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