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Asha Samajik Vidyalaya

About

Website URL:	http://www.ashanet.org/philadelphia/
Partnership Status:	Partner
Partner Headquarters (City):	Pennsylvania
Partner Headquarters (Country):	USA
Primary Country of Operation:	India

Description

Asha for Education is an all-volunteer worldwide non-profit organization that works to provide basic education to underprivileged children in India. Since it's inception in 1991, Asha has raised over $4,000,000 and has directly supported 385 projects in 24 states benefiting thousands of children in India.

The Asha Philadelphia chapter was founded in the Summer of 2001 with the purpose of supporting and catalyzing socioeconomic change through the promotion of basic education in India. By raising financial resources and awareness on campuses and in the greater Philadelphia community, Asha Philadelphia has funded educational projects that have improved the lives of Indian children.

Impact

Donations to Asha for Education are tax-deductible under section 501(c)(3) of the IRS Tax Code. Asha strengths including its decentralized structure, volunteer spirit and commitment to minimal overhead has resulted in a 4-star rating from Charity Navigator. The projects that the Asha Philadelphia chapter are currently sponsoring include:

- Aasra Sewa Sansthan: Asha works with Aasra Sewa Sansthan to bring education to the children of the marginalized communities in the village near Varanasi. The main goal is to facilitate the social progress of the marginalized communities in Varanasi by providing access to education. At present this community deprived access to education. Secondary goals are to make the community free of intoxicants and end the practice of child marriage.

- Asha Samajik Vidyalaya: Asha Samajik Vidyalaya was started in December 2005 by an Asha volunteer with the objective of initiating the process of education among the Mushar and Chamar communities in a tola (hamlet) called Gonwara, in Samastipur district, Bihar. These Dalit communities are landless and most of them including children below the age of 14 work in brick kilns. Total population of this tola is about 300. The major issues are untouchability, exploitation, poverty, illiteracy and consequent lack of awareness. This project has identified education as one of the ways to empower these communities and bring them into the mainstream of society.

Interactions with Givology

Givology supports Asha's work in the rural communities of India and embraces the organization's holistic perspective on the relationship between education and development.

Students and Projects:

ASHA (Asha Samajik Vidyalaya)
$500 of $500 donated
Bihar, India
This project supports the Gonwara center and also centers in Mahe and Dengrahi which function like after-school programs for children after attending government schools. The children are not charged any fees for attending the centers. There are around 60 children (age range 3-14 years) currently enrolled in the ASV Gonwara center. Initially, Asha Philadelphia was supporting only the center in Gonwara, but it has extended support to two more centers in nearby areas: (a) one in Mahe which has 30 children of different castes and one at Denghrahi with 55 children of Mushar community.

Training for Independence
$12000 of $12000 donated
Uttar Pradesh, India
The Mushahar tribe is an extremely disadvantaged community in India. As a dalit (untouchable) group, they are immensely discriminated against in public institutions, especially schools, to the point that they are discouraged from going. This program, known as Training for Independence, provides these Mushahar children with an alternative form of education – in a nonformal education setting with trained teachers (that are, in most cases, more effective than primary government school instructors). In addition to this education, the children will have the opportunity to receive a vocational education, exposure to life in the nearest city (Varanasi, U.P.), as they have never left the village and live extremely traditional lives. The purpose of this program is to give them the set of knowledge that will prepare them for life in the 21st century India – outside of the village – where they are aware of how to interact with people in urban settings, how to run their own small enterpri...