The 155 children of Angalakuppam are supported through Sharana’s Collective Sponsorship program. This program provides children with the emotional and financial support they need to remain in and prosper in their education. Most of the children are first generation school-goers and have at least one alcoholic member in the house often the cause of several social and family problems.
Sharana has been working in Angalakuppam since 2001. This village was chosen because of its location, the precariousness of the inhabitants’ vocations, the low level of education, and most importantly, the lack of facilities and basic services. No NGO works in this village apart from Sharana.
Sharana has been working with the women of the village for the past 16 years and have run series of successful microcredit programs- we have also an active creche and dispensary program in the village; these activities have helped greatly in increasing the financial understanding and improving the socio-economic situation of women of the village in their households; we are proud to state that today most families in the village are in a better economic situation that 16 years ago. Also, on a positive note the government has also improved greatly the infrastructure and facilities in the schools. These two points coupled together allowed Sharana to start reducing our material support towards the families; uniforms and bags are being bought by the families themselves and a lot of the material is sometimes provided by the schools themselves.
Sharana’s support in the children’s education is now more of that of quality than material distrubution, that of value addition through various programs such as art activities, awareness through sports and games and the recent opening of an evening homework help centre at the Angalakuppam community centre.
We had received news that many children were struggling to complete their homework and follow fully what was taught at school; and while some were able to join paid homework help centres in the neighbouring villages- there was always a risk of eve-teasing and bullying when the students came back home. There were also others that were not able to join such classes for economic reasons. For the past several years, the children and parents have been requesting Sharana to set up a homework help centre at the Angalakuppam.
This idea finally took shape and we started the homework help centre with two teachers and two caretakers on Monday the 5th of March. Over 60 children marched the community centre and completed their homework with the help of the teachers and enjoyed a warm cup of boiled lentils.
Sharana is proud to announce this new program activity in Angalakuppam-we are confident it will help children perform better at school and be more confident and happy children.
