Study boost for needy Indian students

SINDA provides study aids for kids from low- income families

ABOUT 70 low-income Indian Singaporean families with pre-school children aged four to six received free study kits on June 28 under the Singapore Indian Development Association's (SINDA) new "Book and Shelf" project, which is being supported by the National Library Board (NLB).

These study kits include a study table, chair, bookshelf along with story books, dictionary and stationery items. They have been dispatched to the recipients' homes.

SINDA has been running reading programmes for children for more than 10 years. To date, its Literacy and Numeracy Programme, a 24-week programme catering to low-income pre-school children, has reached out to more than 1,000 Indian families.

And 70 of the families under this programme are the recipients of the free study kits under the project, which will continue to provide study support to these children on a yearly basis.

Among the lucky recipients was four-year-old Vayaletchumi Thiyagarajan, who is in nursery school. She is seen in the top photo (seated) with Primary 6 student Minnal K. Dhayalan, 12, a volunteer under the home-based weekly reading programme Project Read, SINDA chief operating officer Sarojini Padmanathan and SINDA CEO T. Raja Segar who stepped down on June 30.

Project Read is conducted over a six-month period by volunteers at the convenience of the preschooler's home.

One volunteer is attached to one child and during the six months, the child is helped to improve reading skills by constantly creating interest on a one-to-one basis.

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