Preschool Parent’s meeting at Govandi

Mumbai Smiles Foundation conducted a meeting with parents of the Primary School students of Holy Shepherd school transit camp, Sathe nagar Govandi. Most of the children here are street children living in abject poverty. The meeting was co-ordinated by our field coordinators Vipul and Pravin.

The parents shared their concerns about the difficulties their children are facing going to school. Students of the Deonar MCGM school and the Sri Sai school particularly raised concerns as their children had to travel longer distances often making their way crossing the highway – a prominent spot to invite accidents owing to the heavy traffic.

Some parents also mentioned the sorry state of the schools which lacked basic educational aids. Many parents work as daily wage laborers and are unable to afford enrolling their children into private schools. Often these parents also have to leave early for work making it risky for young children to make their way to school on their own. These families are struggling to buy water and avail basic civic amenities. The result of this entire circumstance is children dropping out of schools, thus, losing out on the thin ray of hope the families have for a better future by getting their children a formal education.

To this, our team explained the importance of a formal education and explained about the various scholarships available to avail education at a low cost or no cost, where feasible. Additionally, parents were also assured support from Mumbai Smiles foundation would help those dropout students who have taken admission in the schools after the eligibility test.

With the helping hand offered by Mumbai Smiles, parents were happy that their children could return to school. We have planned follow-up visits to these schools to track the progress and offer help.

As per the vision of Mumbai Smiles Foundation to work with street children and help them to access good quality education, the Organization will partner with local school from their area and will start their Primary Education Project.