THE SPONSORSHIP PROGRAM

In 1975 the Indian Government announced its decision to terminate free board and lodging at the residential schools for the children who were born in India. The implications of this decision were alarming, because many parents were still hopelessly poor and unable to pay for their children's education. The result was that the entrance rate to the schools dropped sharply until two of the four residential schools, at Shimla and Dalhousie, were threatened with closure.

Our response to this was to launch a three-way appeal: firstly, all parents with some means were asked to step forward and voluntarily support their children through school, and a good many did so. Simultaneously, we requested the Government of India to reconsider, and it kindly agreed to grant a free-education scholarship to twenty-five children per annum.

The third appeal was to outside aid agencies and world relief organizations, asking for their help in sponsoring our children of school going age. His Holiness the Dalai Lama effectively began this sponsorship program by graciously donating a grant to cover 100children. One of our first new friends from abroad was the Save the children fund of UK, whose then field Director in Delhi, Sir Robert ffolkes, visited Dharamsala and discussed Tibetan refugee education with our Director, Mr. Thupten Ningee. Thereafter save the Children fund started a generous program of program of part-sponsorship for the Tibetan children whose parents could afford to pay a percentage of the cost themselves. Over the years this program has continued to expand.

Gradually more such schemes have been set up, providing either full or part sponsorship for our children. The current list of sponsor organization operating through our office reads as follows:

Sponsor organization	No. of children
Save the children fund, UK	207
Action in Distress, UK	25
Tibetan Community of Britain	13
Tibet Relief fund of UK	8
Nordisk Barnefond, Norway	2765
IM, Sweden	10
Tibetan Development Foundation, Holland	10
Tibetan Youth Association, Switzerland	18
Enfants de l' Univers, France	19
Government of India	25
Tibetan Friendship Group, Australia	17
Tibetan Friendship Group, USA	5
The Office of Tibet, USA	7
Total	3129

In addition, many individuals support one or more of our children through school, and it is only lack of space that prevents us from naming them all here; we trust that they will forgive the omission. One man in particular, though, deserves a special mention and he is Mr. Peter summeres of England. Mr. Summeres alone sponsors thirty five Tibetan children, which is highly magnanimous and very much appreciated.

The most recent sponsorship program is from Nordisk Barnefond of Norway. Its Director, Pastor Helge Nordahl, and two of his associates visited some Tibetan camps in India and Nepal in April of this year , and responded sympathetically to the plight of the people they saw . On their return to Norway, the sponsorship program got under way for more than 2700 children; this generous scheme has rescued many needy children, whose families are as grateful to the agency as we are at the council. In addition, Nordisk Barnefond has agreed to finance the running of a hostel in Nepal for Tibetan children with out proper homes, and has given a grant to Majnu-ka-Tilla school.

Similarly, other aid agencies have taken an interest beyond the sponsoring of children, such as IM of Sweden and the Tibetan Development Foundation of Holland, which donate to the running costs of the day schools at Gangchen Kyishong and Manali respectively. Save the children Fund , UK provides several of our schools with crèche and Kindergarten facilities, which are invaluable for pre- school age children.