam Raju Nadimpalli (IVY)

 1,300

Shyam Kumar K V (IVY)   1,300

Mallikarjuna Rao Janga (IVY)   1,300

Uma Maheswari S (IVY)   1,300

Mallikarjuna Gumidelly (IVY)   1,300

Bharathi Arun Makkala (IVY)   1,300

Riju Bhargava (IVY)   1,300

Ravikiran Ponugupati (IVY)   1,300

Rakesh Kumar Maini (IVY)   1,300

Prashant Anil Ranade (IVY)   1,300

Mr. S. Raju   1,160

Raghavender Reddy P (IVY)   1,000

Dindigala Venu (IVY)   1,000

Christopher Joseph Domingo (IVY)   1,000

Mr. A. Narsaiah   1,000

Ms. V. Swetha   935

Mr. Shetty Nitin (Microsoft)   500

Vijay Anand Myakala (IVY)   500

Grand Total 1,139,739 1,038,292

VolunteersErik Keading

RDF’s first volunteer from the US, continues to visit us. During the last 18 months he has had two stints with the RDF Schools. His report on the Narsimpalli children aroused sufficient emotion at the “Toast to Education” fundraiser in New York and brought in substantial donations to us through IRDF. Erik’s main focus is on empowering the teachers to constantly improve and innovate. He also feels that they have come a long way and that they do not need his help any more!

Isabella LabakA young student of Columbia University, New York and of dual nationality (US and Austrian) was introduced to us by Karishma, daughter of Mr. Rammohan and Mrs. Vandita. She spent four weeks teaching English both at Kalleda and Matendla. She lived on the food that was served to the students and managed to ward off any and all illnesses. At the end of her stay she not only insisted on paying for her maintenance costs, but upon her return to Austria she raised 20,000 Euros as a donation! The board is for ever grateful to her for this gesture of support.

Marena LinA student from Harvard, came to learn of RDF through our website and wrote of her interest in volunteering for a month. After several email exchanges and phone conversations, she was invited to do a project on teaching English using the Linguaphone. She spent an entire month teaching two sessions of students. Her report on her work is included in the annexure.

Village India Program 3The Washington University, St. Louis, USA, concluded their program for the third year in a row at the Vanitha Achuta Pai Vidyalaya in Kalleda. This year, their team was led by Professor Ken Botnick. He brought a total of eight students with him. A large number of our first year students were inducted into the program and were taught various subjects which included architecture, debating, interview techniques, videography, art etc. This year it was organized to have the least impact with their regular classes. Only their last regular period was eliminated.It is noteworthy to mention that during the admissions for the 2009-10 academic year, several aspirants cited the Village India Program as the reason for their desire to come to our Vidyalaya. As expected, our students enjoyed the interaction with the WashU students.

This year several of the WashU volunteers fell sick for extended periods of time. In some cases the

sickness was caused by some of the volunteers consuming local ice cream and other snacks. One student had to return pre-maturely.

The Village India program was originally started by Professor Glenn Stone, a well wisher of our foundation and the founder of our photoblog & videoblog groups. The intention was to both help RDF increase its revenues by charging the Washington University a fee for hosting the program and to provide their students an opportunity to experience Indian rural life. City comforts were never an issue in question. The program worked well for the first two years. However, this year there was evidence of a subtle shift in expectations from the Washington University side. If this program has to continue, then there has to be a better understanding of what the intent of the “partnership” means to both sides.

Elizabeth Sewell and Elizabeth HerbThey were introduced to RDF by Nikhilesh Rao and are our newest volunteers and plan to spend the better part of six months with the RDF Schools.

They are from Seattle, Washington, USA

and have a very rich background in international Cultures. Miss Sewell is well versed in Chinese (Mandarin) and has visited many countries. She has taught in schools in Thailand and China. Together

they will be teaching Spoken English and develop teen leadership programs in the RDF villages.

