Bhumi is one of India’s largest independent youth volunteer non-profit organisations. Our volunteers work amongst orphaned, underprivileged children in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra New Delhi and other parts of the country with the aim of providing children with quality supplementary education and enable them to become responsible and productive citizens of the future.

The organisation provides socially-conscious students and young professionals a platform to serve society and to bridge the gap between the learned and the unlearned through education. At Bhumi, we believe that our children and volunteers are the latent potential that India needs for a bright and prosperous future.

In 2011-2012, we worked with 5,000 children through 500 children in 3 cities.

In 2012-2013, we will be working with approx 7,500 children through 750 volunteers in 6-8 cities.

By 2017-2018, we hope to enable young people from at least 50 major cities to contribute their bit to society through volunteering. In the process thousands of children will receive better quality supplementary education after school.

Problem

Children in orphanages, slums and village communities have little or no access to quality education or computers. They go to state run schools and undergo the vernacular medium of education where English is just one subject and all other subjects like science are taught in the vernacular language. While the numbers associated with literacy are increasing, as evident by the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) by Pratham, there is much to be desired with regards to the quality of education imparted at these schools. Apart from the socio-economic problems of these children, the reduced quality of education and various other problems at school force most children to drop out even before their schooling is completed. Also, the small percentages that complete schooling are faced with the daunting task of suddenly switching over to a completely English medium of education if they have to continue their education beyond school. Also while the better privileged sections of society are using computers in their everyday life, a large part caught in the brutal fringes have no access to these all their lives – most of the time.

Solution

Bhumi trains volunteers and provides them with the necessary syllabi to go and teach the most vulnerable children around their places of residence. The volunteers are students or young professionals who are willing to spare a few hours for the cause. Hundreds of children can be provided essential supplementary education at a fraction of the cost of the regular education system. Bhumi's Most Important programmes: Kanini – computer literacy programme that involves teaching of basic and advanced concepts based on the children's aptitude levels. Speak Out – interactive English-learning programme for children who have limited or no proficiency in the language. Lakshya – mentorship programme that pairs underprivileged children with volunteers, who act as their mentors and undergo experiential learning in leadership. Little Einsteins – activity-based approach to learn Mathematics and Science using live demonstrations and multimedia tools. Nakshatra – national annual inter-children's home art, cultural, sports and science talent fest for children to exhibit their talents and explore their potential in an atmosphere of healthy competition. Joy to the World – annual initiative to spread joy to underprivileged children by fulfilling their small wishes just ahead of the New Year.

Example

We have been working with children at orphanages since 2006 and with time we realised that not only did these children lack quality education but also an opportunity to discover and hone their extra curricular talents. We started by conducting a one day talent fest for children at orphanages from Chennai and surrounding districts. In 2009, 800 children benefited from the event. In 2011, we expanded the scope of the event to a two day event with art, literary, sports and science competitions where 1,500 children participated form 43 orphanages. Apart from that, we conducted competitions at orphanages for 1,000 children and started a regular extra-curricular talent development programme at some orphanages too. In 2012, we plan to take the fest 'Nakshtara' national for 3,000 children from 75 orphanages of at least 3-4 cities across India. The programme provides a platform for the children to 'Dream', exhibit their talents, get competitive exposure, 'Discover' their potential, 'Dazzle' in an atmosphere of healthy competition and enrich themselves with much needed perspective about their inherent potentials. We hope to improve the self confidence of children, contribute for their holistic development through promotion of extra-curricular activities. All of this is entirely planned and executed by our volunteers. The funding for this model also innovatively targets primarily small contributions (USD 2-10) from hundreds of young donors like our own volunteers.

Marketplace

Bhumi believes in learning from successful models, and its peers are looked as prospective partners than competitors. We believe there is so much to be done and there's enough and more space for everyone to work for the nation's development without 'competing'. We have actively collaborated with several similar organisations working in the space, while we have gained, knowledge and support from larger or well established organisations, we help smaller organisations with the support they need.