Presenting Annual Report 2023-24

Dear Supporters, Well-wishers, Partners, and Friends of DSSF,

I am pleased to share with all of you this account of activities, observations, learnings, and facts from the year 2023-24. Our Annual Report is an opportunity to connect with you and keep the association alive and growing towards achieving our goal of universal education for every child. Your contribution in various forms has helped us keep our energy and motivation up throughout the year full of challenges and surprises.

During the last three decades of our presence in the city of Pune, we have continued our focus on developing foundational skills among children from the socio-economically disadvantaged communities, particularly families migrating from other districts and states to the city in search of better livelihood opportunities. What the parents, society, and the administration fail to acknowledge is the importance of foundational skills in the lives of all children, irrespective of their background. Without acquiring basic skills of communication and learning, along with proper nurturing and nutrition, it is difficult to survive, let alone succeed, in the dynamic socio-economic environment of today and tomorrow. The National Education Policy 2020 has dedicated an independent chapter on Foundational Literacy and Numeracy (FLN) as an urgent and necessary prerequisite to learning and a National Mission has been launched by the Ministry of Education to implement the FLN programme across the country. The Policy has also acknowledged the lack of and need of access to Early Childhood Care and Education, along with importance of nutrition and health in learning of all children.

Banking on our experience of more than thirty years and taking into account the official focus on the foundational skills, we have enhanced our interventions at the community and school levels this year, by covering around 45,000 children at 135 community locations and 122 schools across the city of Pune. Since the last couple of years, we have expanded our scope to cover the adolescent and youth through vocational exposure and career guidance activities. We have continued working with the parents for a sustainable and consistent educational journey of their children. Starting this year, we have also integrated basic nutrition support at select locations in the city.

Our signature programme, School-on-Wheels, has reached a milestone this year, completing 25 years of taking education to the doorstep of the children in need. Despite the infrastructural and systemic inputs over the years as well as strong legislative provisions of free and compulsory education for all children, the concept of a temporary mobile school has not yet become redundant. During the reporting year, 9 School-on-Wheel buses could cover around 4,000 children across 41 locations in the city where even temporary classroom structure could not be raised or accessed. The programme will continue in the

coming years, with more innovative ways of utilizing the mobile infrastructure for the children and communities in need.

Apart from the trainings provided to all DSSF teachers and Book-Fairies at the start of and during their service period, the in-house training and networking team could also reach out to 16 NGO’s from 8 districts of the Maharashtra state, offering training, monitoring, and assessment support for their staff as well as teaching some of the children mobilized by them. I am happy to mention that we are taking these skills and methods to other states and languages with help of some funding and implementing partners in the coming years.

On behalf of the entire DSSF team, I would like to take this opportunity to thank our supporters, well-wishers, partners, and volunteers, for believing in our vision and mission to educate every child. Thank you for making all this possible and let us continue working together in the coming years with a renewed rigour and passion.

With best wishes,

Prof. Rajani Paranjpe

Founder President

Door Step School Foundation

Download the report from - 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/11MD-verAVjYJt3EKueW3GvieiPEacU7P/view?usp=drive_link

Weekly Reading Circle - 1

In the opening session of the Weekly Reading Circle at Door Step School Foundation, we read and delved into the article "भाषा शिक्षण पर शिक्षकों का नज़रिया" (What Do Teachers Think of Language Teaching?) by Rajni Dwivedi and Shoba Shankar Nagda. The article spurred insightful discussion on several essential questions:

1. What defines a language?
2. How does teaching language differ from teaching script?
3. Which elements should be prioritized in language teaching—sounds, communication, or meaning?
4. Is language an innate skill in children?

Source: https://anuvadasampada.azimpremjiuniversity.edu.in/1965/

                            

                               साप्ताहिक वाचन उपक्रम

(सामूहिक वाचन संस्कृतीच्या दिशेने...)

 
सारे मिळुनी वाचन करुया
वाचन करुनी शिकत राहूया
आठवड्यातील दोनच तास
समूहाने शब्दांशी खेळूया...

 
गोष्टी वाचू, लेखही वाचू
वाचून त्यावर चर्चा घडवू
नवीन वाचक, जुनेही वाचक
एक ठिकाणी गोळा होऊनी
सारे मिळुनी वाचन करुया
वाचन करुनी शिकत राहूया..

🎉Celebrating Success at Dattawadi Community Learning Center!!

Special classes held on Saturdays and Sundays provided an invaluable opportunity for students preparing for scholarship exams. Parents like Shraddha Kadam expressed their gratitude, noting, “The teachers broke down complex topics into simple concepts, which helped my son achieve great results!”

Recently, we celebrated the achievements of students who cleared the scholarship exams for the 2023-24 academic year. The event was a heartwarming gathering attended by students, their families, and esteemed guests including Mr. Dhananjay Tokekar, Mr. Amit Khare, and Ms. Vanshree Wankar from Alfa Laval.

During the celebration, our guests engaged with parents, emphasizing the importance of dedicating time each day to connect with their children about their education. This communication is vital for fostering a supportive learning environment.

To honor the hard work and dedication of our meritorious students, Alfa Laval generously presented each of them with a new bicycle—a wonderful symbol of new beginnings and the journey ahead in their educational pursuits.

This was reported by @Sunita Bhleroa from Door Step School Foundation.


Here’s to the bright futures of our students! 🌟

🎉 Celebrating Builders Honored for Supporting the Education and Welfare of Children at Construction Sites

In a remarkable effort to recognize and encourage exemplary practices in the construction industry, CREDAI-Pune Metro recently hosted the fourth annual ‘Pride Best Facility Awards’ ceremony at the Rathi Auditorium in Pune. This prestigious event celebrated the contributions of builders who have gone above and beyond in providing essential facilities, health services, skill training, and growth opportunities to their construction workers.'

