Catholic Youth Development Centre [CYDC]

The Catholic Youth Development Centre is a non-residential education program which offers the possibility of a better life to illiterate Catholic young men in Hyderabad. They have dropped out of school or have never been to school. CYDC enables them to move from illiteracy and street-sweeping to completing high school and employment through an accelerated programme of teaching and learning. Hope replaces despair. Everything at CYDC is free.

Education, personal confidence building, computer skills, and future employment guidance are all included in the CYDC program.

Catholic religious instruction, sound moral formation, and social skills are essential to the CYDC programme.

CYDC is a three-year programme.

The focus is activity-based education. The first year is Foundation which covers literacy in Urdu and English and numeracy and then an intensive course to cover the  first eight years of regular school content. The boys in first year at CYDC are divided into two groups for Foundation to enable personal attention and good learning. The second year is Year 9, and the third year is Year 10 which is the final year of secondary schooling. Regular Parent-Teacher meetings, both individually and on a class basis, have brought about a major improvement in the overall stability and focus of the CYDC students.

Seventy five young men aged from 15-22 years are enrolled in CYDC in this reporting period. Most work either before or after the CYDC sessions and all are self-motivated to attend.

The CYDC staff consists of the Director and five teachers (three male, two female), the Student Relation Officer who is also Child Protection Officer, and one auxiliary staff member. All are compliant with CYDC’s Policy and Procedures for the Protection of Minors.

Because CYDC shares in the morning the same facilities that CCAE does in the evening, CYDC is able to operate on a very low annual budget of (AU$ 20,000= Euro 12,292). High levels of financial transparency and accountability were maintained including preparation of the annual budget, monthly and annual financial statements, and the external audit.

We urgently need immediate and long-term financial assistance to continue CYDC. All donations are fully tax deductible.