Under the School to School (S2S) initiative of Goonj.. one of the main activities undertaken is channelizing of School Kits to children in different parts of the country. A School Kit comprises of a school bag, seating mat, bottle cover, vegetable bag, pencil pouch, belt, towel, skipping rope, cap and scarf. The entire kit is made out of waste material.
Initially the schools that are selected are those with limited infrastructure and facilities for the students. Here children come from families of weaker economic background and communities living in abject poverty. These students can’t afford educational resources necessary for a good education and their regular attendance in schools considerably drop as a result. They lack even the basics like school bag or stationary. Wearing most shabby clothes, with bare minimum books and stationary, instead of a school bag many carry a polythene bag. As a result a feeling of inferiority is predominant among these kids. Their interest in attending school is minimal due to scarcity of these small but important resources.
Goonj’s School Kits work like a motivation for these children, to continue schooling in a meaningful way. Receiving these ‘gifts’, gives them an occasion to be happy and a reason to look forward to another day at school. The Kit supports the families of these children, surviving on meager resources, which they can now direct to an urgent basic need like food or healthcare.
These Kits are distributed as a reward for positive behavioral changes like personal cleanliness, better attendance in school, hard work in class, activities like cleanliness drive, watering the plants and trees etc. These kinds of activities are conducted by the schools at regular intervals to ensure that kids imbibe these aspects in the long term.
School Kits have been a successful experiment as they work as a major motivator for kids to come to school. Using School Kits as a tool, Goonj has reached out to more than 14,500 children in different parts of the country in the year 2014-15 and aims to reach out to many more thousands of school kids with the purpose of not only helping them complete their education but also help in inculcating good habits and behavioral change.
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