Sponsor formal education of a poor girl by Indian Dreams Foundation

From January to June 2021, we have conducted many activities for the beneficiaries like Republic Day celebration, holi celebration, painting competition, etc. along with these girls attended extra academic support classes to improve the learning level. Although, all the schools had been closed for the last many months due to Covid lockdown and reopened from January 2021. During the lockdown situation, we have been connected with our sponsored girls through mobile phones and community workers & we have launched extra support classes for these sponsored girls to enhance their reading & writing skills. We have distributed ration kits among the families of the sponsored girls. However, the girls those are in this program belong to the very poor family or having no source of income. Mostly the earning members of the family have lost their work during Covid and arranging squares meals became tough. We have also organized a menstrual awareness workshop for our sponsored adolescent girls in February & April and distributed sanitary napkins to them.

Due to COVID 19 pandemic, the Indian government declared a countrywide lockdown. We faced lots of challenges during the lockdown situation; physical meetings to monitor the performance of the program have become tough. To tackle the situation, we trained the girls’ champion (community active girls) to direct communication with the beneficiaries and conducted virtual sessions over the phone. Due to the lockdown or absence of regular schooling, the girls have lost their self-confidence and their academic performances became slow. To resume these challenges, we have launched extra academic support classes for the girls to cope with their school syllabus. In the next six months, we have been running extra academic classes for the beneficiaries to improve the reading and writing skills of the girls and in August & September, we will plan to distribute school uniforms, bags, shoes, and books to the beneficiaries of the program. In September, we are going to celebrate a month-long event “10 Years of Glory” that include a range of activities self-defense sessions, personality development, painting & debate competition, etc.

Stories from the ground: “I feel proud that I have become the first person in my family who completed std 12th, and I have a dream to see myself as a teacher. Thanks, IDF, for helping me to see my dreams and sponsoring my education" said Priyanka.This year, Priyanka has passed the 12th Board exam with good marks secured, her entire family is celebrating her success, and her success becomes a festival for her family and the entire neighborhood. Priyanka hails from a destitute family with minimal resources available. She has a large family of eight members. Priyanka's parents do not have their own home, so they live with maternal grandparents in a one-room house. There is a lack of toilets and drinking water, so all family members use public utility for living.Priyanka's father works as shoe labor without regular income resources. He is an alcoholic and unreliable for taking responsibility for the family and feeding the family two meals or children's education.Sometimes, arranging square meals for the family seems too difficult in this challenging circumstance where he spends his meager earnings in liquor for himself. Due to his alcoholic addiction, he suffers from liver diseases and becomes bedridden, and now surviving on medications. Now, all family's responsibility came on her mother's shoulder, who is illiterate, and handling such severe challenging conditions was out of her capacity. She started cloth stitching work, but she can earn only for the square meals to the family due to limited work opportunities. In this crucial circumstance, education for the children was like a distant dream because her two school-going daughters were school dropouts.Priyanka, a focused, emotional, and bright girl, was scared for her grim future and lost hope to get an education.However, One fine day, her mother came in contact with the team of IDF and approached to support her daughters' education. IDF has supported Priyanka and her younger sister through sponsoring education expenses for the last seven years. Priyanka has passed the 12th class this year and is now ready to get college admission.Now the sky is the limit because she is independent, confident, and filled with motivation to become a teacher and support her family.

Previous months were too tough for everyone due to Covid 19 pandemic situation; people were becoming unemployed, their sources of income were minimized, all schools were closed and people were living in frightened situation. But IDF has been working continuously even in the tough situation of lockdown and continuously reaching to the most deprived communities through its different program from distribution of ration kits among the poor to provide education to the children of the slums.
IDF is keen to support in girls education and their overall development. However, IDF has been sponsoring education of the girls and improving the gender equality in the communities. We are really happy to share the progress updates of our sponsored girls under this project.
All the beneficiaries of the program are in direct contact with IDF team members and regular counsel on menstrual health & hygiene, self -dependency, confidence etc. IDF has organized more than five parents meetings in last four months with focus to discuss the progress of the girls with their parents especially their mothers. Girls are taking extra academic support classes at the IDF centre to cope up with their current syllabus. Each Saturday is celebrated as funday at centre where girls enjoy dancing, singing, painting and extra -curricular classes.
During the lockdown, IDF team was distributed dry ration kits and hygiene kits to the girls’ families and aware them to follow healthy hand wash practices to stay away with the Covid. However, sanitary napkins were also distributed to the adolescent girls of the program.
Recently, Christmas and Republic Day is celebrated with the program’s girl and the girls took part in different cultural activities with full enthusiasm.
Below is the last few months’ impact of our sponsored girl name Muskan whose education has been sponsored by IDF and how your support is making differences in her life along with others lives too;
Muskan is in seventh standard. She lost her father in very early age. Her mother works as house maid to feed her three children. Muskan is elder child of her. Muskan is very sensitive and ambitious girl. IDF has been sponsoring her education and provided her all education supplies. As schools have been closed since first lockdown, but Muskan’s education has been continuing and she is getting extra support classes at centre. She is the only girl in her family who is enrolled in any school and has some dreams to become self- dependent. During lockdown situation, she started to teach some children in her community and motivated their parents to enroll those children in the school.
Muskan is a true symbol of change and she is really making differences in the society. IDF really thanks to you for your generous support for underprivileged girls’ education. There are many girls like Muskan whose live has been changing with your support. THANK YOU…

Happy Girls With Their Education Kits

Under this program, IDF supports underprivileged girls for pursuing their education by providing them school fees, uniform and notebooks. We provide motivational session to the girls on regular basis. In previous six months, we conduct 4-5 parents meetings which were headed by project coordinator. All national and religious festivals were celebrated with the beneficiaries. During lockdown situation, IDF was connected with the beneficiaries over call and organized training session on COVID 19 measures through con call with the girls and their mothers. Recently on 28 th June 2020, the Uttar Pradesh Board has declared the result of 10 th & 12 th class candidates. However 16 of our sponsored girls from 10 th & 12 th classes have scored satisfactory result and promoted to the next classes. All these 16 girls’ education has been sponsored by IDF under girls’ education sponsoring program. In the cases of these girls, IDF has successfully delayed their early marriages by enrolling them in the school.