Project Shiksha

Project Shiksha

" For some education is a right...

For many, it’s a privilege. "

Project Shiksha aims to mentor and tutor students in the age group 12-16 years in order to reduce the current drop out rate in schools in the target community, i.e., Behrampada. This will be done through educational workshops held over weekends. The objective is to make children realize the importance of education and opportunities it provides for a sound future.

We also aim to set up a library in the community to supplement the education project, encourage the reading habit among children and give them exposure to quality educational material.

The project team has surveyed the community to identify the feasibility of setting up a children’s library. We sensed an acute problem with respect to huge rates of dropout in schools after standard seven. This is owing to the poor teaching standards in municipality schools at lower levels. Thereafter, these students are unable to cope up with middle and high-school curricula when they join secondary (private) schools at the next level.
Moreover parents were more than willing for any effort to help their kids study and grow. This made the group think of starting tutorials/ workshops for the kids who are dropping out of education system due to unavailability of proper guidance.

We are in the process of collecting old/ second-hand books for starting up the library and aim to have it up and running by end of February. The main sources of books are colleges across SIMSR campus and private schools in Mumbai.

Meanwhile we will conduct workshops in the community over weekends. One workshop has already been conducted, which comprised the mixed age -group of 7-13 year olds. The workshop comprised a memory game and story telling by children through pictures. This workshop was enjoyed by the kids, and has paved the way for and encouraged Shiksha team to carry on with the workshops in future with fervor. The aim of the workshops would be to mentor students, tutor them and encourage them to develop the habit of reading.

The team currently consists of 6 members, and we would like to welcome all interested SIMSRites aboard. We would appreciate if you pour in your suggestions/ comments/ feedback about the project through this blog.

Pictures of Children Attending the Workshop