HELP - Education Initiative of DHAN

Education - A powerful Tool for Poverty Eradication

Education is often referred to as the great equalizer. It can open the door to jobs, resources, and skills that help a person not only survive, but thrive. This is why access to quality education is a globally-recogn ized solution to poverty. Education helps to remedy many of the other issues that can keep people, families, and even whole communities vulnerable to the cycle of poverty. Education is the best way out of poverty in pa rt because it is strongly linked to economic growth. A 2021 study co-published by Stanford University and Muni ch’s Ludwig Maximilian University shows us that, between 1960 and 2000, 75% of the growth in gross domestic pro duct around the world was linked to increased math and science skills. “The relationship between aggregate cogn itive skills, called the knowledge capital of a nation, and the long-run growth rate is extraordinarily strong,” the study’s authors conclude. This is just one of the most recent studies linking education and economic growth that have been published since 1990.

Last year when the United Nations committed to the 2030 agenda for sustainable development, they recognized that “eradicating poverty in all its forms and dimensions, including extreme poverty, is the greatest global cha llenge and an indispensable requirement for sustainable development. “It is believed that ensuring quality educa tion for all is central to the achievement of all of the Global Goals SDG4 but in particular the goal to end ext reme poverty”. Considering the changing nature of the global economy, driven by technological advancements and gl obalization, investing in human capital and ensuring that everyone has the skills necessary to succeed is now mo re important than ever.

In 2022, DHAN Foundation with the purpose of Poverty Eradication initiated HELP (Holistic Education for Life Learning Programme), a Specialized People Institution for Community Empowerment (SPICE) institution / one of the Themes of DHAN Foundation to work on education. The HELP is in the process of the following initiatives,

• Establishing Model Community Schools co-invested by People Institutions promoted by the DHAN Foundation.
• Supplementing Government Schools and Anganwadis to accelerate bridging the gap in foundational literacy and numeracy among children.
• Establishing affordable academic support for students from economically weaker sections through virtual platforms to perform better in their board exams.
• Establishing Community HELP Centres / Remedial centres to support children from the economically weaker section in remote areas.
• Facilitating sponsorship for meeting the educational demands of students from economically weaker section.

DHAN Karunai Illam, Nilakottai, Dindigul District, Tamil Nadu

DHAN Karunai Illam, situated near N. Pudhupatti village, Nilakottai in Dindigul District of Tamil Nadu, acts as a nurturing haven for children from underprivileged backgrounds, offering them a 'Home away from Home' experience. Established by Ms. Jean Watson from New Zealand, this Child Care Institution has been providing care and support to disadvantaged children. The Illam operates under the approval of the government, in accordance with the ‘Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, and can accommodate up to 75 children on its campus. The vision of DHAN Karunai Illam is to free young minds from socio-economically weaker sections from the clutches of poverty and ignorance so that they can be empowered in their lives and express their full potential. At present, there are 43 children on our campus, enrolling semi-orphan and full-orphan children. Though safety and security are the major objectives of the illam, it focuses on the holistic development of the children.

Karunai DHAN Nursery and Primary School, Nilakottai

Karunai DHAN Nursery and Primary School, Nilakottai was initiated on 6th June 2008 by DHAN Foundation with the support of Karunai Illam Trust, New Zealand. The school started with 28 students and 2 teachers, was enrolled under Tamil Nadu State Department of School Education in 2011. Currently, the school is functioning with 396 students and 30 staff. The school runs with the vision to instil self-learning as a fundamental value and practice in children. The mission of the school is to set an example as a model community school. The school has self-developed curriculum, learning-teaching modules and assessment methodologies for kindergarten and self-developed Skill training curriculum, learning-teaching modules and assessment methodologies for primary class (1-5) to concretise the learning of the state board syllabus. This skill training curriculum enriches the logical understanding of foundational numeracy and literacy (Tamil and English) which would help in instilling self-learning in the children.

Community HELP Centres

Gaps in learning-teaching processes in govt. school, illiterate/poorly literate parents, lack of support system for slow learners in schools, imbalanced student-teacher ratio, auto-graduation of classes despite lack of learning, working parents, and unsafe neighbourhoods are some of the major reasons that necessitate supplementary schools/remedial schools for children from the families of economically weaker sections. The people institutions promoted by DHAN Foundation have promoted 200+ remedial centres, especially in the regions where the parents are migratory tribals, nomads, urban daily-wage labourers, and rural landless farmers. These remedial centres not only supplement and complement the learning processes but also serve as an after-school safe place for the children. Though there is a diversity in capacities of the tutors the intentions are unified towards upgrading the education of the children from poor families. Lack of functional learning from teacher training institutes, poor exposure to ‘learning-teaching’ approaches and processes, financial insecurity, and personal barriers reduce the potential of these tutors. On the positive front, these tutors are locales, insiders, and closely bonded neighbours who catalyse the learning and socio-emotional well-being of the children. Therefore, to unleash/upgrade the potential HELP is working with these centres towards strengthening, facilitating cross-learning, co-learning, and context-based learning, and building capacities for the tutors. It is also working toward standardisation of these remedial centres as Community HELP Centres with minimal supportive teaching aids and training the tutors based on an evolutionary capacity-building calendar will enrich the learning of the students.

Inaiya Guru

The online tuition for 10th Standard students was started during the year 2021. During Covid time, government school students are not affording to enrol for online classes. DHAN foundation started a online maths tuition for 10th standard students in the brand name of Inaiya Guru. 100 video content on 10th standard maths was developed. The videos are simple and easy to understand. Weekly worksheet was given to students to assess the performance of the students. Parents meeting was also organized to share the student’s performance to parents and get suggestion from parents an improvement.

Transforming Government School to Smart School

The lack of smart infrastructure in Government schools makes the students not able to compete with other private school students. Hence, DHAN foundation involved in transforming the government schools to smarts schools by establishing infrastructures like Interactive Digital Panel, STEM Lab, Library, Drinking water and Proper toilet facilities. Around 31 Government schools were transformed into smart schools.