GyanSetu

Millions of children in India are born into poverty. India has close to 20 million children who are out-of-school, with Uttar Pradesh having 1.6 million of the lot. These children are from low-income communities and migrant labour colonies. Most of the residents are labourers on daily wages and have migrated from nearby districts with an average family size of 5 to 6. Mothers work as maids, and children either stay home and take care of their younger siblings or support their families by doing other work. The conditions they live in are breeding grounds for problems like substance abuse, human trafficking, domestic violence etc. GyanSetu aims at bringing those children to school and spread awareness regarding the value of education and other social and political issues.

GyanSetu is an initiative under SHEF with a mission to provide education to out of school children and to transition them into formal schools. GyanSetu centres are designed to meet the educational needs of children who have never been to school and children who have dropped out of school due to poverty. This initiative works on providing education to these children with activity-based curriculum and also spread awareness about the value of education and other social and political issues. GyanSetu classes are held six days a week for two hours and provide a site to build awareness about the importance of education, and prepare and transition children to formal public schools. Severe problems like drug addiction and domestic violence have to be tackled by our teachers and counsellors. GyanSetu centres act as hubs of community transformation, works on increase women's awareness of their rights, their children's (particularly their daughters) right to education. An issue-based approach is taken to sensitise the women about issues relevant to them and support is extended in cases of domestic violence, abuse, substance abuse, child marriage, etc.

Study Hall Educational Foundation runs 25 GyanSetu centres across Lucknow, Barabanki and Sitapur districts. These centres cater to approximately 1000 children. Since the program began, 526 children in total have been transitioned to formal schools. Additionally, positive changes have been made in the children's environments by our ability to identify and respond to approximately 100 cases of violence, abuse, etc. Many of the students who transition to formal schools, continue to attend the centres because they find the activities attractive and because they feel they learn better here. In addition, we have collaborated with government and civil society child protection services working in the local area for the purpose.