Deepalaya - Enabling Self-Reliance

On 29th December 2007, Dr. Pachauri, Director General of the Delhi based Tata Energy & Research Institute (TERI) and Chairman, Inter Governmental Panel on Climate Change released the book titled “Blossoms from the Dust’ , documenting the success of DRIP initiative.

“I was struck by the fact that Delhi being one of the richest cities in the country, has the terrible blot of approximately 3 lakh children, as per official records, not attending school”, said Dr. Rajendra K. Pachauri.

He lauded the efforts of NGOs such as Deepalaya in spreading the benefits of education to the underprivileged such as out of school children and emphasized the need to invest in human capital through education.

Another guest of honour, Mr. Sanjiv Kaura, Lt. in the Territorial Army (Part Time), Trustee, Hope2000, Lead India finalist of the Times of India highlighted the fact that, “NGOs can certainly show the way or create a model which if the Government replicates, can reach out to tens of millions of children who are out of school, otherwise all NGOs will remain as the islands of excellence. “

Mr. M.O.Peter, Executive Director of Deepalaya and the man behind the success of DRIP said, “Deepalaya has not only enabled 6 small NGOs to implement such a programme but also made them critically look at their systems and procedures which led to the enhancement of their transparency and accountability.” He further added, “The 26 programme locations from where out of school children were identified and where Learning Centers have been set up are slums and resettlement colonies which by itself is an indication of how backward the families of these children are.”

On the occasion, were present eminent people from REACH India, USAID and other NGOs across Delhi. Under the Deepalaya REACH India Programme, Deepalaya’s six partner organizations collectively identified 11,931 out of school children and enrolled 8,415 of them. After having been coached in the Learning Centers for periods ranging from 2 to 12 months 4,932 of the enrolled children were admitted in recognized formal schools in classes I to VIII. While all these mainstreamed children are being followed up, 2907 of them are regularly attending the Remedial Education Centers conducted by these six partners, with the help of the financial support facilitated by Deepalaya from the Education Trust, U.S.A, Mrs. Nergesh Khurshedji Dady Public Charitable Trust, Mumbai and External Affairs Spouses Association Charitable Trust, New Delhi.

The partner NGOs recounted how Deepalaya strengthened their institutional capacity and helped them reach out to scores of vulnerable children through the DRIP initiative. Anshu, Prem and Ashraf, some of the students who were beneficiaries of the DRIP project recounted how the project changed their lives and empowered them.

DRIP initiative underpins Deepalaya’s belief that every child deserves a chance, a chance for equal opportunities, a chance to be empowered, make informed choices, resist oppression and expand their opportunities to realise their full potential, through the power of education. It aims for a legitimate and a self reliant society based on the principles of justice, equality, honesty and social sensitivity.