Gift a Dream: Educate meritorious girl children of Single Mothers (Project Shiksha)

Since 2018, Canasu has intervened with 10,000+ women of different strata from the communities across Bangalore. During our intervention, Canasu has realized the increased number of drop outs in girls and the lack of information and essential skills for their future.

The data from the 'The National Family Health Survey-5 (2019-21)' indicates that nearly 21% girls dropped out for the reason that education costs too much. This percentage was 16% for boys. The cost of education appears to a bigger concern for girls than boys. Dropout rates of girl students have increased ever since the COVID-19 pandemic hit India. Over the past 2 years, schools have reopened, closed and then reopened again due to the number of cases in the country. Due to this turbulence, education of school girls in India from all classes took a toll.

And as per a poll conducted by UNICEF on International Women’s Day 2022, It was reported that at least 38% of respondents knew of a girl who had dropped out of school. While 33% respondents said that the girls who had dropped out of school were engaged in domestic work. 25 % of respondent also reported that the girls who had dropped out, got married.

Our mission is to improve the lives of women in local communities through education, health and economic empowerment. Canasu is a revolution to support the dream of every woman to construct their future with perseverance. We strengthen their inner voice by driving away their fear of suppression and by bringing freedom into every sphere of their lives. We strongly believe that if we need to make the world a better place for tomorrow, women need to be architects of the future.

Education is one of the most critical areas of empowerment for women. It is also an area that offers some of the clearest examples of discrimination women suffer. Among children not attending school, there are twice as many girls as boys, and among illiterate adults there are twice as many women as men. We at Canasu offer scholarships for bright girls from marginalised communities of single mothers.

Through 'Project Shiksha' (Gift a Dream), Canasu aims to help girl children of single mothers navigate the challenges that put them at risk of dropping out of formal schooling, which in turn would affect their potential for livelihood and social mobility in the remainder of their lifecourse. To that end, this fundraiser will help support the payment of fees for girl children facing difficulty in continuing their education due to financial circumstances along with additional out-of-school mentorship and access to opportunities.

(1) Payment of fees for 20 girl children at risk of dropping out due to poor financial circumstances along with out-of-school support to ensure they successfully continue their education

(2) Getting a scholarship takes away all the financial concerns. Thus, it gives the aspiring girls more time to study, gain knowledge and secure better grades.

(3) Reduction in the drop outs rates of young girls, adding to the gender gap in the country.

(4) Gives a career advantage to the scholar when done systematically along with counselling and career guidance.

(5) Help the family to gain control over their situation through generating livelihoods.

(6) They will act as a source of inspiration and become community leaders for active change.