Salaam Baalak Trust - working for street children

Introduction

Working incessantly to link marginalised children with quality education, the CHI-SBT Mobile School has launched various innovations in the year 2018-2019. The present report presents a snapshot of key services and new initiatives taken by the CHI-SBT Mobile School. These include laying special focus on linking children to vocational training, organising Aadhar card camps and galvanising support of stakeholders. Along with education services, these steps are aimed at improving quality of life of children and lay the foundation of their secured future. The CHI-SBT Mobile School Team equipped with skills of community mobilisation and education and skill training have worked hard to effectively implement these activities.

Progress Report

The CHI-SBT Mobile School covers two spots in North and North-East Delhi – an area with high concentration of slum and squatter settlements and out of school children. The two spots included Shastri Park and Seelampur. At each of these spots, three hour classes are conducted for children and alongside efforts are made to identify new out of school and drop out children not attending these classes. 

The three hour classes ensure intensive engagement with children and better learning outcomes.

Overview of Activities

The details on various activities conducted at the CHI-SBT Mobile School have been presented below.

• School Admission: The CHI-SBT Mobile School team enrolled children in formal schools. A total of 62 children were enrolled in school in the year 2018-19 as opposed to 41 children in 2017-18.

• Regular classes: Academic support is at the heart of CHI-SBT Mobile School’s operation. To this end, three hour classes were conducted at the two spots regularly. The school-going children attend their schools and come to Mobile School spots for additional help and assistance in studies. These long-duration classes ensure that children are able to engage in intensive and fruitful learning. The children also enjoy activity-based learning which facilitates strong conceptual learning among children. The activity-based learning includes learning by doing, use of pair and group activities and teaching aids. The non-formal education kit is given to the children for systematic learning. The performance of all children is closely monitored by the CHI-SBT Mobile School teachers to fill monthly assessment forms. 
• Academic Progress: Gauging academic progress of children becomes key to ensure that desired learning outcomes are achieved. During the reporting period, the academic performance of children in schools was closely monitored. Many children actively sought the support of the CHI-SBT Mobile School team and made efforts to complete their school syllabus. Every time the team is hopeful that children’s hard work will reap good results and they will pass with flying colours. In this process, we find so many children who are giving their best in academic level as we find some of children who never went to school. Given the socioeconomic deprivations these children live in, many of them demonstrate that if given equal opportunities they can excel in studies as well as children from privileged backgrounds. To streamlining the progress tracking of children education files of each and every child was created to decipher the progress. Alternate day classes were conducted so that the teachers could follow up with the school children.
• Non-formal Education (NFE) Classes: Those children who have been long out of school are not immediately prepared to cope up with the formal schooling. TheNFE classes prepare these children for formal schooling through activity based learning. These classes are conducted based on the pre-designed NFE curriculum and kits designed wherein children are provided opportunities to practice applying the skills they learn. 
• Art and Craft: Since most arts and crafts activities consist of moving fingers and hands, they help in developing fine motor skills of children and bringing out their creative side. Simple actions like holding a paintbrush and colouring with pencils help strengthen muscles and improve their control. Arts and crafts activities can enhance the children's dexterity and agility. For this reason, children at the CHI-SBT Mobile School are engaged in art and crafts. 
• School Visits: The CHI-SBT Mobile School team made 20 school visits to facilitate the admission process of new children in schools and get feedback of school going children who have been admitted earlier. During these visits the team interacted with the teachers and requested for their active support to encourage children to be regular in school and for academic support. The teachers assured the CHI-SBT Mobile School team that they will be sensitive to these children’s additional needs. During follow up, it was found that most of the children are regular in school and the support of CHI-SBT Mobile School had helped them to keep pace with the school curriculum.
• School Meetings (PTM): Teachers of the CHI-SBT Mobile School attended parent teachers meeting held in schools and sought feedback on children’s academic performance and overall progress in schools. These meetings became a forum to bring school authorities and teachers close to parents wherein children’s issues, problems and achievements could be discussed in detail. Attending PTM’s with parents has served as a platform for the Mobile School team to sensitise both the school teachers and parents towards children’s education. 
• Parents Meeting: CHI-SBT Mobile School team conducted parents meetings to discuss issues and motivate parents to send their children school daily on time in proper school uniform. In addition, significance of maintaining personal hygiene among children was also stressed upon. The team reiterated the importance of education and role of CHI-SBT Mobile School in preparing children for admission in regular schools. The team further encouraged parents to make most out of the resources and support provided by the CHI-SBT Mobile School.
• Capacity Building: For the teachers’ professional development, capacity building programmes and activities were conducted. These focused on improving teacher’s classroom performance to enhance quality of learning where teachers. These programmes helped children analyse their strengths and areas of improvement. Since most of these capacity building methods are participatory and they develop a culture of shared learning. 
• Health Check-ups: In order to minimise the incidence of infectious diseases specifically dengue and other infectious diseases such as also flu and cold, the SBT doctors regularly visited the CHI-SBT Mobile School spots and conducted a thorough primary health check-up of all children. Doctors provided medicines to those children who had fever and or needed medication after medical test and diagnosis. As per the planned schedule, the doctor visited each spot once in a week. 

