Education India Project #54152

Education, food and healthcare for street children

by Sophia Akash Foundation

Education, food and healthcare for street children

Project Report | Dec 30, 2022
Title: Learning with fun & games

By Ynaitta Warjri | Project Coordinator

Learning to read and write

Remarkable progress for the children’s education

As we look forward to another year, we are pleased to report that your generous support during 2022 has helped 75 homeless children attend school and be fed with 2 nutritious meals every day of the year. In addition, these children have also received once a week health checks, important vaccinations and regular counselling from trained carers as they adjust to life away from the streets.

Your contributions have helped increase the daily food budget for each child to provide a more protein rich diet consisting of chicken, fish, eggs, more vegetables and lentils since our last report in September 2022.

Children making excellent progress with education

During this quarter, we have also witnessed a significant improvement in the children’s overall education. With 5 suitably qualified and trained teachers, the children have been successfully introduced to the public school curriculum, which otherwise they normally do not have access to. With the help of specially formulated classes, subject based tuition and development of their thinking and reasoning skills, the children have been helped to prepare for public school exams. With a pass rate in excess of 75%, the children have made excellent progress already.

Learning to Read, Write & Develop Creative Skills

When receiving any homeless child, it’s important for the teachers and carers to quickly assess the child’s overall ability to read and write as well as their overall ability to play and work with other children. For this reason, the children are grouped with children with similar abilities rather than by their age. This helps the children to feel at home, gain confidence while at school and make new friends easily.

One such is child, Roshini. She is 5 years old and her mother who works all day could not afford to send Roshini to a public school. The outreach team found her wandering at the railway station and quickly made contact with her mother and enrolled her into the school. After just 3 months, Roshini has adjusted quickly to the school, her new friends and with the help of the teachers and specialist carers is now happy, well-fed and making good progress with her schooling, especially learning how to read and write.

Another child, Samir, from one of the other outreach areas, Bakripatti, has also been helped to develop his artistic skills. In addition to demonstrating his ability to learn how to read and write, Samir has also taken up drawing and painting with a passion. So much so that Samir has helped to paint the new Kids Study Room while also making many new friends with the other children.

New classroom facilities and more teachers for all the children

With the help of your continued support, 2 new teachers have been engaged to help all the children develop their English speaking and writing skills. To further help foster greater creativity amongst the children, the newly established activity centre, with large and airy spaces has helped reduce class congestion while improving the children’s participation and engagement in creative past-times.

These new enhancements in the number and quality of teachers as well as better, brighter and spacious classrooms, the children’s attendance levels have also improved to a consistent 50-55 children in attendance every day.

In addition the specially trained carers are also helping the children to benefit from dance therapy, drawing sessions and participation on different games as they adjust to a new, safer and more conducive environment within the schools.

Plans for 2023

During 2023, the children will be introduced to regular sports and physical exercise activities in close collaboration a local sports club. Here they will be encouraged and helped to participate in any sporting or recreational activity that they express a liking for. These will include playing football, cricket and even learning Karate if they should so wish. By encouraging and rewarding them with prizes for participation, we anticipate that the children will continue to take further concrete steps towards their reintegration and progress towards the public school system.

Please continue supporting these efforts. You are changing their lives for the better !

Fun & Games for the children

Learning Computing

Outreach Team Educating Children & Parents

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Sep 1, 2022
New School for the Street Children of Kolkata, India

By Shibapriya Dutta | Project Contributor

Your generous support has also helped establish a new school facility for the street children!

We are proud to report that with your help and that of many other individual and corporate donors, our friends at streetchildren.dk opened an improved school facility in June 2022. The special day started with celebrations during which the children performed in front of parents, teachers, and local dignitaries. The day ended with a healthy, nutritious lunch for everyone.

Improved school facilities and conditions for the street children

The upgraded facility supports better conditions for the classrooms where the children study, play and are looked after. Most importantly the rent for the building is 50% less than before, thus providing more resources for the children’s benefit.

Progress since the pandemic

Shaan and Dhriti are two of the four siblings from the district of Khaldhar, 15 kms away from the school. During the two years of the pandemic, their family were unable to earn enough to provide food for them, resulting in weight loss, poor physical and mental health.

Since the beginning of this year, they have both attended the school, where they receive the nurturing care, education and nutrition required. This encouraged them to bring their younger siblings also to the school every day. Today, all four siblings attend the Sealdah School and Activity Center and are benefitting from your generous support which has seen a marked improvement in their health as well as their education.

Encouraging the children to attend school everyday

Our friends at streetchildren.dk have introduced an innovative reward scheme to encourage all the street children to attend the school every day. This has proven highly successful, and the children either use the school bus provided or walk to the school to benefit from the education, care, and nutrition they receive at the school.

The children have also been introduced to monthly tests to help them prepare for the normal school exams. The school will also start holding regular parent/teachers’ meetings, to discuss and report each child’s progress. The parents are encouraged to review the children’s efforts and learn how their children are progressing as well as benefitting from attending the school regularly.

Street children reaching important growth milestones

Two of the children are now studying for their class 10 exams to be held in 2024. One of them is Kamala who had previously only received formal education until class 5 due to her father losing his job. Kamala has been attending the school regularly and with the renewed confidence and improved health, she is looking forward to sitting for her exams and having an opportunity to continue with higher education.

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May 5, 2022
More street children are going to school

By Ynaiita Warjri | Project Contributor

Your generous contributions are making a difference to these children’s lives

Thank you for your continued support and generosity for the street children of Kolkata, India. We are thrilled to report that to date, we have raised $2154. These funds will provide shelter, nutritious food, clothing and schooling for 60 children.

Needs of the homeless children

These children are some of the most vulnerable and affected group of children our partners, streetchildren.dk, work with daily. They endure extremely distressed and deeply neglected lives on the streets and many are exposed to violence and abuse. Many have been simply abandoned or lost their parents. These children, therefore, need constant care, somebody to talk to as well as listen to them.

Health care & child development support in school

A child psychologist has therefore been recruited at the Sealdah Station school to engage with the children and provide mental health support. In addition, a mobile health clinic also visits the school once a week to provide treatment, medication and vaccinations. These initiatives foster improved healthcare, greater trust and confidence amongst the children as well as encourage their positive development.

Learning beyond the classroom

Due to the children’s lack of awareness, these children do not know their rights to safety, security, health, and education, as well as their right not to be forced into child labour, or child marriage. So, in addition to learning about science, mathematics, English and general knowledge, they are also helped to understand their rights.

Basic Computer Skills

During the last quarter, computer classes have also been added to the children’s daily education to improve their digital skills. By teaching these children basic computer skills and digital literacy at an early stage, they will acquire the necessary skills and aptitude to progress with confidence towards higher education.

Food, shelter, education and healthcare for more children

During the coming quarter, the Sealdah station school and Activity Centre will move to a different, bigger location. This will help to care for another 50 street children. The larger facilities will also support the introduction of vocational education for many of these children who otherwise struggle with learning during regular classes. This will be provided in the form of sewing, crafting, ceramics, cooking and other workshops introduced to them via specially designed workshops based on each child’s learning level and capacity.

Please continue to support the welfare of these street children.

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