Help us change the script of youth with Life Skills Program

As per the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation study (2012), a staggering 40% of children drop out of school between grade 5 and 7. The Annual State of Education Report (2014) stated that 51.9% children of grade 5 could not read a grade 2 text. At Dream a Dream, we believe the above are symptoms of a deeper challenge around Child Adversity. Adversity can be of many kinds – abuse, abandonment, experiences of crime, extreme poverty, poor care, poor nutrition and/or violence. Adversity affects achievement of development milestones and impacts a child’s ability to stay in school, pay attention and engage in learning, build healthy relationships, engage with the world, make healthy life choices and breakout of poverty. Educators, teachers and the government don’t understand the lifelong impact of adversity and primarily see themselves as deliverers of knowledge with a view to their pupils passing examinations.

The After School Life Skills Programme uses Sport (Football) & Art (Painting, Crafts, Theatre, and Poetry, Music) as an experiential medium to engage with young people aged 8-15 from vulnerable backgrounds. The programme is designed to help young people develop vital life skills such as: 1. Interpersonal skills such as teamwork, communication, negotiation and coping skills. 2. Cognitive skills such as decision-making, problem solving and critical thinking. 3. Creativity, confidence, self-awareness and a passion for learning. Dream a Dream has established long-term partnerships with affordable private, government and charity run schools in urban slum communities of Bangalore to offer our programmes as an after-school complementary activity. Trained Life Skills facilitators, recruited from the local community (currently 20 of our facilitators are young graduates from the programme), deliver the programme at the school premises.

The After School Life Skills Programme develops vital Life Skills in young people. Research shows that students who develop social-emotional skills and academic mind-sets are better equipped to succeed in school and able to transfer theoretical concepts to real-life situations early on. Dream a Dream has been delivering our Life Skills programme to 30,000 young people since 2002 and has evidenced higher retention and ability to deal with life’s challenges with confidence. The programme has benefitted young people like Vishwa, who in 2012 travelled to Chicago to study Animation and today has completed college, is gainfully employed and mentors other young people. Padma who dropped out of education, completed a year-long dance scholarship at a renowned dance academy and is currently employed as a dance teacher. We aim to bring light to many such lives, with your support.