The Welfare Society for Destitute Children (known locally as St Catherines), is located on Mt. Mary Road, Bandra West, Mumbai. We are a non-profit organization that has been helping destitute and underprivileged children for more than sixty years. We aim to provide a happy and safe place for the children in our care and empower them through education and rehabilitation-based projects.
We started with the objective to educate destitute children irrespective of caste, creed, and community. The various projects we are running, along with our school and orphanage, help to save children from child labour exploitation, abuse and early marriage, thereby changing the lives of many disadvantaged young people and their families. This is to be achieved by providing them with free basic school education, healthy home atmosphere, guiding these children towards understanding the need for healthy living and secure a place for them among the rest of the society.

Appeal

One Village, One Teacher (OVOT) is one of the key projects to improve local education facilities in villages. As part of the project, the Welfare Society for Destitute Children supports students with a local teacher from grade 1 to 10 in the village, so that the children irrespective of their caste or creed or financial status get access to this new study support in the village itself. Though it was started with one teacher in one village, soon the number of teachers increased in each village up to three. Students who enroll in OVOT are given Scholarships from the 11th standard onwards so that they can continue with their further studies till the completion of graduation.
This programme is accepted by the village students very well. We expect the OVOT project to make an impact in
a) Stopping school dropout
b) Stopping child labour
c) Reducing malnutrition
d) Improving the quality of the education
e) Stopping early marriages so that the students are occupied with learning and self- development activities till the age of 21. We work on the natural intelligence of children and teachers which can be sourced from the village itself. At present Welfare Society for Destitute Children is supporting over 500 students in 9 villages, and wants to add 1000 students more. The total annual cost breakup for providing primary education support to each child in a village is given below:
Entity Amount ( per annum)
Tuition Fees Rs.2200
Provision Support to Focus on Study & to stop dropout Rs.800
Study Material Rs.600
Total Fees for 1 Student Rs. 3,600
Grand Total fees for 1000 Students Rs. 36,00,000