• Celebrations: The children celebrated festivals such as Rakhi, Independence Day, Friendship’s Day at the CHI-SBT Mobile School spots. Sweets were distributed and children danced and enjoyed. These celebrations bring children and the team closer to each other and help them understand the significance of festivals. Teachers painted a flag on children’s faces on Independence Day and tied the Rakhi Bands on their hands. The birthdays of those children who were born in September were also celebrated. Before cutting the cake, the birthday boys and girls recited poems and introduced themselves. Children’s Day was also celebrated with lot of zeal by the children and a painting competition was organised for them. Children enjoyed and savoured these celebrations to the fullest.

• Exposure Visits: Sleepwell Foundation organised movie outings for children at the two spots. The children at Shastri Park were taken for ‘Super 30’ while those at Seelampur were taken to watch ‘The Lion King’ movie. Post the movie screening children enjoyed delicious lunch and ice-creams. Children were very happy and some of them shared that they had seen a movie for the first time in a movie hall.
• Sports Activity: Taking part in sports is important for children as it reduces stress and enhances their skills. Sports Day was held in DMRC Children’s Home wherein children fromthe CHI-SBT Mobile School participated enthusiastically.Two of the children stood first and second in various sports day activities. A girl Iram got first prize in Lemon race and Mohd.  Sahid got second position in Chess. Some of the children also participated in Ludo and Carom competitions. Participation in sports day instilled desire of being active and fit.
• Innovations
  • Vocational Training: Elder children in the community have been linked to vocational training. This is the first time that the CHI-SBT Mobile School team has enrolled children in vocational training with the intent that it will bring about a change in the overall status of the family and would motivate others families to send their girls for vocational courses and enable them to secure jobs. A long term vision is to bring about a change in the whole community through empowerment of youth.
  • Aadhar Camps:Identity proofs become an important requirement for admission of children in formal schools. To this end, Aadhar card camps were organised which doubled the enrolment of children in formal schools. A total of 20 children from Shastri Park and 45 children from Seelampur got their Aadhar cards through these camps.
  • Linking Children to Social Security Schemes: The CHI-SBT Mobile School team is also putting in efforts to link children to various government schemes so that they can avail their benefits.To this end, bank accounts of 62 children were opened. A total of 500 pan cards were made in the community for both adults and children.About 41 girls were linked with Sukanya Scheme.The Scheme is aimed at girls below 10 years of age wherein every year parents have to deposit a minimum of INR 1000 in the account of her daughter and government will give 8.4% interest on deposited money. Once the girl turns 18, 50% of the deposited amount can be withdrawn for higher studies or for her marriage. The Scheme allows deposits to be made in the girl’s name till the ageof 23 years. The Scheme thus, promote empowerment of girls.
  • Stakeholder Meeting: The team is also conducting stakeholder meetings to sensitise the key community influencers such as leaders, shop keepers and experienced people on issues of children particularly their education. The meetings are also a platform to seek their and parents; feedback around the Mobile School activities and its curriculum. The stakeholder meetings will be instrumental for sustaining community support to the CHI-SBT Mobile School. 
  • Plantation and Cleanliness Activity: The CHI-SBT team organised a tree plantation drive by planting 100 saplings at Seelampur and Shastri Park spots. Through this activity childrenlearnt the importance of conserving the environment as the need of the hour to reverse environmental degradation. The children understood that tree plantation is especially important to protect the environment against air pollution and global warming.

