Sarthak Maitra - Mentoring Project

Alarming number of Dropouts after secondary education

According to a government report, the dropout rate at the secondary school level in India is more than 17%

In India, the percentage of dropouts after basic school education (SSC & HSC) is alarming. Most commonly faced problems by students are-

• Poverty & lack of financial support
• Education does not involve skill enhancement or specific skill training
• More than 50 lakh students graduate each year but very few are skilled/fit to be employed
• Incorrect career choices lead to dropouts or unemployment.
• Expensive higher education and no accessibility
• Lack of awareness about future career opportunities.

Sarthak Maitra gave the following support to Financially Underprivileged Deserving students

• Financial support for education for economically underprivileged by Sponsorships & scholarships to needy & deserving students
• Mentoring support for deserving students by connecting partners in growth
• Career Support through counselling and guidance Aptitude Testing and Career counselling for adolescents
• Skilling support for special kids and support for entrepreneurship development 

Process:

STEP I

Mentees Selection Process

• All students (mentees) are selected exclusively from the “economically disadvantaged population” through a systematic evaluation process which includes:
• Academic performance of last 3 years
• Financial needs and current financial situation of the family
• Family background & actual need
• Interview of student and parents
• Home visits and referrals from a schoolteacher, headmaster etc.
• Aptitude Testing 

Step II -Providing Financial & Academic Support to selected students

• Career guidance & career path for every student.
• Admission support for college & class
• Experts Guidance for competitive examinations
• Psychological counselling if required.
• Progress is mapped periodically by systematic assessment.

STEP III - Skill Enhancement and informative sessions  

• Informative skill sessions at periodic interventions
• Interactive sessions by experts
• Exposure visits / Industry visits etc.

STEP IV   Connecting Mentors

1. Registration of Mentors
2. Interview/discussion
3. Mentor Orientation and sharing of responsibility.
4. Common meeting with mentor & mentee.

Sarthak is focused on qualitative behavioural sustainable social change and our mission is to make this change in society by reaching out to every individual, every day, collectively working towards making a worthwhile and meaningful contribution to positive and progressive human development.

Education is empowerment. The success of any country depends upon the education of its citizens. Education aims at the total development of an individual’s personality. This also means giving equal chances to every individual for the development of his capacity and equity in opportunity.

Financial support for education: Sarthak Maitra give financial support to deserving students till they complete their graduation. It is observed that girl students face more problems to complete graduation because their parents could not afford finance for education. So the selected students in this project do not have any botheration on them regarding the finance to complete the graduation.

Mentoring Support: Sarthak Maitra strongly believed that with financial support these students need mentoring also. These students' Mentoring is an unconditional acceptance of a student while guiding them on the path of growth & development. SARTHAK aims to support many such deserving, bright students from financially weaker sections of society and would sponsor and empower them to become mature, talented, educated & independent adults in this academic journey. SARTHAK has adopted many such deserving students for mentoring. Mentor-Mentee mapping is done according to the career selected by students. So Mentor can guide or support the mentee. Sarthak has a pool of 30 Mentors who are trained for mentoring Sarthak. Regular training sessions were conducted for Mentors for the betterment of Mentees.

Career guidance and counselling support: Sarthak conduct an Aptitude test for each selected student and according to the report counselling is done by an expert counsellor. This counsellor is connected to students till the completion of the course.

Skilling support: In a constantly changing environment, having life skills is an essential part of being able to meet the challenges of everyday life. The dramatic changes in global economies over the past five years have been matched with the transformation in technology and these are all impacting education, the workplace and our home life. To cope with the increasing pace and change of modern life, students need new life skills such as the ability to deal with stress and frustration. Today’s students will have many new jobs over the course of their lives, with associated pressures and the need for flexibility In everyday life, the development of life skills helps students to: 

• Find new ways of thinking and problem-solving. 
• Recognize the impact of their actions and teaches them to take responsibility for what they do rather than blame others 
• Build confidence both in spoken skills and for group collaboration and cooperation
• Analyze options, make decisions and understand why they make certain choices outside the classroom
• Develop a greater sense of self-awareness and appreciation for others

Following sessions were conducted by experts of Sarthak to develop skills

 1. Self-awareness

 2. Critical thinking

 3. Creative thinking

 4. Decision making

 5. Problem Solving

6. Effective communication

7. Time Management

8. Study Skills

By giving the above support to students, they could complete their graduation and get employed.

SARTHAK has a 98% of success rate in this project and has the satisfaction of "making life meaningful"