Help a poor child with books and supplies by Rural Development Foundation

Help a poor child with books and supplies

Thank you!

This program is fully funded because of donors like you.

Impact

Nagavalli’s parents find a way to educate her despite all odds.

Nagavelli Srilekha is from a poor family. Her parents were daily wage workers and they never had enough money to get by. Nagavalli often did agricultural work to earn for her family as well.

Nagavalli’s parents did not want their life for her. They wanted her to have an education and build a better future. But they could not afford her fees and did not know what to do.

RDF learnt about Nagavalli and decided to support her. They put her on the Fee Exempt list in the school and paid for her education expenses, simultaneously seeking donors to support her education.

When her father passed away, Rural Development Foundation found donors who would contribute the money required for her to continue in school. They were able to get long term sponsorship for her, which greatly eased the financial worries of her mother.

Since 1996, over 3000 families have been impacted by the work of RDF. Parents and villagers also support donations in cash and kind to the schools when they can. They actively take part in school discussions on key decisions. Nagavalli is now confident about her future and cherishes the dream of becoming a teacher.

Your help will give families a chance to break away from the cycle of poverty. Give now so children like Nagavalli get the future they deserve. You can give with confidence because every program on our platform is GIVEASSURED.

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By donating to this program

You will be sponsoring the benefits for different beneficiaries every month


About The Program

What the beneficiary gets
School Supplies
What you get
Tax Exemption
Periodic Reports
Program Description

RDF school was set up in 996, in order to bring literacy and education to poor rural families Kalleda, Telangana. RDF schools embrace a holistic learning philosophy and invest a lot in teacher training and skills development in children.

A specialized curriculum is developed by Silver Oaks School, Hyderabad. In addition, a Sports Development Program, and Social Awareness Program aimed to build life skills is provided to help them become financially independent and break the bonds of poverty Along with free education, the school also gives the students free uniform, books and all the supplies required for the children.

Beginning with 80 students in a portion of the ancestral family home, Kalleda, the School grew and now is a full-fledged school with close to 600 students from Nursery to Grade 10. When you donate to this program, a child will be able to afford books and supplies to complement his education

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About The NGO

Rural Development Foundation
Rural Development Foundation Logo
Rural Development Foundation

The Rural Development Foundation (RDF), is an Indian nonprofit organization with the mission of providing quality education for underprivileged rural children. They founded and continues to operate four schools and one junior college in Telangana State, taking a unique holistic approach to education through innovative programs and methodology.

Rather than using the conventional method of rote memorization, they focus on cultivating critical thinking skills and encouraging students to understand and apply concepts. They do this through special programs such as Social Awareness, Youth Empowerment, Student Leadership, and Sports. They strive to develop students who will become empowered leaders of their communities, thus working towards the vision of a transformed and prosperous rural India.

Their schools strive to create India's future leaders, people who not only respect their rich, cultural heritage but are also ready to lead their country into the future. Their constant endeavor includes their sincere attempts to inculcate into young minds a civic sense and social responsibility. Beginning with a humble enrollment of 80 students, the number of children attending RDF schools has increased to 1900, as more villagers enroll their sons and daughter in the schools.

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founders
Founded in 1991
NGO Leadership

Vandita Rao

areas of operation
Area of Operation
Area of Operation

Supplies | education

location of work
Location of Work
Location of Work

Andhra Pradesh

awards
Awards And Recognitions
Awards And Recognitions

2016: Jamsetji Tata National Virtual Academy (NVA) Fellow

2017: Maharashtrakanya Gaurav Puraskar

2017: The Pride of India Award 2015

last audited
Last Audited
Periodic Compliance Checks by GiveIndia

Renewals FY 19-20

reporting
Verification Visit Reports
Verification Visit Reports

Verification Report 1

Program Updates

Program Updates

22 September, 2023

An update on the program you are supporting

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Activities and work undertaken in the last 5-6 months

Total number of beneficiaries impacted was 570 out of which 40% were females, in Telangana


Challenges faced and next steps

RDF Schools has a huge rush in all schools for new admissions. The number of students increased to 2264 students for this year across 4 schools. The girl strength has also increased to 913 in the year 2022-23. Our students got selected at the district level Chekhumukhi Science Talent test and one girl also participated in the state level science congress. Like every year this year also seven students from RDF applied for the exchange program. From this E. Nithin selected for studying one year in US. Sports activities and participation in various events started and continued to be in full swing once schools started after the pandemic. The RDF students performed well in different sports and games.


