ONEONTA, N.Y. --
SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor
Ashok K. Malhotra
recently returned from India, where he led a group that helped to inaugurate
the fourth
Indo-International School for impoverished children in India.
Coordinated by Dr. Malhotra's Ninash Foundation, the effort to establish the
school in Oneonta's sister city of Dundlod drew participation from many
local residents.
Professor Malhotra was joined at the inauguration of the foundation's
first high school by Linda Drake, Director of the SUNY-Oneonta
Center for Social
Responsibility and Community; Dr. Suzanne Miller of the College's
Elementary Education and Reading Department; and Dr. Walter vom Saal of
the College's Psychology Department. Other members of the group included
2005 SUNY-Oneonta graduate Mike Whelan and his wife, Tunde, who are film
makers from the Albany area creating a documentary about the
Indo-International Schools; Ravi Malhotra and Erica Epic from the
University of Rochester; and Dr. Rita Dasgupta and Ranjit Dasgupta of
Calcutta University.
The new high school consists of 10 rooms constructed as the second
story of the original Indo-International School in Dundlod. The new
school includes a three-room science wing dedicated to Susan Van Cott of
Unadilla, whose husband, Craig, provided funding for the rooms. Since
its founding in 1996 by the
SUNY-Oneonta Learn and Serve in India program and the Ninash
Foundation, the original Indo-International School has grown from 50
children to 350, many of whom are now ready to enter high school. The
new high school will allow those students to continue their education in
Dundlod.
In the past 10 years, the Ninash Foundation has established four
Indo-International Schools in India--two in Dundlod, one in Mahapura,
and one in Kuran--which now serve 650 children and employ more than 20
teachers.
At the school in Kuran, constructed after the devastating earthquakes
of 2001, Dr. Malhotra and Ms. Drake dedicated a new science museum, the
first ever in the village. They also offered assistance in establishing
a library and supplying it with books and a computer. In Mahapura, the
Ninash group celebrated New Year's Eve with local residents and children
at the Indo-International Culture Preservation School. With funding
provided by Dr. Mimi Koller of New York City and Dr. John Koller of
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, a new artisan's wing is being added to
the school to provide training to residents of the village.
Students and teachers from three Oneonta-area schools and one in
Arizona have been raising funds to help support the Indo-International
Schools. The Mahapura school now includes brass plates that recognize
the support provided by the Riverside Elementary School, Center Street
Elementary School, Cooperstown Elementary School, and the Gavilan Peak
School in Arizona.
During its 21-day visit to India, the Ninash team also explored the
possibility of assisting five other established schools that are
functioning with minimal resources. The Ninash Foundation adopted the
Asha Ka Jharna school, which provides education to handicapped children
in the village of Nawalgarh. The foundation will provide funding for a
vocational center for the children. The foundation also plans to help
the other schools by raising funds for a library, a computer room, a
playground, school supplies, a Project Hunger site, and regular doctor's
visits.
The Ninash Foundation is a local
501c (3) charitable organization, whose goal is to promote literacy
among children and adults in India and the world. In addition to
building schools in India, the foundation gives awards to children in
Oneonta-area schools and to college students who participate in the
annual
Undergraduate Philosophy Conference at SUNY-Oneonta. The foundation
has also supported the SUNY-Oneonta
"Let's Go" team
that helped the victims of Hurricane Katrina and the SUNY-Oneonta
Learn and Serve intersession program in Ghana, Africa.
A member of the SUNY-Oneonta Philosophy Department since 1967, Ashok
Malhotra received the SUNY Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching
in 1994 and was promoted to the rank of SUNY Distinguished Teaching
Professor in 2001. He holds a bachelor's and master's degree from the
University of Rajasthan in India and a doctorate from the University of
Hawaii. He has received many honors for his work with the
Indo-International Schools, including the Distinguished Alumnus Award
from the East-West Center and the Bharat Excellence Award from the
Friendship Forum of India.
More information about the Indo-International Schools and the Ninash
Foundation is available from Dr. Malhotra at (607) 432-0496 or 436-3220
or on the web at www.ninash.org.
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