Katha

schools on wheels

It is estimated that Delhi has about 1,00,000 street children, more than any other metropolitan city of India. These are children for whom the street has become home. Forced to fend for themselves, many of these children are trapped into bonded labour under unsafe, often inhuman working conditions, or in illegal activities as drug trafficking or pickpocking.

Knowing such children will not be able to come to school, let alone pay for what they learn, Katha, through its School on Wheels programme, takes learning to them. This is a way of connecting with these children, who live outside of our lives, whom we pass everyday but never come to know. It is giving into their hands the skills, the know-how and therefore the possibility of self-reliance leading to development. It is also the philosophy of Katha Khazana, Katha’s field project in the Govindpuri slums - taking from them and bringing to them…sharing and enriching.

The School on Wheels, with its brightly painted RTV van, carries the Tamasha Roadshow (TRS) from one traffic signal to the next. Filled with fun learning material based on our chubby mascot Tamasha! and her friends, the roadshow attracts children to a learning environment through theatre, songs, dance, puppetry and even computers.

Working ‘with’ these children rather than ‘for’ them, the School on Wheels programme gives information on life issues like sustainable health and environment, education, rights, career options. The aim is to retain the maximum number of children in non-formal education to begin with, and then help them acquire a school-leaving certificate as well as vocational skills for better livelihood options.

In addition to the Katha School on Wheels, our educational outreach programme has also been supporting Satellite Schools run by the community in slum clusters. We provide these schools with creative teaching-learning material and guide them through the process of making education attractive and relevant. The satellite schools have an intrinsic sustainability plan, since the people of the community run and finance the schools and are stakeholders to the programme.

Katha School on Wheels

Achievements at-a-glance:

Total number of children
covered by The Katha
School on Wheels – 2000
(including street children
and satellite schools)
Students shifted to formal
school – 60
Students admitted in
Open School Xth grade – 7
Children given vocational
training – 147
(including fabric painting,
knitting, emboss painting,
crochet and embroidery)
TRS children have participated
and won prizes in inter-school
contests in sports, recitation, art, music, theatre and face painting.

_______________________________________

The Satellite Schools:

Madhanpur Khadar
Modi Mill flyover
Pushta-I & II
Okhla-I, II & III
BSF Camp
Lohar Basti
Prem Nagar
Dhobi Ghat
Babar Lane
Kidwai Nagar Camp
Indira Camp – Sarojini Nagar
Sarojini Nagar Market
Malai Mandir Indira Camp
Sonia Camp – R.K.Puram
Hauzrani
3 sites in Nizamuddin
Bhikaji Cama Place

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Three-Braided Curriculum

Scholastic Training: Formal traditional and non-traditional subject skills.
Academic Diploma - NOS Certification Vocational & Entrepreneurial Training: Management, leadership, and entrepreneurial skills. Katha School of Entrepreneurship Diploma) IT Training (Katha IT & Ecommerce Diploma)
All curriculums including life skills to prepare the child for employment and becoming a productive member of family and society.

Key Frameworks

Teacher training: Intensive training of teachers each year, aided by a Faculty Club programme to maintain excellence.
Honing student excellence: Katha's FINGA Principle finds, initiates, nurtures growth and applauds excellence in our students.
Leveraging reading: Developing taste or RUCHI is at the bottom of Katha's reading initiative. RUCHI increases a child's ability to read, use, comprehend holistically and intuit meaning for greater language power.
L.I.F.E. Skills: Lifelong Learning. Income generation. Family wellbeing. Empowerment
C9 Habits: Lifeskils training that excites children to curiosity, creativity and critical thinking.
TAQeED: Teachers Alliance for Quality eEducation

Support Programs

Katha Student Support Center: Supports Katha children who have transitioned into government schools
Maha-Mandal: Mothers association; parental and community involvement
Women's Income Generation Program: Combination of self-help and formal training to empower women. There are more than 70 women's Self Help Groups which work towards their family's upward mobility.
Shop-Keepers Guild: Several hundred shopkeepers participate in personal and community economic revivals. [The last two groups function only from the Katha Lab School.]

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katha learning system
A powerful tool that has, since 1990, situated the child in the community of carers and brings this community into the curriculum and the school, making learning relevant as well as cooperative..

early childhood education

With 50 community schools that focus on early childhood learning, Katha helps children living in poverty to link formal education with career pathways.

katha lab school
To impact 80% of the urban disadvantaged communities, starting with Delhi,the lab school hones Katha's well-defined recipe that enables children and youth to reach their potential..

professional schools
The Katha School of Entrepreneurship. The Katha Info Tech School. The Social Work Institute help youth get out of poverty..

schools on wheels
1000 street children come into our IT schools on wheels! Since 2001, the Tamasha Roadshows have brought the joy of reading and formal education to urban child workers

katha reading campaign
An exciting and innovative way of bring large numbers of urban children into assured reading skill: The Delhi Government and the Municipal Corporation of Delhi have invited us to work in 300 of their schools.

teacher education
With a 160 hour annual training and regular twice-a-month faculty club meets, Katha's teachers are an excited lot!

the school & poverty alleviation
Kath, since 1990, has been the centre of community action and economic resurgence. Today, the movement thrives in 71 slum and street communities.

research
This year's focus is on early childhood education. And equitable education for our youth.

katha translation for equity network

There are 100 million youth in our country, stymied by lack of English and hence unable to perform well in college. K.TEN addresses this obdurate problem.