Ongoing Projects in Suryaprakash Nagari Slum

Adarsh Balwadi

Adarsh Balwadi, a nursery school in Suryaprakash nagari slums in Kharadi, is run by the CESD, Pune. It is situated in a poor densely populated neighborhood near Kharadi village. The balwadi imparts education to 35 young children between the ages of three to five years from the local community. These children are at risk for child labour and the center help to direct them towards education. The inhabitants are very poor, illiterate and superstitious comprising mostly of Wadari community (People working in stone Quarry).

The school aims to spread education, health and awareness among the community, the core goal being to prepare the students for formal education. It also provides daily nutritional snacks, instruction on hygiene, recreation and extra-curricular activities.

As a part of this project CESD will be providing support for teacher training.

Drop out Children Care

There are about 83 children, who have not yet seen a formal school. These children are taking education under the "Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan Project" run by the Sir Syed Ahmed Khan Foundation.

Health and Awareness Programmes
Health care and Awareness generation is an integral part of the community programmes. We endeavour to teach women basic hygiene and family planning, childcare and nutrition while providing them with medical check-ups and consultation. Ongoing awareness programmes are aimed at bringing about a change in the attitude. Rotary Club of Pune Nagar Road organized health checkup camps for the children.

We provide primary health care (including ante and postnatal care) to the community. All medicines are provided free. Patients in need of further treatment are referred to the nearest Government hospital.

Study Centre: After School Tutorial Programme:

This is an after-school tutorial program for poor children in Suryaprakash Nagri slum. It is designed to improve their performance in school, encourage them to participate in overall improvement, improve self confidence, discourage dropouts, improve awareness on sanitation and environment, encourage extracurricular activities, motivate children to keep up with current affairs, educate parents in social economic and health; and cultivate a spirit of national integration.

Also we propose to increase the awareness in this slum towards basic Sanitation and Hygiene. CESD also hopes to increase awareness about income generating skills.

Skills Training

The first steps to empowerment are not always through literacy. Giving underprivileged women vocation-oriented skills often achieve this task faster. Skill enhancement is often used as the first step to draw underprivileged women into other programmes.

At Samarthnagar in Kharadi, stitching and beauty courses are conducted for women of the community. At the end of the three or six month course, students are tested and awarded certificates by CESD. At the end of these courses the women are encouraged to join the production centre and/or the micro-credit programme, to enable them to take their skills further.

In response to strong local demand for English teaching we have been able to start a regular English teaching programme at the centre. Indeed the success was such that it was expanded to children as well. This programme depends entirely on volunteers donating their time for English teaching.