Click on the small photographs below for a larger version which can be used with an interactive whiteboard.

Many Indian children do not receive education beyond the age of ten, which is when they leave Elementary School. If you leave school at ten you will have only a very basic education and not be able to get a good job or improve your way of life. Most girls will help their mothers to look after the house or work in the fields to earn money, boys will also end up working at the same job as their father. The Diocese of Vellore runs several different schemes to help poor children like these learn a new trade and improve their lives:

• In the north of the Diocese, at Palamaneer, there is a residential school where girls are taught needlework and tailoring skills. There are also several non-residential sewing schools in church buildings around the Diocese.
• At Katpadi there is a residential school for boys where they can follow a course in electronics or practical woodworking. Girls are now starting to be admitted to this institute as well.
• There are several small computer centres where young people can come for training which will later help them get office jobs.

Palamaneer

The girls in these photographs are sometimes called "high school dropouts" because they have not been to school since they were in Year 5. Now they have the chance of living at the centre in Palamaneer, where they will take a three year course and learn to do beautiful hand embroidery and to make clothing. They will take examinations so that they can get certificates to teach needlework, and when they finally go back home they will be able to take a sewing machine with them. For many of these girls this time at Palamaneer can change their lives forever! Their village homes are very poor, and often when they first come they are dirty, wearing ragged clothes, unhealthy,and poorly fed, some may have serious health problems such as polio or be deaf and dumb. They are given new sarees and training in basic health, handling money, cookery, gardening and road safety, they may even be taught skills like brick making and building! Of course, sometimes it turns out that a girl is actually not very good at needlework, and if this is the case then she will be given other help - for example she might be given a loan so that she can set up a little shop.

About 55% of the girls who come to the centre are Hindus, 5% are Muslim and 40% Christian, but as this is a Christian institution they all attend a Christian act of worship every day, follow Bible Studies and are given their own Bible. Many of them think about becoming Christians, but it is very difficult for them to keep their faith when they leave Palamaneer and are married to a Hindu boy.

Often girls are chosen to come to the Palamaneer Centre because they have a disability, such as hearing problems or problems with walking. These girls would normally not be able to make a good marriage, but when they go back home with all their new skills and a way of earning money then this means that their prospects are much better. Many of the girls keep working for the Palamaneer centre as "outworkers" once they go home, and send their work to the centre for sale.

Katpadi

At Katpadi Christian boys (and a few girls) from Year 8 and older come to take courses in woodworking, mechanics or engineering. The students take state examinations. Because this is a Christian institution it does not receive any money from the government and so, unfortunately, it has not been able to buy any new equipment for the students for several years. The students come from poor families and the church believes this is an important way for it to work with the poorer villagers; a special effort is made to recruit deaf and dumb students who might otherwise struggle to find jobs. Many of the students who train here as carpenters end up being employed on the railways.

Computer Centres

The young women at this computer centre at Gandhi Nagar were not able to finish their time in secondary school because their families could not afford the school fees. As well as being trained in computer skills they also study English and social studies, and eventually they should be able to get office based jobs which they would have had no chance of getting before. This is an especially large centre and about 50 people are able to attend for courses at any time - in the country areas there are smaller study centres like this one, which can cope with a smaller number of students. Most of these students are dalits from Hindu villages, but because this is a Christian training centre the day's work always starts with a Bible class lasting half an hour.

Some Secondary Schools in the Diocese of Vellore have computers, but the Elementary (Primary) Schools normally do not.