Dear Patrons,

All of us at Aasraa are wishing you a wonderful start to the new year with good health and happiness.

As we dive into 2021 with renewed hope and energy, we want to tell you how grateful we are to have you by our side through and through despite the daunting odds that all of humanity is facing due to the pandemic.

Mother Teresa says, “It’s not how much we give but how much love we put into giving,” and that thought perfectly describes your gifts of love and care to the lives that so need them.

Aasraa supports children who have bleak living conditions and even bleaker futures. But their hope and healing begin with you; because of you. Your contribution is priceless to every single beneficiary in our care.

Below are the success stories of 2 students, whose lives you have influenced in such a positive way, that mere words cannot express our appreciation:

• Shubham is the oldest son of a daily wage-earning single mother with four younger siblings. Instability due to economic migration took a heavy toll on Shubham's education until he joined our shelter home and started his formal schooling in Class 7. He completed his school education with first division, and then completed his 3-year Diploma Course in Mechanical Engineering under Aasraa’s support. Shubham later bagged an internship with Padmini VNA Mechatronics Private Limited, one of the leading manufacturers in the automobile industry. Now, Shubham wishes to work in the luxury car sector.

• Salim, one of our children, completed his schooling from a government school under the mainstreaming program of Aasraa. Born to illiterate parents and to a father who never understood his dream of working in the medical field, Salim is a focused and diligent student. He has completed his Diploma course as a medical lab technician. Currently, he assists at one of the most renowned pathology laboratories in the town.

Thank you for putting your heart into our cause and joining hands with us to make the world a better place for them. Your kindness helps nurture several dreams to fruition.

You make Aasraa and there’s no greater gift than that.

Thank you for tipping our scales to success every day.

EDUCATION IN THE TIME OF COVID

For every dark cloud there is a silver lining

We, at Aasraa, greatly appreciate your ongoing support in meeting our mission to reach out to vulnerable children and give them opportunity, care and love. It is a joy and an honor to partner with you in an effort to provide quality education amidst the pandemic.

As Covid has swept across the planet like a raging storm; everyone has been impacted.

At Aasraa we have risen to the challenge of educating our slum and street children while schools are closed. These children do not have access to laptops, tablets and smart phones.

We have created a model, based on a grid mapping system, to not only reach our children and continue their education, but to significantly raise the level of education they receive.

We have called this program ‘Silver Lining’

Aasraa’s mission is to provide opportunities to marginalized children through education to break the poverty cycle; to level the playing field. We have designed a blended learning program to raise the education bar for these slum and street children… and deliver it!

They have taken to it like little ducklings to water.

THE PLAN

On a grid, we mapped our children and created small clusters based on location.

Using a ratio of 8 children to a dedicated education phone, we raised funds through our wonderfully supportive donors and bought tablets and smart phones.

Three learning zones were established and teachers were mapped, based on subject and class level, to match these zones.

These education specific smart phones (Ed Phone), assigned to each cluster, combine online classes, education apps and tutorials with teachers. Printed education material to reinforce these concepts taught on line is distributed, collected and marked each week. A combination of on deck and off deck activities keep the children engaged throughout the week.

THE TRAINING

A massive exercise was undertaken to train our teachers to use this blended learning program; to teach online, to use education apps and respond to children’s queries online.

Technical training was essential as well as online lesson planning to use on this new medium of communication with the children.

Delivery of concept online and ensuring a child’s ability to understand it. Reinforcing concept with education app which is both audio/visual and interactive.

EDUCATION APPS

The new generation of education apps is a quantam leap ahead of previous programs. Aasraa focus on using technology as a tool for education had stagnated slightly due to the quality of material available online. Covid has marked an incredible leap forward in quality, delivery, and assessment. We have the new generation of education apps; interactive and fun, using a child imagination and increasing retention, able to assess individual children’s progress, and record it.

THE DISTRIBUTION

A responsible adult had to be found and trained to handle and charge each smartphone. The outreach team researched each cluster to pick the most responsible adult in each. Each designated ‘Keeper of the Ed Phone’ had to be given basic training to turn on, charge and use. One of the main challenges to this plan is to keep the Ed Phone in working order and making sure that it is charged for battery and updated for data usage.

THE IMPACT

 2400 children at Aasraa will remain in education!

Technology and the cluster model of the Silver Lining program will ensure a much better quality of education. The analogy is that we have created mini smart classes all over the slums of Doon. In theory, our slum children via the medium of online education, can be receiving the same quality of education as a child at more affluent schools.This is our chance to start levelling the playing field and win the war on illiteracy. 

Your kind gift is already creating visible change in the lives of slum children as more children are now connected with us with the distribution of smartphones & tablets. We'll share the stories of further developments becoming possible by your generous gifts, in coming editions of our newsletters and Project reports.

Links:

• Aasraa Trust
• AT- Twitter
• AT- Instagram

Aasraa Trust was set up in 2009 to empower street and slum children via education, skills training, nutrition, and healthcare. We also run shelter homes for almost 400 boys & girls, to provide them a secure environment & nurturing care.

