Donate a brick to build a health care clinic for the underprivileged children

Help us build a health care clinic for the underprivileged children, in a free school which is located 15 Kms away from the Mysore city.

Kaliyuva Mane is a free, child-centric alternative school for the opportunity-deprived children. We have bent every rule that a regular school follows to suit the needs of the children.

Approximately 100 Opportunity-deprived children - Child labourers, School Dropouts, Children from BPL families’ etc.., study in our school. The school is located on the outskirts of Mysore, which is 15 Km away from the city. Since we are away from the city, we have to go to Mysore, whenever there is a medical and hospitalization need for children. Also the children who have infections and minor diseases are not isolated from the rest of children, due to the lack of infrastructure. Hence we wanted to build a health care clinic in the school premises itself and hire a full-time nurse, to solve this problem.

The total cost of the project is Rs 7.5 Lakhs and our aim is to raise Rs 5 Lakhs (Approx. $ 7,700) for the construction of the health care clinic through this campaign. Assuming a minimum donation of Rs 500, we require 1000 donors (1000 bricks) for this construction.

Hence please donate as many bricks as possible for the construction. With the completion of the project, a total of 100 children can avail the medical facilities in the school premises itself.

What is the issue addressed in Kaliyuva Mane

According to a UNESCO report, India has the largest number of adolescent 'out of school' children. As per Annual Status of Education Report, only 42% of rural 5th standard children can read a 2nd standard textbook in their mother tongue.

Due to the lack of a proper learning environment at school and home, and because of a turbulent childhood during their formative years, many mentally sound children are deprived of an opportunity to study at regular schools. Rural underprivileged children, child labourers and school dropouts, dyslexic children, children who are unable to adjust to regular schools etc., form this group of opportunity deprived children.

Opportunity-deprived children are accompanied with an academic lag or inability to adjust to the strict regimen of a regular school and hence a child-centric alternative school is the need of the hour.

Kaliyuva Mane's model of education:

• Admissions round the year, as a dropped-out child might regain interest at any point in time

• Abolition of grades- Flexible children teams based on knowledge, age and emotional housing of the child

• Congenial environment with due importance given to emotions. A happy mind will learn faster.

• Individualistic curriculum, taking into consideration the previous academic lag and capability to learn

• Evaluation: Regular informal tests rather than annual exams, as initially; memory-testing long duration exams will only instill fear.

• 10th Standard: After individualistic training and when the child displays an ability to understand the 10th Std syllabus, the child attempts 10th standard public examination as a private candidate from a formal school.

Kaliyuva Mane was started in June 2005 with 14 children, out of which 4 were resident children.

• Since 2010, 47 children have appeared for 10th Standard examination in English medium, while 45 have cleared.

• 16 children have passed the coveted 10th standard examination, scoring more than 60% marks.

• Out of 6 dyslexic children who appeared for the examination, 3 have cleared the 10th standard. The rest could clear all the subjects except one.

• Every year, approximately 100 children complete their education at Kaliyuva Mane.

• Alumni of this school have already secured gainful employment. Following are the post-matriculation educational courses they have completed/studying: B.E., Diploma in Engineering, B.Sc., B.C.A., B.B.M./B.B.A., B.Com., B.A., PUC (Commerce), ITI, other vocational courses like nursing. We support the post-matriculation education of deserving and needy children.