For the
empowerment of women and children
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"I cannot read
or write, but let not my daughter be denied education." |
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Despite her poverty Ratna enjoys a moment of intimacy with her son Ramesh
Surviving in the bleak slums of Bangalore: keeping clean despite the lack of running water is a daily struggle for mother.
Informal camps with child workers who help bring them back to education. |
POVERTY,
GENDER & OPPRESSION In the slums of Bangalore the children of migrants from drought ridden states have very low literacy rates. Their home environment is devoid of stimulation and consequently they lack the basic skills needed to make use of the teaching in the government schools. They drop out within the first two years and join the ranks of the exploited child labourers who give up their childhood and education working 12 hours a day. The needs of girls are particularly acute as the social attitude to them is that they should not be educated They should either work in the home or in child labour activities such as incense stick production, gutter clearing, domestic work, rangoli powder making, building labouring for a share of thirty rupees a day. The slum communities also have a percentage of children with psychological, physical and behavioural problems, which are sometimes ignored by the parents as they have no access to special remedial help.
The early education child centres provide a foundation of basic skills with those children of between 3 and 5 years who are at most risk of dropping out from primary school. An experiential learning approach is maintained in which key experiences are available through self initiated explorations that develop the child’s innate curiosity in all the sensory domains and through problem solving, self expression, cooperative activities Mithra provides a programme of training workshops for their own teachers, local Government teachers, and for workers in NGOs (Non-Governmental Organisations) who care for children. Education for Creativity, Human Rights Education, Learning Difficulties and Teaching Methods. The Mithra school in Muneshwarnagar, provides for the developmental learning needs of the poorest children, especially girls from the Banaswadi catchment area. The holistic curriculum includes numeracy and literacy, aesthetic, expressive and cultural approaches which will enable the children to develop personally and socially to be citizens who are active and creative learners ready to take on the challenges in the world that surrounds them. Human rights are integrated into the learning and teaching from early years through primary education. Personal and social development through values education will permeate the curriculum. Story, song, art, writing language games will involve issues of fairness, group work, personal relationships, support and esteem of self and others.
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MITHRA AIMS TO:
Mithra programs play a key part in marginalised communities. Read about Mithra's tenth anniversary 'Mithra Day' by Maurice Palfreyman Read 'Mithra Moments', an account by Raphael Bate See pictures from the Mithra project The Mithra
Foundation Email mithrafoundation@yahoo.com
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