1996

Literacy India has traversed a path breaking journey since 1996 as a non-for profit organization empowering underprivileged children and women belonging to lower income group communities with a broad based educational and vocational framework. Provided basic human values, dignity of labour, self-belief and dreams among the children with an ultimate goal of enabling them to support themselves and their families.

Today we have 15centers in an around Delhi, NCR and reached out to more than 10,000 beneficiaries. Apart from that a special venture started for the tribal and indigenes people in West Bengal and Rajasthan.

It is a matter of great pride that our children have performed for the past President APJ Abdul Kalam at Rashtrapati Bhawan, Governor of Himachal Pradesh, besides performing for varied audiences in Shimla, Chandigarh, Kolkata and Bhopal have acted in leading feature films such as Blue Umbrella, Omkaara, Three Idiots.

After a decade of grassroots work, we got our own 18,000 sq.ft. School building built on a half acre land at Village Bajghera. The building has Class rooms, an assembly hall, Science and Multimedia Labs and Library.

Literacy India is supported by ongoing donations received from organizations such as Delhi Dynamic Round Table India, Dell, Tele performance, American Express, Fluor Daniels, Bombay Store, Coca Cola India, Bharti Group, Hero Honda, PVR Nest, Tupperware India and a vast number of individual donors.

Literacy India has clearly set the three E's i.e. Education, Empowerment and Employment as its goal to be achieved in the next decade.

• To break the cycle of poverty by building trust and awareness among the underprivileged

• To teach on personal grooming and providing role models

• To address innovative methods of education to give children a wider canvas of exposure in a socio-cultural milieu

• Social issues such as environment, health, hygiene
• The importance of girl child education
• To inspire the youth to take up issues concerning their communities.
• Economical empowerment of women from rural & slum areas.
• Development of human resource assets in the community to restore dignity amongst the underprivileged

Pathshala :
This was the first project started by Literacy India. It started with the non-formal education of 5 children and has today touched the lives of over 700 people from different age, social and financial backgrounds. Pathshala follows an objective where in within 3 months to a year student must get to read and write, we also provide counseling through which we streamline the child in mainstream schools. Pathshala also helps students to cope with studies if they are already in normal schooling. Under this project we have expanded the model used by the National Literacy Mission & Pratham, which is showing great results. Pathshala also opens classes every summer for the school dropouts in the various government schools. This project has main streamed many children back to the school.

• Allow admission to any needy child or adult.
• Use fun learning methods to educate the students.
• Adjust the timings of the class so that more and more working people could participate in the classes.
• Encourage them to be regular in the classes by providing daily snacks and tea.
• Continuously monitor the progress of children and promote the deserving students for further study.
• Take help of tools like Theatre, Dance, Music, Painting and Computers to keep the students motivated and keep their interest alive.

Karigari:
Project Karigiri was established to provide a platform for vocational training to those students who showed a lack of interest in formal studies or were dropouts from school.
The Karigiri program has for several years followed a traditional approach covering training programs for cutting and tailoring, beauty culture and computers. Two years ago we decided to experiment a lateral addition in courses not only for equipping student with skills but with a view towards employment. With that Objective we were able to develop course content in DTP, Web Design Networking, Tally for Accounting, Spoken English, Retail Management, Driving, paper bag making and Housekeeping.
INDHA is an offshoot of Karigiri project, aims at creating community based livelihood enhancement models to achieve reduction in poverty in rural and semi urban areas on a sustainable basis. Its purpose is to enable most vulnerable groups to contribute more effectively to the development of their communities by adapting to various skills.
With inputs from corporate groups and Volunteers we were able to build up significant resource capacity in this program. It is a matter of pride that many graduating students were placed with Companies such as Maruti Udyog Ltd, BCUBE, BIG BAZAAR, RELIANCE FRESH etc.
Under this project a number of multinational companies have been providing workshops and trainings to enhance the skills of the youth so as to make them more employable. Some of the companies that have been working with us under this project are -Aricent, Wirkle Technologies, GE, and American Express. They undertake various training programs like – English Speaking, Grooming, Internet and Networking programs
Vidyapeeth:
This is the core programme at Literacy India wherein we run classes up to high school like any regular school. Children under this programme are exposed to excursions, and inspirational interaction with well-known personalities. These children are otherwise likely to be engaged in child labor or other menial labor at a very early age and can never expect to go to a school due to poverty and traditional attitudes. Vidyapeeth has evolved from 50 children to 633 students today from the under-privileged section of society. We are providing the children with uniforms, books and stationery, our teacher to student ratio is 1:25. The program is helping children in becoming all rounder as they are receiving exposure to diverse activities. This is being run out of the school building at Village Bajghera, New Palam Vihar, Gurgaon. Sponsors like Charities Aid Foundation, Teleperformance (COTW), FEEL Group, American Express, Encore and many individual donors are supporting Vidyapeeth. Children appear for their Board Exams through National Open School.
Shiksarth:
This is a unique programme that aims at providing a platform to slum children for bringing out their creativity talent in various art forms such as painting, pottery, theater, dance, etc. This motivates children to continue their academic education. This experiment has met with great success and it is one of the key elements of the holistic learning model that Literacy India has developed over the years. We have also introduced computer animation and photography under this programme. This programme has been supported by organizations like Adobe, Youth Voice and Phat Phish.
Health Post:
The Health Care program is aimed at increasing Literacy India’s outreach in the village. Lack of proper healthcare especially for the women and girls is a core issue with the women of the villages that we work in. Since establishment the health centre now is well recognized as not only a centre for health but general counseling as well. Our intervention has helped to reduce the incidence of Anemia to a large extent. The centre is now pushing for preventive health care rather than curative healthcare. Under this program several health camps have been organized and it is our intention to increase focus on health care for the elderly. Specialist medical camps are also held covering eye and dental check ups. Youth Reach has been funding its recurring cost and Rotary Club Chanakyapuri helped kick start and set up the project.

The Pathshala (Open school) model which we have developed and the way we are implementing for street children that is unique in its category. Students develop reading and writing capacity within a very short span of time.
Digital learning process is made very interesting and colorful which not only attract children and adult but also teach them lessons through a joyful way. It reduces the chances of mistake in writing and pronunciation also maintains uniformity in all places. This model effectively run in the areas where highly qualified and technically sound teachers are not available. With a small training any high school pass student can teach those modules. Because those are self explaining modules.
We build talent for other fields also apart from education, specially in performing arts and sports. Children got the chances to play in Feature film and TV serials.
We believe in effective education system. So, our education to employment programme is very unique in nature and creates interest among the children and parents for study.

Trust

Yes

www.literacyindia.org

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Literacy-India-Volunteers/78886851063?ref=ts

http://twitter.com/LiteracyIndia