   

  Stories of Change

   

  Strong Resolve Reaps Strong Results

  Fahreen an 18 year old young girl hailing from Shastri Park community dreamt of becoming independent and support her family financially. Being the eldest of the five siblings, Fahreen shouldered household responsibility at a young age. Fahreen’s father is a small fruit vendor and due to their poor financial condition Farheen had drop out in Class 5. However her desire to learn did not stop. She picked up many other skills diligently such as stitching. Developing her expertise in the field, she began to stitch clothes for community people. With the help of her sisters she pasted studs on jeans to supplement the family income.

   

  Fahreen was spotted by the CHI-SBT Mobile School during an outreach visit. During the visit it was found that many young adults in the communitywere feeling left out as they did not have any information and support or guidance for training and livelihood programmes. Given this felt need of the community the CHI-SBT Mobile School team took the initiative to motivate and link youth to livelihood training programmes. Farheen was one of the very first beneficiaries to benefit from the initiative.

   

  Farheen’s mother had come to the CHI-SBT Mobile School for the admission of her younger son who is studying in a school and there she shared her concerns about engaging her daughters productively. She mentioned that one of her daughtershad passed Class 12 and the younger one completed Class 10 andthe youngest daughter was studying in Class 5. Believing in the potential of her daughters, Farheen’s mother wanted them to learn vocational skills and secure gainful employment. She shared that the training not only wanted to financially support their family but also become self-reliant. She had tried to find these course options, however, she could not find any such opportunities in Shastri Park.

   

  The CHI-SBT Mobile School extended their assistance to Farheen’s mother in finding vocational training courses. Soon the team found out that an NGO called Jamghat provided free training to underprivileged girls in stitching bags and dresses and making file folders. Upon completion of the training, they help them to provide work so that girls can earn and improve their financial condition. Farheen’s mother was elated to hear this and she immediately agreed to enrol Farheen at Jamghat. Farheen is presently doing the stitching course at Jamghat and doing well. She also aims to utilise her refined stitching skills in generating enhanced additional income for her family. She has also expressed a strong desire to complete her education. The CHI-SBT Mobile School team will be supporting her in continuing her education from National Institute of Open Schooling.

   

  A New Lease of Life

  Ali (name changed), a 7 year old boy lives at Shastri Park community with his siblings including, two sisters and two brothers. His father works as a driver and their financial condition was very weak. His parents therefore, could not prioritise their children’s education in the struggle of eking out a living for themselves.  Resultantly, Ali had never been to school. As part of the outreach activity of the CHI-SBT team interacted with Ali and his family and explained to them about theCHI-SBT Mobile School activities. The team informed them that at Shastri Park the CHI-SBT Mobile School bus reached at 10 am and classes were organised till 1 pm. Ali’s mother visited the Mobile School spot and was very happy to see the community children studying there and enjoying the classes.

   

  From the next day, Ali and his siblings started coming to the CHI-SBT Mobile School spot. Initially Ali and his siblings were hesitant but after constant encouragement by the team they began to regularly attend the Mobile School. They have been attending the Mobile School for past four years. The CHI-SBT Mobile School team enrolled Ali into Class 3 this year. For his admission, the team also issued Aadhar Card for him. Presently, Ali is has begun to go to school and he is showing remarkable progress in his studies. His sister who is in class 6 is also regularly attendingthe CHI-SBT Mobile School.

   

  Journey from Garbage Dumps to School

  Mausam (name changed) a 6 year old lives with her parents in the slums of Shastri Park. She has a sister and a younger brother. Her mother is working as a domestic helper and father is a rickshaw puller.There was often no one to take care of them when their parents went for work. Mausam and her brother longed to go to school and have someone around to talk to and play with. They felt neglected and lonely.

