However the Non-Profit Samartha Bharat Vsaaspeeth has put this to practice and opened a one of its kind ‘Signal School’.

The Signal School focuses on children that come from below poverty line families who are often denied the basic right to food and shelter; or in other words survival. Some are trafficked or even forced by their own families to sell wares or work odd jobs at traffic signals in order to earn two bare meals a day.

The Signal School was opened in June 2016 under a flyover bridge on a busy traffic signal on a highway near Mumbai. The signal has many children of different age groups that sell toys, small devices, seasonal decorations or even beg for food or money. The location is well thought out considering the number of children one can spot at this signal.

The Signal School started with gathering the children from the signal into a make-shift school and providing them means for education. Through patient persistence, they have grown from 17 to 30 children and offer not only education but books and meals which prevent the children from being sucked back into begging and selling wares.

To know more about this heart warming initiative take a look at their website: http://signalshala.in/

Indeed where there is a will, there is a way – a way to identify where help is needed, a way to create opportunity, a way to give children the Hope of a future that their families want to give them but were constrained because – survival is not that simple for everyone.

While Basant in India is celebrated around mid-February to mid-April, here in Madison it adorns even greater meaning after about 4 months of bitter cold!

Asha for Education’s Madison Chapter welcomed the oncoming season of Spring in mid-March through a beautiful collection of music and dance performances. The event was organized as a fund raiser to support 2 projects that the Madison Chapter has been processing. Renowned local artists as well as upcoming talented artists participated and donated their time and talent to make the event a huge success.

The 2 projects in review are: Nirmaan and CHIP

Nirmaan, is an Non-profit Organization that focuses on providing career guidance, soft skills and vocational training and working opportunities to youths from economically challenged families and school drop–outs. Nirmaan reaches out and places such students in a comprehensive training and guidance program that assesses their skill levels and trains them till they can finally find employment. Their Vidya Helpline initiative provides student facilities to enroll in schools, find funding aid, enroll in training program and land employment. Nirmaan thus strives to complete the full circle of education to employment for students that it works with.  Nirmaan has been approved and funded through the Chapter’s reserves.

CHIP, which stands for Children in Progress, India which focuses on working with public schools to enhance their teaching methodology. State-run schools in India focus on supporting children from economically challenged families with an average income of 60 to 70 dollars per month! The schools suffer from lack of facilities like toilets, libraries and availability of labs. The kids are interested in learning but lack of facilities affect their motor skills, social interaction skills as well as fundamental understanding of concepts. This in turn leads to early school drop outs. CHIP India focuses on providing teaching aids to these schools to help with basic skills for children under 3-5 years of age and fundamental training for kids 6-10 years of age. In addition, they provide employment to women in the neighborhood as co-teachers and also encourages them to complete certified courses for better opportunities. CHIP is still in need of $5000 to achieve their goals for this year.

Through Basant Utsav, the Madison Chapter raised a little over 20% of their goal to support CHIP. The total amount of $1200 raised was the highest in the last 3.5 years of Madison Chapter’s successes!

With the support of the generous Madison community and one successful event under our belts, we are now aiming for higher goals this year. The team extends their heartfelt gratitude to all the sponsors, patrons, donors, performers and volunteers who made this success possible.

Seen a talented kid working odd jobs because they cannot afford a school?

Seen a child forced to work because the family needs additional hands at work?

Looked at children on traffic signals and wondered why they are not in school?

Come across a bright child who has the potential but not the means to make it big?

Asha’s Madison Chapter  presented a short yet succinct skit during the UW Madison’s Diwali Night celebration of 2017 – ‘Different Strokes’. A skit aimed at sensitizing people to the realities of daily lives which we often miss. A skit that brought out the different abilities of children with different privileges or lack there of.

‘Different Strokes’ was a story of one such child which you may have seen in every house hold – the hard working, simple yet a brilliant child of Ramu Kaka who has the spark to make it big but is content with his small world. A child who can shine if given a chance but is confined to chores in the house because his family cannot afford to send him to school.

The story portrayed a content family child Gul and Ramu Kaka’s son Ravi. It outlined the differences in how both kids had different means in life and how they could advance their little world of maths and geography through mutual dialogue and helping each other. Inspite of the differences in their situations, the sparks they carry may give them a chance to make it big in life – but does everyone get a chance to walk the path to success?

If you answered yes to any questions above or Ravi reminded you of a similar child or if you have known about situations like these and wanted to do something, join Asha’s effort to bring hope to the lives of children through education and means that will help them survive and hopefully walk on a path of better lives.

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Means for education – Basic and Advanced

Asha team playing various characters LtoR: Mom, Gul, Ravi, Ramu Kaka