Volunteers proposing to come Medical Yatra

This program is to be conducted by a team of doctors from Ohio State who come every year to Gujarat. This year, they are proposing to come to Kalleda also. A member of their team, Dr. Satish Wagray has in the past workied at the Paravathagiri Primary Health Center (PHC). They plan on coming on the 24th of January, (subject to peace in the state) and conduct one day general medicine clinics at the PHCs in Vardhanapet, Paravathigiri, Nellikudur and Nekonda.

Sammy Katta A third year student at the

university of California at Berkeley studying biology is interested in volunteering at RDF schools this coming summer. She would like to teach the science teachers how to conduct new experiments in the science labs.  After teaching the teachers, she plans to observe the them as they teach their students. In addition to teaching labs, she wants to help out in the primary English classes. 

University of Iowa, USAI had the opportunity to meet with Prof. Rajagopal, at Iowa City, USA. Each year he conducts several three-week study programs in Rural India. Unlike the WashU’s Village India Program, where their students act as teachers, in the Iowa program, the US students continue to be the students and it is the NGO’s who do the teaching. They pay for their expenses and also give the participating NGO’s a lot of publicity for their effort. Prof. Rajagopal has expressed interest in working with RDF.

Schools/College NewsVital Statistics

Five Schools student enrollment and staff strength:Students Staff

2008-09 2009-10 2008-09 2009-10

Boys Girls Boys GirlsTeachin

gNon

teachingTeaching

Non teaching

RDF School, Kalleda 306 276 314 272 37 15 37 15RDF School, Matendla 211 179 201 167 31 7 29 5RDF School, Redlawada 49 56 47 65 9 1 9 3RDF School, Wadlakonda 57 79 72 93 7 1 10 3RDF School, Narsimpalli 41 22 25 40 7 1 8 5

Sub-Totals 664 612 659 637 91 25 93 31Grand Totals 1276 1296 116 124

Vanitha Achuta Pai Vidyalaya student enrollment:2008-09 2009-10

FIRST YEAR First YearSecond

YearFirst Year

Second Year

Boys Girls Boys Girls Boys Girls Boys Girls

MPC 26 22 37 24 49 37 24 16BPC 12 6 4 3 15 25 10 4CEC 24 12 15 10 54 36 23 12

Sub-Totals 62 40 56 37 116 100 58 31Sub-Totals 102 93 216 89

Grand Totals 195 305

Vanitha Achuta Pai Vidyalaya staff strength:2008-09 2009-10

Teaching 15 14Non teaching 14 13

Totals 29 27

Hostel usage:Boys 90Girls 46

Total 136

Mid-day meal programThe free mid-day meal program now for the first time includes all the five RDF schools. The total number of meals served per day in the schools is approximately 1420 costing around Rs.10,000 per day.

RDF School at KalledaThe board regretfully announces the sad demise of one of its oldest employees, Sri Mahboob who worked as an attender for many years. He died on July 10, 2009 due to a sudden cardiac arrest. He is survived by his wife and a young daughter. The children of the school decided to forego their mid-day meals for two days and contribute the money saved to buy a small piece of land in the name of his minor daughter. The school staff also decided to donate a day’s wage for the same purpose and RDF has earmarked a donation of Rs. 3,000.

The flagship school of the RDF system (Kalleda) is now in its 14th year of existence. It continues to excel in the quality and variety of education being provided to the students. The school has excelled in district level science contests and district level sports. It has also done will in and state and national level archery events.

Extensive use of the computer lab is being made to teach typing and many young children have learnt to type with all ten fingers! Good English pronunciation is also being taught via downloaded BBC programs and through the Linguaphone CDs.

Panoramic view if the Kalleda RDF School building

The school, taking queue from the RDF School at Matendla, successfully experimented with the concept of Student Teachers. Bright students were encouraged to teach classes when teachers were not available. This has brought about a new vigor in the learning process. The picture on the right shows a Student Teacher discussing about the human heart.

Finances in the school have vastly improved, thanks to the ready acceptance of an increased fee by all the parents. The school still reserves 10% of the seats for the poorest of the poor from whom nothing is required to be paid. This school also has a large number of Class Sponsors who donate in excess of Rs. 1,25,000 per year.

