Education for 100 street children in India

At AIC we are always looking for amazing opportunities to help us expand our students' academic horizons, which is why we took note when we first heard about the prestigious new Avasara Academy, which opens this year and combines the internationally-recognized Cambridge syllabus with unique mentorship opportunities, extracurricular development, and a partnership with Yale University to "develop the leadership potential of India's brightest girls."

Naturally, when we were invited to send our most accomplished 6th and 7th graders to interview as a part of the application process for Avasara, we jumped at the chance. In April, five of our rockstar girls went for a rigorous round of interviews - written tests, group discussions, parent interviews, etc - and we all held our breath with anticipation to hear the results.

We were elated - but not surprised; after all, we're pretty proud of our girls and knew that they would do well! - to learn that three of our five students were selected for the pioneer class of students at Avasara Academy. One of these girls, Saniya, was one of the first 12 girls in AIC's Education Program at the time of its inception in 2006. Her mother brought her to AIC in July 2006 with a gaping foot injury from being hit by a rickshaw and undiagnosed epilepsy, seeking medical help and assistance with school enrollment. At the time, Saniya was 3, and the youngest of her parents' three girls. Her father was a severe alcoholic, and the family of five lived in a tiny hut in a dangerous slum area, next door to an illegal distillery that reeked of alcohol and was frequented by the area's rowdiest drunks.

Saniya and her two older sisters, Hema and Nandini, quickly began to shine in AIC's new Education Outreach Program. In 2008, when the decision was made to initiate a pilot project to test the waters of English-medium education at AIC, Saniya was one of the three students selected to enroll in a private English-medium nursery school. She then went on to secure admission at a prestigious English-medium primary school nearby, and eventually graduated to secondary school. Meanwhile, her sisters continued to advance in school as well and are now in AIC's college program, while her father quit drinking in 2006 and has been sober ever since. With the additional income from Saniya's father, whose sobriety now allows him to hold down a job, the entire family was able to make the move into a small house in a safer neighborhood several years ago.

The fact that this opportunity has been extended to Saniya and AIC's two other selected students, Payal and Neha, embodies everything that we stand for at AIC: the belief that all students have the potential to benefit from world-class opportunities; the refusal to curtail our dreams for our students because of poverty and other challenges that they face at home; and the focus on each child's individual talents and goals, within the larger framework of overall community upliftment and empowerment.  

We are thrilled to be playing a small part in the Avasara vision and are so excited for our girls as they begin this new educational journey. Their reaching this point couldn't have happened without immeasurable donor support and numerous helping hands, and we look forward to continuing to share updates about them as they spread their wings. Thank you for playing a part in their journey!