In the early 1990s, the Prado brother Ephrem had the dream of paving the way for a better future for young children in Howrah through education. In the early days, he had to persuade parents to send their children to school as they were needed to contribute to the household income. After more than 30 years, the demand is very high.
Almost 40 years ago, Brother Ephrem had the dream of creating a slum school for the poorest children in the poor sister city of Kolkata, Howrah. Most of the children of the Biharnomads had to work instead of attending school and laboriously dug clay out of the Ganges to make bricks. Brother Ephrem knew that education was usually the only way out of poverty. He wanted a school that would guarantee security and safety for the lives of those entrusted to his care.
Thanks to a lucky meeting with Salzburg paediatrician Dr. Werner Waldmann, enough money was raised to enable the purchase of a plot of land and the construction of a canopy to protect against heat and rain. Over the years, a solid building was erected. In the early days, he had to persuade parents to send their children to the school, as they were needed to contribute to the household income. After more than 35 years, attendance is very high, with almost 500 children attending St. Francis Assisi School every day.
Today, the St. Francis Assisi School has grown into a project that has positively changed the lives of many hundreds, even thousands of young people. Children are taught from nursery class (pre-school) to the eighth grade. After the eighth grade, the children can transfer to a state school and then attend secondary school (high school). Reading and writing, which most of us take for granted, opens the door to more freedom and independence in their own country for the pupils at St. Francis Assisi School. As a result, they are better able to escape the structures of injustice. For this work, the school was awarded the “Writers Award”, the prize for the most humanitarian school in West Bengal, back in 1998.
The following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are being promoted with the help of this project:
The project partner is the Prado Welfare Society Santragachhi. The origin goes back to the founder of the St. Francis Assisi School, the Prado Brother Ephrem, who started this school project in 1990.
