About
The tribal school,Protima Child and Woman Development Centre(PCWDC) was opened on June 21, 2007, with 41 multi-age students and 2 female teachers from the tribal community. The school was established by Dr. Protima K. Roy and Dr. Rabindra N. Roy. These tribal children are first-generation learners. Located in Durgapur, West Bengal, India, the school is a division of Hem Sheela Model School(HSMS), which was established by Dr. Rabindra N. Roy in loving memory of his parents in 1995 . HSMS is a sister school of Drury University, USA.
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Creation of Tribal School
The PCWDC is located in a village named Khatguria. This village is about 6 miles away from the main campus of Hem Sheela Model School.
In 2007, a survey of the village community was conducted. The main purpose of this survey was to get to know the village head along with the villagers, for the purpose of starting an elementary school.
Families were interviewed in 'full moon light' because many had to go to work during the day. At that time, the village did not have any electricity, but at present it does.
The leaders of the village designated an area for the elementary school to be built. The village community, although mostly illiterate, supported the idea of building an elementary school in their village and agreed to send their children to the school. This is despite the fact that villagers had a choice to send their children to a government school located far away from this village.
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Making Dreams Real
Extensive research, discussions with community members including tribal women, childhood memories, several journeys to Indian villages alongwith educational experiences in America - all set the stage for starting the tribal school. Drs. Rabindra and Protima Roy were convinced that only through education and training they could improve the quality of their lives.
"Based on my observation and interaction with the tribal children, I came to the conclusion that they are neither culturally inferior nor cognitively less competent than their counterparts in other schools. Instead, many of their skills are highly developed and sophisticated"
Dr. Protima K. Roy
Our Mission
To instill the value of education in tribal children and women
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To provide them with basic education
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To help them acquire skills (eg. technology )that they need to get a job in order to live successfully in the 21st century.
Our Objectives
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Satisfy primary needs
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Education for the underprivileged
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Students to be brought at par with the main stream
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Reduce number of dropouts
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Economic upliftment
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Providing hygienic environment
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Providing women empowerment
Collaborative efforts to work with villagers
Service and security staff are hired from the village.Also, villagers have been hired for construction work. This creates a congenial atmosphere,employment opportunity as well as belongingness for the institution.
Donation is welcome and it is 100% tax free. You could designate whether the money should go for the school children or for women empowerment. We invite donors to visit the school for a first hand experience.
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We Need Your Support Today!
“My goal will be achieved when I see the economically challenged tribal children, especially girls, graduating from university and going back to their villages to upgrade the lives of millions.”
We will ever remain grateful to all our American colleagues, friends and trustees of Drury University for their generous gifts and guidance in support of this humanitarian project for poorest of the poor.
