Money: Sponsorship for a girl child studying in classes I to VII costs Rs1,800 per month, and for a girl child studying in classes VII-X, Rs2,000 per month. The sponsorship money is used for material support, including stationery, books, uniforms, shoes and academic support beyond school hours.
Time: Nanhi Kali is a sponsorship project for underprivileged girls and works with 25 NGO implementation partners at the grass-root level, hence there is no scope for direct volunteer participation.
Contact: ‘www.nanhikali.org’ or call at 022-22021031
Jamghat, Delhi
Money: Donors can pay for the educational and vocational training of children, their food, the rent for their Lado Sarai shelter or the day-care centre near Jama Masjid.
Time: People can help with documentation, or website maintenance. They can teach the kids or work with the street theatre programme. Jamghat is planning 10 performances in New Delhi starting 31 October.
Contact: Email at jamghat@gmail.com or call 09818705715
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Pranab Kanya Sangha, Kolkata
www.pranabkanyaschool.org
Situated in Madhyamgram, on the fringes of Kolkata, the Pranab Kanya Sangha (PKS) serves as an orphanage, school and crèche, all rolled into one, for about 70 girls, aged 6-18. Many girls here have been abandoned by families, while others have been entrusted to the Sangha by parents too poor to take care of them. The girls are engaged in academic and vocational pursuits within the institute’s lush green campus, where they live, study and play together. “I love my friends and would like to stay here as long as I can. I have a lot of toys to play with here,” says four-year-old Chandana Hemrom, who has just started going to playschool. Too poor to take care of her, her parents sent her to the institute.
An in-house primary school has 400 students from the institute as well as outside it and the Sangha administration arranges for the resident girls’ higher education. Some of them leave early to get married, while others pursue their studies or take vocational training to learn skills such as tailoring.
Taking a break: Enjoying a game of kabbadi between classes. Ayan Laha / Mint
When we arrive at the institute, 15-year-old Suparna Sardar and her friends are in the middle of a game of
kabaddi, assembled in neat rows on either side of an imaginary line, going after their rivals with gusto.
To break the ice, I decide to organize a small general knowledge quiz for the girls. The alacrity with which hands go up to answer the questions is overwhelming. A right answer by one is greeted with a loud round of clapping by her mates, while a wrong one is booed.
“Through every activity, we try to inculcate a sense of togetherness and responsibility towards society in these children,” says Sanyasini Paramanandamayee, secretary of the Sangha and popularly called Sanyasi Didi.
Pranab Kanya Sangha began with a handful of children in 1971 under the patronage of the Bharat Sevashrama Sangha—a non-profit charitable organization reaching out to the underprivileged around the world. It has now branched out into various areas of West Bengal, the Andamans, Haryana, Maharashtra and Orissa, and is home to around 260 girls, also providing education and crèche facilities to many others.