While sports is known to keep one ‘on the go,’ we at Vision Rescue have begun to take with us our Sports activities in the School Support Program to the new places we go to. Murbad in Maharashtra’s Thane district, is where we have reached right now.
After seeing the success of our ongoing School Support Program (SSP) – where we work at strengthening the education system in 14 schools in Mumbai – we decided to sprint a little further and replicate the same Program outside the city, in rural Maharashtra.
We first connected with a few communities in Murbad prior to the pandemic by organising health camps. When COVID struck we continued our work there by providing the families with some groceries. While working in and studying the communities there we realised the need to keep the children engaged and sustained in the rural schools, that they may not drop out due to lack of facilities available there. We believe that, better quality of education in rural schools and curbing the number of drop outs will automatically reduce the number of people migrating to the city in search better education.
Our plan to do this is by strengthening the schools with better provisions, providing organised management guidelines and raising leadership from among the students.
A kick-start to our pilot program in rural schools was a six-day sports camp from June 26 to July 2023. This was conducted for two schools:-
- Zilla Parishad (Z.P.) school, Umroli Khurd, Murbad – 109 students enrolled
- Zilla Parishad (Z.P.) school, Kheware Mahaj, Murbad – 188 students enrolled
Two batches of totally 297 students from these schools were trained in self defence, football and kabaddi skills. They were also given the required equipment needed for each sport to carry on with the practice sessions independently. These students from grade VI to grade X were trained by Vision Rescue’s sports trainers and from among them were selected ‘Champions’ for each sport. As our team returns back to Mumbai, these ‘Champions’ now take the lead in conducting self- defence, kabaddi and football practice sessions for their respective sport in their own school from 4:15 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. daily.
While the practice sessions have already taken off since June 2023, here is what our plans for year look like:-
Quarter 1 (June – August 2023) – Launch of the Sports Project by providing sports training in Self Defence, Kabaddi and Football
Quarter 2 (September to November 2023)– Strengthening Management Systems by initiating Parents and Teachers Meets and Teachers Gatherings
Quarter 3 (December to February 2023) – School Support Activities like awareness programs, medical and dental screenings etc.
Quarter 4 (February to May 2023) – Community Development by branching out our educational program into the local communities.
We are grateful for the support of the local Corporator and School Management who visited us in Mumbai, learnt about our School Support Program and gave us the green-signal to replicate the same in Murbad. We thank you dear donors for trusting us with your contributions and making it possible to extend our arms to the rural communities around us.
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Vision Rescue exists to rescue children from all forms of exploitation by engaging and sustaining them in education. We are a registered NGO for child education under the Bombay Public Trust Act 1950.
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