What We Do >> Development >> Education

© Yan Seiler

In Varanasi, over 200,000 boys and girls from deprived environments lack the means to attend school. Half of them are compelled since early childhood to contribute to their family income. With a family background of poverty, malnutrition and illiteracy, these children are condemned to a hand-to-mouth-existence, following their parents’ footsteps.

To put a stop to this cycle of poverty which perpetuates itself from generation to generation, Seed for Change has made education the centerpiece of its strategy, the tool that prepares children to develop their full potential.

However, the mere access to education is not enough. Quality is an essential element, more even so for the groups that suffer exclusion. In India, public schools suffer from lack of teaching materials and books, large student-per-teacher ratios and high absenteeism among teachers. Learning outcomes are greatly hindered.

Therefore, in order to achieve a significant and lasting change, we are committed to providing comprehensive, quality education. Under our project ‘Escuela’, children are sent to Learning Point, a prestigious local school where both Hindi and English are thought and students are prepared for the challenges of the job market.
The participants also benefit from private lessons and take part in extracurricular activities. Our objective is not only that the children receive an academic instruction, but also that they acquire values, hygiene and adequate social habits and they become a part of a group of children of their age.

Among these families, we encourage the early schooling of their children in order to promote early development and to prevent child labour. Once children start contributing to family income through begging or other ‘adult’ jobs, it is very difficult to change family dynamics and make parents give up this income. Child labour makes it hard for working children to adapt to school life and to the group of children of their age, because they have been long acting as ‘adults’. As a matter of fact, late school enrolment of working children is usually met with failure.

Children’s development starts from their home and family. To ensure the continuity of beneficiaries in our educational program, parents are involved through frequent meetings with the school, through which they are made aware of the value of education.

The participants’ elder siblings, who are usually working children and had not enrolled in school, are encouraged to join a literacy course.