   

  One day when Mausam was playing outside her house with her brother, the CHI-SBT Mobile school outreach worker spotted them. The outreach worker interacted with them and explained to them that a Mobile School van comes for three hours near their house and they must visit the spot. The children initially were scared to step out of the house on their own, however, the CHI-Mobile School team met their parents and convinced them to come to the spot. Their initial experience at the spot was very positive, they were very excited to see other children of their community studying there. Mausam and her brother was extremely thrilled when they were given stationery items and toys to play. They seemed really interested towards these sessions. As a result, the children began to visit the Mobile School daily. Mausam and her brother began attending NFE classes.

   

  Mausam’s parents faced difficulties in looking after their children and sought the CHI-SBT Mobile school team’s help for admission to their children in a nearby government school. Initially, the parents were worried about the school fee and other expenses but the CHI-SBT Mobile School team assured them that they would be provided free education along with scholarship. The parents immediately agreed. Presently, theCHI-SBT team has enrolled Mausam and her brother in a school. Mausam is studying in Class 2 while her brother is in Class 1. Both children are showing keen interest in their studies. Their parents are very thankful to CHI-SBT team for their support.

   

  Future PlanIn the coming year, the CHI-SBT Mobile School team will make efforts to increase parents’ involvement in children’s education for ensuring their regular attendance at the Mobile School spots. The team also plans to organise health camps in the community to create awareness on importance of health and hygiene. Increased focus will be laid on improving teaching pedagogy at the Mobile School to improve quality of teaching and learning. Pedagogic improvements will ensure that children are able to perform well in their studies and achieve better learning outcomes

Introduction

Apna Ghar Children’s Home was established on January 17, 2000 as a full care residential shelter for children in need of care and protection. Operating in Pahar Ganj area of Delhi, the Home provides residential care to runaway and missing children and those rescued from child labour, beggary and other vulnerable circumstances. The children at Apna Ghar are provided, health, education, vocational training and restoration and rehabilitation services. Apart from above mentioned services, counselling and mental health support is also given to the children. Additionally, children who are about to step into adulthood i.e. turn 18 are linked to jobs. Providing full care residential care, Apna Ghar serves as safe, secure and an enabling place to live for children rescued from streets. Recognised as Open Shelter under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection) Act, 2000, Apna Ghar team works with a rights-based perspective. The team’s key goal is protect and realise the rights of children, keeping in mind their best interest. Currently, the Open Shelter caters to 25 boys in the age group of 5-18 years.
Supported Project

Apna Ghar literally means our home. Children living in Apna Ghar often have no recollection of their own families and homes. For them, Apna Ghar becomes their home. Thus, it is critical to transform an Open Shelter into a child-friendly, happy and lively place. Often a first step towards this, is to ensure adequate and quality infrastructure. Under the supported project, critical infrastructural improvements and renovation work are being undertaken at the Apna Ghar Home.
Since Apna Ghar has been functional in an old yet sturdy building, regular repair and renovation work is fundamental to make it completely fit for children. The Apna Ghar team has been struggling to mobilise funds for the renovation of the Open Shelter. Thus, the valuable donor support and funds have been a shot in the arm for Apna Ghar team. The next section provides a progress update on the repair and renovation work being carried out at the Open Shelter under the project.

Progress Update

The construction and renovation at Apna Ghar is in going on in full swing. Following activities are underway: • Access to safe electricity: The wiring in the Apna Ghar building has become old and dated. Old wires are both inefficient and unsafe for electricity transmission. Therefore, all wiring at the home is being replaced with new ones. The new underground wiring system will be instrumental in ensuring uninterrupted electricity supply at the Home and minimise any short circuits and other glitches. • Improving appearance of the Home: To improve the overall appearance of the Home, whitewashing of the walls and ceilings is being done. The bright and clean appearance of the Home will be pleasing for both children to live and team to work. • Wooden work: Furniture and closets are an important part of the Home, they are used by the children on a daily basis and undergo wear and tear. Thus, their repair is
required to ascertain that they are fully functional and safe to be used. This essentially means they do not have any sharp edges and are easily accessible to children. • Toilet availability: To promote sanitation and hygiene among children, it is important that they have access to fully functional toilets. Towards this end, repair work is being undertake in two bathrooms. It will entail constructing a new pipeline passage and installing new pipe. In addition to this, flush systems will be installed in each of the bathrooms. In one of the bathrooms, a new toilet seat will be fixed. To improve the overall appearance of the bathrooms and for ease of cleaning, floor tiles will be laid out. All the above mentioned repair activities are extremely crucial for smooth functioning of a Open Shelter. Both children and team are extremely excited and happy that their home is getting revived with a new and improved look.

