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Slum kindergartens
"All our lives we have worked like donkeys. We want our children at least to have the chance of a better life."
With crowded homes, busy parents, and few areas that are safe to play in, slum children miss out on early learning. This means that they usually make little educational progress if they join a school, and within a few years often drop out altogether.
A thin layer of brown smoke hovers above the women as they roll and cut the tobacco that will eventually be packed into a bidi (Hindi for cigarette).
The stench of a thousand cigarettes pervades this small, cramped and poorly ventilated room. The women know the air contains harmful nicotine particles but they know they have no option but to endure it. They know the risks, but they have no choice. They need the money. What they were unhappy about was that they had to bring their children into this harmful environment. They had no choice, they couldn’t afford childcare and the rich owners wouldn’t provide a crèche.
Since the National Institute for Sustainable Development programme was setup in 1992, more that eleven and a half thousand children as young as six months have been taken out of the bidi factories. For these children the Karuna funded programme has substituted the hours spent in a dangerous factory for safe, fun, educational crèches and pre-schools. The project is working with local institutions such as schools, local government, youth groups and other charities to provide a holistic approach to children’s rights. The project has helped to create child parliaments, children’s self help groups, play centres, musical groups, mobile libraries, yoga training, computer classes, and education support classes.
Anita’s two children started attending the education centre recently set up in her factory; Rushikesh, aged 6 and his sister Vanita, aged 8 have made lots of friends, have attended lessons regularly, learnt vocational skills, helped plant and tend the herb garden and even attended child yoga classes.
The project has not only made the children happier, it has also made Anita’s life easier. At work she is no longer distracted by her children and has been able to increase her productivity and her wages. More importantly, the education centres have given her hope “Before, I used to wonder ‘what is all this work for?’ but now I see them happy and learning at the pre-school, with better chances than I had”.
Vanita is expecting to enrol in a formal high school next year. She will be the first generation in her family to have attended the state school; just a year ago neither she nor her mother could have imagined that she would have the chance to go to school.
Karuna funds 109 slum kindergartens run by local women, providing pre-school learning and the development of social skills, thereby preparing children to make the most of future educational opportunities.
Find out more about our projects
We currently have over 35 project partners working all over South Asia to help some of the most disadvantaged communities in the world.