Stories from the ground

Erram Prashanth, a Class 10 student of Rollakal School invented a spade like instrument, fashioned from a drum cap. With the help of this instrument, farmers are able to spread the grains and seeds easily in a short period of time. This time saving instrument will go a long way in easing the work of our hardworking farmers. Prashanth has brought our vision to life by being empowered to bring about a change and helping rural communities with his strong sense of social responsibility. We are so proud of the young change-maker, Prashanth.


6 January, 2023

Celebrating Abhinay’s Resilience and Success

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Activities and work undertaken in the last 5-6 months

The Rural Development Foundation (RDF), founded in 1996, is an Indian nonprofit organization with the mission of providing quality education for underprivileged rural children. RDF founded and continues to operate four schools and one junior college in Telangana State. Beginning with a humble enrollment of 80 students in school, the number of children attending RDF schools has increased to 2340 in 4 schools & junior college, as more villagers enroll their children in our schools. Today, RDF’s 5000 alumni are either employed with companies or are self-employed. They have made the journey out of poverty to a position to financially support their families. We have a robust sports program that trains and enables students with the potential to compete at an international level. RDF’s focus is not only on studies and sports but also on students’ uniforms, books and nutrition. We are providing Midday meals, a pair of uniforms and text and notebooks to the students. We are trying to educate the children in our schools with the funds from you. Nearly our 114 teachers are trying in our schools to empower the children. Nearly we are serving 2137 children in our schools. In our all schools our students are getting good results and they are performing well in all areas. We are providing all the text and note books to all our students.

We encouraged our students to participate in all activities to enrich their knowledge. We conducted few programs in our schools like Balamela (activities by the student), Children’s day, National festivals and local festivals to know its importance. Our students are good at sports and they participated in national and international level in different games and sports and they got few medals.


Challenges faced and next steps

Just like the whole world, we also faced a few challenges especially after the schools reopened. We took more care for students' health by maintaining physical distance and the safety measurements followed in the schools. We regularly inform all the students, parents and teachers about the safety precautions in this pandemic situation. We also motivated and conducted vaccination drives in all our schools with the help of government health workers. We also got numerous requests from the nearby villages to take more of their children as students, this is something we could not accommodate as we would have needed to arrange bus facilities, construct new toilets and more salaries for teachers as well as increase our mid day meal quota - all of which requires more funds which we do not have.


Stories from the ground

We celebrate Rollakal School student, Varkala Abhinay’s victory in the Class 10 Board Exams this year, despite several health challenges. Abhinay has been suffering from back pain, neurological disorders and other medical issues since he was young. Due to this, his academics suffered, though he tried his best. We were worried about him once he reached Class 10, given that it is the crucial Board Exam year!

The management and staff of the school supported and motivated him in various ways to ensure some measure of success in the exams. We are so proud of the way that the school supported him and stood by him till the completion of the exams. We were so happy when he received his results with a GPA of 7.0 – a stellar effort on Abhinay’s part. It is a matter of pride for everyone that he cleared his exams with a good score despite his troubles. We celebrate his brave spirit and resilience. We would also like to thank our dedicated school team for standing by him, hand holding him, helping his parents provide their support too, in order to reach his goal. We pray that he continues to be motivated and achieve every success that he deserves in life.


31 May, 2022

A little help goes a long way.

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Activities and work undertaken in the last 5-6 months

Milestones achieved:

• Our extraordinary performance in Archery continues apace with one senior student selected to the Nationals and two students participating in the sub-junior Nationals. • Four students were selected to university trials for Nationals in Archery competitions • 15 girls had written the NTR trust scholarship test. This is a statewide examination for students in the 10th class to be awarded a Rupees 5000/- scholarship. • Three girls were selected INSPIRE AWARD. This central government initiative is to promote a scientific temper and caries awards of Rs.10, 000/- for selected projects. • One student selected national 3D visual Arts competitions

  • We got 1st, 2nd, 5th and 6th rank in Educational World school ranking.

Major events:

• To improve spoken English, a coin is circulated amongst students, which is handed over to anyone who fails to speak the English language. This “motivator”, along with teamwork has helped immensely in building confidence.

Areas covered (cities, states, regions etc): Villages

People impacted: Over 600 students participated in the event.

The Impact:

"I am Sneheth studying in 10th grade in RDF Matendla School. My father is a school bus driver and during this pandemic, my father has lost his job. My mother is a beedi (tobacco) roller and she also was unemployed now. It was difficult for them to afford all the study materials that I required like notebooks. Therefore, I had also started doing physical labour to support my studies. But with the support of Give India, I and my brother received books and have continued our studies at school without engaging in any physical labour.”

