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INTRODUCTION:
Modern Educational Social & Cultural Organization (MESCO) is a Mumbai based, non-profit making, non-political secular NGO, working in the field of Education, Medical and Women Empowerment and Porverly Relief since 1968.
It was initiated way back in
1968,by a group of 7 colleagues who were known
to each other at school/college and instead of
meeting at each other’s houses for Iftar during
Ramadhan decided to make common cause and work
for the underprivileged. Little did these seven
gentlemen in their early twenties foresee that
this bondage was going to last past their prime.
Even today four of these (seven) now in their
late early sixties, meet along with the other members of the Executive Committee religiously
every first Sunday of the month to review
policies of this Organization and chart out
future strategies.
The Organization believes and
practices total transparency of its
transactions.
All the members are a close knit group
(even though others have joined over the years,
and the Committee members number twenty today)
in terms of the Organization’s ideology and
upholding its traditions.
Though the Organization is
highly respected in Society, the Committee
members are all ordinary, but well educated
people without political aspirations or after
pomp and show.
It is one Organization which
has all its paper work in order and firmly
believes in “Plan-do-review-modify - - - Plan –
do- …” all the time, so that the job gets done
more efficiently with every passing year.
HISTORY:
From very humble beginnings
in the late sixties and early seventies
when the annual income was a
few thousand rupees. Its income has crossed the
thirty million mark in 2005-06. The sources of
this income have ranged from the more
traditional–annual membership fee, donations,
zakat, to the less traditional, contemporary–sale
of old newspapers collected door to door (from
around 1700) households every month, sale of Id cards or ice-cream during
fetes (fairs), writing out proposals to funding agencies.
In terms of the type of
projects/support services managed by MESCO over
the years, the course so far traversed has been
and has evolved and is still evolving.
MESCO believes that education is the answer to
most if not all the ills of Society and
therefore is the one that has been given the
greatest importance and maximum (60% of the
total) funding and its share would increase over
the next decade. The various projects/activities
taken up are grouped as under:
EDUCATION
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EDUCATION SUPPORT SCHEMES:
Beginning from loaning of text books, to selling
school notebooks at subsidized rates, to giving
of a couple of scholarships, it has evolved into the five currently managed schemes:
School scholarships also called Educational
Aid – school level scheme provide part (40%) of the
fees at school
Post school scholarships also better knowns Educational Aid – post school provides 40% of fees at college and University level to the
very needy
Educational
Adoption Scheme (EAS) is a multiyear scheme; meritorious students are inducted at class 8 and above on the basis of financial need. The student receives total support as he moves one to the next level until he/she finishes his/her education. In addition, to the financial support he receives career guidance, counselling, emotional and value based support. Donors are encouraged to adopt and sponsor the Educational Costs of these students.
The High Cost Educational
Loan Scheme: Interest free loans are provided for professional studies to meritorious poor students undertaking professional courses in medicine, engineering, management, hotel management, etc.
Short Term Vocational Courses (STVC): Scholarships are provided to students for whom time is a limitation and who have to start earning soon and pitch in to look after their families. These scholarships are mostly for short-term (1-2 yrs) for trade courses soon after high school.
INSTITUTIONS: Apart from
the financial assistance for education at
various levels and in varying denominations,
MESCO has over the years acquired considerable
expertise and is running a very successful
Preprimary schooling programme, through 16 schools (nos. increasing each year)
in slum and backward areas
It has also been trying and
achieved some success in upgrading a
Municipal Urdu High School existing in (the
locality) Mahim and patronized by the
(financially) very poor families. .
It has also launched a Vocational Training Centre, for school dropouts and those who do not / cannot study further. The centre offers skill training for boys and girls.
In order to have more direct role in education and to build & develop character and value systems among the students, the Executive Committee decided to launch a school project
almost twenty five years back by setting up
another Trust, MESCO Education Society [MES].
MEDICAL:
Beginning with setting up a
Charitable dispensary in a slum locality, patronized by all
irrespective of caste, creed & colour and successfully
running the same for five years (until 1980)
when a full fledged Municipal dispensary came
to be located opposite MESCO's dispensary, the same was shut
down. MESCO gradually moved into the area of
financially assisting the poor providing some
/entire funds for surgeries, treatment
(medicines) as also for diagnostic procedures
and prosthesis and medical
rehabilitation.
Even today though it helps
almost a thousand patients annually, it is
beginning to realize that it is spreading the
butter too thin, due to the great pressure on
its funds which has perforce made it able to
sanction less and less to many many more. It
recognizes that the answer surely is to raise
more funds as also look at other options such as
to educate and look at Medical insurance.
Ambulance Service: It has been operating a highly subsidized Ambulance Service to patients, from the city and suburbs.
Mobile Dispensary: A Mobile Dispensary is the latest addition to its service list. The Mobile Dispensary manned by 2 qualified MBBS Doctors and compounders services to 6 locations on alternative days, providing the correct diagnosis and appropriate medicines at a highly subsidized cost.
POVERTY RELIEF / GENERAL AID:
Yet another area, which has
undergone a good deal of change in terms of
evolution to the current schemes level.
Women Empowerment
Schemes are:
Grant of Sewing Machines
to widows and destitute, which has been a
scheme with the Organization for the past
thirty years,
Conduct of tailoring
classes for young girls and ladies, is
another scheme being conducted in the slums at
Dharavi (the largest slum of Asia), for the
past over 20 years and Providing funds for
marriage of girls for buying clothes
and utensils, furniture for the bride to be, is yet
another scheme to help the poor get their
daughters married by assisting for this type
of expense under women empowerment.
Beauticians Course and Mehendi application are other skill development courses being conducted at Dharavi under the same theme of Women Empowerment, the idea in the latter case being to target school dropouts and teach a skill which she can use to fend for herself / supplement her family income.
The other schemes under
Poverty Relief are:
MESCO has been networking,
playing the role of Counter Part with CRS
(Catholic Relief Services) an NGO with international presence on one side and 19
field level Operating Partners.. It provides bulgar wheat and soya oil
to almost 2775 beneficiaries attached to
Orphanages, Homes for the aged, riot affected
children, mentally challenged children, drug
and alcohol addicts in correctional
institutions, patients afflicted by leprosy
and those with HIV.
House Repair: Financial
assistance is provided for repair of huts,
chawls, tenements, (which are affected by natural /
man made calamities) to the families of people
staying in slums / chawls.
Clothes Distribution:
Clothes are collected locally along with the newspaper collection and distributed after sorting them
into different types, to the poor and indigent
people in the slums and poor localities.
Ration Support: is yet another scheme to help the most margninalized especially widows, deserted, destitutes with young children and with no/meagre income. Day ration is provided on a monthly basis to about 100 such families.
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