Approach

We at DSF, work towards making the right to quality education and a happy childhood with overall development, a reality for the child. We advocate for qualitative and equitable education for our children in a sustained manner. Our School Development Programmes help with holistic development of government primary schools while our initiative - HeadStart, addresses and assists a smooth transition from primary to secondary stages of education and strives to ensure continuity till the 10th grade for the vulnerable and less privileged children.

The challenge before us now is to create leaders from the underprivileged section be it in the field of business, education, management, trade, commerce or allied services. This can be possible through supporting the students economically and raise their aspirations and capacities through intensive mentoring, coaching and facilitation process from the school level itself. The aim is to make them eligible for admissions in the topnotch colleges and institutions for higher studies. These initiatives will pave the way for creating the leadership at the beginning of their career and subsequently transform them in to greater heights in their field of operations.

Situation Analysis

The future of India depends upon the quality of education imparted to our children. There are about 45,000 Government Primary Schools and 3,029 Government High Schools in the state of Karnataka. Though the Government has initiated several programmes to ensure quality education free of cost, the schools in the villages and even the cities are crippled with poor infrastructural facilities, poor supply of Mid-day meals, inadequate teachers and neglect of quality in teaching. We believe the onus of change lies primarily with the Govt. but we realize that given the current scenario demands intervention by concerned citizen groups to make a significant positive impact on the system.

Universalisation of Elementary Education and subsequent effort by the Government, NGOs, bilateral agencies and all other stakeholders have brought notable success in bringing children to schools. This has opened a plethora of problems like quality and equity issues which need to be addressed. While addressing these issues the most unpleasant reality is the high dropout ratio of children after their higher primary stages. While the elementary education is almost free in the schools run by Government, the story is different when it comes to secondary education. So bringing the children to schools is only a part of the battle, while ensuring continuity of their education is the real challenge.

Key Distinctions