RDF School at MatendlaThis school has now entered its 12th year of existence. So far four batches of students have completed their matriculation.

During the last year there was a large turnover of teachers at the school. This was on account of a large number of teachers who were aspiring to become government servants going on leave to prepare for the District Service Commission exam. This absence caused a “necessity which mothered an invention”. The headmaster along

with his remaining staff undertook an experiment and let the students teach the classes. Several of the directors of RDF were personally present at some of these sessions and have all praises for the manner in which the students prepared the subject, delivered the lesson and involved the other students in the whole process. In doing this, they have learnt, that “teaching is the best form of learning”.

A Student Teacher busy giving a lesson in the sciences

The practice of students teaching students is used only in emergencies and the school has since filled all the staff vacancies.

Children of the RDF School, Matendla continue to excel in athletics and they are doing very well at the district and division level events. Twenty students participated in the district level sports events of whom eight were selected to the State level event.

Mike Gent’s LabColin and Alma Gent of England, who have been donating money on a regular basis over the last several years, in memory of their son Mike Gent, have again made a specific donation to improve the usage of the computer lab named after Mike. The money was utilized to buy 11 dedicated UPS’s to help keep the computers running all the time. With these UPSs installed, the utilization of the computers at Matendla will certainly go up. Our grateful thanks to Colin and Alma.

RDF School at RedlawadaThis school, by choice is limited to the 5th class. On account of difficulties faced with the teaching staff, a decision was made to replace all of them. A village committee has also been formed with Sri Chandraiah as the chairman. The school has since been functioning in a satisfactory manner. It is proposed that a new primiary school building be constructed in a “green” and “cost effective” manner for which funds would be made available from the principal donors for this school.

RDF School at WadlakondaAs mentioned in the previous year’s report, several rooms in the existing building were not safe for occupation. A temporary structure consisting of six class rooms was constructed during the summer and all classes have been moved into these rooms. Budget permitting, a new primary school building will be constructed in land belonging to the foundation.

RDF School at NarsimpalliThe school has finally shifted into the school’s new own building which were handed over to the Foundation by the project manager Sri Ram Subba Reddy on the 10th of August 2009. A small inaugural function cum puja was performed by Smt. and Sri J Ramudu, the principle donors of the 20 acre plot on which the school is built. Ribbons to several class rooms were ceremoniously cut by various dignitaries including the oldest school parent. Children, parents, staff, workers and the visiting dignitaries were served a lunch before dispersing.

The board has to now grapple with the question of how best to utilize the premises which far exceeds the current requirement of just seven classrooms from nursery to the 6th class.

The RDF School at Narsimpalli – inauguration

RDF Vanitha Achuta Pai Vidyalaya (Junior College)At a meeting of the board, before the current academic year began, the board took a decision that unless the enrollment of new students was above 400, the Junior College should be converted into a vocational school. This figure of 400 (plus the existing 100 who would go into the 2nd year) was needed to make the college more viable. In retrospect, it appears that the decision was flawed because of the conditionality. Having made a concerted enrollment drive, it was not possible to tell the aspiring candidates to go elsewhere – in case of insufficient enrollment. In view of this predicament, the college continues to function as a Junior College in spite of the fact that a mere 200 enrolled. The General Body and the new Board must consider and decide what direction to take in the future.

The first batch of students has passed out last year and the one glaring fact that is evident from the results is that the students who stayed in the hostel fared far better than those who lived outside. So it appears that if we are to continue running the Junior College and serve the community well, we must establish proper hostel facilities (rather than use classrooms). This can only happen if there are sufficient funds. And is something for the AGM to discuss in depth and decide.

During the summer months of 2009, a freak storm created extensive damage. The entire sheet metal roof of the administrative building lifted off as one mass due to an aerofoil effect induced by the shallow slope of the roof. The roof has since been replaced by RCC at a considerable expense of about 4.5 lakh rupees.

Building after laying the new RCC roof

Poor power conditions still plague the computer lab. Substantial investment is needed in either opting for 24 hour power supply or a generator and UPS systems.

