Childrens Charity, India
The education programme provides extra tuition for children between 3 to 16 years, who face difficulties in English, Hindi and mathematics. Academic research in India has shown that children drop-out of school or are unable to complete primary or secondary schooling due to weak basic knowledge in core subjects. OSCAR provides coaching in these subjects, ensuring children gain the maximum benefits from their education and can continue their studies as long as possible. Each extra year in school increases an individual’s earnings by up to 10% (UNESCO ‘Education Counts’ 2011) and a study by the World Bank calculates that in India continuing on to tertiary education provides an average 21% increase in earnings, with the increase for girls being even more marked than that for boys. To date, 80% of OSCAR beneficiaries have transitioned to the next class and gained the confidence and ambition to complete their education
OSCAR is continually looking to develop and improve the quality of the curriculums we deliver on the field and in our education centres. As we look to increase the capacity of our education programme, with UEFA funding we aim to develop new solutions to enable us to scale up our provision, while keeping the quality of teaching.
Our physical spaces have a limited teaching capacity, with only a little room for expansion within the communities. Therefore, in the new digital learning centres we aim to introduce an online education platform, which can be accessed through mobile devices. This will allow our young people access to a learning resource that can be used with peers, siblings or parents.
Interactive learning is very popular and being connected to the world raises aspirations. We aim to use technology to reach more disadvantaged young people and plug gaps in traditional government education systems. The use of technology means we will be less dependent on certified teachers. We are focussed on developing powerful local hotspot in classrooms without internet. We have reviewed the Prodigy Maths and British Council English skills platforms, and recently started an online learning programme with 2 pilot groups of 20 students. We are already getting encouraging progress reports, with children eager to spend their free time in the digital learning centres and even during school vacations.
OSCAR runs several computer centres, which provide children with the opportunity to learn basic computer skills and use computers to aid their understanding of topics such as spelling, maths and languages. OSCAR also provides more advanced IT courses for teenage participants leading to certification from leading Indian computer institute NIIT.
This project provides assistance for those students whose parents are from economically low backgrounds who may not be able to fund their education at a higher level (10th, 12th and for graduation) These students show the desire and passion to study and OSCAR helps them fulfil this dream.
Often low-income communities in India lack the space or the utilities required to live and enjoy a healthy childhood. The Toy Centre not only provides a clean and safe environment for children under six years of age to learn, play, and grow, but also offers nutritional support. Having a Toy Centre also helps us in early intervention by forming a close bond with the parents so that we can support them in securing school admission when their child reaches the right age and ensure that they prosper in their future educational path.
The Toy Centre enables older siblings to attend school and mothers an alternative to taking toddlers to the Sassoon Dock fish market, where the majority of OSCAR mothers work.
An exciting new education programme is coming soon.
