Support Quality Education in extremism-affected areas

I-Saksham Education And Learning Foundation (i-Saksham) is co-founded by three Prime Minister’s Rural Development Fellows (PMRDFs) Aditya Tyagi, Ravi Dhanuka and Shravan Jha in response to the poor status of education witnessed by them during their tenure in extremism affected districts of Bihar. It was incorporated in 2015 as Sec.8 Company under Companies Act, 2013.

i-Saksham works on providing quality primary education to children in such extremism affected areas by building local community youths, majorly females as edu-leaders. These females are a part of 2 year long fellowship program in which they improve their subject knowledge, learn modern pedagogy tools (सीखें) and impart quality education to children in partnership with local government schools by catering to multi-level learning needs (सिखाएं). Children achieve grade appropriate competencies and the females are empowered to pursue their professional aspirations. They are provided with coaching and mentoring support to evolve as long term social change agents. The program helps young females discover their goals, strive for them and become a role model for other females in their own community through their work.

The key pillars of programs include:

• Capacity building of edu-leaders- Training of community edu-leaders on early grade differentiated pedagogy, contextual application of digital technology, facilitation skills and community leadership, etc.
• School Transformation- Partner with under-resourced government schools to provide quality education to children.
• Community Engagement – Strengthening community’s participation and engagement in education of children through Parent Teacher Meetings, School Management Committee,  Self Help Group meetings, etc.

Current Status:

i-Saksham is building capacity of 150 edu-leaders who are playing the role of social change agents in their community and working to build a better education eco-system. These youths have shown a great growth in their aspirations throughout their journey. 5 alumni are currently pursuing higher education from prestigious universities of the country like Azim Premji and TISS. 80% of the alumni continue to remain in the education space by teaching in various capacities, serving as professionals in various education organizations or enrolling in teacher professional courses like D.L Ed., B.Ed. etc.

Edu-leader Mamta pursuing higher education from Azim Premji University

i-Saksham is currently providing quality primary education to above 5000 children from marginalized communities. In the year 2019-2020, 60% of children have either shown improvement in their learning outcomes by 30% or continue to be at their grade appropriate learning level.

Children enjoying learning through activities

We plan to expand to 1000 fellows and 25,000 children in next 3 years. This campaign is to gather your continuous support to help us achieve our next milestone.