• Apnaghar_RenovationReport.pdf (PDF)
  

Introduction
Salaam Baalak Trust’s (SBT) has been working towards the care and protection of street children since 1988. One of the key components of our programme is to provide safe spaces for children. Thus, SBT has established children homes which provide shelter (long-term or short-term) along with a continuum of need based care services. These services include medical care, food and nutrition (three hot cooked meals and evening nutrition), psychological support, education, vocational training, job placement, restoration and rehabilitation. The homes also provide sports and latent talent development opportunities for holistic development. All the children homes are recognized and licensed under the Integrated Child Protection Scheme (ICPS) in tandem with Juvenile Justice Act, 2015. The admission and care plan of each child is made under the guidance of respective Child Welfare Committees (CWCs).

Key Activities and Progress Update

Children’s homes are child-friendly spaces designed for all-round development of children. The teams at these homes are skilled and experienced in working with street children. They work with children in a very compassionate manner such children can leave behind their harsh experiences on the streets and live together in the Home with one another like one big family. The children’s homes are well-equipped with essential physical infrastructure including classrooms, play area, dormitories and computer rooms and libraries.

Brief Overview of Different Children Homes :

Aasra Children Home for Boys
Aasra was the first shelter home started by SBT. With a capacity of 50 it caters to boys of five to 18 years. It is currently located in Najafgarh.

Apna Ghar Open Shelter for Boys
It is a short stay home, where 30 children come to stay short duration and then they are either restored or transferred to a long stay home. It is currently located in Paharganj.

DMRC Children Home for Boys

DMRC Children’s Home was established as part of Delhi Metro Rail Corporation’s corporate social responsibility. The home houses 125 boys from the age of five to below 18 years. It is currently located in Tiz Hazari.

Old Delhi Railway Station (ODRS) Open Shelter for Boys
ODRS is an open centre catering to 30 boys. It is a short stay home, where children come to stay short duration. It is currently located in Mori Gate.

Arushi Children Home for Girls
Arushi was SBT’s first girls’ home. It offers 24-hour shelter and care to 50 girls between the ages of five years to 18 years. It is currently located in Gurugram.

Udaan-Rose Children Home for Girls
Udaan-Rose children’s home was initiated with the support of Give 2 Asia in March 2010. It started with eight girls and currently shelters 75 girls at a time. It is currently located in Kamla Nagar.

Residential Care: Children at the children’s home are provided shelter. A safe space is a felt critical need of children both boys and girls rescued from the unsafe streets. Aasra, Apna Ghar, Old Delhi Railway Station Open Centre (ODRS OC) DMRC Children’s Home are home for boys; Udaan and Arushi are children’s homes for girls. The children living in the homes get their own beds, clothes and hygiene kits. They spend their day according to a set routine living with other children. They develop a sense of belonging at the children’s homes considering it their own home.

Food and Nutrition: Besides serving the prime purpose of providing a ‘safe living space’ to children, children’s home offer a comprehensive package of services including food and nutrition. Children at the homes are provided three hot-cooked nutritious and well-balanced meals. Evening and special nutrition is provided to children suffering from malnutrition and undernutrition.

Education: At all the children homes, education of children is given utmost importance. Children whether coming for short stay or long stay are exposed to and involved in educational activities. Given the differential learning needs of children, education is imparted through formal, informal and open schooling. In-house classes are conducted by SBT teachers in a play-way and participatory manner. The children who come for long stay are prepared to join formal schools. The transition of out of school children to formal schools is a definite success paving the way for their vocational training and job placement.
Medical Care: In order to ensure that children are protected against all infections and ailments, medical social workers along with medical coordinator organise regular check-ups and vaccination camps of children. SBT’s in-house doctors conduct these check-ups and camps. Additionally, dental, eye and ear-nose and throat (ENT) check-ups are also conducted at the children’s homes. Adequate medical care lays a strong foundation for physical health of children.

