In September 2000, a very excited Zuleika Dhanny, co-ordinator/principal of the New Beginnings Educational Centre at No 7 Cassia Drive, Petit Valley, spoke to me about the school started in 1989 by the Association for Development Education (ADE) of which she is Vice President.
Dhanny was full of dreams for the Centre where at the time, with four other caring human beings like herself, the learning disabled and slow-learning children were being taught five days a week. She wanted adults to call with suggestions of whatever courses they would like to learn and why so that she could cater for them on Saturdays. She wanted to start teaching home economics "so they will learn how to utilise whatever they have around to prepare nutritious meals." But her main dream was "for expansion, not only to the present building so that we can have more children but to open branches in the east, even as far as south."
Her plea was "we need buildings and are open to any offers at all." Little did the principal of the Centre know that in just one short year these dreams would be crumbling around her as when school closes for Christmas vacation next Friday December 7, there is no guarantee that the Centre will be re-opened in January. "Right now we are in dire straits, we are strapped for funds, there is just no money to run our school because we give a lot of individualised teaching so we cannot really have many students. A lot of them are from disadvantaged homes, some with single parents, others with non-working parents" says a very distraught Dhanny, who has tried to raise scholarships for these students "when we can get it."
One major problem is that the fees being collected are just not enough to pay teachers their salaries and upkeep the school and says Dhanny "strangely enough people do not like to give donations for support services of a school to pay salaries and utility bills." Why, she just doesn't know. While some fees are never paid because it is felt that the Centre is a charitable organisation. And there has been no help from the Government especially at this time of elections which Dhanny is certain "has kept us back."
The Centre, which does not extend to the physically or mentally challenged, has been filling a need for the sight and hearing impaired, as well as some who are physically and mentally challenge "because many a time they have nowhere to go and because of their ages they may not be admitted to organisations that deal with those challenges. Right now we have two physically handicapped children who are too old to go into a school of that nature, and we have another child from the St Michael's Home For Boys. We try our best to facilitate people simply because we have charitable status and feel we should go tht extra mile" says the beleaguered principal.
And although Dhanny and her staff have been raising money through fund-raising projects, and have received some help from the Rockafeller Foundation through J.B. Fernandes, it is not enough to maintain the school where children must be patiently taught in remedial education classes limited to twelve per class since "it is impossible to teach more than 12 learning challenged children in one class. Remember they are all at varying levels and there must be homogeneous grouping according to their ability."
If you are reading this article and can help in anyway whatever so that not only will the doors of the New Beginnings Educational Centre re- open in January, but can be kept running, please call Zuleika Dhanny at 633-0112 or 637-7629.