Irfan has been a Vision Rescue student at our Beacon Learning Centre for two...
Spotlight On Importance Of Education
people in India live in slum communities.
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Mn
children between 6-17 years are out of school in India.
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Mn
girls drop out of class 7.
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/10
people live in Mumbai slum communities.
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Mn
years is the average life expectancy here, compared to the national average of 67.
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Growing Concerns
Slum communities are unauthorised settlements. Therefore, financial aid becomes an imminent need and it is the children in these slum communities who bear the life-long brunt of growing up in extreme poverty.
Illiteracy, malnutrition and neglect combine to stunt a child’s physical and mental growth leaving these children in slum communities even more vulnerable and at-risk for exploitation than their parents.
Human trafficking, drug addiction, child labour, child marriage, physical and sexual abuse are just some of the forms of exploitation faced by children of slum communities.
What Solution Does Vision Rescue Bring?
To ENGAGE & SUSTAIN children in education, Vision Rescue operates in a two-fold Community Intervention Program model that focuses on providing key services to engage children in education, as well as support services for the child, their family and their community to ensure they are sustained in education.
Vision Rescue’s mission is to rescue children from all forms of exploitation by engaging and sustaining children in education. Education is the only tool that can sustainably break a child out of the intergenerational cycle of poverty and exploitation. For us at Vision Rescue, through 17 years of work with children in the slum communities of Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata, we have learnt that lack of education has deprived children from vital information requisite for their survival. Illiteracy is the key barrier that prevents a person from accessing his/her lawful rights. When we empower children with education, they are free to access information, make wise and informed choices for themselves today and in the future. Education rescues children from the mindset of poverty that they are surrounded by and empowering them to find their purpose, enjoy their rights and live with dignity.
Engage Children In Education
Vision Rescue engages children in education through five programs conducted within some of Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai’s poorest slum communities:
Beacon Learning Centre Pre-Primary & Primary
Beacon Learning Centre - Open Basic Education (OBE)
School Support Program
Vision Rescue Bus Program
Vision Rescue Tuition Centres
Beacon Learning Centre Pre-Primary & Primary
UNICEF notes that children ‘learn to read’ until 6 years, but from 7 years onward, they ‘read to learn. The first 5 years of a child’s life development are when they grasp, notice and learn things quicker than any other stage in life.
Therefore, it is crucial that Early Childhood Education is given primary focus. Children of the age group between 3 to 8 years are engaged in formal education here at the Beacon Learning Centre. The Syllabus taught is equivalent to any good Montessori-schooling pattern. While children are enrolled in classes ranging from Nursery to Class 3, 75% of our students are in the pre-primary section. By imparting quality pre-primary education, we ensure that these children are well-equipped and overall ready for admissions into both private and public schools from Class 1 onward.
Beacon Learning Centre - Open Basic Education (OBE)
For children aged 8-14, who have dropped out of formal education or never been to school, we also address them by tutoring in the government-run Open Basic Education program with formal education. Students are currently enrolled for level A of the OBE program for classes 1, 2 & 3. To catch up on the years lost due to lack of schooling, we prepare children for the annual OBE exam, post clearing which they are admitted into a formal schooling system.School Support Program
In the slum communities where Vision Rescue hosts Beacon Learning Centres, we’ve networked with 14 municipal schools in the vicinity, providing their at-risk children with support services such as self-defence, football & kabaddi coaching. We also conduct resource-building initiatives such as creating libraries and computer labs there, alongside providing teacher-training workshops to strengthen the existing public education system. These measures ensure that both our students and others enrolled in these schools have higher chances of sustaining in their education, rather than dropping out.
Vision Rescue Bus Program
In slum communities where the physical setup of Beacon Learning Centres is not possible, we send our Vision Rescue Bus to the borders of these communities to reach vulnerable children there. Children on board the Bus for quality non-formal education that serves as a bridging program into formal education. They then take home a hearty, nutritious meal to share with their family too.
Vision Rescue Tuition Centres
For children presently engaged in formal public or private schools who require additional educational intervention, Vision Rescue empowers educated youth within slum communities to host tuition classes for children in need.
This is the primary education model for Vision Rescue Chennai, and has proven successful thus far in channelling the skills and talents of the slum community’s empowered youth to take ownership for and coach those less fortunate in their own communities.
Sustain Children In Education
Children can only be sustainably engaged in education if we remove the external physical and mental barriers present in their families and communities that prevent them from learning. Thus, to sustain children in education, we also work closely with our children’s families and communities through Community Service Centres – stationary hubs within slum communities where our Beacon Learning Centres are operational. These hubs provide an array of services to our children’s families and communities through Community Managers and Case Officers, all qualified social workers with immense non-profit experience.
Support Services for the Child
Support Services for the Family
Support Services for the Community
Support Services for the Child
Every child at Vision Rescue’s Beacon Learning Centres receives a heart nutritious meal every weekday, in addition to health assessments and dental aid twice in the academic year. Every child’s parents receive training on key health and hygiene issues for children in slum communities, in addition to frequent immunisation and malnutrition camps.
Vision Rescue’s focus at these Centres is to equip children for formal education, mobilise and empower their parents to enroll their children in formal schools once they have graduated from our programs. We follow-up with children who have been enrolled in higher classes to ensure they are sustained in education, and they receive necessary aid for tuition and family support.Support Services for the Family
When a child is enrolled at Vision Rescue’s Beacon Learning Centre, their family enters our Case Management system that assesses all the risk factors possibly present in the family such as lack of steady income, domestic violence, alcohol/drug abuse, lack of employable skills, low access to Government poverty alleviation resources, absence of identification documents etc.
Once the assessment is complete, our Case Officers present solutions as per the need. These include medical & dental healthcare, de-addiction counselling, career guidance, opportunities for skills training such as culinary skills training at our Vision Rescue Culinary Training Institute, or others such as tailoring, mehendi (henna art), beautician capsule course, skill based & semi-skilled training like bag, bracelet making, etc. This ensures that financial burdens and healthcare concerns amongst these families don’t disrupt childrens’ pursuit of education.Support Services for the Community
Through our work at the Community Service Centres, we transform our children’s neighbourhoods by conducting various targeted community development initiatives. The biggest of these is the Community Champions Development Program whereby we identify, engage & train volunteer parents to become changemakers in their neighbourhood certified as ‘Community Champions’.
As parents themselves, these ‘Community Champions’ are experiencing firsthand the transformative power of education for their children. Over 287 of them now volunteer weekly with us as ‘Champions’ that advocate for education, healthcare, nutrition and community development among their own communities. Our vision is to sufficiently equip and empower these Champions to take ownership of their communities and drive transformation for their children from intrinsic motivation.Our Impact
Your Support Has Impacted
Directly engaged children in education.
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Children enrolled under formal schooling.Â
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Children supported in municipal school.
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Nutritious meals served.
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Mn+
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