"My name is Archana, I lost my father just before corona and it has been very hard times for our family. I have a younger sister and now my mother runs a small tea stall in our village and this is our only source of income. After my father has passed away, my mother has been working tirelessly to support me and my sister. During this time, I am grateful to have received free education in our RDF school and to have received notebooks with the help of Give India donors.”


Challenges faced and next steps

Challenges faced:

The past six months were difficult for having to convince Parents of online teaching. Besides the non-availability of smartphones, parents were also concerned about the impact of mobiles on their children. It required a fair amount of personal one-on-one convincing to motivate the Parents to adopt this new technology. Donations helped to defray the costs of smartphones to these first-generation learners. It was a learning process for the teachers to adopt to online mode of teaching. We were supported by volunteers from Hyderabad who visited the schools and taught them about the modalities.

Covid related hurdles:

The tragic loss of some parents and the traumatic impact on the students is another painful transition that we had to experience.

Overcoming Hurdles:

Teachers with the help of students were able to prevail upon Parents to follow COVID related behaviour.

Goal/aim/activity plan for the next 6 months for this program:

• The focus would continue to provide for smartphones for all students and to help the late joiners to catch up with the courses. We also hope to continue to be able to support the children through donations for notebooks and stationery.


Stories from the ground

Maloth Anjali is from Redlawada School. The pandemic hit her family hard, as it did many rural families. Her parents were daily wage earners and they lost work and income during these very tough times. Her father also contracted Covid-19 which made life even more difficult for them. However, through all these unprecedented challenges, Anjali did not lose heart. A clever student, she attended her online classes regularly during the day. After completing her classes, she helped her mother with household work. She learnt how to make traditional recipes such as sorghum rote (traditional unleavened bread).

To support her family financially, she decided to go work in the fields. She took on all family responsibilities without any complaint. We admire her grit and strength of spirit which helped her make many changes in her life to help her family. She says, “I have developed life skills during the pandemic. These skills helped me to develop myself and run my family smoothly.”


30 September, 2021

The pandemic has opened up new ways of teaching and learning.

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Activities and work undertaken in the last 5-6 months

The pandemic has opened up new ways of teaching and learning. Our teachers have been using YouTube videos, WhatsApp, and Zoom for online classes. An RDF well-wisher introduced CALMS (Content Authoring and Learning Management System) - an integrated online learning environment that helps students, individuals, and institutions enhance their knowledge, skills, and learning abilities. CALMS uses the experience and research knowledge of eminent professors, educators, and practitioners from top institutions, making it unique.A CALMS coach works with our teachers to adapt the software for our needs. One can ask questions directly through the interface, which makes learning easy. We thank our supporters for helping us build a holistic learning environment for our students.We conducted a school-wide training program on how to run online classes. We have nearly 1877 students.RDF not only provides quality education but also ensures the overall development of a student. Students are encouraged to participate in all cultural and art & craft competitions. In the present situation, most parents are unable to afford notebooks and stationery. With your support, we have provided them with the essential items.


Challenges faced and next steps

In the pandemic situation, most rural families lost their source of income. With the support of GiveIndia, we gave notebooks and stationery to the students. They stayed at home and took the Covid precautions and medicines. Due to a large number of beneficiaries, we could not help all of them. Your constant support will ensure that all needy families can get help to survive the pandemic situation.


Stories from the ground

Stories from the ground:RDF students were invited to an online international competition, ‘The Great Indian Festival’ in Ottawa, Canada. The focus was to showcase Indian Culture. The categories included folk dance, folk music, essay writing, photo story, and video blog. RDF students won 1st and 2nd place in the video blog, folk music, photo story and group folk dance categories. We are pleased to share that both finalists in the video blog category were RDF students! Winners were chosen through an online voting system. The winners and other participants were ecstatic to receive their certificates, feeling happy and proud to represent RDF and India on an international platform.


23 March, 2021

Books and supplies are needed now more than before

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Rural Development Foundation India has doubled down on its effort to ensure as many children as possible have access to high quality education even during the lockdown and pandemic restrictions. In these times when the world seemed to have been on pause, our students have been relentless in their studies and advancing their skill set. They are using even more use of books and school supplies as every RDF school has worked on sending worksheets and assignments for the students to finish. Though a lot of teaching tools have gone digital, the students still rely on notebooks and textbooks for learning. There are still many students that are undeserved and we are working tirelessly to ensure that they too have the same access to education as the rest. It has also been very heartening to see our students step up to the occasion and help eachother out wherever possible. They have been working together to do homework and this has fostered a great sense of comradery even in these tough times. We have even sought help to get mobile devices for students that do not have one so that they can partake in digital learning. We would like to thank you all for your continued support!



