kriti.org.in Scholarship Program : Hyderabad Social Initiatives

Organization : Kriti Social Initiatives
Scholarship Name : Scholarship Program
Location : Hyderabad

Website : https://www.kriti.org.in/

Scholarship Program:
The scholarship program focuses on children in the urban slums areas near Film Nagar in Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad, India. The parents of the students are mostly daily wage labour, car and auto drivers, office help etc. The mothers (if employed) work mostly as domestic help or work with Kriti. The monthly household income is in the range of Rs. 4000-12,000.

The scholarship program has been in existence informally since 2010. Initially, the scholarship program was only extended to employees of Kriti. Later, interest in the scholarship program spread through word of mouth and we started receiving applications from needy children within the slum. In some cases, the schools where the children were studying also recommended other children. These children were in a state of being forced to drop out of school due to lack of money, despite being interested in studies.

Before enrolling a child in the scholarship program, we interview the parents of the children. As a part of the assessment we look at:
** Attendance of the student
** Marks in various exams during the previous school year
** Financial situation
** Parents interest in sending the child to school
** Child’s interest in going to school
** Effort of the parents to work hard and improve their livelihood

Currently, we have about 175 students whose education we are supporting partially or fully. Students are in the classes from Nursery to Class X. There are a few college children as well. They study at various private schools in or near Slum areas where they live. Most of the students are part of the first generation to be educated in their families. We are seeking to make the parents aware of the importance of education. We counsel the families to send the children to school every day and allow them to continue education until the child is able to earn a living.

Mentoring Program:
We meet with all the children in the scholarship program once a month and we also meet their mothers once a month.

Children:
We have found that most of the children do not have role models to look up to. These sessions are fun interactive sessions that will help the children learn non-academic life skills. Subjects covered include importance of education, hygiene, work ethic, gender sensitivity, tolerance, substance abuse, verbal abuse etc. Children are provided a healthy snack.

Mothers:
Interactions with mothers are aimed to be educative and be a forum for them to interact with other parents in the scholarship program. This will also allow us to track the progress of the children in an informal setting. Sessions include, providing healthy diet for families, better work ethics, importance of hard work, communication with children, hygiene and sanitation etc.

How the Scholarship program works:
Each year, the scholarship program begins at the start of the academic year in June. We evaluate the parents and children with various criteria and also meet with the schools and negotiate fees for the rest of the academic year.

The sponsorship program runs with donations from family and friends of Kriti. Donors are requested to send money at the beginning of the school year. This will allow us to map the financial requirement for all the children with the funds available. We will then communicate to the schools and parents about their enrollment in the program. We will also be able to look for additional sponsors in case of shortfall.

Sponsorship Options:
** Sponsoring a child’s education for a period of time, Say 3 or 5 years.
** Sponsoring fees for the entire year. Average fees per year for a child in our program for the year 2013-14 is Rs.7,500 (625 per month). This amount could change minimally each year. Please contact Kriti to get the accurate sponsorship amount for a year.
** Sponsoring books and uniforms for children. This amounts to Rs.1,500 per every child.
** Any amounts that will help the program run successfully. The cost of food at the monthly mentoring meetings for the children and mothers is
** about $2500 a month. (Food for children includes a glass of milk, a banana and an Egg).