THE BACKGROUND:

We are a Hyderabad based NGO, which focuses on dramatically changing the way children in slums, study & build their careers in this new digital age. The parents of these children are maids & daily wage labourers & are not in a position to focus on their kid’s education.

These children record the highest dropouts from school in India. These children return from school and have a tendency to roam around & get caught up in unfavourable company. They don’t have their parents at home when they return to keep track of their homework and studies. The program is called the AKSHAYA VIDYA program 

THE SOLUTION: WHAT WE DO

We manage tuition centres for kids in slums with trained teachers (also from the slum). Each centre helps approximately 40 children & costs only 5000 INR per month only (60000 INR per annum). Thatworks out to just approximately 125 INR per student per month.

So a 1500 INR donation from you will impact a child for a year!

Started in 2011, Akshaya Vidya is an endeavour that is aimed at development of urban slum dwellers with a primary focus on education. In order to reach these children and make a difference we have started 30 tuition centres that reach about 1200 students. Our focus is to expand to 50 slums in the city of Hyderabad. (There are a total of 1000 slums in Hyderabad)

WHAT WE NEED FROM YOU

We are looking to raise 3 L INR to run 5 such centres across Hyderabad.

Each centre costs us 60000 INR per annum.

We currently run 26 tuition centres across Hyderabad and reach over 1200 students.

SUCCESS STORY :

Kalyani is a 12 year old who was living in the slums of Hyderabad. Her parents being daily wage labourers could barely provide for her. However, her education had always been a major concern for her family. 

She has been a part of the Akshaya Vidya program from Ekalavya Foundation  for over 4 years & has transformed herself in terms of confidence, spoken abilities & general knowledge. She appeared on the very popular TV quiz show on the ETV CHAMPIONS program & beat 3 other contestants in the first round to win. 

On the show she thanked her tutor from Akshaya Vidya who had attributed her success to what she had learnt thanks to our efforts. Her outlook on life is now completely different & that is the change we aim to bring . Check the TV show link at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulvc6bsMdaU

AIM:

Our aim with these children is three-fold:

Educate; make their lessons more interesting so that they are more inclined to stay in school.
Inspire, we make sure that these children are given a role model that helps them believe that they can carry on with education.
Integrate, we try to find a way to introduce them into their immediate surrounding, to form a better bond with the more economically sound neighbours so that they feel included.

OUR UNIQUE TEACHERS

Through this programme we look to help another demographic of people as well. In all of these slums there are a few youths that have broken the pattern and are pursuing higher education. We aim to make these youths role models for these kids. The advantage with this setup is that the children are exposed to someone that has seen a level of success that they can then work towards achieving. Furthermore, these youths, only girls, also gain an advantage from this structure. To begin with they are given honorarium for the classes they take. Secondly, these girls are trained as teachers and that gives them a vocation that they can then pursue. Thirdly, these girls earn and contribute to the household, due to which their parents are more inclined to let them study rather than be in a hurry to get them married. Finally, we do our best to find these youths a job once they are done with their education. In this way these people get to inspire another generation, make a better life for themselves and for their families.

OTHER ACTIVITIES

We also teach the children basic life skills and general hygiene. We make sure that the people in the slums are aware of their rights. They are up-to-date on all the government schemes and other amenities for which they are eligible. We conduct free medical camps in the slums as well.