Association for Community Care Education and Social Services (ACCESS)

ACCESS has a dedicated primary and nursery grade school providing foundational education to children from low-income communities, it is open five days a week and is managed by four qualified teachers. It runs four child development centres across the city of Bangalore that open on Saturdays and festival holidays and educates children on topics like child rights, safety and hygiene, children are also helped with school fees, health care and nutrition.

The home-based care for girls ensures that girls from low-income families receive essential rations, sanitary products and school fees. It supports children after school hours with special tuition classes and summer holiday programmes to keep them regularly engaged.

It facilitates the creation of women co-operatives called Mahila Sangha co-operative groups. The groups consist of local underprivileged women, widows and deserted mothers who form a supportive network for each other. Each group has a savings account and helps each other financially in need. Its women’s tailoring centre helps train girls who have dropped out of school and young mothers in tailoring enabling them to start their businesses and achieve independence. It also trains women in computer use and spoken English to lift them out of poverty.

Every month, parents of children studying at the ACCESS schools are invited to attend an update session where the child’s progress is shared, in addition to awareness sessions on child welfare, conflict management, nutrition, budgeting and self-employment.