Educate street children in rural India

Meet Maya and Babu. Two children we are immensely proud to report are learning well and doing great at school.

Babu - is one of our most gregarious beneficiaries he’s a real character, always the first up to dance at celebrations. It’s easy to forget that he’s actually deaf. Babu has been winning hearts at our rehabilitation centre since he came to us as eight-month-old orphan 6 years ago. Our kids Babu's cheeky face and silly antics because Babu has been placed at a local school for deaf children. A whole new world is opening up to him as he learns more sign language and his first vocalised words. The impact of seeing someone do something so simple as counting from one to ten is breath taking. See Babu finding his voice for yourself in the video here

It’s no mean feat catering to the individual educational needs of the 1000 children who rely on us. Babu is one of 300 children at our rehabilitation centre and Maya is one of 700 beneficiaries who attending our community based slum schools.

Maya's father is a labourer and her mother runs the family home. Their extremely low earnings means school fees were out of the question and Maya was forced to stayed out of school to help with housework. Thanks to the social workers at our slum schools, who make it their business to know when children are missing school, Maya’s absence was noted. Our social worker made a home visit to see how Snehalaya could help Maya’s parents in getting Maya back to school. After supporting with admissions forms and with a vital school grant, Maya now regularly attends 8^th standard schooling and is taking the revision seriously by participating at our after school clubs and activities to get extra support.

The reason we can tailor education to suit our 1000 children is largely thanks to the dedication of our staff and by your generous support that we can afford to provide them with the best and most appropriate facilities available. Thank you, you are helping to fund the staff who are looking out to ensure our children get the right educational support they need and empowering families to make the improvements that bring long lasting change for their children.

Now about the 1-10 video...

Links:

• Deaf Babu counts out loud for the first time
• Times: Education for girls is seen a wasted investment
• Read about our recent Malala Campaign

Meet Nikita

Our teachers understand how hard it has been to find and bring our students to school so going that extra mile to put a smile on our students faces is something they love to do. Listen to Nikita's story.

Nikita was just 3 when our Childline Team found at a railway station. Now 10 Nikita joins in but from a distance and has difficulty listening to her teachers. Reshma one of Nikita’s teacher won her trust and build a bond describing how she too had lost her mother at an early. She gently gave her tips on her behaviour that she could interpret in her own way and Nikita started interacting with her classmates. The difference is pronounced, Nikita’s confidence is grown, she follows the school rules, and has improved her marks. She recently gave a presentation to 300 students and teachers! 

Thank you for supporting girls like Nikita 

Girls Education

Primary education has undergone immense progress in the last 15yrs to be almost universally available. The state of secondary education in India, particularly for girls remains troublesome. Our school doors and slum drop in centres centres now provide free education to over 4000 children with girl education a priority focus. 

A local government scheme Bhagyashree Yojana provides all girls free education up to 12th Standard (A-Level/SAT equivalent) however still only 2% of girls in India complete secondary education, only 47% even start it.  Often these girls are from deprived, isolated and minority sections of society, such as nomadic tribes and scheduled castes, who are far removed from education. Reasons include child marriages, child labour, sex trafficking and health issues and early pregnancies.

Laying the groundwork is vital - making spaces and opportunities to discuss girls’ education directly in the communities where girls are at high risk is key. Last month we launched our Stand #WithMalala Roadshow going all over our district to spread the word about how important educating girls is in creating an equal and progressive society. Not only are we screening Malala’s movie in Hindi in makeshift cinemas we are organising street plays, rallies and debates on the issues girls face in getting mainstream secondary education. The response has been overwhelming with community leaders, children and their parents turning up to commit to keep their girls in education. Read more about how we plan to reach 30,000 girls in the next 2 months here

Recent Progress

• It is inspiring how seriously our students take their personal development and education. Studiously revising for the State Board exams. To encourage them we turned to technology using Skype to connect to an educational counsellor, guest lecturers and exceptional local teachers across their 9 study subjects.
• We offer homework clubs and mock examinations with Smart Education to give our students invaluable insights into exam conditions to build their confidence ahead of the exam period.
• We are growing our teacher and school international partnerships with Connecting Classrooms – a British Council initiative (see our blog) 
• Our teachers also enjoyed a one week intensive teacher training course locally with a monthly follow up session to monitor their progress.
• Last month a huge recruitment initiative for the next academic year was a great success with nearly 200 new students expressing an interest in joining our school. This helps securing future funding and continues to build our network of education forward citizens.

Giving Education is the BEST GIFT

Education is vital in breaking the crippling cycles of poverty and empowers self belief that is unsurpassable. A regular donation of £22/month can ensure a child is enrolled mainstream school and provided with all the resources needed to study.

In India a teachers monthly salary is £70. Just £70 to teach a whole classroom of children for a month. 

Please consider if a regular donation of any amount is possible. We will do the rest!