Challenges

40 percent of the Indian population is under the age of 18. On April 1, 2010, India joined the league of 135 countries that have made education a fundamental right of every child.Implementing the Right to Education and providing education to nearly 500 million people in India is a daunting task. The Art of Living shares this challenge with the government and other agencies in bringing education to the most deserving children and youth in the country. It is estimated that nearly 96% of children start primary education in India. Of those who start, only 72% finish class V, only 57% finish class VIII and barely 37% end up finishing class X.

Some of our challenges include the following:

• Parents do not enroll their children in schools because of various socio-economic factors
• Children drop out after attending school for a while because of domestic pressures
• Student performance decreases with time as they encounter personal, social and economic problems
• Teachers may quit for better opportunities
• Lack of qualified teachers for senior classes Some of our We have found innovative solutions to overcome these challenges. Our risk mitigation strategy involves taking a holistic approach that involves the children, their parents, the community and the teachers.

Strategy

We have a well-defined strategy for our education projects that has been developed and refined with time. This strategy is built on three pillars:

Engaging with the community: Even before the children are taught, their parents and elders have to be sensitized to the importance of education. The Art of Living proactively reaches out to community influencers to ensure that the children stay in school. School teachers are chosen from the community and are trained appropriately to ensure that the bond with the community is strong. This helps to keep the dropout rate low.

Providing free education: The children targeted for these schools come from a background of abject poverty and most of them are first generation learners. The Art of Living aims to provide free and value-based education to children from vulnerable sections while addressing the social, economic and cultural barriers that keep children away from school.

Value-based education: A major focus of our education strategy is to combine formal education with life skills that include building the child’s confidence, leadership, and interpersonal skills and developing spiritual tools through meditation techniques and a foundation of human values. The Art of Living schools nurture a child holistically. Family values are strengthened, and progressive attitudes strengthen social and cultural barriers.