Lucknow: Study Hall Educational Foundation (SHEF) organised Join the Discussion on Child marriage is slavery. Ms Ruchita Chowdhary, SP Women and Child Security wing, Lucknow, Director of Lucknow Childline, Dr. Sangeeta Sharma and Dr Uravshi Sahni, Founder and CEO of SHEF were the panelist of the discussion. Over 320 people attended the webinar. The aim was to address issue of child marriages. The panelists interacted with Gram Panchayat Pradhan, government officials, child Line and members of One Stop Center.
SHEF’s Founder and CEO Dr. Urvashi Sahni said “Child marriage is child slavery! Once we recognise this, only then we will be able to change the mindset of the masses.”
“The pradhans and the panchayat members should intervene in matters regarding child marriage. They should unlearn all old notions and think about the wellbeing of the children.” said Sangeeta Sharma while addressing the Pradhans and the Gram Panchayat members.
Ruchita Chaudhary, SP Women and Child Security wing, Lucknow said, “Child marriage is violence against women. Even today our society is unable to understand the gravity of the crime.”
During the webinar the panelists engaged and talked about how to intervene and stop child marriage and where can they find support and legal guidance from.
LUCKNOW: Study Hall Educational Foundation (SHEF) held the 8th convocation ceremony of its Nursery and Primary Teacher Training (NPTT). 18 students were awarded certificates and mark sheets upon the completion of the one-year course.
“This is an apprenticeship model of teacher training that empowers teachers to acquire teaching skills suited to the needs of the children of the 21st century,” said Priya Kakkar, director, SHEF’s NPTT programme.
“As teachers, it is our duty to ensure that the trainees flourish in their personal and professional lives. They must empower students and educate them about gender equality and social justice. Through this program, we teach our students to be “swatantra” and have complete autonomy over their own lives,” said Urvashi Sahni, founder and CEO, of SHEF.
The graduating students shared their learning through a cultural presentation titled, “ Who Am I”? They shared their understanding of life and reminisced about their own experiences. The event was an amalgamation of poetry, dance and drama which was cheered on by the children and family members of the students who attended the convocation.
The NPTT certification course started in the year 2015. Since then more than 150 students have been trained and placed in various reputed schools such as Seth MR Jaipuria, CMS, Kunskapsskolan, Colvin Taluqdaar, Prep School, and Study Hall School in and around Lucknow, and many have got p[laced in schools all over India.
Lucknow: Gyansetu, a unit of Study Hall Educational Foundation (SHEF) organized its first sports day on Tuesday, March 14th at K.D Singh Babu Stadium. Over 680 children participated from six districts from 70 distinct locations. The sports meet was inaugurated by the Chief Guest, Mr. Ajay Singh, Principal, District Institute of Education and Training (DIET) along with the founder and CEO of SHEF, Dr. Urvahsi Sahni. Founded in 2011, GyanSetu has completed 10 years.
The event started with the zone display march followed by an invigorating yoga performance by the children. The highlight of the event was the hoop drill. The event was a mix of drills and races, and other PT displays. Taekwondo and tug-of-war races were the highlights of the day. The students were very excited about the relay events and obstacle races these events got the loudest cheers.
Mr. Ajay Singh appreciated the hard work of children and teachers and said, “Children should be encouraged to participate in sports and more parents should let their children, especially girls, pursue sports as a career. Extracurricular activities are imperative for a child’s holistic development.”
Dr Urvashi Sahni said, “We are thrilled to see our children perform so well. It’s an amazing experience for our children and this is the first time they are on field and have done so well. Through GyanSetu, we aim to educate every child, who for some reason has dropped out of school.”
GyanSetu is a cluster of community education centers in low-income communities and migrant labor colonies for out-of-school children. Currently, SHEF has 139 centers catering to over 4000 children in six districts of Uttar Pradesh. The GyanSetu program runs Early Childhood Development (ECD) centers, Primary centers, Digital literacy centers, Adult literacy centers, and a skill development center.
