We are beyond excited to announce that our Snehalaya English Medium School is a Top Three finalist in the World’s Best School Prizes for overcoming adversity. This exciting news was shared with Snehalaya’s school’s students, teachers and parents as well as dignitaries and children from the district’s schools, all of who were thrilled that an Ahmednagar school is considered one of the best in the world.
The judging panel chose to shortlist us for our efforts in transforming the lives of children living with HIV/AIDS and those from sex worker families, breaking down stigmas and paving the way for a brighter future.
We are the only Indian NGO to be shortlisted and the only Indian school in our category and one of only two Indian schools to have made the finals. The two other schools in our top three are doing inspirational work and we are honoured to be recognised alongside them for delivering unique initiatives to inspire others. Max Rayne Hand in Hand School is the only bilingual, integrated Jewish-Arab primary-secondary school in the country. Cadoxton Primary School has launched ‘pay as you feel’ food shops across South Wales to tackle food poverty.
The final winner will be announced on 4 November and will receive a share of the $250,000 award to expand and enhance their education projects. Our plan is to provide more scholarships and we hope that start a student exchange project.
You can show your support for our school by voting in the World's Best Schools Community Choice Award!
CLICK HERE to see our school's video, then click "VOTE NOW"
Your vote can make all the difference! Help us spread the word on social media, and let everyone know that you have voted for us!
We have come a long way in the past 34 years and are grateful for your support which has helped us reach the amazing milestone and recognition, thank you. Please keep your fingers crossed and help us spread our great news.
In other good news, this week is GlobalGiving's Little x Little match funding week. Every donation up to US$50 will be matched by 50% which will go a long way to supporting our women and children.
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Snehalaya first partnered with Malala Fund in 2015 and continues to celebrate the Nobel Laureate’s birthday to promote equality in education. Your support of our children ensures they are able to access their rights to education but you are also supporting our work in our local communities to tackle issues such as child marriage, child labour and trafficking to reduce the estimated 4 million girls missing from Indian classrooms. As today is also GlobalGiving’s July Bonus Day your support can go a little further as any donations over US$100 will be matched by up to 50%.
I know the difference one person can make. As a young child, I would take a short cut between tutoring classes through a few small Ahmednagar lanes. I was too young to understand what was happening in those lanes (one of my city’s red light areas) but I did question why the children I saw there weren’t coming to school with me. As I grew older and began to realise what these lanes represented, I thought: “What if this was my sister, my mother, my grandmother?”
As a college student, I returned to the area to ask how I could help. The women were resistant, taunting and mocking me for wasting my time, until a 19-year-old revealed that it was too late for her, her life was over, but I could help her children. I started taking those two children to the park for a few hours a day, sharing stories and teaching them to ride bicycles. Within four months I had 70 children joining my daily excursions. It was 1989 and Snehalaya was born!
My parents were teachers so I grew up knowing the value of education. When schools refused to admit our Snehalaya children, we opened our own school, now shortlisted in the top ten of the World’s Best School Prizes. We remain focused on breaking the crippling cycles of exploitation and poverty through empowering the children of marginalized communities in the classroom.
Our children are amazing, overcoming many challenges in their young lives but with the strength and resilience to do us and themselves proud. Four batches of students have now completed their 10th standard with 100% pass rates every year in our Snehalaya English Medium School. Our first topper was HIV positive, proving that with the right support all children can succeed. Our slum schools also celebrated a 100% pass rate in 10 std this year.
I believe today’s youth are tomorrow’s leaders and many of our students are inspired by our work to help others in society. Many are already on the path to great careers where they will be able to support their families and communities. We are currently completing admission processes for our students who completed their 10 and 12 std this year. I am pleased to see that our children dream big and are pursuing future careers in a diverse range of professions including social work, software engineering, mechanical engineering, sports coaching, hotel management, photography, graphic design, furniture design, fashion and nursing.
You are already making a difference to so many, for which I am sincerely grateful. I wanted to let you know that if you are able, today is a great day to contribute to another child’s education. If you are unable to donate there are many other ways to support us, help us. You can help spread the word, via social media or word of mouth, that every child, no matter their background, has an equal right to education and the future they dream of. We #StandwithMalala which is only possible because you stand with us, thank you.
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We are so excited to announce that our Snehalaya English Medium School has been named as one of the Top Ten schools in the World’s Best School Prizes for Overcoming Adversity. We are the first and only rural school in India to have made the shortlist! This amazing news was shared with the school’s students, teachers and parents all of who were thrilled that their school is now considered one of the best in the world. We want to thank you. Your support of our work has played a key role in our achieving this recognition.
When schools in our city refused to admit our HIV+ and sex workers children, our solution was to open our own school. Initially catering to students from our shelter home, sometimes studying under the shade of a tree, our children have grown with our school, with our first batch of graduates passing their 10th standard exams in 2020.
In 2015, we opened our school doors to our local community, primarily daily wage workers and slum dwellers, offering subsidised and quality education. With 80% of our pupils now coming from outside our center, we are integrating the children in our care with those from the community and raising awareness of the facts about HIV and sex work to reduce the associated stigmas.
