Preventing school dropout of 400 children in India

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

Project Period: Ongoing

Specific Objectives of the Project:

• To facilitate a better learning ecosystem for vulnerable children in and around red light areas 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.

Achievements of the Project:

• 11 children from Project Pragati and 7 children from Project Pratham passed Grade 10. This is the first time 100% of the children graduated successfully. They were felicitated and appreciated in the education centre.
• Nutrition program has been started at Pratham Education Centres where children are provided with mid-day meals. The children are enjoying delicious and healthy food.
• Teachers attended the training session organized by Child-line on Safety of children in Government home, and how to take care of our body, mind & surrounding.
• Annual function at both Pragati and Pratham Education Centres went well. Government authorities appreciated our efforts on the event.
• Summer Activity Camp at both Pragati and Pratham Education Centres went well. Students actively participated in Summer Activity Camp and enjoyed a lot learning many new things throughout whole camp week. Government authorities appreciated our efforts on the event.
• Youth workshop on communication skill was very effective & each individual participated actively in the session.

Number of beneficiaries: 301

Key Activities:

• Early childhood Education
• Remedial 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
• Raising community educators and volunteers through parent & youth training

Challenges:

• To conduct regular classes are difficult because of unstable electricity at Pratham Education Centre in Turbhe. We have set up inverters in our centres to curb this issue.
• Timings of school and special classes is clashing and hence it is tricky for teachers to conduct proper special classes for the children in need.
• Some children went home for summer vacation and thus were not able to participate in the Summer Activity Camp.

Impact Story: A change in Perspective

Each student is special in their own way. A teacher comes across students of different calibers, intellect and various interests. Similarly, in December 2020 one of our teachers met one of the boys named Yuvraj aged 15yrs. He seemed very confident and outspoken, to him life was easy going at Chembur Children’s Home.

He was greatly under the influence of Bollywood movies and to him the difference between real life and “reel life” was blur. For Yuvraj, life was also kind of a Bollywood movie wherein he was so motivated to secure marks like the movie character ‘Munnabhai’ from the movie ‘Munnabhai MBBS’. He was under the impression that it is possible to achieve success quickly if one takes the shorter route. His ambition was to be a gangster or as it is colloquially said, ‘a don’. Yuvraj wanted to be a don and acquire possessions easily.

The teacher wanted to show Yuvraj a different perspective of success. During one of the lectures, the teacher found an opportunity to talk about a great influential legend, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar who went through mountains and valleys of struggles in life to carry out his education. The teacher shared about how Dr. B.R. Ambedkar reached the peak with utter determination and commitment despite being in dire straits. This example really moved Yuvraj as he could relate to it.

Gradually, Yuvraj started taking life seriously and regularly kept asking the teacher about what should he pursue post SSC. After studying with much dedication, he has secured 54% in his SSC examination and now has been enrolled to an ITI course. Today, Yuvraj is more concerned about how he would excel in the course that he is doing and be the best in the same. He is more positive and focused about settling in life by achieving success in the right way. The boy who once wanted to be a don, has now turned into a diligent student with hopes and dreams for the future.

*Name changed to protect participant identity.

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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:

• Good support is being shown by the authorities for regular attendance of 9th & 10th students.
• School has begun and children appeared for their X standard exam. The children reported that exams went well.
• COO & Deputy CEO met with the Home Superintendents and received good feedback concerning Sahaara’s work in government homes.
• More partnership is strengthening between Sahaara and other NGOs like Humara Footpath, Connect For & Aikarthya.
• Clothes distribution done for 9 children & 2 parents in Ghatkopar red light district.
• Teachers & Program Manager have enrolled for Literacy Training Program conducted by Teach for India.

Number of beneficiaries: 414

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
• Raising community educators and volunteers through parent & youth training

Challenges:

• Syllabus completion due to lockdown last month has piled up for the teachers and hence teachers are working hard to complete the same.
• Managing schedule for special classes along with offline school for the children is challenging.
• Quarterly tests were conducted for children who did not achieve objectives - it was hectic to manage normal schedule & testing especially because of the Covid restrictions.
• Since school has begun, attendance is affected. Children are finding it difficult to manage the schedule. As of now two different batches have been made to cater to different timings of the school.
• Because of lack of woman-power revision for Maths exam could not be taken & hence it has affected the marks.

One Step at a Time

Khushi* is a quiet little girl who was shifted to BKN in 2020. Since then, she had started attending Sahaara’s remedial classes. When she first got introduced in the class, she didn't want to talk to anyone. She wouldn’t even speak with the teacher. She was extremely introverted. The teacher tried to find ways to help Khushi open up and mingle with her peers. In that effort, the teacher started to talk to her while playing games and tried to keep her engaged.

Khushi also didn't know how to write because she was too small and didn’t have any educational foundation. Many a times she felt homesick and missed her parents so much that it used to make her cry. To help Khushi cope with her situation, the teacher assigned another child named Meena* to support Khushi and keep her company. Meena also kept the teacher updated about Khushi. This idea of the teacher of providing Khushi with a support person worked really well for Khushi.

