'Holistic Development'for 300 Poor Kids in India

Gaurav is a spirited 11 year old boy who lives in an underprivileged community. His construction labourer father and house maid mother are always struggling to provide for their 2 children. They encourage their children to focus on their studies but it is not so easy for Gaurav. Why you ask? Because Gaurav has some learning disabilities and other problems which hold him back from moving forward with his peers. Poverty and a child who needs attention coupled his parents’ woes, it was then that they heard about IDEA Study centres and enrolled Gaurav immediately. It has been 3 years now, Holistic Education has helped him tremendously and as a result, Gaurav is thriving!

It was clear early on that Gaurav is unable to match pace with his classmates, this was making him frustrated and irritable leading to small fights in the class. The Study centre teacher decided to take immediate action and thus began long counselling sessions, IQ tests and other academic tests to assess Gaurav’s problems. It was brought to notice that he suffers from the following –

-          Unable to establish association between pictures and words

-          Difficulty in remembering exact words in English.

-          Problems in  Judgment & perception of quantitative concepts

-          Problems in Memory Span : visual sequential Memory; Verbal meaning

-          Problems in Eye-Hand co-ordination/ foresight speed & problem solving.  

He was put in the remedial class for slow learners immediately. It was a tough challenge for his centre teacher who took it up and was determined to help this boy. She observed that though Gaurav lacks academic skills but he enjoys outdoor games like Kabbadi and langdi. He was always enthusiastic about Art and Craft sessions. She made a plan and accordingly started teaching small concepts to Gaurav by involving him in games and Art sessions. To improve his attention span, she started engaging him by using educational aids like pictures, learning toys and charts which make learning fun and interesting as it teaches through a visual medium. Slowly he started showing improvement in Comprehension and Mathematical skills.

Fortunately for Gaurav, his mother takes a lot of interest in his progress and always provides him with moral support when he is home. Noticing this, the teacher asked Gaurav to start teaching his mother English alphabets by scribbling the letters in rangoli or sand. He thoroughly enjoyed this homework in disguise and sure enough this made him better at reading, writing and memorizing alphabets and small words. 

Gradually the teacher started giving him some easy tasks and activity books related to English and Maths, which he does not find intimidating and gets excited to solve it. This year, the teacher has found improvement in Gaurav like he can do mathematical addition and subtraction of two unit numbers. Also he can read and write regular Marathi words now and he always does his homework on time. At school and at Study centre, he is better-behaved due to his new found confidence.

Considering his age, Gaurav should be a level 2 student but he is still at level 1. This year he took his level 1 exams and scored a first class! Being a slow learner, this is indeed a big achievement for him and us. We would like for him to complete his basic education (10+2 level) and to ensure that he doesn’t drop out of school till then, your support is necessary. After his education, IDEA will sponsor his vocational training, in his chosen field. It is obvious that we are really invested in his progress and want to see him become economically independent.

Friends please continue supporting this project so that Gaurav, just like his name becomes our Pride!

Links:

• IDEA website
• IDEA Annual Report 2016-2017

Greetings from IDEA Foundation!

IDEA study centers are located in 20 different localities in Pune and in Bhor.There are approximately 800 children attending these study centers after or before schools.

We use different teaching methods and conduct various programs for improving the academic performance of children in schools. We intervene using extracurricular activities and sports programs too.

The socioeconomic status of our children plays an important role in the effectiveness of our educational intervention at IDEA study centers. So we strictly follow a holistic approach and conduct frequent workshops for motivating children to stay focused in their studies. The children are already facing many social and emotional challenges. As most of the parents are illiterate they often lack warmth and sensitivity and fail to form solid, healthy relationships with their children. There is a general failure to focus on children's needs.

Lack of cognitive abilities is also a big issue in the case of many children. Many children are lagging behind in studies, but it is also important to encourage other skills required to make a living, so activities are planned to understand the skills which the child might be interested to develop in future.

IDEA social workers often have to work very closely with each child and their mothers to keep them on track. Mothers are also encouraged to attend awareness sessions on the importance of education and nutrition for children.

Our student motivation workshops aim to encourage children to understand their abilities and to set goals in life.  Children from high school participate in these workshops. We give them guidance and support to build lifelong social skills.

On behalf of IDEA, I would like to thank you for your generous donation. Your contribution makes it possible for us to help these children.