UNITED SIKHS manages donations received from the community to fund a scholarship programme to provide premium education to bright and needy village students.

Download the STARAE leaflet and donation form for your location below :
North America Flyer	EU/UK Flyer	Asia Flyer

STARAE

STARAE (Scholarships as a Tool for Accelerating Rural Academic Excellence) was set up to give star bright village school going children the opportunity to study in private schools. In this way, they would be provided with a study environment which would give them the maximum chances of working to their highest potential. The need for such a scheme was evident to UNITED SIKHS volunteers on a visit to Panjab as they saw that government schools were clearly not providing adequate support for certain students showing high potential due to a lack of funds, facilities and even teaching staff. Teacher absenteeism has hit an all-time high in Panjab in recent years and continues to be a serious problem there.

Currently, four schools in Amritsar participate in the scheme: Standard Public High School, Dhulka, Saint Soldier Day Boarding School, Jandialla Guru, SDS Pheruman Public School Rayya and Sri Guru Harkrishan Public School, Amritsar. To date 16 STARAE scholars have been selected from these four schools based on their performance in a test and interview.

2005 saw the end of the first year of the scholarship scheme. UNITED SIKHS volunteers visited the four schools for feedback on the progress of the scholars. All scholars have undoubtedly benefited from the scheme. Certain scholars stand out above the rest. One such scholar is Gurpreet Singh. He had wanted to attend a good school, however his parents had told him that they did not have enough money to afford to send him to one.

When the Principal of Saint Soldier Day Boarding School told his parents about STARAE, he joined the school. Gurpreet Singh joined the school one month late - after his parents came to know that he could be adopted under the STARAE programme. He caught up the work he had missed over this period of time in just three days. He also 'came' first overall in his class with an average of 98.2%.

The scholars are not the only ones to have benefited under STARAE, however. The scheme has also given the parents a chance to play a more active role in their childrens' learning. Before the project was started, a meeting of teachers, students, as well as parents was called in order to brief them on the scheme. Parents were also invited to the feedback visit. In the case of one girl, Rajwinder Kaur, initially her father did not see how his attending the briefing meeting would be beneficial. With the best interests of Rajwinder Kaur in mind, however, UNITED SIKHS insisted that he attend. He attended this meeting as well as the feedback meeting. He now takes a more active role in the education of his daughter which is positive for him as he enjoys playing this role as well as being invaluable support for his daughter through these crucial years of her development. Rajwinder Kaur was a weak student but at the end of this year she has scored an average of 95.4%, coming second in her class.

The first years of the STARAE Project have proved to be a success. All scholars have continued to study under the scheme from 2005 to date.

Click here for details of the STARAE project.