“Having eyes, but not seeing beauty; having ears, but not hearing music; having minds, but nor perceiving truth; having hearts that are never moved and therefore never set on fire. These are the things to fear, said the headmaster “
– Testsuko Kuroyanagi, Totto-chan; The Little Girl at The Window
Sahay Foundation, a non-profit charitable trust, aims to promote active ageing by harnessing the expertise of senior citizens for the betterment of society. “Sahay Path” is one such initiative that employs retired teachers to provide after-school-hours tuition to first generation learners. Two core subjects, English and Mathematics, are the focus of these tuition classes.
Children from underprivileged backgrounds, with little or no family member to guide them, find themselves at a disadvantage in their academic progress; be it coping with the school curriculum or picking up other life skills. Hence, it is important that they have access to resources and an ecosystem that enables learning, inspires and help unleash their potential. It is with this vision in mind, that “Sahay Path” focuses on involving experienced teachers with proven track record so that quality education can be imparted.
When we first launched our initiative, we were fortunate to find two teachers, each with a lifetime of teaching experience in reputed schools, who were excited to join. It is under their leadership, that we started our first learning center with a handful of students.
Over the last three years we have gained significant experience from running two “Sahay Path” learning centers and a one time six months pre-board coaching at Jayatala High school at remote village in Baruipur. Today, we are happy to note that the children at “Sahay Path” centers, are showing a slow but steady progress in their learning and a visible improvement in their self-confidence and initiative. Our student count has also been steadily increasing, leading to a continuous effort to plan for scaling our operations.
Recently, we received a request from “Sukanya” to set up a learning centre for English and Mathematics. Sukanya is a juvenile justice home, run by the Government of West Bengal, for providing shelter and rehabilitation to girl children rescued from difficult circumstances, to enable their integration into society. The girls at Sukanya are victims of special circumstancesinvolving traumatic past and absence or abandonment by family. Imparting education to these young minds, to instill hope, confidence and prepare them for a stable secure life is a challenge and requires one to plan the curriculum differently. Sahay Foundation has accepted this challenge and has already started the work on this initiative. A two pronged strategy is being adopted : first, to provide basic tuition in mathematics and language in the short term and second, to work on a long term model of education that will empower these girls to be integrated into mainstream society.
As the saying goes, a good teacher never stops learning. The learning center at the juvenile home, is a relatively new territory for our “Sahay Path” initiative. We foresee a continuous evolution of our teaching curriculum and fine-tuning of our methods, programs and resources as part of the journey. We truly believe a good teacher can shape a young mind in preparation for a rewarding meaningful life where “the mind is without fear and the head is held high…”