The sports event ended with the prize distribution and an energetic performance from Prerna Girls students.
Lucknow: “Equality is an important aspect of democracy. Being democratic means that we believe and treat everyone equally. It is important to educate our boys that girls are equal and they have to work together to strengthen democracy and I am glad that Study Hall Educational Foundation is working towards educating everyone for equality and social justice,” said Asim Arun, Minister of State, Social Welfare at the India’s Daughters Campaign award ceremony.
Study Hall Educational Foundation (SHEF) organized the annual India’s Daughters Campaign (IDC) award ceremony on Tuesday. As a part of the campaign, discussions on patriarchy were organized in 1700 schools and 2 lakh children from all districts of Uttar Pradesh participated in the campaign. Drama competition, film making, poster making, essay and poem writing competitions were conducted and an amount of 1 lakh 54 thousand was distributed among the winners as scholarship. Mr P K Tripathi, Joint Director of Samj Kalyan was also present. Members from organisations like – UNICEF, Room To Read, AIDWA, AALI, Jijiwisha Society, Robin Hood Army, DIET and Manavsrijan were also present.
Dr Urvashi Sahni, founder and CEO of SHEF said, “Congratulations to the winners as well as all the children who participated in our campaign. Our campaign urges men and boys to change. When we talk about equality, it is imperative to include boys and men in the conversation. They must learn that patriarchy is cruel, unfair, unjust to women and girls and nothing can change if we don’t teach our boys and men to annihilate patriarchal structures and establish an egalitarian one instead.”
For the past two years, boys have become the focus of the IDC. The theme of this year’s campaign was – It’s time for men and boys to change, which focused on educating boys and men to fight patriarchy and become advocates and champions of gender justice. In the last 12 years, SHEF through IDC has successfully mobilized over 11 lakh community members and raised awareness regarding girl’s rights and gender based violence.
Lucknow: Saumya Pandey, DSP Anti Terror Squad 1090 on Friday at the annual concert of Prerna Girls and Boys School said, “We must work together to create a safer country for everyone. It is our duty to raise our voice against any form of injustice. The police needs your help. As a citizen of this country, you must raise your voices, and the police will surely take actions and resolve the issues. ” Prerna Girls and Prerna Boys school organised their annual concert on 23 December. The chief guest for the occasion was Ms Saumya Pandey, Deputy Superintendent of Police, Anti Terror Squad-1090. The theme for the concert was ‘Aao Milkar Badlen Jahan’. The program started with the welcome speech by the principal of Prerna Girls School, Ms Rakhi Panjwani.
“We started Prerna with just 80 girls in 2003 and today we educate and empower 1050 girls. Through critical feminist pedagogy, we have empowered our girls and boys to critically examine the oppressive social norms and learn to resist and change these norms to create an egalitarian society. Seeing this enthusiasm, it is evident that our boys and girls will move forward together and make the world a better place.”
Ms Pratima Srivastava, Principal of Prerna Boys School was also present. A play on “Mera Jeevan Mera Adhikar” based on legal awareness was presented by the students of Prerna Girls and Boys School. Colorful dance and songs and many performances kept the audience engaged. The aim of the entire program was to raise awareness that together, it is not only girls’ responsibility to resist oppressive social norms that limit their lives but it is equally important that men and boys play a role in this effort, as they can be powerful allies in the fight for gender justice.
Parents of the students were in full attendance. The program ended with a grand finale and vote of thanks.
Sitapur: Study Hall Educational Foundation (SHEF) organized an event ‘Gair barabari ke Khilaf Pakhwada’ engaging students and teachers from 43 government run upper primary schools of Laharpur block in Sitapur. This event is being conducted in order to raise awareness among boys about gender inequality and to help them become advocates of gender justice in the school and communities. The guests for the occasion were SSP Sushil Ghule Chandrabhan, Block Education Officer Shaheen Ansari, One Stop Centre in charge Deepika Ji, the member of Child Welfare Committee Sanjay Ji, and Laharpur thana in charge Rajeev Ji.
