A former Bowral High School student has returned home to celebrate the anniversary of a charitable group she formed.
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Jennifer Star, returned to Bowral and celebrated the tenth anniversary of Tara.Ed, the charity group she formed with the Rotary Club of Berrima District.
Originally, the aim of Tara.Ed (which means ‘star teacher’ in Hindi), was to increase the quality of education in eight rural schools in Maharashtra State, India, through teacher training, provision of basic teacher and classroom resources, sponsorship of school fees, equipment and uniforms for 50 underprivileged girls.
Ten years later, the project has almost reached its 2020 vision of providing 20,000 students with quality education through improved teacher standards.
As of May 3, 2018, Tara.Ed had reached 18,200 students including 650 girls. Well on the way to meeting its 2020 vision.
In addition, a project which in 2017 involving refugee teachers from Afghanistan continues; the Australian-Afghanistan Teacher Collaboration Programme.
This is an online mentoring programme which draws on elements of Tara.Ed.
To date, 22 Afghani teachers and 13 Australian teachers have collaborated to provide continuing professional development, training and support to teachers in crisis and conflict situations.
Some 650 girls in Bamiyan Province have been the beneficiaries in Bangladesh, Tara.Ed’s impact has seen the creation of a school uniform drive and a teacher sponsorship programme.
The results speak for themselves. The improved quality of teaching has resulted in excellent school exam results.
All 29 students who attempted the Junior School Certificate in 2018 passed thus enhancing their ability to advance to higher levels of education.
Attendance and school morale have improved greatly by all students now being comfortable in wearing a school uniform made by their parents.
Australian teacher involvement continues. Small teams of Australian teachers travel to India at their own expense, to undertake three week exchange programmes that seek to impart improved teaching techniques and implement outcomes based learning.
The Rotary Club of Berrima District, an original member of the Tara.Ed Board of Directors, has provided financial support to selected teachers through the Club’s Tara.Ed Teacher Ambassador programme. Six outstanding teachers have been recognised as Teacher Ambassadors.
Tax Deductible donations to Tara.Ed can be made through the Rotary Australia World Community (RAWCS) Project No 9/2013.14.
If you would like to donate, please go to https://donations.rawcs.com.au/9-2013-14.
For more information, you can visit the Tara.Ed website at: https://taraed.org/
Or, you can contact John Macpherson, Rotary’s Tara.Ed Project Manager at secretary@berrimadistrictrotary.org.au or phone 0409 122 141.