The World’s Best School Prize for Overcoming Adversity Prize considers schools that support and develop children in socio-emotional skills that can support their personal growth and the school as a community. Being named in the top ten is a huge achievement for our school and we are proud that we have been recognised for empowering our students and community, and breaking down the barriers of discrimination.
The judging panel chose to shortlist us for our efforts in transforming the lives of children living with HIV/AIDS and those from sex worker families, breaking down stigmas and paving the way for a brighter future. The organisers of the global competition, T4 education, described us as: “Rewriting the narrative for marginalised communities in semi-rural India”.
We are one of ten schools to have been shortlisted in the Overcoming Adversity category. The final winner will be announced in October and will receive a share of the $250,000 award to expand and enhance their education projects.
We are so grateful for your support that has built our school from the ground up and encouraged and empowered so many of our children to become socially responsible and empathetic change-makers of the future. We are extremely proud of our school and would love for you to help us shout about our success. Please share this story and our social media posts so the world can be inspired to end discrimination.
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While the pandemic may be over, we continue to deal with the aftermath. Many children missed school and a 2022 survey found more than 80% of public schools reported 'stunted behavioural and socio-economic development' in their students, post-pandemic. With girls missing from classrooms, there was a dramatic rise in child marriage during lockdowns and subsequent limitations on public gatherings. Your support of our children’s education has never been more important and we truly appreciate it. Thanks to you our slums schools directly connect with the most vulnerable childen. This is just one of their stories.
Seema lives in Sanjay Nagar, one of Ahmednagar’s slums where we operate. She is from a tribal community where, before our intervention, girls would only stay in education until 4th or 5th standard and would be married by ages 14 to 15. Seema saw many girls marrying like this, including her elder sister, a child bride. Seema was terrified she would suffer the same fate as she approached her teen years.
She approached our Balbavan team who counseled her parents about the laws around marriage and shared Seema’s wishes to continue studying. They explained the benefits of education that would enable her to stand on her own feet. They also advised that they would encourage Seema to inform the authorities if they forced her to marry. Once they understood the law and that to marry their daughter would be a crime they agreed not to marry her. Seema also realised that continuing her education would give her more options in life and having escaped marriage, she committed to going to school every day.
Seema embraced school, where she made friends with many boys and girls from different communities. She enthusiastically participated in every activity, was often number one in sports, and attended our Balbhavan after-school classes. Whenever she had a problem, she would come to our Balbhavan team immediately and would not go home until the problem was resolved.
Building confidence, Seema started to explore the independence education was giving her. Traditionally, the women in her community wear Punjabi dresses, but Seema wanted to dress in her own style. There was a backlash from her close-knit community who called her names for how she dressed and couldn’t understand why she wasn’t married yet as girls in her community were not allowed to pursue higher education. None of this deterred Seema and no matter what people said, she would not stop her education. Having listened to us, her father now fully supported her decision and wanted his daughter to study, make a name for herself in society and stand on her own feet.
Seema wanted to break from tradition and provide a role model for other girls in her community. Initially, not all of the girls studied or were interested in education, but as they saw Seema participating in all the programs and games of the Balbhavan and receiving rewards for it, more of the younger boys and girls also started coming to our Balbhavan. Seeing their children flourish, slowly, the people of the old society started seeing the positives in Seema, and more parents started sending their children to our classes.
Presently she represents the girls of Balbhavan and her Shikal Kari Samaj and works as a team member in our PMAY project to transform Sanjay Nagar into an ideal slum and is purchasing one of the new homes for her family. She is a shining example to her whole community and all of our staff and beneficiaries. She takes part in all activities and has taken over the financial responsibility of her house and family while also pursuing further education. Seema is an inspiration to all.
Thank you for helping Seema grow into an educated and mature young women who is now giving back to her community, she couldn't have achieved this without your support.
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Thank you for all your support which is helping our beneficiaries in so many different ways. It’s because of you we are able to help so many people through so many different challenges.
Both of Juganu’s parents were killed in a car accident, orphaning her and her two younger brothers when she was just six years old. With no relatives to care for them, they grew up in orphanages and at 19 years old, Juganu came to our Snehadhar project.
As her name suggests, Juganu was used to fighting her own battles but her life took a new turn once she joined us. A calm and stable physical young woman, her face always reflected her hopes for a bright future. With a 12th pass and active in academic study and cultural activities, we secured her admission in further education. She balanced this with various other activities, including college competitions, vocational training in computing, incense stick making, beauty parlor and stitching.
Having gained a wealth of skills she volunteered for our Snehalaya projects, earning extra money by stitching clothes and taking orders for Mehndi during cultural functions. But she didn't stop there. She started a job as a hospital receptionist. With our guidance, support and motivation she was very successful. After graduation, she continued volunteering for our project where, seeing her skill set and honesty she was recruited as a helpline attendant.
Now our sparkle girl has completed four months with our helpline creating a new world she can stand on her own feet with great self-image, confidence and realistic hopes for her future as she has recently enrolled in college to do a masters in psychology.
SAVE THE DATE
Giving Tuesday, 29 November, is a fantastic opportunity to stretch your support even further. Thanks to GlobalGiving any donations made that day will earn us our share of US$1 million in match funding. Since 2015 we have raised thousands in bonus funding that help fund committed girls like Jaganu. Look out for reminders from us nearer the time.
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