Preventing school dropout of 300 children in India

Sahaara believes that every person has a dream, and our work centers around ensuring that marginalized persons are able to articulate and work towards achieving their dream. Children in observation homes are one of the most marginalized populations in Mumbai.

The children who live in these Homes come from different states of India and are educated in a Marathi medium school run by the Home. The language difference makes it difficult for them to learn. Remedial education helps in coaching the children in the Marathi language as well as their school subjects thereby helping them understand what they are learning and maintaining their interest to continue education once discharged from the Home.

Sahaara staff procures addresses of discharged children from the home authorities. The social workers then traverse through labyrinthine gullies of Mumbai slums searching for the children’s residences. Through such home visits, networking with local schools, facilitating assistance in books and materials, the child is facilitated entry into formal education paving the way to a bright future.

DISCOVERING POTENTIAL

Families fight; it is something almost every person in the world has experienced. However, it is a rare day when your father comes home and murders your mother. Krishna* was around 5 years old when he found himself in this situation in 2012.

Krishna had been living on the streets in the slum area of Khar, Mumbai. The area around him was dirty and crowded, filled with many people and unsafe for children. He used to beg on these same streets every day, as his parents were not able to take care of him and his elder sister.

Krishna’s father was an alcoholic and used to physically abuse his wife every night. It was on one such day, under the influence of alcohol, that he murdered his wife. The police heard of the incident and arrested him, sending Krishna to live in New Observation Home (NOH) in 2012.

We met him in 2014 in Chembur Children’s Home (CCH) where he had been shifted. Sahaara conducts coaching classes for children in CCH, supporting them through their time at school with remedial education.

When we first met Krishna, he was malnourished and shabbily dressed. We noticed that he frequently got into physical fights with the other children, pinching his classmates and acting in a generally aggressive manner. He was emotionally disturbed and easily irritated by his surroundings. Krishna was also hesitant to participate in any class activities and his concentration levels were poor.

Once we realised this, we made it a point to interact with him regularly, trying to counsel him and learn what his story was. After a while, he began to talk to us. He began to take our advice, attending class in neat clothes and greeting the children and teachers politely when he came to class in the morning. He also began to pay attention to his studies and that is when we began to see his potential.

Krishna scored good grades in his tests in the following year of 2015! Recently, he took responsibility when we asked him to be the class monitor for a week, behaving in a polite and calm manner that influenced his classmates to do likewise.

Today, Krishna enjoys participating in all the skits, action songs, poetry recitals and art and craft activities like flower-making and colouring that we conduct during our classes. He has also opened up emotionally, letting us know when he is sad that no family member comes to visit him in CCH.

We are so amazed to see these changes in Krishna across the last two years. We hope we are on the road to helping many young boys and girls like Krishna discover their own potential as we support and equip them to face life ahead as much as possible!

*Names changed to protect identity

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