Educating 400 Children in 8 Slums in Delhi/Gurgaon

At the age of 15, Abhilasha has already been through more than other teenagers could imagine. Most of her childhood she had already spent working on daily house chores including taking care of her siblings, worked as a rag picker and growing up seeing other children battling drugs addiction and what not. Her life took a new turn when she was enrolled by Sukarya for the Non Formal Education (NFE) under its Education on Wheels program (EOW) in 2015. She has recently passed the Open Basic Education Examination (OBE) with good grade is all set to take formal admission into a local government school. She wants to be a teacher so that she can teach others.

The EOW Program is going to be extended to 6 slums in Delhi providing non formal education to 240 children for which we still need to raise 38K US dollar for two new buses to be converted into mobile classrooms. Until then we are continuing with the EOW project currently in operation in 2 slum locations (Saraswatikunj and Neemtala) of Gurgaon in India providing non formal education to 120 children like Abhilasha on daily basis. 

Objectives:

• Reaching out to marginalized working children (6-18 years)
• Educating the street and working children to help them become knowledgeable and useful citizen.
• Enabling the non-school going children to acquire certain minimum levels of knowledgeable and skills
• Preparing them for Open Basic Examination so that they can take admission in government run schools for formal education.

Expected outcome:

• 120 Slum children would acquire basic level education through NFE and Remedial classes.
• These Children will appear in government’s OBE [Open Basic Examination] and receive certificates on their successful completion.
• Facilitating the successful Children with OBE certification to take admission in government schools.

Class schedule: 

• 5 days in a week /20 days in a month.

Curriculums offered:

• NFE [Non-formal education] for those who never went to school
• Remedial education for school drop outs.

The well equipped EOW bus moves to 2 project area locations in a day. The bus moves as per the prescribed schedule and roster. The Project team comprises of 2 teachers, 1 project coordinator, 1 bus driver and 1 attendant. The classes are conducted inside and outside the bus. There are 2 locations and at each location there are 2 batches of students, each batch consist 30 students, therefore 4 batches are covered with 120 children each day . 

Testimonials from children of EOW program:

"I will learn and grow. I am the only son of my widowed mother. I want to earn for her."
- Bhashirul, Saraswatikunj Block

"My day used to start with foul languages and disrespecting others. But now, I found myself completely changed. I talk respectfully and I feel bad when I see others use bad language. I tend to stop them." - Rajeev, Saraswatikunj Block

"I always wanted to study but no one supported. After I start going to school, my father sees the changes in me and wants me to continue with the school." - Pratima, Saraswatikunj Block

"I didn't know that I could do anything else apart from household work. Now I want to be a teacher so that I can teach others." - Abhilasha, Saraswatikunj Block

Testimonial from a supporter of the EOW project:

"I have had the opportunity to discover that new and advancing ideas can come from anyone, from any place and at any time...regardless of position, status or circumstance.   Would these children fare any different if they were given half a chance to express such an idea?”
- Brian LaPlante, Driftwood Hospitality Management

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