Educate an underprivileged child by Empowering Minds Society for Research and Development

Empowering Minds Education Centre started running properly in the hybrid mode and children started attending classes in groups at the centre slowly when things started opening. The children were very excited to attend the school along with the teachers. And by Feb March most of the students were attending the classes as they knew that the final exams were fast approaching. In March, the first time proper exams were conducted and children gave with full enthusiasm. The centre didn't close even for the summer as children wanted to come and the centre also conducted summer classes for them with life skills lessons and activities, so that whatever they have missed during the pandemic should be covered. Life skills classes, dance movement activities, computer classes, festivals like Republic Day, and Holi were celebrated and children took part wholeheartedly. 62 children were mainstreamed in Government schools from the centre and equal number were reenrolled. In April new session was started and is running properly. Total 200 children are enrolled in the Empowering Minds Education Centre (107 Girls and 93 boys).

The Education centre faced challenges as to how to enroll those children again who have gone to their village due to their parents' loss of livelihood or being disheartened. However, they always remained in touch because the centre still supported them with Ration so that was a big relief. The teachers visited every child's home and counseled the families and supported them with most of their requirements. They helped the families to enroll their other children in government schools too and the out of school children came to the Empowering Minds Education Centre. Goal: Our Goal for the next six months is to focus on the holistic development of children through age-appropriate teaching learning curricula with life skills training and nutrition for each child coming to the centre.

Ayesha?s father is a petty fish seller and her mother is a housemaker. His shop was closed during the lockdown and therefore the family has to suffer a lot. The family lives on rent in one small room and shared toilet. Her father's work is seasonal so the condition of the family is not very well, though he is hard working man. She has one younger 4yrs old sister who doesn't go to school. Aayesha is a very good, inquisitive student. She had scored 91% marks in the sixth standard. She is regular in doing homework and assignments and very attentive in class. She follows all instructions thoroughly. Her favourite subject is EVS and art and she loves to dance and act. Despite odds in daily living, her family is very positive and motivates the child to study.

The Empowering Minds Non-Formal Education Center started working properly in July and students started attending their classes face to face. The centre kept all the pandemic protocols in place and the children were invited in batches 10-15 for the classes. Apart from regular classes there was first-term assessment was done and the 175 children gave their examination. It was great to see the majority of them pass the exams with above 70% marks. They celebrated major festivals like Dussehra, Diwali, and Christmas. They also celebrated Independence day, Teachers' day, Gandhi Jayanti warmly presented skits, patriotic songs, speeches and also came dressed as our National Heroes. Children prepared for the half-yearly exams and were happy that they can attend school and give their exams sitting in the classroom.

The challenges we faced during this period were that many parents have left their children in the villages because of the job uncertainty and to contain their expenses. The teachers and staff made house-to-house visits and counselled the parents to bring their children back and get them to school if they are not studying in the villages. They were helped with getting jobs and rations for their families.

The Centre is its curriculum made and shared with the parents. It has also run online classes by the external faculties/interns and the children come to the centre and study through online mode too apart from their regular classes. Now that the situation hopefully will ease out sports day is also planned for the children so that some outdoor activities can be done. Students are being served hot meals and this will be continued too.

 Name of student- Aksha
 Name of father- Mr Matlum
 Name of Mother- Mrs Gulista
 Class-UKG 
 Age – 9 Years                                                                                                   

Aksha is 9 years old and studies in UKG at Empowering Minds Education Centre. She is a really intelligent girl and most of all have the willingness to learn new things. Two of her siblings also study at this centre. They are a family of 5 and the father is the only one who is working, their financial income has not been stable for a long time since the covid hit. Her father was a garbage picker and could barely make ends meet. The family continues to receive their monthly ratio from Empowering Minds and they are very grateful for it. Aksha is a very bright student and adores the teachers very much. She aspired to be just like her teacher Majid once she grows up and wants to become a teacher just like her and wants to contribute to her community. Although she is 9 years old she understands that her family is going through a tough time and wants to help them, she understands that education will help her have a better life in future. For a small child like her to understand the importance of education at such young age is appreciable and heart-warming. We appreciate the support provided by our beneficiaries and hope they continue to shower us with this support.

The Empowering Minds Education Centre was closed due to the pandemic situation. But the board and the staff worked on various strategies to support the children and their families during this challenging period. A survey was conducted to find out who many families have smartphones, normal phones, and those who have no phones. As per availability, the classes were conducted online through WhatsApp and other means. For those children who do not have any phones, the teachers made visits to their houses, gave worksheets, and teach them. Some of them were also brought to the centre in batches of 10 children and following all the norms were given classes. In March final exams were In May and June, Summer Camp was conducted for children so that they come out from their houses and do some fun activities following learning by doing. They felt rejuvenated. During this period their families were supported with Rations like Rice, Pulses, Oil, Salt, Sugar, Flour, etc. They were also provided Sanitation Kits like Sanitizer, Masks, soaps, etc.Total 210 beneficiaries joined the program. The break-up of beneficiaries is 121 Girls and 89 boys.

The centre faced a lot of difficulties especially at the peak of COVID in April and May. Many families had their members suffering from the infection. However, with awareness and counselling, they were taken care of. Thankfully the symptoms were not acute. There were few cases where the child had lost the family members to COVID.Another challenge was how to reach out to the children for their education and food. As families had started going to their village due to loss of livelihood, lack of food etc. These challenges were overcome by supporting them to get petty jobs and with Ration distribution. Awareness was made that people get their vaccination done. The centre is working towards conducting all the activities which are there in the curriculum. With the subject classes, it is also decided to celebrate all the National and Religious functions in the community following the norms of social distancing, wearing masks and sanitation.

