That gift which is given to a worthy person, in the right circumstance, from whom we expect nothing in return, is held to be most pure.
~ Bhagavad Gita, 17:20

Here is the list of students awarded the 2010 Shanbhag Scholarships in Kumta, India. I thank the many donors who made valuable contributions, so needy students could gain a good education. If you would like to make a donation for the next academic year starting in June 2011, please contact me.

As our program has matured, we have expanded to support 50 students (29 girls, 21 boys) at six schools in Kumta, with only 11 of 50 students at the Shanbhag High School. In the complete list below, the prefix Kumari, refers to girls.

Scholarships were granted purely on the basis of need and included full tuition and a daily fabulous lunch.

Saraswati Vidya Kendra, Kumta
1. Kumari Kamakshi PS, Class II
2. Kumari Apporva VS, Class II
3. Tilak DN, Class II
4. Kumari Kavya UH, Class III
5. Kumari Diksha DV, Class III
6. Maruti SSP, Class IV
7. Aditya NK, Class VI
8. Nakul NP, Class VI
9. Kartik PS, Class VI
10. Kumari Nidhi SK, Class VI
11. Kumari Nidhi BB, Class VII
12. Akshay SS, Class VII
13. Srinivas VS, Class VII
14. Mahesh AS, Class VII

Shanbhag High School, Kumta

15. Kumari Bhagavati SD, Class VIII
16. Deepesh MN, Class VIII
17. Gopalkrishna VS, Class VIII
18. Vishal VS, Class VIII
19. Kumari Namrata HG, Class VIII
20. Kumari Yakshita JN, Class VIII
21. Kumari Poornima KN, Class VIII
22. Kumari Padmavati VS, Class IX
23. Kumari Rekha KH, Class IX
24. Kumari Akshata SS, Class X
25. Kumari Nagaratna VB, Class X

Gibb High School, Kumta

26. Ganesh AS, Class IX
27. Vivek VN, Class IX
28. SPeter D, Class IX
29. Vinayak DK, Class IX
30. Raghavendra S, Class VIII

Gibb Girls High School, Kumta

31. Kumari Dhanashree VK, Class VIII
32. Kumari Malati BH, Class IX
33. Kumari Mallika MP, Class IX
34. Kumari Shweta AS, Class IX
35. Kumari Poojita SN, Class IX
36. Kumari Teena KD, Class IX
37. Kumari Nisha MS, Class X
38. Kumari Soumya SP, Class X

Mahatma Gandhi High School, Chitrigi, Kumta

39. Aditya AB, Class VIII
40. Kumari Vanita NP, Class IX
41. Kumari Hasanbanu MS, Class IX
42. Ganapati NP, Class IX
43. Chandrahas SA, Class IX
44. Kumari Swati SP, Class IX
45. Kumari Divyashri RN, Class X

Gibb English Medium High School, Kumta

46. Kumari Divya B, Class VIII
47. Kumari Soumya GP, Class VIII
48. Gajanan GN, Class IX
49. Jasper TN, Class IX
50. Kumari Shraddha JS, Class X

• Scholarship Activities at Shikshan.org
• How to help; Ask me if you have queries or concerns.
• Scholarship for the needy 2008-2009.
• Scholarship for the needy 2009-2010.

My Posts on Kumta:

• Kumta: Jewel of the Konkan
• Kumta: Main Street
• Kumta: Field of Dreams
• Kumta: School Kids
• Young Women Making Papads in Kumta
• Video: Approaching Kumta on Konkan Railway

My Posts on the Shanbhag School, Kumta

• Shanbhag School in Kumta
• Lunch at the Shanbhag School
• Lunch at the Saraswati Vidya Kendra – Don’t miss audio of students chanting
• Academic Update from the Shanbhag School – 2008.
• Academic Update from the Shanbhag School – 2009. These students are good!
• Earlier visit to student homes

Summary of Results:
82 students appeared for the X Std, Karnataka State Board Exams, 2010:

• Highest score of 98.08%
• 24/82 students scored greater than 90%
• 76/82 scored greater than 60% (First Class)
• 4/82 scored between 50 and 59% (Second Class)
• 2/82 students got pass class
• No student failed the X Std Board exams

Of the four Shanbhag Scholarship recipients in the graduating class, two received first class and two got II Class.

As I have said earlier, I don’t expect our needy scholarship recipients to excel, but I am proud we gave them an opportunity to study and rub shoulders alongside the best students in the district. how awesome is that!

