Schools in Kolkata closed in March as did Tiljala SHED's vital after-school classes. Children in the slums and squatter camps of central Kolkata have had no access to education since March. This micro-project gets 50 vulnerable young people who should be studying in secondary school back into education by providing online access to education through tablets and smartphones.
Whilst wealthy children have been able to continue their education during the Coronavirus pandemic through online access to educational resources, the poor have been left behind. There are 50 young people aged 11 - 18 in the Topsia community who are ambitious to continue their education but haven't the means to do so. In this community, this makes the girls vulnerable to child marriage and the boys to child labour.
By distributing tablets or smartphones to these youngsters and providing online support and monitoring, this project will enable this ambitious but vulnerable group to get back into education whilst they wait for schools to open again. We will also be working with the parents to ensure that they understand the importance of education and support the scheme.
50 ambitious young people will be able to continue their education. Once online learning is established in this very vulnerable community, it will work in the long term to help reduce the inequalities in education. Children will in turn find it easier to pass exams, enter higher education and join mainstream society. Girls will avoid early marriage and all children avoid the spiral of illiteracy, poverty and hard labour that is the norm in their community.