Mental Health and Psychological Support: Full-time mental health professionals appointed in the homes provide psychological support and counselling to children. The mental health and psychological support help children rescued from the streets get over their traumatic past, become mentally stable and adequately acclimatize and adjust to the environment at the home. Individual and group activities are conducted with the children by the counsellors to unearth and sort unresolved issues and concerns of children.

Vocational Training and Job Placement: Children who are above 16 and/or have completed Class 10 are linked to a wide range of vocational training courses. A career counsellor matches children’s skill sets and interest with suitable courses. Based on counsellor’s recommendation children join vocational courses of their choice. Children at SBT homes often opt for computer, travel and tourism, fashion designing, beauty culture and hotel management courses. Upon completion of their vocational training courses children are also assisted in finding gainful employment. The home teams help children in applying for jobs.

Restoration and Rehabilitation: Those children who are missing or run away from their homes often long for their families. The children’s home teams in conjunction with the CHILDLINE and police make efforts to find homes and families of these children and reunite them with their parents and significant others. For those children who live in the children’s home till they turn 18, a proper rehabilitation plan is drawn. These young adults are not only linked to jobs but are also supported in finding a new accommodation and are provided basic necessities to start a life such as bedding utensils and financial assistance for buying groceries and pay rent for up to three months. Rehabilitation is SBT’s carefully planned attempt to reintegrate the children back into societies as productive adults and responsible citizens.

 A snapshot of services provided from April 1, 2018-March 2019


Residential care provided
7721 (374 girls)

Restoration
2177 children

Education (Formal Schooling)
876

Open Schooling
75

Non-Formal Education
4373

Food and Nutrition
7721

Health Check Up
4132

Skill Development and Vocational Training
293

Job Placement
140

Apart from these activities, children celebrated festivals such as Eid, Holi, Diwali, X-Mas, and national holidays etc. Children also went for educational trips and tours. These activities helped children bond with each other and created a ‘we’ feeling among them.

Future Plan
SBT team plans to improve the existing quality of services through increased networks, better opportunities and staff capacity building. The team is making concerted efforts to reach a greater number of children in the coming year. Accelerated focus is being laid on formal schooling of children. More avenues are also being explored to link children and young adults with viable vocational training facilities.

Introduction and Goal

Since its inception, SBT has been striving to provide comprehensive care and protection services to street and working children. This package of services includes residential facilities, health and nutrition, education, vocational training and rehabilitation services. A critical component of this package remains medical and health facilities. It has been seen that children on streets live in insanitary conditions and are prone to various infections and diseases, therefore providing them adequate medical facilities is often the first priority for SBT team. In an endeavour to ensure effective delivery of medical services, SBT has envisioned a multifaceted medical programme. 

Under the medical programme, SBT covers the following two pronged objectives.

1. To improve access to adequate and timely medical services of children rescued / and or motivated to live in shelter homes.
2. To strengthen medical and health programme to ensure maximum quality health care.

Project Goal

The present project supports the medical programme activities at Aasra Residential Centre of SBT. From the valuable grants under the Project salaries of medical social worker and medical programme implementation has been supported at Aasra. The Centre is located in Najafgarh area of Delhi and provides shelter and other services to about 50 boys at any given point of time.

 Activities

It has been SBT’s long standing principle that quality medical aid must be provided to every child. As good health is foundation on which a stable and happy future can be built. Under this ambit, first aid and a medical check up is provided within 24 hrs of coming in touch with SBT.  When a child comes in to touch with SBT with any major medical problem, she/ he is referred to hospital immediately, prescribed care is provided and regular follow up is done. With the support, street children residing Aasra Residential Centre of Salaam Baalak Trust were direct beneficiaries to the medical programme. (For details see Table 1)

Awareness Session on Dental Health at Aasra Centre

As part of the medical programme following activities have been conducted:

• First Aid care was provided to children who came with an injury to the Centre.
• Regular health check-ups of regular children staying at the centre for long stay were conducted.
• Awareness sessions were conducted by the medical social workers to sensitize children on issues of health, hygiene, and sanitation.
• Medicines were provided to children suffering from illness and sickness.
• Those children who were diagnosed from a major illness were provided specialised medical care through hospitals.
• Heath camps were organised to provide routine immunization to children to protect them from preventable childhood diseases.