Sushil Ghule Chandrabhan said, “It is very important for women to become independent and take decisions about their life. Education is the only way we can empower women and educate the society to see them as equals.”
Priyanka Saxena, Program manager of Aarohini Initiative said, “If we want equality and our country to progress, boys and men need to become advocates of gender justice and become active participants in building an egalitarian society.”
Students actively participated in several activities such as – critical dialogues, poster making, story writing and role play were conducted on the issue of inequality and social norms. The uniqueness of each child has been displayed through these activities. A drama was presented on ‘Discrimination’ by the students of Upper Primary School Basantipur got the first prize, the drama presentation on ‘Dowry’ by the students of Patwara School got the second prize. And the third prize was won by the girls, students of Nivori Vidyalaya by presenting a skit on ‘Child Marriage’. Director General of Police Sushil Chandrabhan appreciated the efforts made by all the participants and teachers by giving prizes and certificates to the winners.
Study Hall Educational Foundation in collaboration with HCLF and Basic Shiksha Vibhag organized theme-based inter-house school events at Naubasta Upper primary school in Lucknow. The theme of the event was – Stop violence against women. Delegates from Basic Shiksha Vibhag were present at the event and appreciated the children and teachers in schools. The event will be conducted in all 16 partnered government schools in Lucknow urban. The event will end on 10 December. SHEF-HCL Uday project lead, Shikha Singh said, “We are delighted to have active participation of students, parents and teachers. Our children performed confidently and with great zeal and enthusiasm. These events appear no less like Utsav.” SHEF-HCLUday (2018) is an initiative in collaboration with the Hindustan Computers Limited (HCL) Foundation and the UP government that aims to improve minimum learning levels in 16 government schools in Lucknow through teacher training and continuous academic support. Alisha, a student of class 8 said, “I had a stage fright earlier, but now I feel confident to participate in this event. My teachers and classmates have been a big support for me.” Alisha anchored the event gracefully. Rasheeda Khatoon, principal of Basic School Naubasta said, “Our children have enjoyed preparing for this event. There has been so much learning for our children. It is a great opportunity for them to build their confidence.” The event was a fusion of talent, imagination, creativity and alertness. Whether it was a group song, dance, art, poster making, or writing creative poems, these activities helped to bring out the uniqueness of each child. The event ended with the distribution of prizes and certificates to the winners by Sabhasad, Sadhna Verma and she also appreciated the efforts put in by all the participants and teachers. The event concluded successfully with great words of encouragement and appreciation from judges.
We are happy to inform you that as one of the founding members of Catalyst2030 and as the Co-chair of Education Collaboration, Dr Urvashi Sahni spoke at the Transforming Education Summit at the United Nations General Assembly in New York on 17 September, 2022. Catalyst2030 launched Pathways to Transforming Education: Proven Solutions from Social Entrepreneurs report. The inspiring report provides details on how we can adopt evidence-based learning principles to address 21st century challenges and collaboratively revolutionize education. The goal is to sensitize policymakers and influence education policy and practice for the better. The report highlights the importance of having social entrepreneurs and learners as active stakeholders in education policy design and practice implementation.
The report brings together more than 60 social entrepreneurs working towards SDG4 #QualityEducation. These entrepreneurs have worked closely with their communities for many years and have developed tried and tested solutions that have proved to be successful.
“Education is the basic right of every child, and we are trying to reach every child in the country. Prerna school is doing such amazing work by educating girls and boys from the most vulnerable communities and has empowered them to reach new heights,” said Sandeep Kumar Singh, Minister of state, Basic Education, UP who was as the chief guest at the convocation ceremony of Prerna Girls and Boys School. Mr G Ramesh, Managing Director of HDB Financial Services Ltd and Dr Vinit Chauhan, Associate professor at IIM Lucknow and Dr Rajender Pensiya IAS officer, Lucknow UPS Nagar Vikas were the guests of honour at the ceremony.
