Cornerstone Education Centre

In North Bengal, India, many people work in the region’s tea plantations for less than $13 each month. Families here have lived in absolute poverty for generations. Children are routinely pulled from school to help earn family income—denying them the tools they need to escape poverty.

Even when children do attend school, the teachers are often among the poorest paid and least qualified. Highly-qualified teachers tend to take more attractive jobs in urban centres, shunning the remote tribal assignments.

As a result, many children do not start reading until grade eight, and 98 percent of students in tribal schools do not pass the standard School Board exam.

Double the impact of your gift

You have an opportunity to provide life-changing education for children in North Bengal. Your gift will be matched, its impact doubled, as you help children learn to read and write. Children will also study the Bible and learn how to follow Jesus.

According to Nicholas Narjinary, Director of the North Bengal Outreach Ministry, many poor tribal families face this impossible situation. With an average wage of just 50 cents a day, most families have barely enough money to feed their families, let alone pay for tuition, books and uniforms. Without assistance, most of these families could never dream of sending their children to school.

Partners International is working with the North Bengal Outreach Ministry to bring the Good News of Jesus to the tribal people of North Bengal, and help them escape poverty and darkness. But lack of access to quality education is hampering progress. It means that the 80% of local people who are illiterate can’t even read their own Bibles—or gain the skills they need to improve their economic situation.

Work has started at the Cornerstone Education Centre

With the help of Partners International, construction on a new primary and secondary school in North Bengal has already begun. The schools will serve 230 students in Grades 1-12, and be registered with the local government for full accreditation. Student fees (charged on a sliding scale), Partners International child sponsorship and ongoing donations from Partners International donors will provide funding to sustain school operations.

The Cornerstone schools will make it possible for North Bengal Outreach Ministries to provide high quality Christian education to all its students. The children will learn Bible stories and songs, which will aid their understanding of God’s love for them and the Good News of Jesus, and encourage a lifestyle exhibiting Christian values. Through education, the ministry will also foster communities of learning within its churches, so that leaders can be more easily developed and discipleship made easier. Local congregations will grow much stronger when new leaders have the ability to read and write, and more effectively teach God’s word.

Help complete two school buildings in North Bengal

Canadian donors and local Indian partners have already committed more than $600,000 to the project. Construction on the first primary school and the high school began in February 2008. The first floors are now completed on both of these school buildings, and primary school classes and a high school class are already meeting in the high school.

We need your help to raise $80,000 to complete these schools, change young lives and strengthen families and churches with a precious gift of education.

Your gift for the Cornerstone Education project will be matched by a generous donor to help reach this critical goal—and double the impact of your donation.

Please send your gift before December 31 to ensure your tax receipt for 2009!

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