Education - Butterflies - Programme with street and working children

\ Education

Non Formal Education Programme

Butterflies believes that NO CHILD SHOULD BE OUT OF SCHOOL

We believe education is the fundamental right of every child and efforts have to be made to provide quality and equitable education to all the children. At the same time education is also a lifeline for poor children to get out of poverty and our endeavor is to empower the children with knowledge and skills while we engage with them and enlist their participation in our various programmes. We believe that the Education, which is needed by these children, has to be context based as well as contemporary.

ISSUE
Most street children have never been to school, unable to afford the time or the money to do so. As part of the Education Initiative, Butterflies has been encouraging education for the street and working children who have either no motivation to join schooling, or have no access to school or have dropped out.

The OBJECTIVES of our Education initiative are to
● Increase access to education for street and working children
● Improve the quality of teaching-learning processes
● Identify and implement strategies to address learning needs of street and working children
● Improve the learning achievements among children
● Ensure community participation and support

STRATEGY
Butterflies supports the nation’s effort of providing quality education in Delhi. The challenge is to ensure that the least accessible children, street and working children, access quality education and complete the full elementary cycle, with improved learning outcomes. Butterflies plays a positive interventionist and a catalytic role in pursuit of the said goals, define its partnership with government of Delhi and other stakeholders at all levels (state, district and sub-district).

Butterflies implements NON FORMAL EDUCATION PROGRAMME, free of cost, which starts from the children’s own experience. Street children have immense knowledge and experience of the working world, so Butterflies focuses on practical aspects of education as well as the more traditional three “R”s. This is seen as an interim phase prior to the child being admitted to a formal school or National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS). During this period we inculcate in the child an interest in reading, writing, arithmetic and art work.

Child Rights Facilitators and trained teachers are available at all times to suit the children’s needs and classes are conducted at street corners, in parks and at vegetable market. This increases the visibility of this initiative so even if children are not regular they can stop by at a class whenever they are able to. When children reach a certain level of educational achievement they are coached to undertake national exams. Coaching classes are held for those children who go to formal schools in our night shelters.

TAKING EDUCATION TO THE STREET: MOBILE EDUCATION

‘If the Children cannot come to the school, let us take this school to them’ is the mantra of the Mobile Education.

With the objective to take education to the deprived children still outside the education net, in 2008, Butterflies started its Mobile Education programme called Chalta Firta School (Mobile Learning Centre) and Chalo School Aaya (Mobile Education and Research Centre) with the support from the Delhi Government and HSBC respectively .

Chalta Firta School is a part of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and has brought school to the doorstep of children who for various reasons were unable to get admission to regular primary schools and didn’t had access to quality formal education. On the other hand, Chalo School Aaya gives more emphasis on providing life skill education to children.

The mobile school has been especially designed with latest technology, like the audiovisual equipment and a complete range of interactive child-friendly educational material. The material teaches a child in an easy unconventional manner, and encourages the child to return when the mobile school visits the area again. Butterflies has also added multilingual, bi-lingual educational books and toys to promote plurality of our country. Educational toys like blocks and flash cards to teach mathematics, alphabets, sentence making in a child friendly manner are also used.

REACH
More than 1200 children are part of the non formal education programme while 300 children are accessing education through the Mobile School. 50 children have been admitted to formal schools.

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