I am still collecting funds to support scholarships for needy students at the school. If you would like to make a contribution, there is now an easy Pay by Credit Card option:

How to help

Shanbhag School Related Posts:

• Shanbhag School, An Introduction
• Lunch at the Shanbhag School – my favorite!
• Academic Update from the Shanbhag School 2007

The Shanbhag High School, managed by the Konkan Education Trust does not receive any governmental aid. But it follows the state determined academic syllabus and guidelines. While we attract many students who can afford fees, our family wanted to make good education particularly accessible to the poor. As I have mentioned earlier, last year we gave 16 scholarships to very needy students to attend either the Shanbhag High School, or the affiliated primary school, Saraswati Vidya Kendra. See list of Scholarship Recipients for 2007-2008.

Last December (2007) during my travels to Kumta I visited most of the scholarship recipients in their homes. The visit served two purposes: (a) to meet the families and convince them of our commitment to support their child’s education ~ and in turn expect them to make education a priority; and (b) to ensure that these were indeed needy families, which I could determine from their living conditions.

They lived in simple dwellings, and it was emotionally overwhelming to experience the gratitude of these families. Below, I share with you some of the scholarship recipients in their home settings. Appropriately I have omitted their names.

We supported the boy in the center, flanked by his father and cousin sister. Being poor, the girl was enrolled in the local government run Kannada language school. She wanted to attend our English school, but being in 8th std (grade) it would have been academically disastrous for her to switch the language of instruction a year before the State Board Exams. This was an important reason why we started giving scholarships to students in primary school!


We supported the boy, shown here with his parents outside their home. He was in the 10th Std and in the recent State Board Exams scored greater than 90%! Ecstatic to think that we may have played a miniscule role in his academic success!

We supported the girl; this was their front room/living room/bedroom and the kids studied on the bed. Behind was a smaller kitchen/dining area.

She came from a family of traditional fisher folks.

We supported the boy. As discussed in Where are all the needy girls? the sister in 4th grade was enrolled in the Kannada language school. She wanted to be in the Shanbhag School with her brother but unaffordable. On hearing this, I asked her mother (father is no more) to enroll her in our school for the next year. When I visited Kumta last month, we got the girl enrolled with a full scholarship! Yaay!

You can see the kitchen and dining area in the back. As traditional families do, they sit on the floor to eat.

We are supporting the boy. You see one of several sisters in the background, who have all graduated from the Kannada language school. With limited professional or career options, they work as cooks and serve meals to students in a part of their house.

We are supporting one of these delightful twins, seen here drawing and finishing their home work.

During this recent visit to Kumta, I developed contacts with other schools in town and provided scholarships for their students. More on those at another time.

If you would like to make a contribution to kids education, see How to Help!

Updates and Related Posts: Shanbhag School

• Shanbhag School in Kumta
• Academic Update from the Shanbhag School
• Lunch at the Shanbhag School
• Lunch at the Saraswati Vidya Kendra; Audio of Kids Chanting

In a word – EXCELLENT!
Summary of Results of 58 students who appeared in the 2007 X Std, Karnataka State Board Exams:

• Highest score of 97.7%
• 3/58 students scored greater than 97%
• 20/58 students scored greater than 90%
• 34/58 scored greater than 85%
• 54/58 scored greater than 60%
• 3/58 scored between 50 and 60%
• 1/58 scored between 35 and 50%
• No student in the entire class failed the X std Board exams

WoW! Congratulations to the students on their excellent performance. Also a big pat on the back for the teachers who did an outstanding job of educating the young. Since the Shanbhag School is a private school, it does not receive any Government subsidies or aid. Thus the teacher’s salary are much lower than at local government-aided schools. The dedication of teachers to teach is thus so much more appreciated. The 2008 exams has recently concluded and it will be some months before the results are out.

Here are a few pics of ongoing classes. Note: I did not know that Thursdays are “casual Thursdays” and students did not have to wear their blue and white uniforms (which you see in this post). Thus the school took on a festive appearance. YaaY!

It was a fabulous November afternoon. Looking towards the front of the school. For comparison, see here for pics from a few years ago.

In every classroom I entered (accompanied by the Vice-principal) all students would stand and greet me. Heeeeee heeeeeee. Made my day!

The teacher painstakingly wrote out even the “Fill in the blanks.” All classrooms had photographs of different national leaders above the black board.

On the upper right corner of the blackboard, the daily tally of students is chalked. Notice the near equal distribution of boys and girls in the class and is nearly equal at the school level.

A textbook, bits of writing chalk, a homemade duster to wipe the boards and a ruler.

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Educating Rural India, One Student at a Time!

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In the meantime, browse details of the Shanbhag School in Kumta, Karnataka, where we are giving scholarships to needy students.

Namaskar!