David Ensor, Transition Year parent, John Scottus School, Donnybrook, Dublin

The weekend before last, the Transition Year students of the John Scottus School in Donnybrook, Dublin, staged hugely successful performances of Seán O'Casey's play, Juno and the Paycock. They are now far from the Dublin tenement background of the play, having departed for Calcutta, India last Friday.

This is the second year that students of the school have travelled to India on a charitable project. With the assistance of Sister Cyril Mooney, an Irish nun, who is principal of the Loreto Day School at Sealdah, Calcutta, a project was initiated to provide a school for young Indian girls. The project is based at Rasapunja, near Calcutta, and the Girls' High School now has 800 students but no school building. Instead, it has to share with the local boys' school in a situation of hopeless overcrowding. More than 90 per cent of the students come from very poor families.

Plans have been drawn up for a new school of 9,000 square feet, at a projected cost of 63,000.The school has two storeys, and is made up of 12 classrooms and other facilities.

The Transition Year pupils and parents of John Scottus School have raised €45,000 towards this cost so far, through a variety of fundraising activities, including a golf day, a Bengali evening, coffee mornings, church gate collections, donations, raffles and a St Stephen's Day walk.

Travelling to India under the supervision of Transition Year teacher John Alexander are the eight boys and four girls of the class, along with two teachers, two parents and three other adults. They will be there until the end of this month, working on the building of the school (mixing cement, laying bricks, and so on).

Once the physical work is completed each day, the students will spend their time speaking and teaching English to the local children. There is a huge need for more and better education facilities in India, particularly for girls, and it is hoped that the visionary project of the John Scottus School will make a real difference for 800 poor children now and in the future.

For the Transition Year students who are travelling so far to help this needy community, it is a unique opportunity to gain a global perspective on development issues and to be empowered by the experience of one group of young people helping another. They will also learn the importance of education in the achievement of social justice.

If you have an interesting Transition Year programme running at your school, send the details to lholden@irish-times.ie