From basic literacy to pre-school programs; to sponsoring children in school and providing after school tuition; to providing shelter to children who have nowhere else to go, Aasraa programs cater to the needs of these vulnerable children. Thanks to you, we have provided 3351 children just this year with a place to live, learn, and feel safe. It was possible because of the supporters such as you, who played a key role in our success in keeping slum children into education.

With the Lockdown announced by the government due to the Coronavirus pandemic (23^rd March), all our education centers are shut temporarily. Therefore, the Education team drafted a comprehensive action plan to keep students connected with their subjects.

Keeping the students’ safety in mind along with their academic concern, Aasraa’s education team endorsed online learning. Traditional teaching has taken a back seat since the COVID outbreak and the following steps were taken to ensure no child loses track of education due to the lockdown: 

• We connected with our students and their parents through phone to understand the status of their household and what affect the pandemic has had for them. We discussed with the parents the importance of support & motivation for the child, especially at this delicate time. 

• Understanding the needs of our children, we made sure that emergency ration reached where it was needed – a child cannot study an empty stomach. Our food warriors distributed dry ration packs to 13,106 slum families. In addition to this, 14, 042 relief packages were distributed to thousands of daily wagers, who along with their families, embarked on the journey to their native places.

• Online education- In our partner schools, the teaching staff made class wise WhatsApp groups and added our children (who are mainstreamed by us) into it. We started with basic interaction and arts and craft activities to hold our children’s attention and let them understand the possibility of online education.  The teaching staff shared worksheets, questions, videos, images, and voice messages. Using the aforementioned mediums, topics and sub-topics were covered. Teachers answered questions and queries raised by the students via SMS, phone calls or audio notes.

• Distribution of Education kits and ration packages to the slum children- Amidst the lockdown, we also focused on the shape of education to come. We reached out to our children with the class-wise educational packs of stationery and storybooks. The Education team with the help of Outreach, procured the material and distributed it to the children. We have already distributed over 2153 education packs to them while distributing ration packs.

• Video lectures for mainstreamed children- The teaching staff prepared video lectures so that students could continue getting guidance virtually. They kept a record of the concepts that were covered in the mainstream schools of all the children and prepared the lessons accordingly. Later, assignments and worksheets were prepared on the basis of lecture videos and were given to the students. Our Project Leaders recorded and shared videos on YouTube, to develop the reasoning skills of the children.

(For example:- https://youtu.be/HZhohYdQhJk)

Children enjoyed learning new tricks to solve mathematical concepts and showed positive response towards this new approach.

• Computer education- Our children also learn computer skills to come at par with other students.  As we were not supposed to have usual human interaction and children were not able to attend the classes amidst the crisis, Aasraa assigned its computer teacher to record and share video tutorials to educate children on basic computer applications. Based on the timetable, our computer teacher regularly conducted computer classes for each class (once in a week) to ensure no one misses the opportunity to learn due to lockdown.

• Extra classes for Grade 10 students- In this reporting period, the students of Grade 10 who were appearing for their board examinations, missed out on a few subjects due to the Coronavirus outbreak. As no clear information was available regarding the pending exams, the teaching staff conducted revision classes during the Summer break (in the month of June). In addition to online classes, our Maths and Science teacher assisted children in practicing numeric questions and in understanding the concepts of core subjects in depth. 

   Activities conducted amidst the lockdown

• Teachers’ training- Accepting the needs of our teachers, we provided them training on spoken English and basic IT skills. Moreover, pushed and trained teachers to make education interesting and conceptual for the child back at his home with limited access to resources. 

• World Environment Day celebrations- We observe World Environment Day every year with outdoor activities across all centers. This year, amidst the lockdown, the teaching staff facilitated students to reach out for information beyond the textbooks. Children who have returned to their native places carried out a sapling plantation drive at their respective homes and shared their experiences with the teachers. They learned about biodiversity and recycled plastic waste into useful items like flower pots, pen stand, etc. Children designed colorful posters portraying how to make their nearby surroundings safe and clean to enjoy a safer, cleaner, and more prosperous future.

• Activity Day – Though the medium to impart education changed from traditional to online, no changes were made to the actual timetable (as followed in the School). Children attended online classes from Monday till Thursday and learned course subjects i.e. Hindi, English, Maths, Science etc. Friday is activity day at our partner schools, to revise lessons done during the week and to express their understanding of the subject through posters, collages, 3D models. Children concentrated on the theme of ‘Corona’ and some carried forward the theme of protecting the environment. Students designed beautiful posters portraying preventive measures and the role of frontline warriors amidst the pandemic.

With the start of the new academic year in April, Aasraa’s education team is prepared for the ‘new normal’ for the 3,351 children studying across 39 education centers of Aasraa. Though we are eagerly waiting for this phase to pass, to re-engage with the children, we are strictly adhering to the guidelines issued by the government and will re-open our centers as soon as the situation permits.

It has been an exhilarating journey as we have watched the children thrive under our care. We are both humbled by and so proud of what our children have been able to achieve. Truthfully, we could not do this without you. We, and the children we serve, sincerely appreciate your generosity.

In the coming editions of our regular newsletters and reports, we'll share the details of the developments at Aasraa that have become possible because of your continued support.

Thank you!

Links:

• Newsletter- April 2020