Support 25 Transformative Night Village Schools

Poverty is a major issue in India, and education is the surest way out. However, due to a lack of education opportunities in rural areas, high drop-out rates have been registered. To address this, we decided to start centers in villages that operate at night, allowing children to not have to decide between working and studying to better their future. The program has since evolved into one that involves and educates members of entire communities. Operation Vasantha (OV) is an initiative that has been impacting the lives of disadvantaged rural children since 2009. It aims to educate families on the importance of education and engage dropouts and other children through interactive activities and fun learning sessions. These activities include parents counselling, health and hygiene camps, and education on ecology. Local college students are trained and given support from Agastya to teach children in their villages. The target students, many of whom are first-generation learners, had dropped out of school for a variety of reasons, such as being encouraged to work and contribute to the family's income.

4,353 boys and 4,151 girls participated in various activities at 25 Operation Vasantha centers, resulting in a total of 1,93,052 exposures. During January 2023 to March 2023, following activities and programs were conducted in our OV centers:

Mr. Ramji and Ms. Monika and Zeena visited Kadepalli center in January 2023. On January 11, there was a rangoli competition and prizes were distributed. In mid-January, children attended Agastya's Kuppam Campus and volunteers were trained. An annual event was organized at Noolukunta and Republic Day was celebrated. D.K. Palli volunteers and students participated in Agastya Anveshana program at Kuppam Engineering College, and Shishuvan School visited Ontipalli and Sanganapalli centers. In February, students from the Noolukunta center participated in a national-level program and won it. There was a Parent Engagement meeting in A. N. Kothuru to broaden the minds of parents and provide feedback. Volunteers and students prepared low-cost models and exhibited them in their community. Mittor Center celebrated National Science Day by making science models and explaining them to parents and volunteers. In March, meetings were held at Gudupalli, Mittor, Kotachambagiri, Chintharapalyam and Kadepalli centers. Support was provided to students for exam preparation and material distribution. Instructions and training were given to Kodathanapalli Center and ALP program was conducted in Chintharapalyam.

Links:

• http://www.agastya.org
• http://www.facebook.com/Agastya.Foundation