Project Report
| Jan 31, 2023
Create learning ecosystem for vulnerable children
![Mental Health Awareness Session at Govt. Homes]()
Mental Health Awareness Session at Govt. Homes
Project Period: Ongoing
Number of participants:
Participants in and around redlight areas:
- Early Childhood Education- 61
- Remedial Education – 157
- Youth- 31
- Parents - 67
Participants in Government Homes:
- Remedial & Supplementary education - 114
- Higher Education – 12
- Total Participants covered- 126
Specific Objectives of the Project:
- To facilitate a better learning ecosystem for vulnerable children in and around redlight areas (Turbhe and Ghatkopar) through early childhood and remedial education interventions; and achieving sustainability through training & equipping of parents and community champions.
- To facilitate a better learning ecosystem for children in government homes through the Sahaara Remedial Education; and with training & equipping of Home staff; so that the children gain academic and life skills leading them to fulfill their dreams.
Key Activities:
- Remedial & Supplementary Education
- Youth sessions
- Nutrition
- 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
Achievements of the Project:
- 61 and 157 children are regularly attending early childhood education and remedial education respectively in Turbhe and Ghatkopar education centres.
- 30 children have been mainstreamed into an English medium school in the beginning of the academic year 2022-23.
- 114 children are regularly attending remedial and supplementary education in Government Homes.
- 19 children are being provided with college education sponsorship.
- 1 youth was enrolled for vocational course in Bachelor of Homeopathic Medicine and Surgery.
- Life skills sessions were conducted in both the centres on topics like Moral Stories, Craft activities, and Social Emotional Learning focusing on worry, sadness, and happiness.
- Children and parents attended Mental Health awareness session on the topic of Stress
- Youth Camp was done successfully for the first time for children from Turbhe and Ghatkopar education centres. External as well as internal speakers were invited. The theme of the camp was - Be Unique. The topics covered were on Leadership, Self-Esteem, Impacting Community, and Where there is a will there is a way.
- All children were gifted piggy banks to encourage the habit of saving.
- A training session on Slow learners was conducted and proved to be beneficial for the teachers.
- Christmas celebration was done in a school that educates children with disabilities. Children from our education centre performed for them and gave them gifts.
- Government School principal (Primary section) appreciated Sahaara teachers’ support with school classes in the absence of the school teachers.
- The aftercare home superintendent appreciated our help towards college students in the aftercare home.
- Government Girls’ Home superintendent gave special thanks for arranging the Mental Health Awareness session for staff.
Challenges:
- It was difficult to conduct Hindi & English classes smoothly in Ghatkopar education centre as 1 teacher was on maternity leave and 1 new teacher had to be recruited. However, the teacher on maternity leave has now resumed and 1 new teacher has been recruited.
- Children are increasing in number at Ghatkopar education centre; therefore, the place is not enough for them. To overcome this, a new centre has been identified.
- The attendance in Adult Literacy gets affected when there are frequent social events in the community.
Impact Story:
Title: A family that stays together, grows together
This is the story of a 9 years old girl named Aarya*. Aarya lives with her family in Ghatkopar slum area. There are 5 members in her family and she is the eldest sibling. She is studying in Grade 4.
Aarya’s parents were going through a tough time in their marriage and were having frequent fights. One day, her mother left the family and went to live with her parents. When Aarya’s mother left, no one cared to look after Aarya, hence she used to roam around all alone.
Our Sahaara staff noticed this and spoke to Aarya's grandmother to get her admitted in the Ghatkopar Education Centre in 2021. It was observed that Aarya's attention span was very low and she was quite weak in studies. Whenever the teacher used to teach, she used to be inattentive and unable to concentrate.
When Sahaara staff spoke to her, they came to know that Aarya misses her mother a lot and due to this she is not interested in studies. The staff tried to work on increasing Aarya’s attention span through interesting teaching methods and activities. They also talked to her grandmother about the issue. When our staff explained the importance of family in child's healthy growth of life, she was ready to talk with her daughter-in-law and to solve their internal family problem.
Eventually, Aarya's parents worked on the issue and are now living together again. This also helped improve Aarya’s mental health and is actively participating in the class.
The staff recognized the issues Aarya was facing and took active steps to help the child develop and have a safe future. Aarya dreams to become a great dancer.
* Name changed to protect identity.
![Dream Seeding Session]()
Dream Seeding Session
![Adult literacy classes]()
Adult literacy classes
![Combined Youth Group session]()
Combined Youth Group session
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