Women of Door Step School

In this special series on Women of Door Step School, we will cover case studies of our women staff who have shown significant progress during their tenure at Door Step School.


Meet Ms. Laxmi Sibbalwad, who is currently a teacher at one of construction site schools. 

Laxmi joined us in 2006 as a house keeping staff for a center. Her duties were to sweep and clean the center and fetch water. Later she and her husband went back to their village and returned to Pune in 2009, at which time Laxmi rejoined at one of our Kondhwa centers as a housekeeping staff.  Her sincere and hard working attitude helped her move into a new role of  day care center staff at this center. During this time she observed how the teacher conducted the class and took initiative to help in teacher's absence. Seeing the potential in her, Door Step School enrolled her into Teachers' training program. After completion of the teacher's training, she was employed as a teacher in one of our centers.

Last month, Laxmi was given  "Best Teacher" award by the builder,  in recognition of her good work, sincerity and capability.

Laxmi is 10th standard pass and has been married for 6 years.

Our heartiest congratulations to Laxmi for her achievements and Best wishes for continued future success.

Special program on Clealiness and Hygiene - WASH

Last year Door Step School, Pune used "Swachacha Va Sundar Shala"(स्वच्छ शाळा सुंदर शाळा ) booklet published by Kirloskar Foundation to spread message on cleanliness among construction site school children. 
To promote 'cleanliness and hygiene' further in these children, Door Step School implemented Kirloskar WASH initiative at 20 sites covering 343 children. Majority of the activities were focused on 62 children who are now WASH Club Members. 

The implementing staff from Door Step School received formal training organised by Kirloskar Foundation which included topics such as Healthy Habits, Concept of Clean Water, Role of Soap, Introduction to Bacteria and virus etc.  Special Orientation for the DSS Supervisors was done followed by 'Theme' wise capacity building. 

Children learned importance of hand washing, clean water, personal hygiene through practical methods.  Significant impact is seen in many children in their awareness of these issues and they are seen in implementing them at home.

Science Day Exhibition

Door Step School children participated in a science exhibition organised by 'Quest" at their Sus road facilities on Feb 26th, 2012 to celebrate Science day.  A total of 24 students from various construction sites and from our Community Learning Center participated in the exhibition. Children demonstrated experiments such as solar powered equipment, effects of air pressure etc. 

A total of 75 children attend 'Quest" labs every week.

Project: A Teaching Method

"Parivartan" training center for Door Step School, Pune organised an exhibition  on 

" Project: A Teaching Method", where various project based teaching aids and techniques were displayed. Learning through projects helps children understand a topic easier due to the hands on experience it offers.  It also helps improve their creativity, concentration and attitude for exploration through fun and entertainment. The exhibition attempted to bring out ideas and techniques along with posters for information and step by step approach for implementation.

The project based display had a large number of familiar projects such as " House", "Helper", "Season" etc. In the display for "House",  homes for animals, birds, farmers, and various types of homes such as hut, igloo, bungalow, multistory building etc were displayed using simple easily available material at construction sites. All aspects about a house were explained along with the material used and benefits for a specific type of construction were explained. Similarly, in the display for seasons, seasonal clothes, care to be taken in each season etc was displayed. In the helper section,  postman, farmer, jeweler, painter, pharmacist etc were displayed along with details of their equipment and information about their work. 

Use of creativity  and imagination is crucial to comprehensive development of a child. Doing project with children helps them think outside their normal school curriculum. It is important that while teaching children through project based method, the teaches should encourage creativity. If their ideas are given priority in designing a project, children learn with extra enthusiasm. "Project - A method to teach" has attempted to display these techniques and ideas.