Educational Programs
As part of our endeavours to improve the status of females and disadvantaged children RPI has started several educational programs in villages where we work:
Tuitions and Activities for village children
- We have tuition centres in 7 villages, providing a place for guided homework for about 870 students.
- We organise activities and games for special occassions such as National Girl Child Day, End of Term, and Children's Day.
- We organise summer camps for some of the tuitions students providing useful acitivities, English language tutoring and enabling children from different castes and communities to mingle and form friendships.
Work in village creches (anganwadis)
RPI is currently working in three village 'anganwadis', bringing educational acitivities to neglected children.
Anganwadi is a government sponsored child-care and mother-care center in India. It caters to children in the 0-6 age group.
At these creches the government pays for an 'aya' (carer) to look after the small children, and pays for their mid-day meal, which usually consists of rice boiled with some vegetables, and three times a week they get an egg. The government also makes available a nutritional grain mix to make a porridge or gruel for the children.
The Need
In the villages where RPI is active, we found the following problems existed in the creches:
- There were no toys or other supplies available for the children. The ayas have no training in preschool education, and simply 'babysit' the children who lie around listlessly on the bare floors.
- Many of the premises in the villages where we work are moldy, and in a bad state of disrepair.
- Inadequate lighting; no electricty and therefore no electric lights or fans.
- Children take their naps on bare concrete floors, even in the cooler winter weather.
- No supervision or oversite of the running of the creches. As a result, the 'aya' may or may not show up for work.
- No toilets or hand-washing facilities. The newer creches buildings which had toilets, didn't have water in the toilets, and one didn't have a toilet bowl. Children use the roads or fields.
Our Response
- We have brought teachers for three hours a day into three of the creches to provide educational activities. Local sponsors have been found to provide educational toys and materials.
- We try to arrange for the local panchyats (village councils) to install electricity and pay the electric bills. (We have had success with this at the evening tuition centres we have set up.)
- We are looking for sponsors for each creche for essential building improvements. Currently we have a sponsor who is enabling us to build toilets in one creche.
- We aim 'toy drives' amongst wealthier families to collect good-quality, durable toys, puzzles and preschool educational aids suitable for an institution. Several friends have already come foward with toys and educational items.
- Provide mats for sleeping.
- We have provided uniforms for the children. After some discussion on this, we all agreed that the uniforms help the children's self-esteem and give them a sense of pride. The mothers also greatly encouraged that their children have nice uniforms and are learning so much.
How you can help
- Collect and send suitable educational and recreational items for the creches, for children ages 3-5 years. Items such as:
i. Wooden puzzles.
ii. Durable toys.
iii.Blocks such as duplo or clippo or similar.
iv. Educational and story books.
v. Board books. - Order educational items from Indian internet stores.
- Would your business, social group or company like to sponsor a creche? A break-down of the costs involved will be published shortly.