An incident of ragging of juniors recently marred the peaceful and fraternal atmosphere of the Vidyalaya. The main culprits, very surprisingly were members of the anti-ragging committee which was constituted under the directions of the local police. The erring students were first rusticated for a period of 30 days. However, after a week this was commuted to community service which included the cleaning of bathrooms. Hopefully, this will never happen again.

AlumniThe Foundation continues to “hold hands” with the students who pass out of the RDF system. Whether they are pursuing higher education or a career in sports, RDF has been helping them realize their potential. After taking a glimpse of what they are doing, it can certainly be said that RDF is making a difference in most of their lives. From amongst those who have passed out of the RDF Schools at Kalleda and Matendla the following give a general idea of what they are doing now: 24 are gainfully employed having fairly decent jobs, some getting 5 figure

salaries; 1 has joined the Indian Army; 2 are pursuing a career in sports; 4 have entered the labor force; 4 are pursuing post graduate studies; 38 are in engineering colleges, one of them being at the IIIT in Basra; 2 are studying medicine; 18 are pursuing other short term professional courses in hotel management,

pharmacy, nursing, teacher training, multi media and medical lab technician; 60 are in other degree colleges pursuing sciences and arts; 11 are in Industrial Training Institutes/Polytechnics; 151 are in Junior Colleges; 3 are in foreign countries; and unfortunately 67 have discontinued studies, 12 due to marriage.

From amongst the approximately 81 students who passed out of the RDF Vanitha Achuta Pai Vidyalaya, 80 of them are pursuing higher studies. Some of these are also alumni of the RDF School system.

Several of the Alumni students are being financially supported by generous donors, without whose help these children would not have been able to pursue their dreams. It is fitting to recognize some of these benefactors. Sri Dukkipati Subba Rao (ex-director) and his wife Smt. Kavita regularly support

several children to continue higher studies. The beneficiaries this year are all girls and they are Izrat Fatima, M.Lavanya, V.Swathi, U.Bhagyalakshmi and K.Devalikashimi some pursuing intermediate and some degree courses.

Sri Harsha Reddy and Malla Reddy of USA are supporting three engineering students. They are Miss D.Lavanya, Miss K. Chaitanya and Mr. R. Karthik. Miss Lavanya has finished her engineering and is seeking employement.

Sri Vikram Reddy of USA, a multinational hotel manager himself, is supporting B.Narasimhulu in a course in Hotel Management.

The Burroughs School, St. Louis, MO., USA, with which Mr. Glenn Stone’s son, Jordan Stone was associated, has provided college scholarships to two students. The beneficiaries are Miss G. Rani and Mr. A.Abhilash both pursuing engineering.

The Rubin Foundation has provided two scholarships. The beneficiaries are Mr. Santosh and Miss Swaroopa both of whom are pursuing engineering.

Many alumni regularly volunteer at the schools helping in teaching, student counseling, publicizing the schools and bringing visitors etc.. It is proposed to give them more duties in accounting and purchases to start with.

Accounts – Graphical Representation

Accounts - Auditor’s Report

Marena Lin’s report on LinguaphonePreamble RDF students have a kind of eagerness and passion for their studies that seems so hard to find these days even in the best schools in the U.S., and I hope they never lose this as they continue their education.

Procedure Before each class, I transcribed each Linguaphone track onto a word document. I identified difficult words in each exercise (are, when, well, etc.) and had the students repeat them before learning the conversation. After we listened to the track three or four times, I would read through the conversation with my students, allowing each student a chance to say the more difficult parts of the conversation aloud. During this time, they would copy the actual conversation down, and we would listen and repeat several times. I would then pair them and ask them to practice before presenting. During their presentation, I would often note the sounds they had trouble with and have them repeat that part of it until they got it right. Every student had many opportunities to speak during the 40 minute period, and we would often practice a sound by going around the room.

The following sounds were especially difficult for my students:

Pronouncing “w”: well, where, were, wear, was.

