Preventing school dropout of 300 children in India

Name of Project: Preventing school dropout of 400 children in India

Project Period: Ongoing

Specific Objectives of the Project:

• The children in Government Homes and red-light areas gain academic, vocational and life skill education.

Achievements of the Project:

• Online and Onsite Remedial education was conducted at the centers with social distancing and COVID safety guidelines.
• Many deserving youths have received college and tuition fee support.
• 18 devices were distributed successfully to children to help them with online education for school as well as Sahaara classes.
• 10 children were successfully admitted in English medium schools inSr. KG & 1st std through Sahaara.
• Parents meetings are well received & parents are participative in these meetings.
• Having volunteers is a big help in facilitating many activities as well as teaching.

Number of beneficiaries: 408

Key Activities:

• Early childhood Education
• Remedial Education
• Youth sessions
• Awareness and Counselling to prevent school dropout
• Awareness sessions and counseling about hygiene and WASH behaviors
• Life skills training and access to vocational training courses

Challenges:

• Overall results have to be improved for English & Hindi.
• Some children face network issues and hence teaching online is becoming less effective.
• Balwadi admissions were more than 60 and hence two groups were made to balance the student teacher ratio.

Sahaara truly believes that every person has a dream,and our work centers around ensuring that vulnerable and marginalized persons can achieve their dream. Children living in Mumbai juvenile homes and red-light areas are some of the most marginalized children in Mumbai. Institutionalized and overlooked, these children are most often from highly poverty-stricken Government Homes and families.

However, with the onset of COVID and schools closed early to curb the spread of the virus. Despite these challenges, the children upgraded their skills from regular learning to navigating online zoom calls for their learning. Regular counseling sessions also helped them keep a positive mindset.

Impact Story:

Growing through Acceptance

Story of Riya* & Dipika*

Riya & Dipika are two young girls from our education center. They have a big family consisting of six members. They used to go to a nearby municipal school and are in 5^th & 3^rd Grades respectively.

When they felt the need for educational support, they came to Sahaara Turbhe Centre for remedial education. In their gauge test, they found it very difficult to read basic letters of Hindi. Sahaara staff realized that there is a huge grade gap and hence arranged extra classes for the girls. The staff also observed through their behavior that there is a lack of awareness regarding manners and etiquettes among the Riya and Dipika. Therefore, along with extra academic classes, our teachers also engaged in improving their social skills as well as engaging more with their parents.

With time, they started to slowly progress very well in their studies and are doing very well now. Riya is still slow in her progress but she is very willing as she saw Sahaara wanting to invest their time and guide her. We have also supported them with a device to attend online education and it is greatly benefitting them.

*Names changed to protect identity.

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