NO one chooses to be born poor. But many a times, children from financially weaker sections of the society have no choice but to grow up without ever realizing their full potential. And the government cannot reach everybody. Enter edcuation NGOs or NGOs that are focussed on educating the underpriviliged kids. These education NGOs are working at the grassroots level in the remotest parts of India.
Here we feature 10 Eudcation NGOs in India that are doing great work
Akanksha Foundation is one of the largest urban networks of public-private partnership schools in India. It envisions to build a pipeline of innovative schools that empower children to maximize their potential and influence systemic reforms.
Verified by GiveIndia, Akanksha Foundation works to impact the lives of children from low-income communities. Currently, Akanksha reaches out to 4,000+ children in 21 schools, with school dropout rate under 5%. With 75% of their alumni going to college, the organization is clearly making an impact in the lives of these underprivileged children. Donate to Akankasha Foundation to help kids from slum areas break the cycle of poverty through education.
Committed to improve the literacy rate in rural India, Isha Foundation is supporting disadvantaged children in realizing their full potential. Aiming at holistic education, it is currently operating in eight schools of Tamil Nadu and one school of Andhra Pradesh. It employs alternative learning techniques to enhance the learning process of the children.
It also promotes education among girls which has improved enrollment rate of female children in schools operating under them. There are 4,000 students studying, out of which 2,306 students are under scholarship. When you sponsor a child, his basic fee and educational supplies are taken care of. Donate to make sure that no child drop out of school and achieve the vision of education beyond literacy.
Christel House Learning Center (CHLC) provides free quality education till grade 12 to children from poor families, slums and orphanages in and around Bangalore. The school also encourages extracurricular activities like music, art, sports, yoga and life skills for child’s overall development. To make sure that no child drops out of school because he cannot afford expenses of school supplies, Christle House supports them with free uniform, books, and stationery.
The families of these children earn less than Rs.3000 a month which just help them with bare minimum. Child’s education is often not a priority in such cases. But with your donation, a child can go to school and hope to achieve a life of dignity and success.
4. Bhumi
Bhumi was founded in 2006 by a group of friends who wanted to make a difference in the society. It’s a volunteer led organization that educates and mentors children from orphanages, slums and villages. With an aim to provide quality education, Bhumi provides comprehensive educational support for over 25,000 underprivileged children across India and helps them break the cycle of poverty. Bhumi bridges the gaps in formal education and opportunities by providing language skills, life-skills support and scholarships for higher education.
Bhumi also runs an annual initiative called ‘Joy to the World’ where they visit children from underprivileged backgrounds living in orphanages and encourage them to write their wish on a ‘Wish Card’. These wishes, which are mostly related to books, school bags, shoes, and games are then fulfilled by the donors. Each child gets a gift of something they want. Donate to fulfill a wish of a child today!
5. Sevalaya
Sevalaya is trying to uplift the unemployed and unskilled young Indians out of poverty. Regardless of lack of formal education, Sevalaya takes pride in helping young people realize their full potential. National award winner for education, it is currently serving in 40 villages of Tamil Nadu, achieving 100% school enrolment in these areas.
Sevalaya’s home for destitute boys and girls provides shelter for orphans and destitute. Every year 150 destitute children take shelter in the home and are provided with quality education, nutritious food, clothing and medical aid. Close to 2,000 children have been provided with free education by Sevalaya. They also want to start a free university for underprivileged children. Donate for these children to make sure poverty is not a hurdle for any child to have access to his basic rights.
6. MAD
MAD believes that it’s #NEVERTOOLATE to make a difference in a child’s life. Changing lives in 14 states and 60 shelters, MAD ensures equal opportunities for children at risk. From ensuring positive emotional health since childhood, MAD supports these children even after they leave the shelter.
MAD’s Holistic Child Support program works for children from vulnerable backgrounds. Under this program, over 90% of the children successfully pass their 10th standard. With the intervention, the number of youth going to universities in the partner shelter homes of MAD has also gone up from around 20% to close to 78% in last 3 years.
Donate to help these abandoned children get access to quality education and impact the lives of few among 35 million children in need of care and protection.
Founded in 2003, Muktangan aims to provide student-friendly, community-based model of education. It runs seven English-medium schools in Mumbai catering to over 2,700 students. The program focuses both on classroom environment and extracurricular activities. It also believes in the ‘inclusive education’ and therefore have a separate department to help students with specific learning abilities including dyslexia.
Teachers also belong to the same local marginalized communities. They are offered three years of training by Muktangan under experienced faculty to attain practical teaching experience and attain subject specialization. Donate to help Muktangan develop skills of teachers to better serve the children from low-income families.
8. Purkal Youth Development Society
When Purkal (small village in Uttarakhand) was plagued with poverty and unemployment, Purkal Youth Development Society laid its foundation. Started as a tutoring program with four children in a cattle shed, it is now a fully equipped school serving 41 villages. Today it provides mentorship, healthcare and nutrition to the youth of Purkal, encouraging girls to take the lead.
PYDS strives towards creating a conducive, vibrant and progressive learning environment for the children. In addition to holistic and contemporary education, it helps in skill development and encourages extracurricular activities for all the children. It ensures world-class academic exposure through its partnerships with educational path breakers such as iDiscoveri (Xseed), tGelf, AFS, IAYP, ACER, etc. Donate to provide holistic care and education for the youth from underprivileged families of the remotest parts of Uttarakhand.
Now 10-year-old, Teach For India ensures excellent education for children from low income families. They do so by giving an opportunity to India’s brightest and most promising individuals to serve as full-time teachers.
This year, 1250 Fellows are directly transforming the lives of 38,000 children. Their mission is to mobilize and inspire a wider movement of leaders that leads to the same transformation of all the children in the country. Donate to fight for educational equity in India. Your donation will fuel a movement of leaders into the action required to reach this goal.
10. Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences
Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS) is the largest residential institute for the tribals in the world, providing free education, accommodation, food, healthcare, vocational training and job support.
It has ensured all-round development of 20,000 children from 62 tribes of Odisha. It’s objective is to develop a center of learning for the poorest children of the society, with focus on formal and livelihood education. Donate to save these underprivileged tribal children from society’s ill like child labor and child marriage and provide them with the life that every child deserves.
Giving an equal opportunity through these NGOs is the least we can do for our children. Every child has the potential to achieve something for himself. All they need is a little support from us. Donate to help these children achieve their full potential. Because it takes someone strong to make someone strong!
(A few edits to this blog were done in August, 2025)
Kumara was a professional journalist for over 15 years, with stints in The Telegraph and Reader’s Digest. He grew up hating maths and physics. He is a post-graduate in history. Kumara believes that cricket and Seinfeld have answers to most questions that life throws at you.
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