About NGO:

The Akaksha foundation is a non profit working in the field of education, educating children living in the slums and low income communities in Mumbai and Pune. The vision of the foundation is - one day, all children will be equipped with the education, skills and character they need to lead empowered lives.

Akanksha aims to achieve this through after school centers that run for 2. 5 hours a day where the children learn English, Math and values and through the akaksha school project where we work directly with public schools and look after the teaching, training and recruitment.

Fund Usage:

In order to address the low learning outcomes of children in municipal schools and in keeping with the organization's vision, The School Project was architectured with an aim to bring about the transformation at three levels: the school, the child and the system at large.

The School Project was founded with a mission to create a model for high-performing schools that redefines what is possible for children from low-income communities, and has the potential to drive wider systemic reform.

In the initial years of the project, it seemed that the Pune Municipal Corporation had more scope for growth and to quickly acquire a sizable market position, and hence Akanksha and TSIF together set the target of reaching 25% of all PMC English-medium municipal schools. More recently, because of the efforts of the Additional Municipal Commissioner of the MCGM, there is an opportunity to pursue school reform at a large scale in Mumbai through the MCGM School Improvement Project, managed by consulting firm McKinsey & Co.

There is also increasing demand in both cities amongst parents for more high-quality English-medium schools and hence because of the limitations of the government, both municipalities remain fairly open to some form of private participation in the system. Akanksha has recently received an approval to start three new schools in Mumbai, making it a total of 10 Akanksha schools in Mumbai and Pune.

While Akanksha's aspiration for its school model is not to run schools at the scale of thousands or even hundreds, it does feel that having a significant presence in whatever market/system it operates in is essential to the ultimate success of the short- and long-term goals of the project- namely to:

• Attain government funding for a "charter school" type of agreement
• Working towards sustainability by building parental/community empowerment to advocate for school reform and government accountability. While Akanksha fully intends to advocate for government funding for its work, it will take time for this to actually come through. The rationale for more schools and building parent involvement is to intensify the presence in both constituencies such that the government will ultimately have to support its schools financially or risk serious political damage/community pressure. To build this movement, opening enough schools and organizing parents through School Management Committees and PTAs, will take time beyond the next academic year. Until then, Akanksha will continue to need like-minded partners to support and help grow this initiative.
  
• Demonstrate its success faster because of a larger sample size
• Work with the government so that it can adopt some of the most effective practices, particularly around training/professional development and whole school development, to impact more schools
• Work with the Government to ensure that the provisions of the Right To Education are effectively implemented

Impact:

Raju Devender

When asked about Akanksha, Raju Devender innocently replies, "Akanksha is my second family. I met them when I was 5 years old." Behind this adorable smile, is the story of a boy who never gave up hope!

Currently in the second year at Raheja College, Raju plans to move to Fine Arts or Commercial Arts post the completion of his course. However, he was not always so driven towards art or studying. He was the youngest among the seven siblings, and just like them, he disliked studying too. The only earning member in the family of nine was his father, and there was minimal or no support of Raju's brothers.

Initially when Raju joined Akanksha, he hated attending. He felt that he was being forced to do something he disliked, i.e. to study. He now recalls his folly, "I used to think I am worthless, without any talent or skill and I will never achieve anything in life. I never saw the bigger picture and found all this pointless." He pauses to nod, thinking about that time. "If it wasn't for all the didis and bhaiyas at Akanksha, I wouldn't have known my capabilities."

To fuel his lack of interest, Raju failed his 10th standard board exam thrice. Making is worse was the lack of an educational background in his family, he barely had any support from them. But as they say, 'where there is a will there is a way'. Raju eventually cleared his NIOS exams and joined a degree course in Arts. He says, "This is solely due to my didi. She kept pushing me to go ahead in spite of all my failures. She had immense faith in me and I knew I had to live up to that. I had to do it for her, if not for myself."

When Raju was 16, he was handed the responsibility of managing a wall painting project. He was overwhelmed by the trust bestowed on him, and describes it as the day his life took a U-turn. He realized his calibre.

Raju further talks with a naughty smirk, "When I was introduced to an art program here, I would often run away from class and hide, while my didi would look for me." He gradually started revelling art and now he feels at home in the art class at college.

Raju now dreams of owning a studio where he can exhibit and sell his art. He adds with a smile, "I also want to come back and teach at Akanksha, because I am sure there are mischievous boys like me, whose lives I want to touch."

Page Url :
http://www.unitedwaymumbai.org/ngo43_akanksha.htm

Founded Year: 1991

Cause category: Education

Our Supporters

• Shelly Agarwal
• Anubhav Nanda
• Prashant Tomar
• Nikhil Paruchuri
• Jasem Pirani
• Vikas Agarwal
• Rajagopal P