Project Summary:

The Anandshala program strives to help students stay, engage and learn in school. Through capacity building and advocacy, it works to drive leadership for change at various levels of the education system: school coaches, headmasters, teachers and student parliaments. This project under Anandshala is designed to strengthen the system to tailor its own solutions to the problems of student retention and engagement. It will cater to 90,000 students through student parliaments in 300 middle schools.

Problem:

Anandshala collaborates with the state and district education department in Samastipur, Bihar, to address the issue of student absenteeism. In the last 6 years, the program has helped reduced dropout rates from 33% to 8%, but absenteeism still remains, with the average attendance rate at 60%. A lack of quality resources, infrastructure, combined with discriminatory social norms, hinders student engagement at school. This stunts 21st century skills in students, which often extends to adulthood.

Project Intervention:

It will create and nurture ownership opportunities for students via the Bal Sansad (student parliament). Democratically elected, they will identify problems in their schools and undertake change-projects to resolve them with the help of school administrators and / or community. This campaign will support schools with stationery, training, a toolkit and a small fund to help Bal Sansads drive the change they want in their schools, and will aid a more participatory, student-centered engagement.

Long-Term Impact:

Bal Sansads link students and school administrators, ensuring that students voices aren't ignored or dismissed. Students learn to express ideas and work collaboratively on projects, encouraging diversity and social awareness. By creating more avenues for participation, students will attend school more regularly, increase engagement with school activities and show improvements in learning levels. We believe students taking ownership of their school is students taking ownership of their learning.

Donation Options:

₹ 1000 - Sponsor stationery kits for a school [charts, markers, colors etc]

₹ 3000 - Help train a headmaster + Stationery sets for 1 school

₹ 9000 - Help provide a Bal Sansad toolkit + Train headmasters + Stationery sets for 2 schools

₹ 20,000 - Help provide Bal Sansad toolkits + Train headmasters + Stationery sets for 5 schools

₹ 40,000 - Help provide Bal Sansad toolkits + Train headmaster + Stationery set + change project [set up library / water stations / kitchen garden] for 1 school.

₹ 60,000 - Help provide Bal Sansad toolkits + Train headmaster + Stationery set + change project [set up library / water stations / kitchen garden] for 2 schools.

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Organization details:

Quest Alliance is a non-profit trust working to bridge the education and skills divide by enabling self-learning for young people aged 10-35 years. It was founded in 2005 as an innovation and collaboration–focused coalition of state governments, NGOs and funders. With the objective of demonstrating and scaling up models that develop 21st century skills in learners & educators, it has been endorsing self-learning and the effective use of education technology.

It integrates 21st century skills in learning ecosystems and engages in research-based advocacy for issues in school-to-work transition. The focus is to empower 5 million learners & facilitators with 21st century skills for social and economic growth.