Name: AyeshaClass: 6thAyesha’s father is a fish seller. His shop was closed during the lockdown and therefore the family has to suffer a lot. Ayesha is a very good, inquisitive student. She had scored 91% marks in the fifth standard. She is regular in doing homework and assignments and very attentive in class. She follows all instructions thoroughly. Her favourite subject is EVS and art and she loves to dance. Despite odds in daily living, her family is very positive and motivates the child to study.

Empowering Minds Education Centre conducted two assessments during the reporting period; the First term and Second term or half yearly exams. Majority of the children passed in good grades. The teacher’s trainings were done and children were given training on life skills through Online. During this period most of the lclasses were held through worksheets on Online as not all children parents had smart phone. Apart from these activities, children celebrated Christmas, Diwali, Children’s day and other festivals with great enthusiasm over the last few months through activities done Online and offline. All these festivities filled the young minds with great enthusiasm and happiness and they were not bogged down due to pandemic stress. The centre is also serving hot nutritious meals to the students daily with the permission from the local authorities.  During the lockdown they were given Dry Ration Kits too.

Panchhi- Giving Wings to their Dreams

Empowering Minds and it's Education Centre completed 10th Anniversary and it was decided to celebrate this by organising a first ever Children’s Cultural Festival, “Panchhi’ in Ghaziabad.The theme of the festival was Inclusive Education -ensuring that no child, however different from expectations and general norms, feels alienated and excluded. The festival had many sessions on Laughter Yoga, life skills, storytelling, Emotional Expressions through Creative Movement, Happiness Workshop, Good Touch - Bad Touch, Panel on Child Abuse poems, essay and slogan writing competitions, drawing competitions for smaller children and Flower making workshop. It was a great platform to interact and mingle among children from the community and the public school children. The children enjoyed every moment and had lot of fun with learning.

Children engrossed in the sessions and activities

Program Update

The Empowering Minds Non-Formal Education Centre conducted lots of activities for the teachers, children and the community. In Jan the centre received interns from the top business schools from Mumbai and Ghaziabad. They trained the teachers as well as the students on different skill sets. Teachers training was conducted with the educationist who is dedicated to the field of education and specially primary school. During the reporting period the children had taken final exams and secured good grades. Parents teachers Meetings are being held regularly.
Regular meetings of teachers and staff are held.Children were taken for the exposure visit and picnic to the place known as Dalit Sthal and botanical garden, Noida. Children's workshop on various topics were held; Health and hygiene, safety and cleanliness, nutrional hygiene, electricity and it uses and how to save, Good touch and bad touch, bal panchayat etc. Life skills trainings through dance movement therapy and storytelling was conducted.
The centre celebrated Republic Day, Holi and other festivals with great enthusiasm. Fancy dress competitions, Rallies, etc were taken out.

Story from the field

Name: Amna, aged 12yrs, studies in class IV. Her mother’s occupation is Odd jobs at home. She has a brother and another sister. Bother her siblings studies at the centre.
Socio-Economic Profile: Low family income as her father expired when she was 5yrs old. She lives with his maternal grandmother who has a petty shop at home. And now this shop is also shut down by the Nagar Nigam.
Difficulties and Struggles faced by the family: Her mother was ousted from her grandparents’ house after her father died. She came to live with her mother and three children. Her mother was not allowed to go out and earn a living. She does odd jobs like bindi sticking, Bed cover stitching etc which come to home through the agent but brings not enough earning to support five people.
Amna is a strong girl. She is an innocent and pleasing girl. She gives due respect to all elders, as the family give her good manners. She actively participates in all the school activities like cultural, sports, and workshops etc. She is good in studies so scores good grades in test and exams. She is one of the best student. She secured 80% marks in the annual examinations.
Future Aim of the Beneficiary: She desires to become a teacher.

Program Update

Educate an Underprivileged' child is a non-formal education program for out-of-school children. The children are provided all the facilities of a formal school during their stay at the centre. The major activities includes a well planned curriculum delivered by the trained teachers coming from the community itself. All national and religious festivals are celebrated, during the last quarter children celebrated Dusshera, Diwali, Christmas, Childrens Day,At the event named Kilkari, they did lots of activities like flower making, puppet show and music therapy workshops. A life skill workshop was conducted at the centre to give the children a space to express themselves freely. They also participated in the International Children's Film festival and enjoyed Films from various countries with lot of play things and picture opportunities. In this quarter they also gave their first term exams and most of them did well. The children had gone for the exposure visit to various places. This gives a holistic experience of education to the children studying at the centre.

Story from the field

Zeeshan is a student in 5th class. Her father, Muzamil Salmani is an auto driver while her mother, Saqila Salmani is a housewife but she also cooks with us at the center. He has a small family comprising of one sister who is pursuing her education and one sister who is a teacher and supplements the family income. Initially, he used to go to school but his father lost his job so both brother and sister along with his elder sister who is a teacher was dropped out of the school, this was very depressing according to him. They came to know about the EM centre and his elder sister joined the centre as a helper teacher for Nursery class to supplement the family income. She then discussed about her brother and sister who were sitting idle at home and not studying with the head teacher who advised her sister to get them admitted to the EM NFE Centre. Zeeshan says the centre has helped her family in many ways. Her mother cooks delicious meals for nutrition program at school. He shares that he likes the food given to the students in the school and this has improved his health and interest in coming to school. He says he gets lots of opportunities to showcase his talent in school which increases his self-esteem. Earlier he did’nt like going to school and roam in the community with his stray friends, but now things have changed and he wants to study further and remain in this school. He is also very talented and made a hand fan out of waste material, an activity for all the students, he won prizes too. He further says that this has actually improved the health of whole family; it has given independence, extra income, courage to his mother. He is now self –confident that he can also do something in life. future Aim of the Beneficiary: He wants to study further and want to become a businessman.