Help rural tribal children access education by Seva Mandir

Post the pandemic, the education program worked tirelessly and creatively to settle the pupils back into routines at the Shiksha Kendras, motivate parents through PTM, focus on regularity, lower the dropout rate and help them catch-up academically along with more conducive learning environment and resources. Later, the program reviewed the purpose of SKs in the present educational landscape of SM’s intervention areas and run these SKs where actually required with community ownerships at large and close where school access, quality of learning and facilities have been improved in consultation with parents and community members. Alongside, we are also contemplating to sensitize community stakeholders at large to build a constructive relationship with its schools and involve in education for more holistic development of their children. The program is also considering to involve closed SKs instructors in the educational work as they are the best resource in the villages.

A. ShikshaKendras (SKs) or bridge schools aim to help children acquire basic skills in Hindi, Maths and English. And also motivate them to enroll into Govt. schools to continue their further education. From January to June’22, 5033 children reached out through 148 SKs and 174 instructors. Teaching-Learning Activities at Shiksha Kendras: The Shiksha Kendras continued to function in centre-based mode. The children were engaged through activity-based learning using the local resources and group activities in the learning space which helped children to relate, understand and catch-up the concepts better along with more conducive learning environment and resources. The teachers also visited the homes of irregular children to bring them back to SKs regularly, reduced the burden of covering curriculum and focused on the lost learning along with daily joyfull teaching-learning processess. Monitoring and Evaluation of Shiksha Kendras: The monitoring of SKs was done through photos taken by phone/ cameras during the reporting period. Instructors Meeting: 12 meetings were conducted with all instructors across intervention blocks. The meetings involved discussion on various matters including parents' counseling, tracking regularity of children, effective lesson planning, documentation, child protection and parents-community contribution in running of SKs and enrolling children in government schools for further education.

Engaging Communities
• 707 meeting were done across blocks with parents by the instructors to motivate them for continuing the education of their children, enroll new children in SKs, ensure safety, ensure community contribution, and access government schemes to manage Covid-19 stress.
• A token amount of ₹ 150-300 per child is collected from parents annually. In the reporting period, parents contributed 78% fee against INR 1,161,000. 40% of this amount was utilized for procurement of school uniforms across blocks due to some challenges such as fault in GVC account, lack of consensus from parents, etc. The fee of 235 children (45% girls) was waived off due to weak social & economical condition of families. The remaining fee has been expected from the parents in near future. • Independence Day was celebrated on 15th August to plant the seed of nationalism amongst children.
• Republic Day was also celebrated at the Shiksha Kendras on 26th January where students, instructors, community institution members and community members gathered. They recited patriotic poems & songs and distributed sweets. • Republic Day was celebrated at all SKs on 26th January where students, instructors, community institution members and community members gathered. They recited patriotic poems & songs and distributed sweets.

Visit to the Shiksha Kendra: Mrs. Afshan & Barac visited all 15 supported SKs in different zones of Jhadol block. The visits were planned from 8th March’ 21 to 8th April’22. Where she got a first-hand understanding of post pandemic learning at the SKs. She interacted with children, instructors and also conducted various activities such as oral hygiene, child protection, cleanliness & sanitation, etc. At last, she also met with the community members, parents and local opinion leaders on various societal issues.

B. Mentoring Support: The objective of this program was to provide mentoring support to the alumni students of the SKs who have graduated from SKs to government schools and are finding it difficult to cope up with the environment/curriculum of government school.
For the last two years in the world pandemic, the project has trying to excel in many ways to benefit the students to sustain and strengthen their schooling for better career prospects. During the reporting period, the instructors did a lot of ground work to understand the needs of children and mentored them with a new curriculum and strategy in small groups at their respective centers in terms of social emotional support, learning numerous academic concepts, providing exposure other than regular learning like storytelling session, library usage, reading biography of great personalities, making pictures, listening & singing cultural songs and developing confidence to think through long term career decision by being in formal education system. During the reporting period, all five instructors went through residential training of 3 days along with other instructors on “subject matter & classroom instructional processes” from the expert resource persons of Vidhya Bhawan.

C. Digital Learning: 702 Children (A and B level) of 29 SKs benefitted through digital teaching learning support. It helped the instructors to engage learners within the learning centre, make teaching learning processes more fun and interactive while developing basic competencies in English language. It helped the instructors to engage learners while imparting basic English. For instance, extended learners’ concentration, learning-engagement and helped them in catching-up the lost learning post the pandemic. Consequently, the children fairly progressed to their learning levels & knowledge. It impacted instructors in their professional competencies to learn English language as well with others. The parents also found it very innovative way of teaching-learning process.

