The Dream of Education

The Kishangarh village in Delhi is an urban slum, inhabited by migrant workers: rag pickers, sweepers, construction workers, etc. who never got the opportunity to go to school.

These people live in poverty and find it difficult to provide their families with even 3 meals a day. Education is a luxury for them.

A majority of these children will be first-generation learners who will be the ones to break their families out of the vicious cycle of poverty.

Samarpan Foundation has been running a primary education centre called Samarpan School, since 2007. Located in Kishangarh Village, a rag pickers colony in Vasant Kunj, the aim was, and continues to be, to bring children off the streets and into the classroom. In the beginning, some parents did not see the point of sending their children to school when they could be earning instead. The meals provided at school served as an incentive for them as it was two meals less to worry about. Some children had even been pushed out of mainstream schools owing to ill-treatment meted out to them by teachers and peers. In 2011, we rented 2 rooms to start teaching how to crochet to their mothers. This helped us bring in children to school who had to otherwise to stay home to care for their siblings.

Today, we run a school in two batches, both morning and evening, with more than 700 students.

The students at the school are provided an education, healthy meals, uniforms, books, stationery, and a lot more. Our focus is on providing quality education - that makes them ready for mainstream schools as well as has them learn life-skills.

The school serves as a bridge school and a tuition centre for late starters, covering nursery and kindergarten classes (children aged 3 to 5 years) as well as Primary Education: Class 1 to 5 (children aged 6 to 10 years). It prepares children for government schools and uses a syllabus that is in line with the CBSE syllabus. The school is NOT affiliated with any exam board (like CBSE/CSE etc).

A situation is deliberately created to redirect the child's energy away from roaming the streets to a system of coming together, through counselling, fun pastimes, and awareness programs Late starters are given personalized attention to catch up to their age-appropriate classes before joining the mainstream. Other vocational classes, sports training and value education programs are conducted to ensure well-rounded growth for the child.

We also provide meals that are a balanced diet consisting of pulses, cereals, vegetables and fruits.

We aim to educate our children to expand their horizons and dream of leading a life of dignity - more than their parents have ever been able to. Our hope is for our students to have opportunities that allow them to provide for themselves as well as their families.