India has over 350 million children. This huge school-aged population is low-income primarily, scattered across vast urban-rural divides. In Goa there is an immediate need for basic education, the cornerstone of every society.
Anu (name changed), a 12-year-old girl from Bihar, aspires to be a teacher. Along with her parents, she migrated to Goa for a better future. Currently, she lives in a tarpaulin room in the Dholak slums of Margao. The place has no access to proper hygiene. Anu (name changed) was enrolled in non-formal classes for a year. She was very happy about this but soon her classes were stopped by her parents so that she could instead take care of the house chores. Soon, her dream of building a better life and becoming a teacher faded away. Our outreach team tried to convince her parents to send Anu (name changed) back to school. 

Anu (name changed) is now not only attending her school regularly but has also answered her final exams and shown great progress in her studies. She is inspiring other children in her locality to get educated. Children from all corners of the world deserve a quality education. By not providing them with this, we effectively entrench poverty even further for them. Children should at least possess the ability to read and write and, eventually, obtain the power to break the poverty cycle. 

With our help, like Anu (name changed), a few more girls from Margao have rejoined our school program and are learning well. Like Anu, many children are forced to drop out of school during school breaks and discontinue their education. Some are kept from school to do housework or are married off young. This prolonged gap in schooling leads to the loss of learning opportunities and many important life skills for children. If not addressed on time, this learning crisis can lead to children dropping out of school permanently putting their bright futures at stake. 

To address this issue, El Shaddai has continued with a school program that is helping children across many cities to reconnect to their education and giving them the necessary confidence to go back to school.

WE URGENTLY NEED YOUR HELP

Your support to help a child go back to school at this critical time will give Goa’s children a
chance to chase their dreams.