Sponsor the school fees of a girl child by Vathsalya Charitable Trust

At Vathsalya Charitable Trust, we aim to strengthen families by working directly with the child. Our goals are to provide a holistic support for the child (and through him/her, the family). This includes not only funding their school tuition fees, with the help of our donors, but also monitoring their overall growth through academic progress, physical and health developmental milestones, social skills and engagement, and emotional well-being. Our activities and training programs therefore include nutrition awareness programs, health drives, social skills trainings and workshops on handling stress, planning and time-management, and other soft skills training.

This year we especially focused on burning issues that were identified within the communities, and conducted training sessions for young girls on menstrual health and hygiene, sessions for fathers on alcoholism and other addictions, introduced mothers without a job to our in-house skill training program to improve their employability, as well as providing counsel and advice on handling key stressors that families face.

With Give's support, we could impact 125 students across 4 different schools - Karnataka Genius School (Umme Nagar), Bethel Academy School (Sarjpur Road, Mullur), Bethany English School (Lingrajpuram), and Carmel School (Gedlahalli Hennur).

We have seen tremendous success with our trainings and engagement plans and students testify to the change that they have experienced, the hope that they now have for a better future for themselves, and some have even voiced a desire to come back to help other children like themselves.

Our main obstacle is poverty and its surrounding issues: besides not being able to afford education, parents struggle to make ends meet with the very basics. To combat this and ensure that the child's growth is not hindered, we conduct drives to provide dry rations for the families in need, collaborate with medical professionals to provide health check-ups and free consultations and procedures, and have regular home visits to ensure that the family and child are safe and healthy. One of our most successful methodologies is to train a few teachers in each school on the aspects of social work especially on how to identify problems that the child might be going through early on and ways in which we can implement mitigating strategies. Teachers are in daily contact with the child and are able to extend Vathsalya's reach in terms of monitoring and problem-solving issues early.

Sandhya M (pictured in this report) is currently in Grade 8 at Bethany English High School. She comes from a family of 4: her mother, father, 16 year-old brother and herself. At 13 years of age, Sandhya loves to go to school, meet her friends and draw. Her teachers describe her as an enthusiastic, friendly and bright child. Her parents are unwell. Her mother has a heart condition and her father has trouble with his kidneys exacerbated by his alcoholism. Working as an unskilled labourer, he has a monthly income of INR 3,000 - barely enough to sustain the family. To supplement the family's income, Sandhya's brother dropped out of school and took up work as a labourer bringing in an additional income of INR 2,000 a month. Vathsalya was able to take some of the financial pressure off the family by covering Sandhya's school fees and monitoring her progress and overall development. The Child Development Team in the school works with Sandhya to help her with her academics, and in her free time she enjoys drawing and coloring like most young children. Sandhya has a great vision for her future. She aims to become a teacher so she can give back to the community by helping educate poor people. We are rallying behind Sandhya to help her achieve her dream!

The second half of 2022 was vastly different than the preceding months. Schools were back in action and the children could finally attend class in-person, meet their friends and study better. Vathsalya restarted in-person workshops that are conducted every month in various schools. A workshop was conducted in November for 40 students from Bethany English School on Stress – Management Strategies for Teenage Students. The session consisted of interactive activities where the students connected with the host, VCT in-house counsellor, Susan. The girls had fun playing games and talking about their lockdown experience. They enjoyed being at home with their families, playing indoor games, gardening, cooking, and dressing up. An important section of the workshop was to address the rising occurrence of back-to-school anxiety. Many children were excited to go back to school while also being extremely nervous about it. Susan explained the concept of stressors to the students and how they were different for everyone. They learnt about how to manage their stress levels and conscientiously deal with the anxiety they were facing.

VCT conducted its Annual Day in December 2021. Each vertical organized a mini-event for mothers and children from the projects. The Education Sponsorship Project conducted a cooking competition. 12 schools, across donors, participated with 2 students and their teachers to learn more on nutrition. The theme for VCT’s Annual Day was “Nutrition: Eat Better, Live Better”. To this, each team of students had to “Cook Without Fire” and present a nutritious dish to the judges. We invited Ms. Uma who works with Manna Health Foods to be one of the judges and distribute prizes. Give India sponsored child Abishay Barbie won the 2nd prize. We’re extremely proud of all the children who were able to interact with students from other schools, participate and take their minds off their studies for some time. VCT called all partnered school Principals and the Child Development Teams (teachers) that we work with for a workshop. The ES team checked up on how our sponsored students were doing, how they were coping with online classes, and how teachers were tracking their performance. They also had a revision session on how to collect and write student case reports. All the students are able to attend their online and offline classes thanks to the donors. They and their families are thankful to be able to connect with so many donors through Give India.

Lockdowns and school closures were the biggest hindrances to carrying out meaningful activities and following up on all our sponsored children. Our teams of staff and teachers did their best to phone every child, talk and connect to them and check up on how they were doing. Reports were also collected verbally and then transcribed which increased the amount of time each teacher had to spend with the student.

