Education for 600 Vulnerable Children in Kolkata

Whenever I visit Kolkata my top priority and absolute favourite visit is to our education centres. 600 children from Kolkata's canalside and railway squatter camps come every day after school for our classes. They love the joyful environment, learning songs, dancing and crafts. They receive remedial help with their school work and plenty of extra tuition from our dedicated teaching staff. We ensure they are properly fed and look out for their safety, noting any problems at home or at school and providing any additional help they need.  The most important outcome of our classes is the love of learning and the children's enthusiasm to continue their education and aspire to a better life. Below some of the children tell their own stories.

KASHMIRA
I am Kashmira, 11, studying in Class IV (Topsia Primary School). My father is a rag picker; my mother a domestic help. I stay beside the sewage canal in Topsia; the city wastewater passes our hut. Our family income is around Rs 200 to Rs 300 a day; during the rainy season, the income is lower as paper and waste rates decline.
It would not have been possible for me and my four siblings to study without Tiljala SHED’s support. We are first-generation learners. My favourite subject is maths and I aspire to become a doctor.

AAFREEN
I am Aafreen, 10, studying in Class IV of Topsia Primary school. I aspire to become a doctor. My hobby is dancing. My father passed away when I was small. My mother’s run the family by selling Aaloo chatpati and jhaalmuri. We are four siblings. I stay beside the sewage canal in Topsia; the city wastewater passes our hut. I am the first-generation learners of our family.
I plan to change the destiny of my family with the power of education. I aspire to become a doctor. I will leave no stone unturned to achieve my goal.
It is the support from Tiljala SHED that we are still able to attend school and continue our education. My mother earns a small income of 250-300 a day which is very difficult to run the family. Your support will bring smile to us and help me to stay in school.

ALTAMASH
I am Altamash, 11, studying in V in a government school, staying beside the sewage canal in Mir Meher Ali Lane; the city waste-water passes our hut. I want to become a Professor (Scholar). My father is involved in leather cutting and mother a homemaker. My favourite subject is English and loves to play with my friends in my spare time. My family monthly income is Rs.8000 (US$ 100). We are 3 siblings. Tiljala SHED has supported me throughout my education, otherwise I would have been a drop out.

Note the gap between their own ambitions and their parents' reality. The kids best hope for a better future is education. Without our classes the children drop out of school aged between 10 and 13. The boys become labourers and the girls are married off, thus perpetuatin the cycle of poverty, illiteracy and misery.

Your contribution of just £11/$14 a month provides hope for one of these children. Please consider a regular donation.

Thank you 

Sultana is 19 years old, although she seems older. She is a natural leader in the Topsia Evening Class and one of the founding members who, in 2016, took the important decision to attend the new evening sessions the Topsia Centre and thus to continue her education beyond primary school.  Until then Tiljala SHED was only able to offer classes to children up to class 6. And typically, once a child stopped attending our classes he or she also dropped out of school

From the age of 5 Sultana attended the primary after-school classes in the centre. 90 or more small children pile into a small room and spend 3 hours every day after school singing, playing and, of course, studying. Our teachers supplement their school education as well as provide a joyful learning experience and a love of learning. We keep the children safe and productively occupied while their parents work.

The children’s mothers are very grateful and most understand the importance of education. Illiterate themselves they supplement the family income either by rag picking (collecting and selling waste), domestic work (highly exploitative, long hours and badly paid) or chappal trimming (trimming sandals for 35 pence for 120 pairs). Sultana’s mother is no different. All these families live in illegal makeshift shelters with no running water or proper sanitation beside a canal (an open sewer effectively). All any mother wants is for a better life for her children than the life of poverty, drudgery and misery she endures.

At the age of 19 Sultana is resisting society's expectation that she will drop out and get married. Her mother is very supportive but also feels the pressure to conform. We will do everything we can to ensure that Sultana can fulfil her dream of a better life.

The opening of the Evening Class, thanks to a local donor, has brought new hope for young girls and boys like Sultana and her friends. She has recently passed her class X exam and wants to remain in school for class XII and go on to college. She aspires to be a journalist although she is pragmatic and accepts that this is a high ambition.  Thanks to your generosity we are sending Sultana and 24 others to computer training, which they absolutely love and which is going some way to preparing them for the next steps and levelling them up with kids from more privileged backgrounds.

It only costs £37 or USD45 to send one of these youngsters on a 6 month computer course. Or £30 a month for all the costs of keeping one secondary age youngster fully supported in education (including all tuition fees, uniform, computer classes etc)