Pooja, a slumdweller, is a regular student at the classes run by India Sponsorship Committee, an NGO that works for the education of the underprivileged children.

With increasing competition in the outside world, even NGOs working in the field of education for the underprivileged children have started taking measures to be at par with the changing times. One of them has been adding other subjects to their existing curriculum. Thus, besides the regular subjects, under privileged kids are being educated at various levels and introduced into a wider world, to enable a smoother integration into the mainstream.

At India Sponsorship Committee, four new subjects that aim at the overall development of the child are gender sensitisation, personality development, reading skills and environment awareness. Project director Audrey Ferreira said, “These subjects provide additional knowledge and give a wider scope to the child to cope with the world.We have a mobile library for the slumchildren. With subjects like Personality Development and Reading Skills, a child becomes more confident, will be in a position to participate in a discussion.”