Breaking Barriers: Overcoming Challenges in Education with Pehchaan The Street School

Breaking Barriers: Overcoming Challenges in Education with Pehchaan The Street School

Every human has a right to education but for the many around the world, this has proved to be an uphill task due to one reason as another. It therefore means that those barriers are not only physical but also psychological, social, and even financial. Solving such issues can only be addressed through a combined effort of government and non-governmental organizations and such one is Pehchaan The Street School, an NGO which has played a significant role in eradicating these barriers in India.

The Global Landscape of Educational Challenges

The education systems all over the world experience a number of challenges. Academic education is however faced with challenges such as poverty, gender bias, and conflict in many certain regions. The source to this is UNESCO, which estimated that in the year 2019, close to 250 million children and youth were out of school. It also shows how major the problem is and points to the fact that efforts have to be made to ensure closing of the gap in learning.

Poverty is among the biggest hindrances to education, and they all stem from economic differentiation. Due to the basic needs of the family, most of the underprivileged families are forced to drop out of school hence high dropout rates in low-income countries. It is also important to note that certain cultural practices including gender roles across cultures also contribute to the lack of education most especially to girls. Children in war-affected areas have no right to education organizations and schools are either bombed or turned into barracks leaving young generations hopeless.

The Indian Context: A Closer Look

India being one of the largest populated countries in the globe and culturally diverse face several problems in education. Although the literacy rates in the country have considerably improved, there is still considerable part of the population which remains illiterate. Some of the challenges that impede qualified underprivileged communities’ access to education include; economic challenges, cultural barriers, and geographical alienation.

Some of the governmental intervention like the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE), Act 2009 sought at making education free and compulsory for every child between the ages of 6-14 years. However, there has been a challenge in implementing the policies due to the large population of people with disabilities and thus many are not benefiting. This is where independent and non-governmental organizations such as the Pehchaan The Street School come in handy in filling in for the government by providing for that missing link.

The Indian Context: A Closer Look

India being one of the largest populated countries in the globe and culturally diverse face several problems in education. Although the literacy rates in the country have considerably improved, there is still considerable part of the population which remains illiterate. Some of the challenges that impede qualified underprivileged communities’ access to education include; economic challenges, cultural barriers, and geographical alienation.

Some of the governmental intervention like the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE), Act 2009 sought at making education free and compulsory for every child between the ages of 6-14 years. However, there has been a challenge in implementing the policies due to the large population of people with disabilities and thus many are not benefiting. This is where independent and non-governmental organizations such as the Pehchaan The Street School come in handy in filling in for the government by providing for that missing link.

Pehchaan The Street School: A Beacon of Hope

Pehchaan The Street School was founded in 2015 with an aim & objective to fulfil the educational need of underprivileged children who have no opportunity to go to school. This was a mere social project with five volunteers and ten children it has become a full-fledged campaign which has nine centres and helps more than fifteen hundred children.

The NGO subscribes to an engagement model that is founded particularly on the negative perception of education as a process that goes hand in hand with educing people to the state of poverty. Pehchaan The Street School is under the belief that every child no matter his or her status, loot and background should be given the chance to learn and develop in a healthy and safe manner.

Overcoming Socio-Economic Barriers

Another problem found among low-income groups is the issue of expensive schooling for everyone in the group. These include although government schools offer education free of charge there are other costs like uniforms, books, and transport beyond the reach of most families. Pehchaan The Street School helps overcome such a problem as the absence of money for education and materials by offering classes for free.

However, it does not only limits to academics; the NGO is also enhancing. Understanding that education is a multidimensional process, Pehchaan The Street School also has programs of vocational education and training in order to equip students with vocational skills necessary to work in future. It also serves two mutual goals of helping the students gain improved learning experience of the course and at the same time be able to provide family and community economic contribution.

Bridging the Gender Gap

Gender Inequality is prevalent even in education in various parts of India. Education especially for the girl child is a challenge due to cultural barriers, especially within rural settings. The Purdah system which restricts young girl’s movement Coverture, early marriages, lack of safe means of transport to school and many other issues are setbacks that hinder girls from going to school.

Pehchaan The Street School has been striving hard in achieving this goal of providing conducive environment for the girl child to go to school. The NGO has put in measures geared towards ensuring that parents send their girls to school which include sensitization and going to the community with a crusade. The current level of enrolment of girls in Pehchaan The Street School has shown a positive reaction to the organisation’s effort to relate with society and work out corrective measures for gender inequality.