Dental Check-up at the Centre

Snapshot of Progress Achievements and Targets  

The number of children reached under various components of medical programme at Aasra Centre is provided below.

Table 1: Medical Programme Coverage and Outreach

Activities

Number of Beneficiaries

Remarks

Total Beneficiaries

50

T.T Vaccine  (1 Camp)

25

Dental (1 Camp)

29

Eye check up

9

Medical Investigation

5

Surgery

2

(Eye & leg)

Long term Care

3

(Kidney disorder & HIV Positive infection)

Hospital Referrals

Medicine Department

16

ENT Department

6

Skin Department

4

Surgery Department

5

Future Plan

This year the medical team plans to forge stronger partnership with hospitals to ensure high quality care to children. Additionally, the team will make necessary efforts to organise capacity building sessions for medical staff throughout the year.

Introduction
Recognizing the need to protect the future of the children residing on streets, Salaam Baalak Trust (SBT) was established in 1988. SBT’s full care residential centres intend to fulfil street children’s longing for safety and security by providing them a caring and nurturing environment with a sense of security. A safe place to sleep, a small cupboard to store personal belongings, a somewhat set pattern to life (e.g. regulated timings for food, study, play, roll call and going to bed etc.). Additionally, the Trust also has a vision of ensuring access of street children to high quality services ranging from health, nutrition, education, vocational training to job placement.
Arushi children home was the first girls’ home established by SBT, given the accentuated vulnerabilities of girls living on girls to sexual abuse, exploitation and physical violence. Located in Gurugram, Haryana, the home provides shelter to around 60 girls at a time. The home has been designed in a very child friendly manner and is equipped with all the facilities and amenities required by growing children, including, class rooms, play area, dormitory, indoor space for games and in-house classes and computers and digital infrastructure.

Rationale and Context
Under the funded project, quality and inclusive education is being provided to girls rescued from the streets and enrolled in SBT’s Arushi residential home. In recognition of the role and value of education in shaping children’s future, for their intellectual development and transform them into productive citizens, comprehensive efforts are made at SBT’s residential homes.
Education of children at SBT is need-based and demand-driven. To fulfil these criteria, the Trust employs various modes to educate children including formal and non-formal best suited to their existent knowledge and skills. Wherever possible, the objective is to bring children into mainstream education. The overriding goal, though, is to help children develop into informed, capable, and responsible citizens. To these ends. SBT variously engages with the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS), formal schools, non-formal education, and bridge courses.

