Art of Living’s Sri Sri Vidya Mandir is the first English medium school in Asia’s largest slum – Dharavi, Mumbai. Today the school has reached out to over 220 children and has classes up to 6th standard.
Despite many obstacles, such as the children’s difficult backgrounds, unavailability of land and parents’ apathy towards education, the school has successfully reached out to several disadvantaged children, providing formal and holistic education.
Solace from mental and physical abuse
Most kids have a history of mental or physical abuse, involvement in gambling or narcotics, and in extreme circumstances, the use of weapons. In such cases, the Sri Sri Vidya Mandir school not only provides formal education but also develops the fundamental foundation of the children’s mental and physical health. The school offers additional coaching workshops as well as annual medical camps that involve a comprehensive health check free of charge.
Teachers and dedicated Art of Living volunteers conduct regular counseling sessions together with yoga and meditation sessions to help children and empower them to overcome day to day challenges.
First generation learners
One of the major challenges faced by the school was the indifferent attitude of parents towards education. How can we encourage kids and their parents to stay in school? To achieve this, the school conducts special counseling sessions for parents and regular parent-to teacher meetings. Parents are also encouraged to get involved with the school activities like medical camps and the annual function. This gives them an opportunity to be a part of the child’s growth. As such, many of our students are the first in their family to ever attend school.
Rahul’s Story
Rahul’s mother tells us that his father is an alcoholic. She is the only breadwinner and works from 8 AM to 10:30 PM. No wonder Rahul used to come to school unkempt and had attention deficit disorder. We nurtured him. When exams began, an Art of Living volunteer sat with him and helped him prepare for the tests because we knew that Rahul was a good learner. This personal attention helped, and Rahul performed brilliantly in the exam.
Our education initiatives are driven by a committed team of volunteers who draw their inspiration and energy from a powerful breathing technique, the Sudarshan Kriya. Learn the technique from the comfort of your home.
Encouraged, he now takes far more responsibility for himself. He takes pride in coming to school. His mother says he wakes up on his own and is ready for school at 5am! When she visits his school, her eyes well up with tears of gratitude.
Shubangi Karvir, the principal of the school, shares, “Every day is a challenge and a miracle. I wonder how all the needs of the school are met. People walk in and voluntarily contribute to whatever the school needs. We want to give the best to our students. We not only want them to be literates but also complete human beings. We are planning to have a separate vocational training school and a library. They love to come to school now, and sometimes we have to force them to go back home!”
Developing communities
The presence of our school and its activities has played a very important role in strengthening the Dharavi community as a whole. In the school’s locality, Art of Living volunteers also organize de-addiction camps, awareness campaigns, stress elimination workshops and Youth Leadership and Training Programs for adults with the aim to bring peace and harmony in the community.
Inspired by our programs, residents of Dharavi started a project to convert approximately 4000 sq.ft. of land, which had been used as a dumping ground, into a garden. This is now one of the rare spots of greenery in Dharavi.
It is heartening to see how a school for children in a deprived area of Mumbai, had the ability to not only improve the lives of the children, but also positively impact the adults and the surrounding community.
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