Edu-GIRLS response to the pandemic crisis has been one of the most comprehensive interventions by a charitable organization.

• Meal Rations: Distributing rations and saving the  family from financial ruin during the lockdown.  

• Tablets for Online Learning: Providing tablets loaded with relevant software for on-line learning from slum homes.

• Incentives for Teachers: Supporting teachers with digital training and incentives, to deliver excellence.

• Incentives for Students: Providing incentives to girls to stay and excel girls resist  pressure to drop out.

• Mentors from Community: Recruiting educated mothers as mentors to substitute for direct teacher interaction

5 REASONS WHY THIS MAY BE THE MOST RESPONSIVE PROGRAM 

 1. Girls are not seen as a liability.

By providing rations for the whole family and saving them from financial ruin during lockdown, girls become an asset instead of being married off young.

1 million meals were distributed in rations by schools to cover a family of 5 for 2-3 months. Families will not be in debt to money lenders and girls will stay in school.

2. Girls are getting effective online learning.

By providing each girl with a tablet, loaded with syllabus relevant course software, which teachers also use, they continue online learning from their home in the slums.

400 tablets with SIM connections and NCERT certified DIKSHA software are in use today helping 600 girls (siblings share).

3. Teachers are working harder and smarter.

By providing all teachers with training and support in digital learning, periodic assessments, and financial incentives to develop themselves into ideal teachers and deliver excellence.

Assessments and targeted support reward both effort and achievements, and are in place for all teachers to help them plan lessons well; interact constructively; abandon rote learning for problem solving, conduct well in English and integrate technology into lessons delivery.

4. Girls are fighting the pressure to drop out.

By providing financial incentives to stay in school, awards for achieving excellence, and scholarships for vocational training and scholarships.

Parents can better withstand the pressure of poverty to pull a girl out if she is putting some funds away just by being in school, bringing in awards and prize money, and is assured a well paying, income generating job.

5. Mentoring Mothers become counselors to girls when teachers cannot.

By recruiting educated mothers living in the slums to fill the vacuum left by the lack of direct face to face contact with teachers, who often serve as life advisers to the girls.

Presently, 30 mothers are providing this service and also earning an honorarium.

We are committed to protecting our students and their families during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our families are day laborers who face total loss of income during the lockdown. By providing over 1,000 families with food rations, we are keeping them fed while they stay safe at home. As of May 25, 2020, our incredible Edu-GIRLS family was able to raise over $33,000, enough to provide 600,000 meals to our families for 2 months. In Kohat, rations are being distributed by Malik School management. In Vimukti Girls School, Jaipur, senior girls are helping to distribute rations supplied by the school in the "basti", spreading the word on good hygiene and social distancing, and making masks for free distribution. The school is also conducting online courses for three hours a day, using the parents' phones.

A BIG THANK YOU TO ALL OUR DONORS WHO RESPONDED!