5 July, 2020

Books are our close friends

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Books are our close friends




Every child is entitled to an education in India, but unfortunately, not every child is getting quality education. Indians, like many others, want better education for their children. One solution is quality education at a price families can afford. For this purpose RDF schools offer a workable student to teacher ratio so that students get more focused instruction and individual attention. Lessons are fine-tuned to encourage children to think creatively, solve problems and not just memorize. Each day is an electrifying experience for these children with co-curricular activities like sports and cultural programs, not to forget, a daily sumptuous and nutritious meal.
We are very happy to conduct different types of activities to enrich the skills of students. we conducted the ”Multiplication Tables Awareness Month Celebrations” in our school successfully. Most of the students performed in the following programs enthusiastically.
👉 Reciting multiplication tables
👉Singing multiplication tables
👉Chappatla aata on multiplication tables
👉Bathukamma aata on multiplication tables
👉Dancing on Multiplication tables
👉Playing tricks with multiplication tables
👉Oggukatha on multiplication tables
👉Burrakatha on multiplication tables
👉Jokes on multiplication tables
👉Skits on multiplication tables
👉Quiz competition on the dias
We were mesmerised by the students’ performances. All the students were aware and learnt maximum multiplication tables by this event.
We conducted National science day and national Math day in our institutions. On the Science day all the students prepared their own exhibits and they presented them in a fair. Along with these activities we conducted many more activities like cultural, sports and extra curricular activities.



22 July, 2019

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Program Update


In the last 8 months, our students reached wonderful achievements. Two student elected Telangana state level sports schools. Our students participating all social awareness programs. Students have fared well, scoring good grades and maintaining an attendance of over 98%. We are delighted to inform you that schools run by RDF achieved 100% in the recent Board exams. Your generous donation has helped RDF pay the monthly salaries of our teachers who help our children excel in both academics as well as extra-curricular activities like sports. To learn more about our work please visit https://rdfindia.org. Special training in English by soft skills trainer who thought Rhymes and storytelling. Synchrony financials trained about 32 students from high school to speak and understand English. The school has a special activity on every Saturday called Balanandam, where children are encouraged to display their talent in drawing, painting." We are giving special coaching for games and sports like valley ball, running, Kabaddi , Khokho, chess and carom.


We are planning to develop all students’ communication skills. We are planning to introduce village and our traditional games which were our grandparents played. Students are forgetting our tradition and culture so we want to continue our tradition and culture which were followed by our ancestors. We will develop the students in all round development skills. Rural kids do not know about Science and technology. We have been giving training Students to learn computer 7 skills.


Story from the field


RDF schools provide plenty of opportunity for students to showcase their skills and talent. After all, academic development and achievement is not the only measure to gauge students’ progress in school.
In RDF Schools, an entire wall has been dedicated to display students’ art work. Seeing their work up on the wall gives our students a lot of encouragement and support for their unique talents. In fact, RDF teachers are trained to identify children’s skills and talents and encouraging them to work in their own areas of interest, thus cultivating their inherent skills. The freedom to work on their art really allows their imagination to soar! The smiles and sense of pride to see their work on the wall is really special!
Your donation very use full to students, they brush up their hands drawing.


MEO & Government school visitors admiring the Art Wall
As part of an Educational tour, some Government school students and teachers visited the school. They were amazed to see the Art Wall and commented that children should be given opportunities to showcase their special abilities, be it art, craft, dance, music or sports. They were so taken by the idea that they spoke about it to their families and other community members too, which made our students even happier.
We feel really happy to see RDF children blossoming in so many ways. We thank our teachers for working so hard to nurture individual talent and creating an atmosphere of care and encouragement RDF schools.


What is the expected total number of beneficiaries in this program for FY18-19?620
What is the number of beneficiaries/ benefits provided in this program, Year-To-Date264
Village/City/State where project is locatedREdlawad, Rollakal, Warangal Rutal, Telangana.
Total Budget for the project for FY18-191042282
Total Expenses for the project YTD1042282

23 May, 2019

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Program Update


Every child is entitled to an education in India, but unfortunately, not every child is getting quality education. Indians, like many others, want better education for their children. One solution is quality education at a price families can afford. For this purpose RDF schools offer a workable student to teacher ratio so that students get more focused instruction and individual attention. Lessons are fine tuned to encourage children to think creatively, problem solve and not just memorize. Each day is an electrifying experience for these children with co-curricular activities like sports and cultural programs, not to forget, a daily sumptuous and nutritious meal.


