DTEA Alumnit Trust
The Trust was registered in Delhi in November 2002 (click here to see document on Trust Details for further information) with the objective of extending assistance to the schools to further the cause of education. The Trust is governed by a 12-member Board (whose present strength is 10) that interacts with the school administration and the school principals to know of their requirements (click here to see document on current Board members). Depending on the Trust’s financial capacity, given the limited funds that the Trust could raise, work is prioritized and this is accordingly carried out. An important decision of the Board is that no money will be directly transacted with the school administration. Thus the modus operandi is to identify appropriate contractors/suppliers and the get the work carried out under the Board’s supervision and the contractors/suppliers paid directly by the Board.
The Trust been carrying out work in all the seven schools mainly in the form of furniture repair, replacement of glass panes of doors and windows, replacement of blackboards and other infrastructural assistance sought by the different schools (click here to see document on year-wise expenditure). The source of funds for the Trust has been chiefly contributions from individuals. The Trust is also aware that individual alumni and alumni groups, particularly those from a particular branch and a particular batch, have been providing assistance to specific branches now and then. This is certainly a good thing. The Trust is, however, of the opinion if all of us do this as a collective effort of the alumni as a single body, the efforts can be better coordinated, duplication avoided, all the branches can be supported uniformly and the action better sustained and on a continuing basis instead of being piecemeal. A total amount of Rs.13 lakhs plus over four years is not a great level of assistance to the schools for a collective body of the alumni to show. The alumni are certainly capable of a great deal more. Hence the periodic appeals by the Trust to the alumni for generous contributions (see the latest Appeal).
The Trust did try and organize two mega cultural events to raise money: a three-day grand Carnatic Music Programme in Delhi in November 2003 and a programme of Tribute to Legends of Hindi and Tamil film music in Chennai in October 2006. These can be said to have been only partially successful. The Trust also discovered that it is a tremendous task to organize such events particularly because of shortage of hands to handle the different components involved in these. More pertinently, the Trust found that the returns were not commensurate with the effort put in. The Trust is aware that such events can, in principle, raise huge funds but the bottom line for this to happen is all round participation from the alumni both in extending assistance as well in attending these in large numbers. So in recent times the Trust has only been collecting funds in the form of individual donations and contributions. The Trust has also instituted two scholarships to deserving students at the high-school level from the generous donation made by individuals for this specific purpose.<
The Trust was also instrumental in having the website www.dtea-alumni.org created for the alumni to register and interact with each other, post details of events involving alumni and other relevant information. The Trust is extremely grateful to Mr. Subhash Palsule, a 1980 alumnus of the Lodi estate branch and the CEO of the IT company Panalinks in Delhi, for hosting the website and being its webmaster. The registration on the website is open to all. In fact, the Trust strongly urges all alumni to register on the website. There is no membership fee or any mandatory contribution that an individual has to make to the Trust. It is just to have as complete an alumni database as possible at one place, to keep in touch with one’s friends and to know what they are doing.
The Trust is not like any association that would require a person to become a member of. It is for all the alumni of the schools. Any alumnus is free to contribute to the Trust, make suggestions and bring to its notice any development that the Trust should be aware of. But the Trust needs some assistance for regularly updating the website. Such a person would prepare the information in appropriate format and interact with Mr. Palsule on a regular basis for uploading it.
The Trust hopes that the alumni will support the Trust’s efforts in greater numbers for it to succeed in its objective, which is to make our alma mater a better place for the pupils of the present and the future.
Appeal for donation
