ans

Eureka Child
An AID INDIA Education Initiative Why ?
www.eurekachild.org

In TN villages, 99% children go to school but more than 50% cannot read and subtract even by Std 5. Who are these children? These are children from the poorest and most marginalized families; families where illiterate parents are unable to help children learn at home. For these children, ineffective schools conspire with absent home support, to manufacture a disaster. These are children for whom education could mean the difference between a lifetime of poverty and a new life full of hope.

Who ?
Recognizing that education can break the cycle of inter-generational poverty, a group of IIT and BITS alumni quit corporate careers to start AID INDIA and educate children in villages. Over the last 15 years, AID INDIA through its Eureka Projects has silently transformed the lives of a large number of children. The work and impact has attracted more and more people and today, Eureka directly impacts children in over a 1000 villages.

What ?
eureka Super Kidz Village Education Centers because

Eureka SuperKidz was started by AID INDIA, in collaboration with Pratham, as a multi-year intensive effort to impact the education of children in the poorest villages (where entire family income is Rs. 2500 ($50) per month). In each village, we train and appoint 3 motivated young women and men from the same village as Eureka Tutors. These Tutors conduct 3 hours of after-school evening classes every day for 60 children from Std 1-8. Parents pay a small fee of Rs. 30 (50) every month to support half of the Tutors stipend. This builds strong local accountability and ownership in the parents. Eureka Tutors are trained on specially designed fun activities, learning tools and individual workbooks that dramatically improve childrens learning. Each childs progress is tracked using the Eureka Skill Chart and Tutors spend extra time with children who lag behind.

Every Child Can

It was six years ago, in 2005, when we first met 19-year-old Bhavani and her 9-year-old cousin Ashwini. Bhavani had dropped out of school a long time ago (in the 5th Std), because she could not read. She blames herself, Teacher solli than koduthanga. Yennakku than paddippu varalay! (Teacher taught us but I could not learn.) Today, Bhavani does what her mother did earlier she works in farms and construction sites as an unskilled daily wage laborer. Ashwinis father had deserted her when she was a baby. She and her mentally-ill mother live with her extremely poor grandmother in a tiny hut in the dalit hamlet in Nerkunampet village. Under-confident and unable to read even simple words, Ashwini was ready to drop out of school in Std 4. We realized that quick action was needed to prevent Ashwini going the Bhavani way. So we appointed a Eureka Tutor from her village, Muthulakshmi, to start daily evening classes for Ashwini and her friends. Muthulakshmi frequently met her grandmother to convince her to keep Ashwini in school. Eureka team also trained Ashwinis school teachers to use games and activities to make learning fun. Slowly, Ashwini started improving. She began to read and write. Through the years, we continued working with Ashwini giving her a scholarship, conducting counseling workshops, treating her health problems and coaching her to clear her 10th Std board exams. Today, Ashwini is in Std 11. She writes poetry and short stories. She helps younger children in her village learn to read. More importantly, Ashwini now has a dream a dream of a better future for herself and her family. She plans to get a college degree and wants to become a teacher and a writer. Recently, on 2nd Oct, the Times of India gave us the Social Impact Award in the presence of the Prime Minister. Ashwini, who had never even seen a train before, took her first flight journey to share the award with us on the stage. As she was called on stage and her story read out, the audience burst into applause. It was a proud moment for her family, friends and for her Eureka Tutor, Muthulakshmi. Ashwinis story demonstrates how education and continuous support over several years can transform a childs life and help the child break the cycle of inter-generational poverty.

Your Support Support

can transform the lives of thousands of children like Ash wini
Adopt a Village Village: illage: CoCo- adopt a Village: Donate Rs. 50000 ($ 1000) and educate 60 children Donate Rs. 25000 ($ 500) and educate 60 children. We will get a matching donor to co-adopt the village with you. You can Rs.12500 ($250) can also support: Learning materials for a village: Education of 10 children: Rs. 8750 ($175) A book for every child in a village: Rs. 5000 ($100)

Donate Online: www.eurekachild.org

Donate by Check in the USA
Pay to AID and post check to: AID, 63 Willow Bridge Driv e Durham, NC 27707, USA

Donate by Cheque in India

Pay to AID INDIA and post cheque to: AID INDIA, 7/4, Besant Road Royapettah, Chennai 600014, India

eureka@aidindia.in
Your donation is tax-deductible. In the USA, AID is r egister ed as a 501(c)(3) organiz ation with Fed eral Tax-ID 04-3652609. In India, AID INDIA is registered u/s 80G with DIT(E) No. 2(164)98-99.