Strategic Shift in the Shiksha Kendra program Seva Mandir has been running SKs to improve access to quality education and assist communities to understand the importance of education. Over the years, the availability and functioning of government schools is gradually improving. Alongside, the interest of communities towards education has enhanced substantially in areas where SKs are run. As access to government schools improves, a decision to close SKs in villages with better access was taken. However, dialogue and future interventions with those communities on quality education for their children will continue.

During April to June’22, a series of consultations were held with teachers, parents and GVC members of all SKs. At places, where access is better but community still wanted to continue SKs, they were encouraged to run them with self-finance and Seva Mandir will provide support in teaching materials & teacher training. Most parents and community leaders were not ready initially to close SKs and manage through own resources. With continuous dialogue, they understood the rationale of the strategic shift and agreed with the decision. At 54 SKs (out of 148 SKs), closure of SKs was agreed and 82% children got enrolled in government schools. Due to lack of documents like adhar card or birth certificate, younger in age and there is no one elder child from their hamlet coming to school who could take these kids to school 18% children’s enrolment is remaining. Team is trying to help and encourage parents to ensure their responsibilities to enroll children, prepare documents i.e. Aadhar card, visiting govt schools along with them where ever required to facilitate remaining children admission in schools. Initially, parents and community leaders were reluctant towards taking the whole responsibilities, contributions for running of SKs, however with regular dialogue, they could realize the need later.In 3 communities, people have come forward to run SKs from their resources.

D. School Support Program to fill the learning gaps of SKs graduated children and govt school children

Education program initiated a pilot project “School Support Program” as a process and tool in govt. school sphere across intervention blocks to bridge the learning gaps or learning loss of children hampered during the pandemic. The program started in the month of October’21 and has extensive experience in implementing educational activities in 36 schools with more than 5000 children through 38 support instructors and 8 supervisors. The classroom interventions monitored and guided by supervisors through daily observation and constructive feedback to the support instructors.

Major Challenges: Demand of official letter from DEO, Regularity of children, Massive strength of classes, not getting classes to take in an organized manner, limited infrastructure & lack of enabling school environment.

Achievements: Rapport with school stakeholders after regular visiting, Sustenance of children into classrooms and support of village institution and parents.

Observation/Experience: School leaders shifted with their mindsets taking modern classroom instructional practices i.e. ABL and motivates the support instructors to keep continuing the same approaches in collaboration of school teachers as there was dearth of such processes which ultimately leads to better learning outcomes in children. The initiative offered many instructors to reach & realize their hidden potential by teaching these vulnerable children to recover loss in learning post the pandemic.

Challenges faced were the following: Influencing and motivating parents to contribute more financial contributions in running of SKs and enrolling children into formal system where schools amenities have been improved. Following steps were taken into action for addressing the above roadblocks: Continuous dialoguing with parents, influential community members and village development committee. Next Steps for Our Program: Enrollment drive will be conducted across SKs. In July, Annual assessment will be held and children who attain level 3 will be mainstreamed into formal education system. Capacity building of teachers will be done to ensure more effective quality education at SKs. The reviewed SKs will be closed under strategic transformation of the program.

Sharda, a 12 years old girl of Khati Kamdi village is partially blind (visual impairment) from birth. Born to father Balu Ram Bhajat, a farmer by profession who has 5 more children, is very much keen to let his children study and do something well in their respective lives. Sharda because of her partial blindness finds it very challenging to do daily life chores and at the same time, she is very much interested in going to centre, studying and playing with other children. She puts all her zeal to read and write and at same time she tries hard to help her mother at household chores as well. But because of her visual challenges her growth is limited. One of her brothers comes to Ukhaliya Fla Kendra and Sharda comes to the centre with her brother only. Instructor, Ram Lal has encouraged her a lot to continue education and assists her in all ways. She is a very friendly child and quick learner. With special attention of the instructor, she is continuously learning new competencies day by day. She can tell stories and poems that she learned at the NFE Centre. She tries hard to write as well but faces issues. She is still studying in level C.