Tackling Geographic Isolation

It has been found that in most of the rural regions, the problem of availability of school is a major challenge. This is so because children in such villages have to walk several kilometers to get to school, an exercise that may be so tiring not to mention the danger of crossing through the stickly woods, especially for the girls. This geographic isolation is one of the main causes of large schools drop-out rates in rural school zones in India.

But Pehchaan The Street School has come up with this challenge by having centers in areas that education is hard to come by. These centers are located to be easily accessible on foot by children and thus are very safe and convenient for children. Also, the NGO has implemented mobile learning units, which, can visit even farther zones and deliver the information straight to the people.

Addressing the Digital Divide

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the problem of a digital divide. When the COVID outbreak struck and schools moved online, the realization set in for many that a large part of the population is unprepared for this kind of schooling because they didn’t have the proper technology or internet connection. This digital divide made education inequalities even worse for children from less privileged backgrounds.

This new reality was quickly introduced to Pehchaan The Street School wherein a blend of conventional and new digital instruments was used in the course. The NGO delivered gadgets and mobile Internet to students and made sure that they could continue their education. Besides, they involved the students and parents in digital literacy drills for students and parents in an effort to effectively handle the new learning modality.

Community Engagement: A Cornerstone of Success

Pehchaan The Street School has one unique feature for which its functioning can be considered successful – the focus on the practice of work with the community. Therefore, the NGO acknowledges the fact that education cannot be conducted in isolation from the community hence the need to involve the community in order to foster sustainable practice.

Pehchaan The Street School has strong relations with the street communities thus enabling the identification of their needs and obstacles. This model of operation enables the NGO to deliver programs targeted at solving problems likely to be encountered within respective communities. Furthermore, the target beneficiaries of Pehchaan The Street School are parents, community leaders, and students, and by empowering those parents and community leaders in particular by teaching them along with children, responsibility is created for the whole community, to ensure that all benefits from education.

?

Challenges and the Road Ahead

So, the dream of Pehchaan The Street School may have come long way toward changing perception of street children, but the fight goes on. The challenges are immense and it is, yet, to come across with some hurdles on the part of NGO to impart education to needy children. The funding is one of the ongoing issues since there is always pressure to look for more sustainable sources of funding. Pehchaan The Street School being an organisation we need substantial amount of donations and grants to support the current running of the organisation. In fact, it is important to maintain a ‘pipeline’ of resources to sustain its programmes and initiatives in the future. One is the huge potential in terms of growing the capacity of the organization to have an even bigger impact on thousands of affected communities. However, despite such achievements being registered, there exist areas up to date that children have little or no access to education through the NGO. Branching to these areas need capital but above all it needs volunteers and tutors. Nevertheless, Pehchaan The Street School will continue with its objectives. The NGO remains very responsive to the many challenges present in the communities and constantly modifies its programs as a result. Regardless of the programs carried out through the use of Information Technology, educational vocation or community involvement, Pehchaan The Street School is very much engaged in looking for new ways to guarantee every child the chance of learning.

Conclusion: A Collective Responsibility

Education is an effective agent of social transformation and thus eliminating the hitches that hinder its attainment is a responsibility of everyone. It is suggested that governments, non-governmental organizations, communities, and individuals have a great part in making such a vision come true that each child gets a chance to experience quality education. The show Pehchaan The Street School holds splendid example of how one can conquer odds of education with the help of ground level work. As the NGO has focused on the underprivileged communities, it has educated thousands of children and in turn helped them to fight against poverty. Speaking of the future, society had to go on offering the same support to similar initiatives as it has done so far. Only by constant, combined endeavours it is possible to make right to education truly operational to enfranchise each and every individual regardless the status and origin of the family and the location of the place. In its objective of removing all obstacles Pehchaan The Street School aptly serves as an illustration of what such common purpose can accomplish in the present for better prospects in the future.

?

Help Pehchaan The Street School to work fluently without any barrier

?

Website --> https://pehchaanstreetschool.org/

YouTube --> https://youtube.com/@pehchaanthestreetschool?si=YdtEKndiNlXrmCbB

Facebook --> facebook.com/PehchaanTheStreetSchoolDelhiChapter

Twitter --> twitter.com/Pehchaan_School

LinkedIn --> linkedin.com/company/pehchaan-the-street-school-trust

Instagram --> instagram.com/pehchaanstreetschool