Supporting social impact programs have always been at the heart of Reflow. In 2018, after a lot of really fruitful discussion, we decided to begin working with Chintan, a Delhi based NGO working with waste collectors and their families.
In 2018, after a lot of really fruitful discussion, we decided to begin working with Chintan, a Delhi based NGO working with waste collectors and their families. After an incredible visit and some deliberation, we decided to focus on their No Child In Trash programme. Its goal is to ensure that the children of waste collectors have access to meaningful and varied career opportunities by running education programs for these underserved kids.
Support Study Classes
Reflow's contribution from the Kickstarter campaign, in addition to a portion of our profits from the Bottletop flagship store, can fund 80% of the science and math education to 180 children aged 4 to 14 years in Vijay Nagar Ghaziabad, to the west of Delhi. 121 girls and 59 boys attend support study classes either from 2 to 4 pm or 4 to 6 pm, depending on their school schedules.
Support study classes are organised for waste collector children, who are usually first generation learners in their families. They don't often have anyone to support them in their studies and may find it difficult to cope with the demands of education without that support. These students tend to have high drop out rates.
Support study classes are organised for waste collector children, who are usually first generation learners in their families
Through Chintan's support study program, students that are attending nearby government schools get additional education to reinforce the concepts they learn in school. The teaching methodology is based on the principles of cooperative and collaborative learning so kids are more engaged in the learning process. Each month, they get 13 hours of maths, 15 hours of science, 3 hours of general knowledge, and 5 hours of English curriculum.
Students also get 2 hours in the library to read weekly storybooks. The hope is that, through these sessions, children gain and sustain an interest in reading. They also have the opportunity to borrow books on a weekly basis. Currently, there are 95 books in Hindi and 13 books in English available.
This program began in August 2018, so there isn't much to report on quite yet. However, baseline testing was conducted at the beginning of the program to assess the level of science and mathematics for each student participating.
There are two other related programs that Chintan runs that Reflow hasn't contributed to (yet) but i'd love to bring your attention to them as we learn more about them.
Community workshops
Chintan runs workshops in the community to generate awareness about student retention and the importance of attending school regularly. Often these families have to make tough, life changing decisions about their children's time and focus so these discussions can be crucial.
I attended a special session that was held on the importance of education for both girls and boys. Parents openly discussed their aspirations for their children, most of which required their children to be educated! Nearly 70% of the attending parents vowed that they will ensure their children attend school regularly.
Parents openly discussed their aspirations for their children, most of which required their children to be educated!
Teacher capacity building
They also run teacher capacity building programs on the 1st and 3rd Saturday of every month. These workshops aim to simplify the complex concepts of the science and maths curricula so that they can better teach these subjects to their students.
I'm incredibly humbled by the work that Chintan is doing and consider myself lucky to play a small part in the program that they've put together. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your generosity and patience as we get this off the ground. I'm already looking forward to sending the next update on what it's achieved next!