Covid-19 has increased financial stress in the communities. As government pre-schools and schools were closed for more than 18 months in these frequent waves of Covid, children are being pressurised by parents for household and labour work to support families. In such circumstances, having children out of the education net would have been very challenging, if Seva Mandir hadn’t continued engagement with children through 147 Shiksha Kendras.

In the reporting period, Seva Mandir ensured the education of around 5,000 children through a home-based engagement strategy and the regular opening of Shiksha Kendras (SKs).

The Kendras were open till July, but with the onset of the second wave, the instructors resumed home-based teaching. They engaged with children in a group of 4-5, in the proximity of their homes. Each child was engaged with the instructor for 1.5 to 2 hours using an education kit.

From October 18th, 2021, given the declined & improved second wave of COVID 19 in the state, the education administration was permitted to reopen the classes for primary sections at the end of September adhering to COVID-19 protocols.

A study was conducted in 5 blocks of the Seva Mandir catchment area to understand the present learning levels of children. The study surveyed 200 children across intervention blocks to map the learning status and 100 children to assess the behavioural aspects through using a questionnaire mixed of close and open-ended items. The findings of the assessment were very astonishing as 92% of the participants wanted and liked to study at Shiksha Kendra centre instead of home.

Through this study, it was apparent that Group Based Teaching has a significant role to play in delivering basic education. There is a need for more learning time, reopening of Shiksha Kendras, customized curriculum and pedagogical instructions to level the learning standard of all children in the near future which got hampered in this world pandemic.

Following all this, we reopened the SKs across blocks for young children on October 18th, 2021, keeping strict safety measures for COVID-19 in place which includes the wearing of masks, hand sanitization, and proper sanitation process of the SKs.

Children were getting experiential learning at SKs as before with their peers after a long time in this world pandemic. Instructors welcomed them with a formal greeting, putting a customary mark on their forehead and garland around the neck. Instructors were also strictly maintaining the COVID protocols throughout the learning-teaching processes.

Study materials were distributed to all children like bags, worksheets, pencils, erasers, copies, drawing copy, colour, etc. to generate their curiosity and constructive engagement towards education with the reopening of SKs.

The monitoring of SKs was done through photos taken by phone/ cameras during the lockdown period and shared through WhatsApp and monthly visits by staff. The camera monitoring system was followed in the group teaching and post the reopening of SKs. The average teaching day in this period was 25 working days.

Challenges faced were the following: • Lack of technological capability amongst staff in the ground • Stakeholder’s preparedness regarding the regular opening of Shikha Kendras (SKs) • Fear of the third wave of Covid • Ensuring regularity of children at SKs, their health safety, and motivating children towards education after a long time with their peers • Pedagogical instructions post the reopening of SKs.

Following steps were taken into action for addressing the above roadblocks: • Conducted brainstorming sessions within team and capacity building training with instructors to come up with better possible solutions in the field • Organized a meeting for distinguished stakeholders to sensitize them around reopening of SKs and their safety measures • Inspired children while coming to SKs and worked on lost learning along with regular curriculum through a joyful and activity-based learning environment

Next Steps for Our Program: • Keep regular dialogue with children and their families on COVID-19 appropriate behaviour & WASH • Monitoring and safety observation of SKs • Catch-up lost learning of children • Preparation of children’s evaluation

Kailash Kumar Gameti (8 years) lives in Umariya village of Badgaon block. Kailash’s father, Nanji passed away due to typhoid. Her mother, Lila Devi works in MGNREGA. Due to financial issues pertaining to her family, her elder brother has to go out of the state to find work. Post the second wave of COVID, the instructor went to the house of the student. During his visit, he found out that she has potential in studies but these days supporting her mother in household chores. The instructor convinced her mother to send the child to group-based teaching of Shiksha Kendra (SK). Later with regular motivation and regular opening of SK, she started coming to study. She loves learning, listening to poems and reciting them. She likes to play skipping rope and PAKDA - PAKDI (a local game). She is studying in level B now.

Taking cognizance of the global health crisis and as per the Government protocol, centre-based education was not possible. As an alternative teaching method, group-based teaching (4-5 children) in open areas near the homes of children was devised across the intervention blocks of the Udaipur district and followed during the entire period. Around 600 children were educated through revised strategies to mitigate the learning loss and provided with self-learning educational kits for continuity of learning at home. More than 550 families sensitized on COVID-19 & WASH. As COVID-19 cases rise again in their second wave, The Government of India issued a lockdown order which began on the 19th of April, 2021 to reduce the spread of Covid-19. As a result of this lockdown, ongoing group-based teaching support systems in villages have also been halted temporarily. However, taking learnings from last year, we have ensured the instructors-children connect. We revised the ongoing group-based teaching with other adaptive strategies which include phone calls support system (a low-tech solution) for parents and children, individual child’s home visits and online capacity building of instructors to re-balance educational needs with protecting the health of children, instructors and families.

