Educate. Empower.Transform.

Hello!

VIDYA is a 33-year old NGO that works on filling the gap left by public schools in India. Our goal is quality

education for every less privileged citizen.

We empower the most vulnerable members of underprivileged communities: the children, women,

and youth.

projects across the country, in

people whose lives we’ve touched

citieswith dedicated teams for each project, and

VIDYA was founded Rashmi

Misra33 years ago, with just five girls at IIT Delhi.Today, we

have..

Our nationally-recognized programs include schools,

remedial education, computer training, adult literacy, vocational training, microfinance and social entrepreneurship in some of the poorest neighbourhoods of Delhi, Gurgaon, Mumbai, Bangalore and

Pune.

VIDYA: A Story in the Making

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VIDYA Bal Vihar➢

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VIDYA Mumbai

VIDYA Bangalore•

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VIDYA Pune

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VIDYA North America & Canada

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VIDYA Success StoriesBhadra Sen NegiA shepherd from the hills of Himachal Pradesh, now a software engineer, working for the City of Los Angeles, USA. Studied at the VIDYA Bal ViharSchool, New Delhi

KantiMarried at 15 years, single mother of a 12 year old, overcame all odds to complete school education. Now a factory worker, Kantiis educating her daughter. Studied at the VIDYA BalVihar School, New Delhi

RajuFrom Nepal, worked as domestic help in Delhi. Fluent in English, the library is his life, aspires to be an engineer. Studying in class X at the VIDYA School, Gurgaon

NeelamA 35 year old widow with three young sons, she is a Madhubani painter. VIDYA gave her an opportunity to polish her skills, and she now sells her art, with forty people working for her

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A change of perspective is worth 80 IQ points.

- Alan Kay

• Education is compulsory up to the age of 14. Government schools provide free education for students age 6 to 16

• With the Right to Education Act of 2010, private schools have to admit at least 25% of the children in their schools without any fee.

• 90 million children are enrolled in private schools

• 129 million children are enrolled in public schools

Women’s Literacy in India (as of 2012)

35% of Indian women are illiterate

8.4 Crore children don’t have access to education

UNESCO concludes that women’s education in India can bring down the child mortality rate by 61%

**Statistical data from MOSPI and UNESCO, 2009-2013**Statistical data from MOSPI and UNESCO, 2009-2013

Dropout Rates for Grades I-VIII

42% total dropout rate

Workforce: Indian Women

Only 32% of Indian women are employed

Joel dousset photography

There’s a growing education gap. There are only three choices for formal

education:

• Those who can pay and get the best • Kendriya Vidyalaya, for the children of

government employees• Municipal schools of inacceptable

quality

There also aren’t enough secondary schools for youth, very few second chances

for dropouts, and graduates often don’t get the opportunity to build a career or

get into higher education.

What’s life like for an underprivileged Indian?

• Often unlettered, despite the government guaranteeing free education till the age of 16

• Often malnourished, and live in areas with extremely poor sanitation

• Families often survive on less than 10,000 rupees a month

• Opportunities to thrive are hard to find• Constantly exposed to bad influences from

childhood, everything from substance abuse to crime

Women face additional challenges. They’re often:

• Not given an education• The main caregiver for the entire family• In forced— and abusive— marriages with

alcoholic husbands• Unaware of their rights as citizens or unable to

use them• Unaware of women’s and children’s health

issues • Uncertain of achieving economic independence• Engaged in some form of low-paying manual

labour, and sometimes exploited by unscrupulous employers.

We’ve seen that mothers can have the most influence over an underprivileged population, as they tend to be the main

caregivers in a family, and are passionate about their children.

More than 85%of mothers we ask from our communities respond that their children’s well-being is their highest

priority.

In our experience, women’s empowerment is children’s empowerment.

Meena Kadri Photography. CC

The VIDYA Approach: Holistic, High-quality Education

As Gandhi said, education requires “head, heart and hand”. Education is best measured and improved in seven different facets:

▸ Academic achievement▸ Everyday literacy▸ Awareness and life skills ▸ Humanist values▸ Leadership ▸ Vocational expertise▸ Mental and physical health

We find that it’s necessary to combine the humanand the professional. Mental and physical health forms the bedrock upon which to build knowledge, skills and awareness. This creates confident, responsible citizens, who can lead change in their own lives and their communities.

What’s In the Pipeline for VIDYA in 2017

This year we’re focused on expanding our reach by focusing on projects that we think will have maximum impact in the long-term. This is where we would value your help, creativity and time:

▸ Making our Innovative VIDYA Mitrprogram,. Inaugratedat VIDYA Gurgaon, into a pan-VIDYA program that serves all our beneficiaries

▸ Building our own school in Bangalore▸ Building our own school in Mumbai ▸ Growing our Friends of VIDYA program overseas to increase our visibility, so

that we can attract the kind of corpus necessary to fund many more scholarships and build, expand and improve our programs to their greatest potential

Be A Friend of VIDYA

You can be a Friend of VIDYA by:

✘ Becoming a MITR— a mentor to a VIDYA Student

✘ Volunteering in our centers✘ Sponsoring our students✘ Supporting the VIDYA cause✘ Leading initiatives, ideas and

projects

Educate. Empower.Transform.