We did not face any issues with funding and disbursing funds. Funds were disbursed to the schools that provided receipts for each student in return.

Our goal for the next 6 months is to continue accurately implementing our project goals and providing need-based trainings for the students. To the effect, will also focus on • Helping students adapt to virtual learning • Covid awareness and vaccinations for parents • Career mentorship training for High Schoolers. • One-on-one counselling for students who are facing academic and personal setbacks • Monitoring students’ academic progress • Meeting more frequently with the Child Development Teams from each school

Padmabathi Sahoo is an 8th-grade student. She is bright, enthusiastic, and hard-working. She is good in all subjects, including Kannada. Padmabathi studies well and has good handwriting. She does her projects very neatly and is prompt in submitting her projects and work on time.

During the Pandemic, Padmabathi’s family went through extremely trying times. Her parents lost their jobs. Her father tested positive for COVID. After many months, her father started a small business which took time to pick up and establish itself. They were on the verge of giving up though we managed to encourage them to keep on working and not give up.

Padmabathi is an only child and lives with her parents in a rented house. They had to relocate thrice during pandemic due to lack of finances. Thankfully they didn’t have to worry too much about Padma’s fees because of the sponsorship from Vathsalya Charitable Trust. They are very grateful for the same.

The Support A Girl Child's Education Project aims at supporting underprivileged girls with their school fees so that their financial burden is reduced. Apart from this, we have provided bi-monthly training to the children on life skills including mental health, COVID awareness, menstrual hygiene, preparing for Board exams. Parents were counselled on how they were coping during the lockdown and the stress that came with the Pandemic and lockdowns.Vathsalya partnered with World of Women to distribute Sanitary Napkin kits to the children to help reduce Period poverty.

As expected, one of the biggest challenges was meeting the children as they weren't going to school. We tried to speak to them over the phone as much as possible but it was difficult to build a rapport. We then aimed to call a few children for training in small batches once or twice a month.

Impact report: Ramya is 15, studying at Bethany English School in Bangalore. Her family consists of her grandparents and her brother. Her father passed away long ago and her mother has passed away this year. Ramya and her brother now live with their maternal grandparents who take care of them. Unfortunately, her aged grandfather is sickly and cannot do much. Her grandmother who is also old is left with all the housework and cooking. Ramya loves mingling with everyone at school, her friends and teachers. She works hard in school and loves studying.In Feb 2021, Ramya was hit by an autorickshaw while on her way to school. Thankfully, she only had a minor fracture and did not require surgery. The doctors put a cast on her left leg. She couldn't go to school whenever her teachers called her and she was stuck at home for around 3 weeks until the cast came off. During this time, VCT helped her by providing provisions to her family. We provided counselling to her and her grandparents repeatedly during the 2nd COVID Wave and kept in touch with her brother as well. Due to the Give India sponsorship, Ramya was one of the few children in her neighbourhood who was able to attend online classes. This thankfully kept her busy even while stuck at home. She was also able to attend the remedial classes that the teachers used to get an early start on their 10th Std syllabus.

During the lockdown, the parents of some of the sponsored children lost their jobs. This harsh situation left them with no food to eat. Such families were provided with provisions. Later, their children were encouraged and advised to concentrate on online classes. The principal of the school, CDT teachers, and the sponsored children were constantly contacted to understand how the learning curve during the lockdown was. The children visited the school on alternate days and they were given homework and assignments to complete. The children have been eagerly waiting to get back to school and meet their friends.
The sponsored children attended a Zoom Call and the objective of this interaction was to develop a close rapport with the sponsored children. The children's emotional status was checked to understand how they were coping with online classes. Along with that, kids were asked to voice out the concerns that they were facing. The kids were also motivated to pick up a new skill like drawing and painting. The principal was then contacted to understand the children's performance in tests. On the call, the children were also sensitized about hygiene and health. The children were taught the importance of wearing a mask while going out. In the feedback collected from the principal and the children, it was understood that the children are following the online classes well. It was also gathered that some of the children have invested time picking up a hobby like drawing, painting, etc.
A meeting was held with CDT teachers to understand how the school is engaging the sponsored children if the teachers could connect with the families of the sponsored children, what were the challenges faced by these teachers. A general response that was received was that most students do not have a smartphone if their family members were working. Since most students have basic phones, the teachers would give children assignments.   The interaction with these teachers pushed them to have a conversation with the sponsored children's' families and find out their issues that were in turn flagged to VCT.
Provision kits and dry ration was provided to some families. The recent cyclones affected several families, leaving their houses wrecked. Two such families were identified and provided clothes and blankets.

Training and Activities in full swing

Some of the highlights that we would like to share are as follows -

1.Conducted Health Camp in Bethel Baptist Academy.
2. Conducted Training for Math and Science teacher on Activity based teaching methods.
3.Conducted workshop in Carmel English School on "How to improve Self-Esteem".
4.Conducted training for teachers on "Effective ways of monitoring progress of sponsored children".
5.Took our sponsored children to “ Brain Museum “

Girls engaged in multiple activities