Page 58 - Education World July 2020

Eyewitness

gramme has been huge. Over 450,000
women from 900 slums in Delhi have
attained a sustainable degree of self-
reliance. This, in turn, has led to them
spreading greater awareness about
issues such as sanitation, safe drink-
ing water, housing and health in their
communities.
ver the past three decades since
OKatha was launched as a mod-
est children’s magazine designed to
stimulate disadvantaged children to
self-learn through reading, under
Dharmarajan’s leadership this NGO
has transformed into a broad-based
non-formal education enterprise
with an over-riding emphasis on pre-
paring children and youth for gainful
employment. Katha CEO Parvinder Kaur: online shift
Among its alumni are civil ser-
vice officers, engineers, teachers and cades, Dharmarajan has built a strong unique storypedagogy, rising to the
skilled technicians and also Kamal team which has increased its range of position of headmistress in 2010.
Hussain, the son of parents who paint- activities and is continuing Katha’s Since then, the number of schools
ed hoardings. Today, he is an accom- good work now that Dharmarajan has for low-income household children
plished artist and head of the art de- relocated to Chennai to tend her aging mentored by Katha has risen to 300
partment of Shemrock International parents. She now plays a creative and in Delhi NCR, and the NGO has also
School, Gurgaon. Among Katha’s mentoring role with executive direc- rolled out its I Love Reading initiative
other initiatives are personality de- tor Parvinder Kaur, discharging the in schools and diversified into teacher
velopment workshops, simulated in- CEO’s role. An English literature grad- training.
terviews and resumé writing sessions uate of Delhi University, Kaur worked According to Kaur, although the
for children and youth. “It’s amazing as a career counselor in Lucknow and lockdown of schools has disrupted
how gutsy and gritty our children are. Kanpur for several years prior to sign- KLB, learning hasn’t stopped. “Ev-
Given the opportunity, they can do ing up as volunteer at the Katha Lab erything has shifted online or to social
wonders,” says Dharmarajan. School (KLB) in 2000 to teach needy media. Even in slum households, one
To her credit over the past three de- children English through the school’s or both parents possess smartphones
so we have formed WhatsApp groups
Shilpi Sarkar: post-Covid teacher training drive
to deliver teaching modules and relat-
ed programmes for children. We have
also created a reading app for them,
and are using video aids to provide
instructions on social distancing and
hand washing techniques,” says Kaur,
who adds that Katha has also groomed
volunteers and mentors to help disad-
vantaged families access government
food ration schemes and other relief
programmes.
Katha’s top-level management
also includes Shilpi Sarkar, direc-
tor of the Katha Child Poverty Action
Research Lab. A highly qualified so-
ciology graduate of Presidency Col-
lege, Calcutta and Purdue University
(USA), Sarkar signed up with Katha
in 2018 after running her own career

58 EDUCATIONWORLD JULY 2020