Education for underprivileged children
For the brighter side of humanity
Nelson Mandela had rightly said that education is the most powerful weapon that can be used to change the world. Education forms the backbone of any country, as it shapes its people by providing access to myriads of good opportunities in various fields and the educated population is well equipped and empowered to be the efficient driving force of the country. In India, according to the “Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act 2009”, every child between the ages of 6-14 should be enrolled in a school. However due to various factors, we still have millions of children who are out of school and deprived of basic education. As members of the society, we also must ensure that we invest in the education of children hailing from poverty stricken families, as they are at a high risk of getting sucked into the cycle of poverty which would further make them more vulnerable.
CASE STORY
Since 2019, we have closely observed the everyday life of a few labourers. Some of them were farm labourers and others were construction labourers. One of the farm labourers came to a farm with his family to work in that farm. Using wooden logs, hay-stack and plastic sheets they built their hut and a toilet within 1-2 days. Each day at 8:00 am, I could see an old farmer busy working in the farm along with his wife and other family members. In summers, when it is difficult to step out even at 8:00 or 9:00 am, this family would work under the sun braving the long day heat, until 5:00-6:00 pm in the evening. They didn’t have the luxury to take any leave as their everyday hard work in the farm was their means of livelihood. One day, I went to the farm in the evening and met the old farmer who was sitting outside his hut and eating raw beaten rice with some jaggery. His little granddaughter was eating a dry chapatti with radish and I could view the tale of their everyday difficult life. Within no time, all the children and other members of the farmer’s family came out and we started interacting. I also got the opportunity to understand the children whom I had always seen playing and running in the fields, while their parents worked. I got to know that they all were out of school children, as they were either school drop outs or have never been enrolled in any school. However, they sounded intelligent and were well behaved. When I asked those children “Would you like to study”? They happily answered “Yes”. The family was underprivileged and had their own hiccups in reference to the schooling of their children. Hence, required counselling was given to them for a few days, in reference to the importance of education and better future of their children. Eventually, they agreed to send their children to our learning centre and also gave us place in their farm to start our learning centre. This is how we had started our first learning centre in Delhi with the contribution of the underprivileged family.
OUR PROJECT: PADHO
At our learning centres, we execute one of our projects “Padho” that has been meticulously crafted for our young learners, keeping in mind their learning objectives and the overall goals of the program. The project, teaching techniques and learning materials imparts age appropriate knowledge to all the students who have been classified into 3 broad categories.
A) School drop outs
2) Out of school children
3) Children in need of tuition for additional support
At Hope for Happiness Foundation (HFHF), we value the unique personality of each child, his/her learning style & pace. Hence, activity based learning amalgamated with storytelling, book reading, nature walks, presentations, audio-video learning, group work etc. encourages each child to participate actively and also gives them ample opportunities to think, read, explore, learn & listen, which is crucial for their holistic development. Through our bridge education program we provide accelerated learning to school drop outs.
Our experiential teaching and learning methodology amalgamated with congenial school environment enables our students to acquire age appropriate knowledge and different life skills. Through our regular parent-teacher meetings and interactions, we educate parents to provide a conducive learning environment at home for the holistic development of their children. With all the required support and everyday supervision the not-so-fortunate young population are strengthened each day to bridge their learning gaps, so that they can be mainstreamed in the formal education system, in due course of time, with ease.
