Who We Are

WHO WE ARE

“Sparsha” means “touch” in many Indian languages.
Sparsha Charitable Trust is a non-profit organization based in Sion, Mumbai, and aims to touch the nearby underprivileged communities providing access to basic human needs and help them to achieve better and sustainable living circumstances.

Our Challenge

Each year, over 6 million talented students from poor backgrounds either drop out of

education or attend sub-standard institutes. The exclusion of these children from the formal

education system prevents them from participating in India’s economic growth and

contributes to India’s widening socio-economic divide.

 

India’s public school system; where large class sizes, untrained teachers, lack of career guidance and chronic staff shortages are the reason that students are poorly prepared for further studies. The parents of these children are themselves illiterate or semi-literate, therefore, they fail to give learning support to their children.

 

Even today, many parents from marginalized communities do not believe in education and prefer their children to work and support the family financially.

 

Through our base-line studies in various slum pockets, Sparsha has realized that deprecation

of access to quality education is the main reason for significant number of children dropping

out of school in slums of Suburban Mumbai. Presently, in the operational area (7 areas in 3

Wards of Suburban Mumbai) the quality of infrastructure, services provided in the school,

attitude of the management against the slum children is an area of grave concern.

All these factors have contributed in demotivating parents and children from school

enrolment and retention in schools.

 

SPARSHA believes that - If children (in the age group 6 -18) have access to safe and a

supportive environment, opportunities for education, then this will lead to an increase in their

overall development, exposure to various life situations, pace of learning, eventually resulting

in unfolding of their potential. Thus, a change in public (Community and systems) perception

which in turn will drive the eradication of Child Labour, literate society and other social evils

 

exploiting them.

 

The Problem

a) India’s public school system; where large class sizes, untrained teachers, lack of career guidance and chronic staff shortages are the reason that students are poorly prepared for further studies.

b) The parents of children from poor backgrounds do not have an education themselves therefore they cannot give learning support to the children.

c) Most parents of poor backgrounds do not believe in education and/or they prefer their children to work and support the family living by earning money at an early age.

d) The parents do not know how to open saving accounts to save money to support their children in education. They also do not know about the legal requirements for the children in order to obtain holistic education.

Our Solution

Sparsha´s approach is to work together with parents and children of different poor communities in the area of Sion in order to achieve their goals together.

Sparsha understands the need to support the parents as well as the children through their programmes.

The parents are the role models and in charge of the early childhood of their children. It is important to reach out to the parents to ensure the children´s education and continuous attendance at school.

What does Sparsha do?

Parent Counselling Programme

Provide counselling to parents for them to understand the importance that their children require education. Assist them and their children to get enrolled in school or distance learning.

Reason:

Parents are every child´s role model and children follow parents, they therefore are a crucial influence for every child´s future.

Methods:

Home Visits Parent Workshops Meetings

Community Outreach Programme

Provide support to community members with bureaucratic formalities, such as birth certificates, insurance, caste certificates, residential certificates, opening bank accounts, obtaining PAN cards and other documents, which are also needed for a child´s education.

Reason:

The people in the underprivileged communities receive life skills in order to achieve better living circumstances and support their children in education.

Methods:

Home Visits Meetings and Workshops 1:1 Mentoring

Learning Support Programme

Provide the children of disadvantaged communities with learning support to ensure a holistic education offering a scholastic and non-scholastic curriculum.

Reason:

Every child has the right for education, in order to be able decide on their future.

Method:

10 Learning Support Centres Saturday Workshops Weekend & Holiday Camps 1:1 Mentoring of a child

Parent Counselling Programme

Provide support to students from 16 years + to enrol in distance learning to finish their school degree and give them learning support to pass the exam. 

Reason:

Some children dropped out of school at an early age and started to work, however when they become older they see the urge in education and want to study at their own will.

Method:

Support in the admission procedure Learning support for exams

Meet Our Partners

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Be a part of real change and get involved with Sparsha Trust.