A Building Blocks Success Story

Our aim at Building Blocks is not to teach only the basics; we want our students to excel, and to know that they can achieve whatever they desire if they work hard at school and focus on their dreams

This four-year old has everyone believing that he can alter his own destiny!

An article about a Building Blocks student, contributed by 

Sharanya Hariharan an online journalist based in Bangalore

A narrow lane with more sheds than it can hold.

Women, children and dogs clustered in and around each house.

The lane filled with vessels to be washed had someone bathing, someone cooking while another ironed clothes.

Music from a nearby shop, the rattling noises of domestic activities and people talking: - there was much life bustling along this lane.

Who would have thought that this lane hosted a bunch of first generation learners who would choose to study amidst such distractions?

A mother, Ponnamma, was speaking about her son, Bheema Shankar, and his learning at Building Blocks Preschool.

Student Bheema Shankar

Ponnamma stepped out of her humble shack to express her joy in enabling her son to study. She said, "I don't know what subjects he learns, nor can I help him study. But seeing his notebooks makes me proud!" 

Both being uneducated, she and her husband, Aiyyappa, decided to have their only son enrolled with Bluebells, one of the  BuildingBlocks preschools. 

In less than a year of being in school, four year-old Bheema Shankar had shown much interest towards learning in general. Although Ponnamma spends her waking hours around her son, she can barely help him with his homework. She understands that he learns many subjects in school, but she recognises only English, Kannada and Maths. Yet, when Bheema shows his notebook to her, she knows he is doing well and takes pride in his merit marks.

At home, he is the first to rise and step out ready for school. He insists on being punctual; and is sometimes known to check a teacher who may walk in late, a couple of minutes after the bell! Little Bheema is spotted questioning about every event, or any object placed before him. He is often caught trying to frame sentences in English or seen teaching his friends to count. "Bheema is attentive and brilliant. He is quick to grasp new concepts and is always eager to learn." said Asheena, School Manager at Bluebells. For being just about four years old, he is immensely self-motivated and is noted for being helpful with his classmates.

In a conversation with Bheema in his playtime, he indicated that I see his notebook, left behind at school. On reaching his school, I sought help to find Bheema's notebooks. The book he indicated had it all. Page after page, were ticks, appreciation stars and full marks given out to neatly spelt three-letter English words, or Kannada alphabet, one or two-digit numbers, or parts of plants and animals, or days and months in a year. From all the drawings to his midterm results, this notebook demonstrated Bheema's potential to achieve academically. Bheema Shankar stands as one of the top students in class, scoring 100% results across all subjects in all his tests and exams so far. Bheema Shankar's innate quality to learn and excel is promising; he seems to be on the path to a bright future.

Ponnamma and her son Bheema

 When asked about aspirations for him from the family, Ponnamma replied, "All we want is to educate him, for we are no one to make career decisions for him. We are sure Bheema will grow up to be ambitious and make us proud."

This article first appeared the online publication Young Spark: ( http://youngspark.in/#/)

Clamouring for Education

When the word gets around that the local Building Blocks Preschool is interviewing for admissions for the new School Year, residents from the local community pack the crowded meetings to learn more. 

The main qualification for admission to a Building Blocks preschool, is poverty. 

We are looking for cases of genuine need. We have had cases where parents have hidden their possessions with neighbours, before a visit from our social workers. This way they tried to disguise their true financial situation and have Building Blocks educate, feed and care for their child, free of charge, every day.  

Just as in Europe and America, many preschools in Indian cities are established mainly to look after children so that the mothers can get back into work. However, this is far from the principles on which Building Blocks operates. The objective of Building Blocks is to give slum children the opportunity to Escape from Poverty. 

This means that we must be sure that the parents will support their children, give them encouragement with homework, take an interest in what the child is learning, and praise the achievements that are listed in their 6-monthly school reports. 

After drawing up an initial list of children who could qualify for preschool education at Building Blocks, we then set up a schedule of interviews when we learn about the family, their situation and their attitude to their child's education.

This is a gruelling process, and we hear some heart-rending stories of the hardships that many slum-dwellers face in raising young children in a tough and impoverished environment. 

By the end of the day, our team are emotionally drained and exhausted, but they love the challenges and rewards of a job which truly changes lives.

I set up Escape from Poverty in 2017 to fund the ongoing education of kids in Bangalore after they've completed three years at a Building Blocks Preschool.

We are already funding 14 children. Some are sponsored by individuals, three by a school in Devon, others by groups of friends and others are crowd-funded by direct donations to our Scholarship Fund.

It costs less than £1 per day and, - apart from bank charges, - every penny goes to fund the education of kids from the slums of Bangalore . 

Please click on this link to go to our fund-raising page on My Donate