My experience in a blind school, a Teach for India fellow, and now 11 years of work has made me witness the layered complexity of educational inequity.
At 23 years, I became a School Principal, where I met some children who didn’t enrol in schools or left midway.
In 2018, I worked in Haryana with 2000 children of migrant workers. The project shattered due to COVID-19 which led me to start LIFI.
Our Fellowship mentors Youth Teacher Leaders (YTLs) to advocate at three levels addressing the root causes that deter children to access education:
1. Teaching the children daily to boost their morale, knowledge and skills to bridge their academic gap.
2. Engaging with the community to help them invest in their children’s education. They work with Government schools for staff capacity building, driving enrolments and retention, conducting remedial programs, and parent engagement by activating the school management committees.
3. Advocating for effective implementation of the existing education policies. Example - We are partnering with Government of India's flagship programme for achievement of Universalization of Elementary Education.
Since 2020, we have worked with 1000 children, 24 YTLs in partnerships with 3 non-profits. 85% of them have gone back to school with regular attendance. We are growing with collaborations with 2 state governments and 3 non-profits.
Since 2020, we have worked with 1000 children, 24 youth in partnership with 3 non-profits. 85% of them have gone back to school with regular attendance. We are growing with collaborations with 2 state governments and 3 non-profits. We saw a 56% and 52% increment in language and numeracy learning outcomes, respectively indicating a two grade level growth in the children.
By 2025, our aim is to reach 5,000 children and ensure that 90% of them are in schools and retained within them with an average one grade level growth in their learning outcomes each year. This will happen through a collective of 200 youth and 5 partner organisations. We will partner with two state Governments to strengthen the existing initiatives for children who are pushed out of the education system.
It’s simple - partner with us on a cost-sharing basis and become a part of the collective with LeAD UR India Fellowship. You need to contact - Gayatree Dey who is the Co-Founder and manages all partnerships.
We also become technical partners to build academic curriculum and facilitate trainings catering to teaching, learning and leadership. One can partner with us in that capacity too.