In the past 18 months, the world has been shaking with the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic. The economy, development and even the learning of children have been severely impacted. The lockdown presented several challenges for the Shiksha Kendras. Parents were not fully aware at the start of the lockdown of the severity of the pandemic and did not understand why the Shiksha Kendras were closing. They were also concerned that their children would lose out on their education and might be drop out. Field areas were suffering from electricity, network issues and connectivity. Many do not have any smartphones or even simple phones which show the big digital gap. Parents with phones generally do not recharge their phones regularly due to financial constraints which make children online learning inconsistent. Entry of COVID-19 infection in villages resulted in a fearful situation as people were reluctant to go to the government hospital and take any vaccine. Moreover, dealing with the new learn at home reality.To address these concerns, the following activities were conducted to keep the children in the education net:• Awareness and information materials were shared with families to build their understanding of the lockdown and the pandemic. • Community members were influenced and sensitized through ‘Nukkad Natak’, one to one counselling and factual video sharing.• Development and distribution of a ‘Student Kit’ which provides children with locally available learning materials, worksheets, drawing paper, storybooks and stationary so that they may continue learning from home.• A family member was assigned the responsibility to supervise the children and ensure they complete their homework assigned by the instructors.• Each instructor visited a child’s home twice a week to teach them in a group of 4-5 and ensure they were learning and also see that they were in good health.• Connected with children amidst the second wave of COVID-19 over phone calls to guide them on using self-learning material, assigning work, and following up. The following action plan has been made for the next six months to ensure the learning of children:• With the ease in second wave lockdown & restriction, group-based teaching has been resumed from August’ 21.• Continue the dialogue with children and their families on Covid-19 safety and vaccination.• Mainstreaming of children in schools in July/August 21.• Capacity building of teachers.

Lokesh is a 9-year-old boy studying at the Losing Dhana Shiksha Kendra in Badgaon block. He has 3 sisters who had all studied at the Kendra earlier. At present, they are studying at a government school. His father, Shravan Singh is a driver by occupation and his mother is a housewife. He has been coming to the Kendra for the last 3 years. He likes the way subjects are taught and really enjoys learning both Hindi and Maths subjects.The closure of Shiksha Kendra because of the COVID-19 pandemic situation made him lost his attention towards studies. He started being irregular in the revised strategy of group-based teaching in villages. His Instructor Prem Lata noticed this during group learning. She visited his home and came to know that he does not enjoy coming and studying in a group. His parents requested the instructor to come home for a few days to convince him towards going to group learning. Prem Lata worked on the same very idea. She taught the child at home individually for some days and motivated him immensely. She also changed the teaching location.Now, Lokesh is much more excited and dedicated than before to participate in a group teaching environment. His parents are really happy that group-based and phone call based engagement of children has been started amidst the COVID-19 situation where their ward along with other children are getting benefited.

During the reporting period, the prevailing Covid-19 situation seriously interrupted the flow of education through centre-based teaching and learning process. Our efforts thus, become critical & essential, at the same time for retaining children in the safety net, ensuring their education, well being, health & hygiene and also supporting their family as a unit to achieve the core objective of the programme.

The educational activities that involve children’ gathering is completely on hold as per the government directives. However, education is a must for the children to be remained connected with daily learning outcomes and without them; they will definitely engage into other household activities, earning livelihood and grazing domestic animals or may drop out permanently. We are continuously devising alternative models to engage children constructively and make some level of teaching.

Alternate Strategy Plan -
As per the evolved strategy considering COVID situation, below were the activities planned:

1- Providing Educational Support & Hygiene Kit
• Provision of timely study material kit distribution for every child (Kit will be prepared based on learning levels of students)
• Small group teaching through daily visits of teachers.
• Teachers will be involved with parents for creating a dialogue regarding their contribution on continuity of their children towards education

• Regular Capacity Building of Teachers
• Quarterly meeting Virtual/Online and Offline training in small group at block and zone level
• Timely TLM kit and reading learning material for Teachers.