Parents pay subsidized fees according to their affordability, starting at 6000 rupees ($100 USD) a year per child, rising to 13,000 rupees ($210 USD) a year per child. On an average, ten per cent of students across all schools enjoy fee concession, either fully or partially, according to their financial status. RDF ensures that no family is paying beyond their means. Beginning with a humble enrolment of 80 students, the number of children attending RDF schools has increased to 2400, as more villagers enroll their sons and daughter in our schools. Today, RDF’s 2728 alumni are either employed with companies or are self employed and few are perusing their higher studies. They have made the journey out of poverty to a position to financially support their families.


Our teaching staff, most of whom are first generation learners themselves, completed their education in Telugu medium. Thus, they are provided high quality training and mentoring support in order to empower them to do their best to teach in English medium schools – proof of RDF’s impact on the local, rural community.


Story from the field


The Success Story of The Pride of RDF
It is a day of excitement for Master Raju, a student of RDF Redlawada School, when he received the good news of his project getting selected as the best project in the state level Science-Inspire Programme. Raju has been inspired by his teachers and parents to do his and the result is a prize-winning project!
The process started with Raju collecting relevant information regarding the production Biogas. After a few days of experimentation, he came out with a plan. Accordingly, we should take two or three buckets of cow dung in a drum and seal it air tight for about 15 days. Then pour water-added liquid cowdung into the drum. Later, it changes into an organic substance, which is potentially suitable for generating biogas, made up of Methane and Carbon dioxide. A metallic pipe should be used to connect the drum to a stove and we should start using the gas for cooking. As long as we use gas, we should add every day liquid cow dung to the substance kept in the drum, for even if we miss adding liquid cow dung on a particular day the process will discontinue and we have start all over again.
It is nice to learn that a prize-winning science project has come from a humble boy. Raju’s parents, farm workers, take a lot of interest in his education. The generous financial support of Give India and the concessions allowed by the school Management, enabled Raju get an education in a reputed school. Free supply of stationery, text books and MDM helped Raju. All his classmates and teachers love him for his good behavior. They all congratulate him on his wonderful performance in the Science-Inspire and wish him the very best in all his future endeavors.
Raju who comes from a poor family. His parents were labors. He has two elder sisters. He joined in his 2nd class in our RDF school in 2010. From that onwards he successfully completed his studies with good performance.


What is the number of beneficiaries/ benefits provided in this program, Year-To-Date637
Village/City/State where project is locatedRDF Redlawada High School Redlawada Village Nekkonda Mandal Warangal Rural District Telangana 506 369 INDIA, RDF Rollakal High School Rollakal Village Parvathagiri Mandal Warangal Rural District Telangana 506 365 INDIA
Total Budget for the project for FY18-195320000
Total Expenses for the project YTD7360000

28 February, 2018

Sports and Social awareness events conducted at the Kalleda High School

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Kalleda High School organized fun games and contests for all the children on the occasion of National Mathematics Day in December. The life and achievements of Maths genius Srinivasa Ramanujan were discussed during morning assembly, along with the importance of Maths in daily life.


Bala Mela


The cultural event called Bala Mela is the culmination of cultural, literary and sports-for-fun activities and almost all students participate very enthusiastically in these programs.



Traditional Games


RDF schools also balance the advancement of web and mobile based gaming with traditional games. Games such as Karra Billa (Gilli-Danda), Ashta Chamma (ancient board game), Naela Banda (Oonch-Neech), Vaikuntapali (Snakes & Ladders), Donga Police (Robbers & Police), Goti (Marbles), Cycle tyre races and 4 stones are actively promoted and played in RDF schools.


Social Awareness


Children, along with some teachers conducted a ‘Social Awareness Program’ on the issue of Child Marriage, and Alcoholism. Through focused activities, they got the participants thinking about these issues and how they can be resolved within their communities.


Sports & Games


Besides education, the RDF students are excellent in sports. Many students participate in the district and state level competitions and a few of them at the national level. Six of our students played for the district Kabaddi tournament held at Warangal and Master Rajesh went to New Delhi to participate in the National of Taekwondo and won medals.



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