Objectives
The key objectives of the funded project are:
To ensure access of children in SBT’s residential centres to quality and inclusive education
To provide these children additional educational support bridging the learning gaps they have while they are out of school
To prepare and ready children for mainstream education through formal and open schools
Progress on Key Activities
The proposed intervention for which funding support is being sought is on-going. Following activities are being undertaken as part of the intervention.
Determining suitable mode of education for children: Upon registration of children at Arushi home,the staff members conducted a thorough analysis of their background, present interests and readiness and educational skills. Keeping these as benchmarks, they charted out an educational plan for each child. Mostly girls with substantial educational gaps, were provided bridge classes for preparing and strengthening their academic base. Bridge courses are specifically provided to those children who have suffered breaks in their formal education. The programme provides intensive coaching to such children, aiming to help them re-join formal schooling in a class appropriate to their age. During these courses weekly tests were conducted for children. Additionally debates were conducted to improve their knowledge. Following this, according to girls’ educational level and age they were 4 enrolled in a suitable mode of education. For instance, those girls who were in a school and dropped out for a short span of time were linked to a formal school. In other cases, those children who have been out of school for quite some time were provided bridge course to make them ready to join a school.
Enrolling children in formal schools: The trust lays ample emphasis on linking children to mainstream education. A total of 39 girls were linked to formal schools. These girls were eligible and ready to go to a school and were prepared for the same by Arushi’s in-house teachers. The girls were given adequate guidance by the staff members and were motivated to join a school at the earliest. Following this, the staff members applied for children’s admission in good schools located in the vicinity of the centre. All formalities and documentation was completed by the staff members and educational material, uniform, school fee etc. is sponsored by the trust. The girls linked to formal schools are regularly attending their classes and are being constantly supported to keep pace with the school curriculum.
Enrolling in open schools: A number of children who remain out of school for a large span of their life on streets and do not feel confident and comfortable enough to joining regular schools are taught at the centre by in-house teachers. They are rigorously motivated by the staff members including counsellors to get registered in NIOS and progressively clear Classes 8, 10 and 12 to secure minimum qualification to pursue higher education or respectable job. Such girls at Arushi went through bridge courses and were enrolled in NIOS after the bridge classes were over. Two girls supported by the project have been enrolled in NIOS. A total of six girls from the residential home are presently studying through open schooling.
Providing non-formal education: Apart from the above mentioned cases, some girls rescued from the streets had considerable learning gaps. To address these gaps, children were schooled at the centre through non-formal education (NFE). These classes focus on interesting and interactive learning through a participatory approach. A wide range of techniques are employed under the program, including painting, games, storytelling, papier mache, songs, quizzes, bachchon ki adalat etc. Other activities undertaken under NFE classes include, drawing classes, art and craft, reciting rhymes and practising numbers and alphabets. A total of 12 girls are attending NFE classes at Arushi.
Extending regular in-house educational support: All girls in formal, open and non-formal schools are being provided regular in-house educational support by Arushi teachers. In case of school-going children, the teachers helped them in understanding school curriculum and complete their homework and assignments on a daily basis. For children in open schools, the teachers shared the onus of helping children complete their academic syllabus and prepare them for exams. The in-house teachers remain instrumental in conducting non-formal education and bridge classes for children.
Mapping progress: The academic progress of the children was mapped through written examination in schools and centre. Children were marked on their performance at the centre. The centre staff regularly maintained all the documents including progress reports, attendance registers. Educational coordinator made monitoring visits to map the progress of the children and the centres educational activities on the whole.

Progress Report of some of the Children Supported
Brief overview of progress achieved by girls supported by the project is indicated below.
Manisha – She is presently studying in Class 12 in St. Crispin Senior Secondary school. She is doing well in her studies and working hard to score good marks in internal and board exams. She is also learning Bollywood dancing through Tansen Sangeet Mahavidyalya.
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Lovepreet- She is in Class 10 in St. Crispin Senior Secondary school. She is a fast learner and has been excelling in her studies. She is learning to play Guitar from 4 G global institute.
Sophia- Sophia is presently studying in Class 10 through NIOS. She wants to become a chef and is very keen to join hospitality sector.
Monika- Monika is presently in Class 10 in St. Crispin Senior Secondary school. She wants to pursue a course in veterinary sciences after she completes her education. She will be working for an NGO which working for welfare of animals.
Madhu- Madhu is presently doing bridge course. She aspires to pursue a cooking course and become a chef.
Priyanka- Priyanka is presently studying in Class 10 through NIOS. She is also working under City Walk programme of SBT – a walk conducted by children who once lived on the streets depicting problems and challenges they faced. She intends to join theatre in near future.
Abida- is a 12 year old girl she is suffering attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Despite her psychological condition, she performs daily tasks adequately and at present she is enrolled in the Kitty Garden school in Class 4. In future, there are plans to admit her to Edah Special school.
Pinki-Pinki is regularly attending school and is studying in Class 5 in Kitty Garden school. She is doing well in her studies.
Ritu- She is good in studies. She is in Class 5 in Kitty Garden public school.
Heena- Heena recently cleared her Class 10 exams with 6 CGPA. She has opted for humanities as her majors in Class 11.
Asha- Asha is studying in Class 7 in a Government school. She is a bright child who is serious about her studies and aspires to be a police personnel.

Future Plan
In the next half of the year Arushi team is geared to continually provide quality education to the girls, link more and more girls to mainstream education and prepare adolescent girls for vocational training.