2- Hygiene and WASH Awareness
Regular dialogue with children and families (Information and awareness). Targeting children, families and the community at large.

Key Highlights of the Program:
Reaching out to 5,096 children through 138 SKs & 165 Instructors across five blocks

• 21 % of total new enrollment at SKs in September 2020
• 19 % of total enrollment graduated from SKs to other institutions
• 444 children participated (213 girls) into International Literacy Day, 2020 and over 190 parents witnessed this celebration for the first time
• 30 SKs using tablets for teaching-learning process under the ‘Digital Learning Program’
• 5 SKs supporting to the upper primary students under the ‘Mentoring Support Program’
• Around 4000 child’s home visits and 3248 phone calls done across five blocks to reach out children in the Covid-19 situation along with door to door parents interactions.
• Children are provided with self-study materials kit individually. The strategy behind providing study materials was that the material can be used by the child on its own. Through these educational materials, the instructor do their daily lesson planning and keeps the children connected with various educational activities based learning while child’s home visit and via phone calls and the children also enjoy these activities.

Shiksha Kendras (SKs) or bridge schools aims to help children acquire basic skills in Hindi, Maths and English and also motivate them to enroll into Govt. schools to continue their further education. Currently, 138 SKs are in function and reaching out to 5096 children through 165 instructors.

Instructors’ Meeting:
Due to Covid-19 outbreak in this reporting period, the meeting shifted to online mode and offline in a small group of 4-5 instructors.

The topics discussed in such meetings were as follows-
Various discussions being facilitated over the issues of community members evolved due to Covid-19 outbreak, identifying & knowing the mental state of the parents, guardians & their respective wards, providing children connect to their teachers through alternatives strategies like phone calls, individual home visits, just to keep them in education net, providing the study materials to children for self-learning at home.

Parents-Teachers Meeting:
Due to Covid-19 pandemic, door to door counselling support (in lieu of large group meeting) given to the parents by instructors across all five blocks. The visit agenda were as the following:

•    Sensitize parents around Corona safety rules like wearing masks, frequently hand wash, keeping social distance and avoid unnecessary travel to outside 
  

  
  



•    Motivate and support the children in their self-learning being in the role of first teacher at home
  

  
  



•    Support parents in availing the govt. facilities like distribution of grocery items, sanitation & hygiene kit through proper documents
  

  
  

Children at Seva Mandir's Shiksha Kendras

Shiksha Kendras (SKs) function as bridge schools catering to out of school children in the age group of 6- 14 years and provides them quality education. Currently, 143 SKs are in function and reaching out to 5219 children out of which 44% are girls.
During the period, 31% children took new admissions in 143 Shiksha Kendras. Out of 1636 children, 48% were girls. With 44% Kotra block has the lowest ratio of girl child taking admissions into SKs. Of all the 5 blocks both Kherwara and Girwa have the highest ratio of girl child with new admissions of more than 50% girls.
In the half yearly evaluation of Dec, 2019, a total of 4819 students have participated. Out of these 4819 children 44% were girls. The result shows 1305 (27%) children have reached to Level 3.
Once the students from SKs achieve basic competencies in language and mathematics, they are encouraged to enrol in government schools. This year, 1499 students were enrolled in government school i.e. 29% of the total enrolment ,out of which 43% were girls students. In this academic session, 52% of the children got admission in class 5 & 6 while rest of the 48% the children got admission in class 4th or lower.
A six days residential teachers training got conducted for 192 teachers at Kaya training centre. These training programs are a mix of activities, sessions, group discussions, deliberations providing the opportunity to the instructors for their personal as well as professional growth.
The myriad sessions planned for these days are spread across the subjective knowledge, life skills & physical education. The trail of sessions focuses on language comprehension (learning & reading both English & Hindi), numeracy, role plays and life skills viz, good touch-bad touch, personal hygiene.

Monitoring of Shiksha Kendra by parents: The parents and GVC (Gram Vikas Committee) members always have the responsibility of monitoring and visiting Shiksha Kendras.

Mentoring Support: Total 127 children of government schools are also completing their schools and coming to these centers for academic and emotional support. These students are upper primary level who have graduated from SKs only. There are also few students who are from nearby villages, inspire from there classmates.

Digital learning: This program also aims to create interest in children for learning English language via audio-video medium.30 SKs are creating impact on teachers and children learning capacity under this program.

