Total Education Solution for Vulnerable students

Every year end evokes mixed feelings, while we feel disheartened and alarmed at the thought of another year having flown past so quickly, we also feel contented at the achievements and progress made during the year. At DSF, 2015 was an eventful year – we celebrated our 10^th anniversary, forged some wonderful partnerships, our Holistic School Development programme (HSDP) took a big leap and the HeadStart & TenPlus students’ achievements continued to make us proud as every year. Another extremely encouraging highlight of the year was the volunteer support and involvement in our work. Be it the young student interns, the corporate volunteers or veterans giving their time, it was a fulfilling year and once again reinforced our belief in our collective ability to make the Right to Education Real for our students.

The GlobalGiving community have been a strong and silent support and we are ever so thankful for your continued partnership. Here is a brief overview on our TenPlus programme and the activities over the year. A bulk of the progress seen below would not be achieved without the critical support rendered by you.

You have enabled the Higher Education of 545 socio-economically vulnerable students and opened a new world of opportunities for them!

Here among others we have 5 Doctors, 58 Engineers, 108 B.com, 57 B.Sc/BCA/BBM professionals in the making !!

TEN PLUS PROGRAMME & PROCESS

• SELECTION & CAREER GUIDANCE

The first quarter of the year involved student counselling, college & course selection and scholarship disbursal. Career guidance sessions – group wise and one-to-one for all selected students. Parent meetings – In-depth discussion to plan the course ahead and information sharing about various available courses & colleges.

• CONNECT WITH STUDENTS

Various programmes for PreUniversity, Diploma & Graduate programme students conducted in addition to the regular academic coaching classes. Leadership Development Workshops on Self Expression and Presentation Skills conducted by our Founder Director Sabu Joseph. Various Life-Skills sessions conducted by our in-house and guest resource persons for personality development, confidence building, also a session on 5S (Five S), It is a systematic and methodical approach allowing teams to organise their workplace in the safest and most efficient manner.

• COMMUNICATION & LANGUAGE

Regular communication skills sessions with special focus on spoken English are being conducted on weekends by qualified language teacher (volunteer). Lotus Language Lab software for functional English has been installed on 10 laptops at the centres – made available to all Ten Plus students. Boot Camp – Computer Programming & Special Spoken English sessions

• MENTORING

Nearly 50% students at the Graduate level were assigned mentors. Mentoring sessions going reasonably well and we are continuously working on improving the programme.

• PARENT INTERFACE

A series of parent workshop modules were conducted over the past three months by our DSF staff members. These engagements helped to establish a stronger bond with the parent community. House visits done for nearly 80% students helped us understand their reality and structure our support more effectively.

• EXPOSURE VISITS AND EVENTS

Exposure visits to industry – PWC, Fidelity, Target Corporation, Microsoft Tech Vista Meet

Six girls participated in the WE Tech Innovation Challenge and won the second place in the Bangalore Circle.

DSF Partners Meet where students participated in theatre, dance, music etc.

Together we are bringing about a transformation in not only the lives of the students but also their families and community. And we need to continue to keep this going, till there is another child deprived of education, we need to work to Make her Right to Education Real!!

While you make the dreams of the children come true,  We wish you a world of Happiness in the New year and Happy Holidays !!!

Warm Wishes,

DSF TEAM