In 2016 a group of friends met to form the charity – Room To Learn (RTL). Six years on RTL have helped over a hundred little girls and boys. How? By providing free pre-school facilities to children from the poorest families in Kalimpong.

Living on £1.50 per day, we have a mother with her two small children living in a tiny rented house with an elder son and father. There is no money to buy toys or books. Children like these are sensorily deprived, lacking the mental stimulus in their environment that most toddlers we know today have in abundance. Starved of learning, stripped of their childhood, these children are prey to child labour, or worse. Under such stress, the parents often turn to drink. Some of the parents have never had a true childhood themselves. Most are poorly educated. This cycle of unhappiness and helplessness needs to be broken.

We find these children before they start primary school (many of them never start Primary school otherwise) and place them in a safe space, a haven of learning. Give them books, colouring pens and paints, teach them to sing and dance and they blossom.

That’s what we at RTL do best, we give children a head-start, one firm safe step on the ladder of education. RTL has been so successful in its task that mums across Kalimpong are seeking our help.

Last year 80 poor families applied for their children to attend our free nursery. In 2022 we stepped out in faith. We have secured two more nursery schools in Kalimpong. Paramount, Pioneer and North point now educate the poorest children alongside the wealthiest.

North Point is in the centre of Kalimpong town and Paramount is in the foothills of Kalimpong. Pioneer is a little further from the town centre. We have expanded from 15 children to 45!

We keep our children in pre-school up to the age of six then we source primary schools for them. We now have a Child Mentor & Schools Liaison Officer in Kalimpong to find below the poverty line children, secure a nursery place for them, and monitor their progress and health. She is an integral part of our team.

“Can you help us?”. It costs £260 per year, per child to place our children in pre-school. This includes the cost of running our own bus. Comparing other charity prices in India for the same package, we are low in cost. Being a small charity, all our work is voluntary, trustee pays their own expenses; flights; food, rent, all paperwork, printing and postage is paid by the Founders family. Not many charities can say this “Every pound you send us is spent on the children; none is wasted”. We use your donations wisely. The results we achieve are amazing. Those of our children who have moved on to primary school are often at or close to the top of the class.

Please help us to help them. Let’s give them hope in a struggling world. Our goal is that every child that we reach will go on learning so that when they leave school, they can earn a wage to support their own families.