SAHAITHA

THE NEW GENERATION TRUST, DELHI

Children playing in the park.

Shanti Colony

The last few months at the Shanti colony centre have been busy. Our three teachers worked closely with the children, helping them prepare for their year-end exams. In February and March 2026, 39 school-going children appeared for their academic final exams and have passed! During exam period, the schools shifted their classes to the afternoon to make space for exams in the morning. This meant that many children who usually attend our afternoon lessons began coming in the mornings instead.

Currently, 50 children come to learn from us, while some others go to two tuition facilities that have newly sprung up in the area. With a rising need for after-school tutoring in the area, our team continues subject-specific support to 38 school going children in English, Maths, Social Science and Science. We also impart non-formal education in the morning to children who do not attend school. We have also been reaching out to families in the community and are identifying new children to enroll with us. 6 new school-going children have thus joined the afternoon classes recently. Between times of study, we play indoor games with the children to give them a break. This helps us to bond with them and understand them better and appreciate their strengths beyond academics.

6 older girls and 3 women enrolled with the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) come regularly to receive tutoring on their subjects, training on computers and participate in our health awareness sessions. It’s encouraging to see how confident they’ve become—they can now set up a computer on their own and work through their assignments online. The training on computers has also helped them become more independent in finding educational resources for themselves online.

Saidulajab  

33 children come for lessons and tutoring, to the Saidulajab centre each afternoon.

Of them, 29 school-going appeared for and passed their year-end exams. They enjoy learning with help of the activity-filled curriculum, and other co-curricular activities. The children are mostly from the North-Indian states of Bihar & Uttar Pradesh, from backgrounds of poverty, and their parents are daily wage labourers. The families live in single room rented houses nearby, with common bathrooms and toilets.

Of the 13 women we current support, 6 join regularly while the others come sometimes. Sadly, a couple of them have been married away or have gone back to their village. We want to reach out to more women and families in the area, and are accordingly planning visits, and a time for the women who used to come to the centre earlier where they can all come for a time of get-together.

Neela* (name changed), 37, is originally from Chhattisgarh, and moved to Delhi with her husband in search of a better life. She has three girls who study in a government school. Neela does domestic work and works very hard to meet ends. She could only complete her education till class 7 before having to drop out to support her family.

In 2023, Neela had come to our centre in a distressed state after her husband remarried, left them and stopped supporting them. We took time to hear and offer counsel those days, as she was very broken and without hope. As she was determined to study, we enrolled her in Class 8 NIOS and she successfully passed! We, then have now enrolled her in Class 10 NIOS and we are helping her to prepare for her exams this coming October.