Khushi then slowly started to become more and more stable and started talking with the teacher. Eventually, the teacher started to teach her to write and came up with creative methods of teaching like the play-way method for her to learn while playing games. Khushi started to enjoy learning. She is now able to slowly read and write small words as well. She has also started to socialize with other girls and enjoys playing with them.

The teacher at Sahaara’s remedial classes identified Khushi’s needs and addressed those issues in the best way possible to promote the child’s growth towards a strong emotional and educational future.

*Name changed to protect participant identity.          

Links:

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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:

• Teachers for Grade 7th & 8^th in Government homes have joined and their classes are going well, Level 4 has thus started from October to December Quarter.
• 75 girls in Bal Kalyan Nagari were provided with track pants and t-shirts.
• Vacation Camp & Children’s Day celebration was successfully conducted at Chembur Children’s Home and our Education centres.
• Classes have begun in Bhiwandi red light area and the children are responding well.
• Sports Day & Carol Singing competition were conducted for the youth in Turbhe & Ghatkopar red light areas. Youth enjoyed both the events very much.
• Peer learning was started by the youth to tutor our younger children. Children were mapped to the youth as per subjects and levels. This eco-system is in trial format to strengthen our youth to become community builders in the field of education.

Number of beneficiaries: 461

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
• Raising community educators and volunteers through parent & youth training

Challenges:

• Some children are into addictions and there is bad peer influence. We look forward to address this through professional help.
• School workload is also sometimes given to the teachers in Government homes and hence our extra classes get affected.
• Quarterly testing of kids who haven’t achieved objectives, is challenging because of time crunch.
• It is challenging to accommodate all children as schools are operating both online and offline.
• Some children have not consistently performed given slow learning and hence keeping them in a regular remedial level is not serving the purpose.
• There are frequent electricity outages in Turbhe and hence it becomes very difficult for the teachers/youth mentors to conduct sessions.

A little boy’s dream

Tanish* is an 8 years old child. He came into Chembur Children’s Home in 2016. When he was very young, he lost his family members at Dadar station. A police officer found him and helped him to find his parents after putting him in remand home. However, they were unable to trace his parents. So he continued to stay in the children’s home.

Tanish was slow in his studies but owing to age appropriation he was put in the 5th grade at the school. He was never interested in studies and never attended class willfully. During one of the celebrations done by Sahaara, a dance event was going on. Tanish showed keen interest and the teachers discovered that he is a very talented dancer. The teachers had viewed him with just the academic lens and hence were focused on his progress in studies only. When they saw Tanish perform and exhibit his talent, all the teachers appreciated him. He expressed his dream to become a performer if he is not able to become a military officer. The encouragement and appreciation from teachers enabled him to come regularly to class and actively participate.

Links:

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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.

Links:

• Visit our website

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

Project Period: Ongoing

Reporting Period: 01^st January to 31^st March 2021

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 centres with social distancing and COVID safety guidelines.
• Many deserving youths have received college and tuition fee support.
• Children are remaining connected to their learning through personal calls from their teachers who also sent them worksheets and educational videos.

Number of beneficiaries: 275

Key Activities:

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

Challenges:

• Classes were re-scheduled due to the changed time-table of a Government Home.
• Access to the Government Homes is restricted by the Home authorities due to the second wave of COVID-19 in March 2021.

Sahaarabelievesthateverypersonhasadream,andourworkcentersaroundensuringthat 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. Many parents of these children could not earn a living as many of them were daily wage workers. Sahaara reached out to them during this critical hour of need. Many families migrated back to their villages and hometowns. Despite these challenges, there were many who remained behind. These 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 in the middle of all the COVID challenges they faced.

Growing through Acceptance

Akash* is bright 10-year-old boy studying in Chembur Children’s Home (CCH), a government home for children in need of care and protection. He has shown considerable progress in his studies and has grown in confidence. However, this is not how someone would describe him a few years ago.

Akash was the only child in his family. His father worked in a building as a sweeper and his mother died when he was just 3 years old. After that, his father remarried to start his life afresh. However, Akash’s step-mother disliked him causing his father to admit him in CCH in 2017. Akash was 7 years old at the time

Sahaara conducts remedial education for children in government homes like CCH in order to help these children achieve grade level competency in school.

When Akash joined the Sahaara class, he was a very disturbed child as his father never came to meet him. Akash was struggling with a sense of rejection and loneliness. However, our teachers showed love and care towards him. In the initial stages, he was very poor in studies but our staff gave him special individual attention in our remedial class as well as in the special help class.

Through various fun and creative methods, the Sahaara teachers taught him and provided a safe-space for him to express himself. With this help, he started to perform well and became bright in studies. He is now in the 5th Grade and doing well almost reaching grade level competency.

His dream is to become a policeman someday!

*Name changed to protect identity.

Links:

• Remedial Education in Government Homes
• Remedial Education in Red-light Areas