About the Loyola School

As of 2011, the Rerua school's enrollment is 400 students. Sixty girls reside in the hut pictured below and 143 boys reside in the boys' hostel building on the left.

Another 140 boys and 41 girls commute to school from home. The present hostel facility can only house 60 girls.  The Rerua Mission has funds to construct a new hostel, which began in 2009 and will be completed in 2012 to accommodate up to 200 girls. Full funding has also being received and construction is underway for the dispensary healthcare building.  We now seek funding for a new residence for boys.  Fr. Kongari will arrange for an order of Indian Sisters to teach the students and provide a dispensary for preventative vaccinations such as malaria, hepatitis, elephantitis, and medical treatments, medications, and education regarding personal hygiene.

Boy's Hostel


A TYPICAL DAY

The school day currently runs from 9:00 am until 4:00 pm, with a break between noon and 1:00 pm for lunch. During the course of the day students study Math, Social Studies, Science, English, Hindi (the national language), and Santhal (the tribal language). From 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm boarders, commuters, and neighborhood children gather for tutoring and study time.

CRITICAL NEEDS

Currently, the school has three critical needs in order to continue supporting the educational and health needs of the Santhal tribal children.

  1. The first critical need is to increase RERUA MISSION donations for food, meat, vitamins, and medications to allow the children to grow and remain in good health.

WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT?
The children’s meals are limited and consist of rice for breakfast, rice and lentils for lunch and rice, lentils and vegetables for dinner. Meat is a rarity because of cost. Many of the children have nutritional deficiencies due to the lack of meat proteins and vitamins. Due to the generous donations received already, many of the children are sponsored for meals. However, the minimum total needed each month just to feed these children the most basic meals is about $7.00 per month per child and $2,600 per month to feed 400 students . Similarly adding two meat meals a month and daily vitamins costs $12 per child. For the Loyola School this means they must raise an additional $5,000 each month.

The second critical need is to expand scholarship support to both boys and girls.

WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT?
Family incomes are small and come primarily from the harvest of paddy (rice). Often there is flooding from the monsoons or severe droughts which makes it difficult for parents to pay the tuition of 20 rupees monthly, or only $.40. Many parents take their children out of school to work which makes it impossible for children to complete their education. Because of poverty and societal hardships, girls often are not given the chance to attend school. There are many boys who are severely malnourished and as a result, fall victim to illnesses very easily. Educating all the children benefits not just the children and the community, but it will set in motion better conditions for the generations that follow them.

  1. The third critical need is to provide a “hostel” dormitory for the boys.

    WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT?
    The current dormitory is a mud walled thatched house that accommodates only 100 boys. It is not useable for 4 months a year during rain or bad weather and cannot be secured against animals such as bears. Fr. Kongari has raised one third of the $60,000.00 required to build a “hostel” to provide living accommodations for 200 boys. Currently, the boys sleep in the classrooms after removing desks and benches. In the morning they collect all their beddings and put them in the "go down hall" where their other belongings (trunks, etc.) are kept. The dormitory will offer more than just lodging. It will also be used by the Jesuits and the Indian Sisters for tutoring students and forming them for life.