Vidya Integrated Development for Youth and Adults
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Mission Statement
To optimize the potential of children, youth and women by providing holistic education through schools, collaborations and community programs.
About This Cause
An excommunicated widow who is now a successful business owner. A dropout youth who became a high scorer and a proud graduate. A 9-year old girl who persuaded her abusive, alcoholic father to go into rehab. A girl in our eighth grade class who dreams of going back to her home town and changing it from the ground up. A 10th standard girl who scored a perfect 10.0 CGPA. VIDYA makes stories like this happen. We're a 36-years old NGO based in India that believes in social change through empowering the most vulnerable members of underprivileged communities: the women, youth, and children. We create peerless programs with our approach of holistic, practical education and vocational training. Join us, donate or just spread the word. Today, VIDYA serves 12000 children, 5000 youth, and 2500 women all over the country. Our focus: schools and skills. We aim to ensure employability and self sufficiency for each individual. We address literacy as multi-faceted– encompassing academics, vocations, mental and physical health, life skills, awareness, and values. All our programs country-wide implement spoken English training and digital literacy. We want to see an India where every child gets a quality education, every youth an opportunity to succeed, and every woman achieves economic and social independence. We operate out of nearly 40 schools all over the country, which includes our own schools, public-private partnership schools, government school initiatives, and remedial education. Our flagship project is our very own VIDYA School Gurugram, an award-winning CBSE-accredited center for learning. The model has been so successful that we’re currently replicating it in Bangalore and Mumbai. Our Values Excellence Every Day We believe in going above and beyond what’s expected by taking ownership of the task and seeing it through till the end People Matter We believe in people and their power to create change Act with integrity We believe in doing the right thing under all circumstances Think Forward We strive to recognize and act on every opportunity for progress, self-improvement and inclusion. We need to use our power of anticipation to start creating a positive future which will transform lives. Global citizenship We believe we are citizens of the world, and everything we do is driven by a desire to see betterment for humanity At VIDYA, we aim to achieve holistic empowerment and transformation, in which our beneficiaries benefit from a variety of programs and initiatives. VIDYA's core pillars and how we are working towards them are listed below. Education VIDYA’s central mandate is education. We believe that less-privileged students should have access to the same education available at the country's best schools. Our aim is to help lift children, youth, and women out of poverty and integrate them into the greater Indian society through the procurement of education and life skills. VIDYA is accomplishing this goal by providing increased access to state-of-the-art school infrastructure, supplies, uniforms, and meals for low costs. Moreover, our Beyond School Program offers an alternate way of learning, both inside and outside the traditional school setting. Our VIDYA School in Gurugram a state-of-the-art English medium school that houses classrooms, labs, computers, library and sports grounds on 5 acres of land, with a built up area of 76,000 square feet. It was CBSE-certified upto Class XII in 2015, and the quality of its education and facilities are on par with some of the best public schools in the city. This year, we won the British Council International School Award! It has recently been replicated in Banagalore which will soon be a success as well. We know that learning shouldn't be limited to classrooms and thus we offer life skill courses to youth and women. In these programs, youth and women can learn vocational skills that increase their employability. Locally-specific training programs allow women to be trained in the subjects which are important for their success in their own communities. Youth can gain confidence and knowledge through our other courses such as computer literacy, life skills, and spoken English. VIDYA partners with government schools to ensure that the best education can be achieved in any school, regardless of private or government funding. Pan-India presence has reached and positively impacted over 220 000 families in just 33 years! Women’s Empowerment VIDYA continues to focus on the empowerment of women and the girl-child. Empowerment is the process of becoming stronger and more confident, and gaining the ability to control one's life and claiming one's rights. When one is empowered, she may have more autonomy, self-regulation, and independence - both financial and personal. We believe that empowerment is important because the mother or the girl-child is often the main caregiver of their family, but also the most affected by their underprivileged circumstance. By empowering females, VIDYA is empowering the communities in which they live. Education begins at home. We at VIDYA recognize that empowerment should not be limited to the classroom. We offer certified courses catered to women, such as driving, life skills, spoken English, IT skills, sewing, entrepreneurship, and cooking. These classes can facilitate employability, thus enabling economic independence for women. VIDYA’s female empowerment programs also focus on generating awareness programs for communities wherein women’s issues, child care, general knowledge, and counselling services are at the forefront. Independent women serve as role models to their children and communities and can encourage healthy attitudes towards gender issues. Health VIDYA’s other major focus this year is on health. In order for our beneficiaries to be able to take full advantage of the programs offered at VIDYA, each child, youth, and woman must be healthy in mind and in body. If one is unhealthy, they may be unable to be fully engaged in learning, empowerment, and transformation. Counselling services are offered to women who have been victims of abuse or other injustices. They provide a safe space to discuss and tackle many mental health issues. A key facet of these sessions is the non-judgmental nature of the service, which in turn helps abolish the stigma surrounding mental health problems. The MiTR mentoring programme is available to students twice weekly. Students are matched with a community mentor who can help students in a variety of ways. The student meets with their mentor, a VIDYA volunteer, to discuss issues they would not otherwise feel comfortable discussing with another adult. The MiTR programme provides a judgement-free zone for children and youth to discuss issues they are facing and how to address them. Along with mental health, physical health is very important. VIDYA programs are promoting healthy lifestyles by active extracurriculars, teaching healthy cooking, providing nutritious meals in schools, and providing clothing via school uniforms. With future funding, we will provide enhanced health programs. These will include preventative health programs, check-ups, and reproductive health lessons. Environmental Consciousness Currently, VIDYA’s environmental projects include community and kitchen gardens. Gardens provide both clean air via oxygen production, and ensure that our beneficiaries have access to clean, fresh produce. When students take care of our gardens, they gain a sense of environmental responsibility. VIDYA volunteers have initiated an Eco-Club at the school VIDYA School Gurgaon. The Eco-Club teaches interested children and youth about sustainable environmental practices, and how they can contribute to ensuring they have healthy environmental practices in their everyday lives. Digital Literacy Technology plays an important role across many of VIDYA’s initiatives. VIDYA is focused on preparing our students to integrate into our increasingly technology-oriented society and workforce. Our education system must adapt as well, to ensure that students receive high-quality education which is compatible with a computer-savvy world. VIDYA ensures this is achievable by teaching computer literacy to youth and women in order to increase their employability. We offer a variety of academic and extracurricular programs across India focused on technology. Our programs offered include: Computer basics and Computer literacy Robotics and computer labs Supervised internet access Community Development VIDYA has also established sustainable community development programs across India. These programs intend to empower entire families and villages to become self-sufficient. Our community programs cater to children, youth and women in various ways: from remedial education through NIOS, to arts and culture, to vocational training and awareness initiatives and camps. As with all our programs across India, we place a great focus on training English proficiency, life skills and essential IT skills. The community development projects ensure a holistic education and transformation of the villages which we work in.