Prerna Girls School and Prerna Boys School (units of Study Hall Educational Foundation) organized their convocation ceremony on the 6 September. The students who successfully completed their class 10th and 12th board exams were felicitated. 40 girls and 13 boys were awarded with Late Sundari Devi Kapoor Memorial Scholarship. In addition, three Prerna alumnae who successfully completed their graduation and have enrolled for master’s program were awarded with Late Rajendra Mohini Satpal Malhotra Memorial scholarship.
The program started with Principal Rakhee Panjwani addressing the parents and thanking them for their support and congratulating the girls and boys for their achievements. The students performed ‘Ganesh Vandana’ mesmerizing the audience.
Dr Urvashi Sahni, founder and CEO of SHEF congratulated the students and the parents. She said, “Every aspect of education at Prerna — the teachers, the curriculum, the culture of the school, is focused on helping the girls construct a sense of themselves as equal persons worthy of being respected by themselves and their communities. We don’t just focus on academic excellence, but to empower them and to build a capacity to aspire, to take charge of their lives, and to flourish. We also focus on boys to help them ”
The students shared their experiences with the audience. Sonali Sahu, Prerna graduate said, “I feel proud to be a part of Prerna, we are taught that girls are equal and have every right to a life of their own choosing. With my teacher’s support I was able to do well in my class 12th examination. I also got the opportunity to study in Italy through a scholarship program. And it has been a great learning experience for me.” She also thanked her teachers and parents.
Manju Rawat, mother of Shalu, a Prerna student said, “There is no school like Prerna. My children are welcomed in the classrooms with their lives and their problems. Teachers don’t just teach here but support them through all their challenges and help them achieve their dreams.”
The ceremony continued with a delightful dance performance. The ceremony finished up with a vote of thanks by the vice Principal, Roli Saxena and National Anthem.
Lucknow: Akhilendra Dubey, Program Manager, Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) Lucknow at a unique storyteller event said, “Chokhi (genuine) Kahaniyan stays true to its name throughout the program. Through storytelling they have raised awareness around many social issues as well as environmental issues.” Mr Dubey was invited as the Chief Guest at a storytelling event – Chokhi Kahaniyan where out of school children from six districts performed for the first time. Chokhi Kahaniya was organized by Study Hall Educational Foundation’s (SHEF) GyanSetu Early Childhood Development centers.
Dr Uravshi Sahni, founder and CEO of Study Hall Educational Foundation (SHEF), “This is a great opportunity to showcase their talent and build their aspirations. I am delighted to see parents gathered in huge numbers, especially fathers to see their children perform. In 2019, GyanSetu began giving focus to children ages 3 to 6 years through its Early Childhood Development (ECD) programme and we now have 54 centers educating over 1500 children under 3 to 6 years of age.”
Reena Seth, who heads GyanSetu ECD program said, “Our students and teachers have worked really hard to make this event a huge success. I am so proud of these kids for performing so well.”
Tanmai Chaturvedi, Program Manager of Gyansetu said, “GyanSetu centers are hubs of community transformation, and children are at the very center of our program. It is heartening to see how talented these children are and how much they are enjoying performing on stage. This is a new experience for our children and the teachers..”
GyanSetu centers are run by SHEF. These are small, intimate learning support centers in rural and urban pockets where poverty, gender and caste intersect to prevent children from going to school. Spread across six districts of Uttar Pradesh (Lucknow, Sitapur, Unnao, Barabanki, Ayodhya and Pratapgarh), GyanSetu currently has 148 centers educating 4000 out-of-school children by pacing their learning with an aim to transition them to formal schooling. These centers also function as hubs of community transformation and create a sustainable and caring support system for first generation learners.
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