Backpack Project for Pune School

Part of my India itinerary included a visit to Door Step, a nonprofit school in Pune that provides education and services to children of homeless and under privileged families.  With a single email, I was able to organize a backpack project.  It was inspiring to see how eager everyone was to contribute to this idea.  We were able to fill thirty-eight backpacks with school and art supplies.

In India, all students must pay for schooling, but not all can afford it.  Door Step tries to reach those that cannot otherwise attend school.  If students have no way to get to their brick and mortar school building, Door Step has Mobile Schools that travel to the students.   They have also set-up annexes at construction sites where many low wage construction workers can bring their children. 

 

Educate a Child, Educate a Nation 

Posted on July 13, 2013 by frankly speaking 

There is a very strong push to increase the literacy rate in India, and literacy rates have been steadily improving, at least in the cities.  But 70% of the population lives in rural village areas.  There are 600,000 villages in India. 

The Government has enacted a form of No Child Left Behind.  It is called the Right to Education Act.  Twenty-five percent of a schools enrolled students must be economically disadvantaged.  This is true whether the school is private or public. 

School officials are concerned about having the funding needed to make the changes required.  For example all schools should meet set student/teacher ratios, have well equipped libraries, separate toilets for boys and girls, a fence or wall around the school, an all-weather building with a playground, etc. 

 

The North Carolina teachers I am travelling with and I were able to visit a number of schools.  The quality of the physical structures as well as the resources available in the schools varied dramatically.  The curriculum however, seemed to be mostly the same.  Each student had a syllabus that gave the daily lessons for the quarter.  Classes were conducted from that syllabus mostly in lecture form with call and response technique.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is Prajakta, a standard (grade) 9 student, showing me her History syllabus.