The Covid 19 pandemic has proved particularly detrimental to the well- being of children, adolescents and youth. It has reversed several decades of work put in to improve children’s access to education and their academic progress. A recent study by the Associated Management of Primary and Secondary Schools in Karnataka covering 250 unaided private schools estimates that at least 60,000 children have dropped out of school. They expect this number to be much higher considering there are 3600 unaided private schools in the state. Government surveys are underway in the state and the situation across various districts is grim. For instance, in Kalburgi only 15% children were reported to be attending school. The situation is similar even in the more developed districts such as Dakshina Kannada. The fact that children have had no offline classes for a second year in a row has resulted in loss of retention of what they had already learnt. Loss of two academic years is seen to be having far- reaching consequences on children’s overall learning capacities.

Spoorthidhama is in the process of setting up 10 Catch up Learning Centers in the first phase in low income communities in Bangalore to help children re-learn academic skills from the previous class which they have not retained, bring them upto speed as per the requirements of age-appropriate class and ensure that they return and are retained in whichever school they had previously enrolled.

Each CLC will be located within the community. This will be a in- person learning center where children will wear masks, sanitize their hands periodically and be seated far apart ensuring physical distancing.  The local ward committee will be approached to provide space for the CLC. The local school, community center and other such spaces will be explored.

Two young women who have completed at least Class 12 / Pre- University will be identified from within the community to teach in each CLC. Each CLC will accommodate a maximum of 30 children. Specific efforts will be made to enroll girl children.

The setting up of the CLC will be preceded by a survey in the selected settlement to identify the children and their present levels of skills and the gap with respect to expected levels as per their age. This will help focus on specific requirements of the children in each center.

The CLC teachers will undergo training to use the TLMs, to manage the classroom, to maintain student records, to help children adhere to covid- appropriate behavior and other CLC procedures. Ongoing handholding support will be provided to the CLC teachers.

The per child unit cost of setting up and running a CLC for one year comes to Rs.3740. This roughly translates to $50.37 per child per year (at the present exchange rate of Rs.74.25 to a dollar).

Your contribution to CLC will ensure that children will re- gain the precious learning that they have lost, meet the academic requirements and finally ensure that the most marginalized children are retained in schools and have uninterrupted access to good quality education.

• You can choose to contribute monthly or in one lump sum.
• You could choose to donate to support one or more children.
• You can contribute any amount, not necessarily the entire cost of one child.  

All your contributions are tax exempted under 80G of the IT Act.