Distinguishing between “w” and “v”. A good test of this is teaching them “very well” with finger gestures. “V” is two fingers, and “w” is three.

They also had trouble distinguishing between “f” and “p”.

They often don’t pronounce the “-ed” at the end of words like “finished”.

“’s” was also often left out. “Mother’s name” was often just “mother name”.

English teachers should enforce a rule that students only speak in complete sentences. For example, there are many words that students use on a day-to-day basis for which they could use complete sentences.

o “Finish” or “completed” should be “I have completed the assignment,” or “I am finished.”

o “Bell not ring” should be “The bell has not yet rung.”

o “Power ma’am, no” should be “The power is out.”

“He,” “she,” “it,” and general pronouns should be practiced at length. It’s important that these references become almost second nature, and this skill just comes with both hearing it repeatedly and being made to repeat popular constructions. “They have,” “they are,” “he is,” “she is,” etc.

This list is by no means complete, and I will improve on it as more sounds come to mind.

Brief Review of Each Class

You’ve heard a lot of what I have had to say about each class, but this is a brief rundown.

4th and 5th Class These students had a much shorter attention span with Linguaphone, but once it became clear what certain phrases meant, they were all ears and very creative with their responses. Their instruction will be very much improved by having a Telugu-speaking teacher who can translate the phrases to them.

6th and 7th Class Students need to make sure they review the material at least five times before they present the conversation to the class. They are always very eager to present what they have learned before having adequately practiced it. Of course, if they’re working alone on a computer, and they are being graded, there’s much less of an incentive to rush through the material, so this is not likely to be a problem. I was very impressed by many of the students’ ability to improvise on the Linguaphone tracks. For example, one conversation might read as follows:

A: Are you Chinese? B: No, I’m from Belgium.

Some students would change the nationality for themselves, and other students might jokingly chime in, “He’s from Pakistan.”

8th and 9th Class This class was very mature and had great discipline in learning the conversations. Their greatest weakness was pronunciation, and second to that was sentence structure. However, after listening repeatedly to the Linguaphone tracks, they were able to correct one other in pronunciation. This class would probably benefit most immediately from the Linguaphone program.

Conclusion Linguaphone is an excellent resource for students and teachers to better their understanding of correct pronunciation, and certainly, with repeated listening, they will excel. In addition to listening, however, I strongly believe that speaking practice is just as essential. Perhaps the most immediate evidence for this is that even after having heard thirteen students pronounce the word “well” correctly before him, the fourteenth student still said “vell,” and only after trying three more times was he able to get it correctly. “r” is especially difficult for French-speakers. We practiced with him on several occasions, and only with this was he able to improve his “r’s”. It may just be, however, that speaking practice becomes less important with more advanced sentence construction but is essential when students are only beginning to learn the proper phonics.

Additional Recommendations As we discussed, the sky is the limit with these students when they have access to the resources. Free listening and written resources are abundantly available online for students once or as they become well-versed with Linguaphone. A couple things that are possible with current resources are making use of free podcasts that can be subscribed to via iTunes, making American films available to the students, and

downloading news articles (The New Scientist, The New York Times, The Washington Post, etc.).

Podcasts The BBC, NPR, and many major newspapers have podcasts on every possible topic and in nearly every genre. Once students are weaned from the Linguaphone program, it may not be a bad idea to have a weekly reserve of podcasts on a central computer that they can access. I know of a Chinese student of one of my friends who picked up a British accent just from constantly listening to and repeating the BBC on his internet radio. To access podcasts, one downloads and installs iTunes and accesses the iTunes store on the left tab. A search of the iTunes store (top left field) should yield both podcasts and music tracks, and the former should be free. Next to “free,” you can click “subscribe” to download. NPR and BBC publish amazing weekly programs that iTunes can subscribe to and download automatically. Some great ones are the following:

Wait, wait, don’t tell me! Cartalk This American Life BBC World News

American Films Young children respond well to animated films regardless of the language in which the film is produced, and a video library might better engage them in the language. Disney films are great for engaging the younger children, but as we discussed, we won’t be able to use these films without a projector.

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