Schooled with care

Delhi-based NGO, Deepalaya, devoted to educating street children

In 1989, the United Nations passed a resolution recognising that every child has an inherent right to survival, right to protection from abuse and right to development and education. It may take many years for the Government of India to fulfil all these criteria for every Indian child.

However, a Delhi-based Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) had been working on these ideals even before the UN laid them down. Deepalaya, the NGO, has been devoted to the cause of the under privileged children since 1979.

Their motto is to give freedom, independence and a sense of fulfilment to every child through proper education and upbringing. The children who come under their fold can be broadly classified into two categories.

Firstly, the children from poor families who are given educational support at a subsidised price. They are also given vocational training so they can make a decent start in life and extricate themselves from the poverty and privation they are born into.

Secondly, the street children (constituting abandoned children or children who have run away from home). These children are groomed under the non-formal education programme, showered with love and care of a family and equipped with enough skills so that when they come of age they can start a decent life.

When Deepalaya began in 1979 it had just five students, today it has grown many fold and has over 14,000 students and seven schools in Delhi. Its students have made a mark for themselves and gone on exchange programmes to foreign countries.

In fact, at the ongoing Dubai Shopping Festival, Deepalaya has a stall in the Indian Pavilion, Global Village, where handmade bags, lampshades, pottery, greeting cards etc made by the children are on display.

"The stall serves the purpose of spreading awareness about the underprivileged children around the world. It also helps us get sponsors," says Abijit, a communications officer with Deepalaya.

"Our schools are only for the children of the poor parents. The fee is negligible. The parents are actively encouraged to send their children to schools and the children are taught various skills by the time they pass out," explains Shikha Pal, principal, Deepalaya School in Kalkaji, south Delhi.

To spread awareness about education Deepalaya runs schools in several slums in Delhi. "These schools in the slums force the parents to think about educating their children. There is no fees in these schools and the slum dwellers are involved in the running of the schools," says Abijit.

The number and range of programmes run by Deepalaya for the underprivileged children are impressive. One of their unique projects is to motivate the street children to take up education.

This is one of the most daunting projects. The Deepalaya team is posted at railway stations where small children work for a living. The members identify these children and hold small educational sessions for them at the platform itself.

They are told the benefits a good education can beget. The children who show interest are taken under Deepalaya and given an all-round education at their schools . "Not all of these children are interested in education. They'd rather roam the streets or work at stations," says Shikha Pal.

Deepalaya also has a programme for disabled children. Besides treatment, the NGO provides monitoring, assessment, child specific planning etc. Empowering girls is another main focus area of Deepalaya. Again Deepalaya believes education is the best means to empower anyone.

Last year, over 6,000 girls were brought under formal education and over 1,000 others were provided skilled training.

Covering this ambit of providing formal education to practical skills to bridging up the gender equity for the underprivileged, the NGO has laid down some admirable precepts of its own.