Aseema Charitable Trust - Rural Education Centre in Awalhkeda Village

Project Brief: Education centre for tribal children
Project Type: Non-Formal Educational Centers (description)
Primary Focus: children of dalits/tribals (description)

Secondary Focus: children who are working

Area: Rural
Supporting Chapter Contact: San Francisco
Status: completed - requirements ended
Project Steward: Riddhi Goradia
Project Partner(s):
Other Contacts:
Project Address: , Assema Charitable Trust,G-3 Josephine Apartments, Ground Floor, Chimbai Road, Bandra,Mumbai,
MAHARASHTRA  400050
Tel: 91-22-26407248
Stewarding Chapter: San Francisco
Jun 2017San FranciscoUSD 7680
Jun 2016San FranciscoUSD 8943
Apr 2015San FranciscoUSD 13038
Sep 2014San FranciscoUSD 5968
Apr 2014San FranciscoUSD 6120
Sep 2013San FranciscoUSD 5349
Mar 2013San FranciscoUSD 6124
Jun 2011San FranciscoUSD 6730
Jan 2008San FranciscoUSD 10000
Jun 2007BerkeleyUSD 3000

Total = $72952

This Education Center will work with tribal children who currently have little or no access to schools. Aseema believe in a holistic approach to education and plan to cover everything from basic literacy to analytical and emotional skills, physical well-being and vocational training (drawing on the Montessori system, as well as the Integral Education Approach as pioneered by the Sri Aurobindo Intl Centrer for Education in Pondicherry, which emphasizes the development of physical, emotional, and intellectual skills and sees them as fundamentally interconnected. The approach is fundamentally practical, and designed to prepare children for real life after they graduate.)

The children are from very poor families, many of them parents are migrant laborers, and most eat only one square meal a day. The school is expected to serve about 200 children of all ages.

Aseema conducts medical camps for eyes, dental and general health examination. Teacher training programmes, teaching aids and educational material are being provided. School uniforms and a nutritious mid-day meal are being provided. A helper is appointed to assist and bring the children to school each day. Our teaching approach as explained above is different from most conventional schools.

In order to integrate education and rural development, Aseema is going to build a rainwater harvesting pond to help develeop the area agriculturally. Aseema is also going to link up with an agricultural college (possibly in Nasik) to provide agricultural training to the children (and parents). The school will also utilize renewable energy for electricity and cooking needs.
To provide a holistic education, an interesting and caring learning environment, and help under-served children of tribal people acquire the skills and confidence to succeed in real life.
Aseema was established in 1995. Its mandate is to provide quality education to street and underprivileged children and to protect the rights of women and children.

Its core belief is that primary education is the right of every child. While the Government of Maharashtra has committed to make education free and compulsory for all, this commitment has been left grossly unfulfilled. Further, even among those who do enroll at school, most do not complete their formal education. Aseema established The Centre for Street Children in Mumbai in 1997 to address the above issues.

Aseema's Centre for Street Children started with only 18 children. Ever year the number of children has increased and today we reach out to over 600 children who study in our Pre-Primary Centre, at the Pali-Chimbai Municipal School (PCMS)we have adopted, and at our Support and Activity Centres. Now we are expanding into rural India.

Assema's goals are:
-to provide quality education to underprivileged children
-to prepare underprivileged children for entry into the formal system
-to provide on-going support to those enrolled in the formal system so that they do not drop out of school
-to work towards parental participation in children's education
-to improve the health status of the children who come to the Centre and provide nutrition
-to provide a system of non-formal education to those children who cannot avail of the formal system.
-to work towards self-sustainability from the sale of the products made from the art done by our children.