As a crucial partner in this endeavor, Door Step School Foundation (DSSF) has been working tirelessly across several construction sites in and around Pune, focusing on the education and care of children from construction workers' families. Through literacy and study classes, along with Creche facilities, DSSF ensures that the children of these workers receive the education and care they deserve, right at the construction sites. These efforts are supported either fully or partially by the builders, who recognize the importance of such initiatives.

We are thrilled to share that several builders, who have been instrumental in supporting DSSF’s mission, were honored at this year’s CREDAI Awards:

VILAS JAVDEKAR DEVELOPERS (Project Yashwin Urbo Centro) - Gold Award in the Category for 101 to 300 Workers

VTP Realty (Project VTP Alter) - Gold Award in the Category for 21 to 100 Workers

B.G SHIRKE CONSTRUCTION TECHNOLOGY PVT.LTD (Project PMC River Revival) - Special Category Award for Crèche Facilities

Panchshil Realty (Project Vantage Tower) - Special Category Award for Health Services

These accolades reflect the builders' commitment to creating an environment where the welfare of construction workers' families is prioritized. By supporting initiatives such as awareness creation among construction workers, enrolling their children in schools, and providing education, health, and nutrition support at some of their sites, these builders are setting a high standard in the industry.

We hope this recognition encourages more builders in Pune to take similar steps, ensuring the well-being of construction workers' families, with a particular focus on the health and education of the younger children living at these sites.

Let’s continue to build not just structures, but stronger communities that support and uplift every member involved.

This report was brought to us by our colleague Swati Shende. 

An Inspiring Story of Our Student Pallavi Gunjal

Heartening news comes to us about the achievements of Pallavi Siddhappa Gunjal from Supervisor Rupali Behere from the Community Learning Center at Door Step School.

16-year-old Pallavi started coming to our DSS 2 years ago. She is from a Kannada-speaking family. Her mother is a homemaker and her father a casual labourer. Her parents recognise the importance of education. Her father studied till Class 8 but her mother was not able to continue her studies after Class 3. However, it is her mother who inspires her to achieve her goals. Pallavi’s voice grows soft when she says her mother shows such great joy and enthusiasm every time she achieves something that it spurs her on to do better. Her brother and sister were not very interested in their studies, she says, so she felt she should support her mother by studying and achieving something. Her older brother started working after dropping out of school in Class 9 and an older sister, now married, who didn’t want to study further beyond her first year of college.

“When she first came” says Supervisor Rupali, “she was so reserved, it was difficult to get a word out of her. But slowly, she warmed up to the group activities that were presented by our teachers and started taking part in all the activities. As she gained confidence from the guidance, encouragement and praise our teachers gave her, she came into her own and started showing many talents, and started taking part in activities and competitions in her school too.”

In December 2022, she stood first in the Pune Talent Search Exam 2022, conducted on the occasion of National Mathematics Day. This won her recognition, praise and prizes from her school, which further motivated her to work harder.

In 2023, she stood first in Class 10 in Hutatma Rajgurunagar School, with 63% marks. “I made lot of progress because of the DSS classes”, says Pallavi. “As I experienced success thanks to the guidance I received here, it is my responsibility to help others here in their studies as much as I can”.

Getting to this point has not been easy for Pallavi. She has her share of household chores like cleaning and cooking - sometimes before school, sometimes after. Collecting water for the household is usually her mother’s responsibility, but Pallavi helps whenever she can. It is a very time-consuming daily activity, as the supply at the common taps shared by everyone in the tenements is only between 3 and 6 pm. Everyone rushes to stand in line. Study time is late evening, then.

Now, as she waits to start her new academic year in Class 11, Pallavi comes in to help other DSS students in the 7th , 8th , 9th and 10th classes in Maths. She explains that this helps her keep in touch with her own studies too. Her supervisor mentions that Pallavi is good at time management; and that sounds like one of her secrets of success!

Asked about her future plans and other interests, she says she wants to do Chartered Accountancy and study even beyond that. She is also very interested in mehendi and hairstyling. Pallavi says confidently that instead of settling for just one career, she would be a chartered accountant as well as a beautician!

Contributed by: Rupali Behere, Coordinator, Community Learning Center Program

Translated by Ms Gita Nair, Volunteer, DSS

Appreciation from Zilla Parishad Zalanwadi School

 Jilha Parishad Zalnewadi School was awarded The Door Step School for its activity organized under the Grow With Books Program. DSS was felicitated with a trophy and appreciated for their work. The Sarpanch of Zalanwadi, members of the village, the chairman of the school management, and other members of the organization were present for the felicitation program. They highly appreciated the work and effort of DSS, especially for being active during the covid years, in improving the academic performance of students. DSS team was also felicitated by the village members for this.

Contribution of Alfa Laval Team towards Scholarship Classes

 Door Step School has organized scholarship classes for students from 5th and 8th grades, through its Community Learning Center. Alfa Laval has taken complete responsibility for teaching these classes. For this, their team prepared a schedule for 6 months. From October 2, 2021, the classes were taken on weekends, taken by team leader Dhananjay Tokekar. He kept everyone motivated, and in the absence of volunteers, he coordinated with seniors in his office and his friends and took their help to complete the classes. He ensured that the classes were conducted as per schedule. Till now, almost 60% of the scholarship syllabus has been completed. Volunteers teach the students using different methods. Volunteers share information about chapters covered, over their WhatsApp group. This helps the students revise what's previously learned. The attendance for these scholarship classes is perfect. Students attend all the classes sincerely. The total number of students is 66, where 30 are from grade 5 and 36 are from grade 8. We appreciate this effort by the Alfa Laval team in conducting scholarship classes for our students.