Children enjoying fun activities

Program Update

Seva Mandir’s education program attempts to ensure primary education to out-of-school children through Shiksha Kendra’s (SKs) and Residential Learning Camps (RLCs), other interventions include Activity Centers at government schools and Scholarship Programme to ensure continuity of education. During January - March 2019, 147 SKs are being run in the 5 blocks of Udaipur district in which more than 5,326 out-of-school children aged 6 to 14 are studying, out of which there are 56 children under scholarship program and 159 children are participating in the second RLC. During the period a total of 1659 (31%) children took new admissions in 147 SKs. Out of 1659 children, 44.4% are girls.

Story from the field

Limited access to quality education is a significant development challenge in Udaipur district. In Seva Mandir’s work area, poverty and the lack of quality education are the key factors that lead to a child not going to school. Furthermore, the condition of schooling in the tribal areas is often one of severe neglect, with high rates of teacher absenteeism, teacher’s posts lying vacant, poor teaching methods, a paucity of required materials and inadequate infrastructure. These conditions coupled with poverty de-motivate children and force them to drop out from school. Seva Mandir design and implement programs based on the needs and demands of the communities. These programs include Bridge School Program known as Shiksha Kendra’s, Residential Learning Camps, Activity Centers at government schools and Youth Resource Centers and Scholarships to ensure continuity of education.

Asha Kumari, a 10 years old girl lives in NaalFala, at Chanawada village in Udaipur District. Her father Hira Lal ji works as a laborer in Udaipur city. She used to go to a government school which is situated more than one kilometer away from her home. It was very difficult for her to go to school as she had to cross a mountain to reach the school. Asha stopped going to school and stayed back home for more than one year. Her mother came to Seva Mandir's Shiksha Kendra (SK) and talked to the teacher about her daughter’s education as soon as she got the knowledge about the centre. The teacher suggested sending her daughter to Shiksha Kendra for her further studies. Asha started coming to SK from July, 2018 and now she comes to the centre daily. Her younger brothers Sahil and Ganesh also got admission in SK. Asha has now learnt writing her name, counting till 20, alphabets and spellings of basic alphabet words.

Program Update

Seva Mandir’s education program attempts to ensure primary education to out-of-school children through Shiksha Kendra’s (SKs) and Residential learning camps (RLCs), Other interventions include Activity centers at government schools and scholarship programme to ensure continuity of education. During April-September 2018, 148 SKs are being run in 5 blocks of Udaipur and Rajsamand districts, in which more than 5,000 out-of-school children aged 6 to 14 got education. There are 56 children under scholarship program and 180 children are participating in the first RLC.

Story from the field

Eight-year old Khuma was among the first students at the Camp in 2000. “While coming through the Training Centre of Seva Mandir gate for the first time I felt nervous. I wasn’t sure why I was here”, he recalled. He remembered how he overcame his initial anxiety at the 25-day camp and eventually made friends with children from other villages. Nobody could have guessed that 13 years later Khuma would return to this center as a teacher at the Camp. He began his schooling at a Seva Mandir non-formal education center in 1998. He was then recruited to enroll in the first Camp at Kaya, which he now remembers fondly. After the camp, Khuma enrolled in a nearby government school, but maintained his connection with Seva Mandir by becoming active in the local Youth Resource Center.
As the first person in his family to receive an education, his commitment never wavered. In an area where most children never make it through primary school, Khuma, the son of a poor farmer, graduated from secondary school in 2011. He was then recruited to work at a shop in Mumbai, but feeling dissatisfied with the pace and strain of urban living, he left after two months to pursue a college education and work towards a better future.
Soon after returning from Mumbai, Khuma was approached by a Seva Mandir zone worker who asked him if he was interested in working as a teacher for Seva Mandir. When we asked him about why he took the offer he said, “I benefited a lot from Seva Mandir, I have taken [their] help every time in my life. I will never turn down any job from Seva Mandir”.

His eyes swelled then swelled with pride, “I got offers from other NGOs, but I declined them. I will only work for Seva Mandir”, he said.

At the Camp, Khuma is quite the hero. He laughed when he recounted the disbelief and astonishment when, on the first day of the camp, he revealed to all the children that he is a former Camp student himself. To these new first-generation learners, he serves as a living role model who can relate to these students better than anyone.

Khuma’s story is an example for the 10,000 first gener¬ation students in our schools, and speaks to the deeper change we are nurturing across 700 villages, including a demand for quality education and a commitment to public service.