Giving disadvantaged children in India a better future.

As the need for building labourers in Bangalore, India has increased, there has been significant movement of families from poorer states and rural communities into the city in search of employment. Many of these families live on building sites and, because of language difficulties and limited previous experiences of education, their children do not attend school and cannot access education. These children are known to have limited life opportunities and to be at risk of social exclusion, discrimination and involvement in crime.

Bringing an MA Programme in Special Educational Needs and Inclusion to Bangalore has helped Champa Saha, a former MA student from the University, to tackle this problem. In partnership with Bangalore based non-governmental organizations, she has provided education to children of itinerant workers living on the streets and building sites of the city. These pop-up schools have educated numerous children over the years.

We successfully launched this Programme in 2012 and have been working with approximately 20 Indian teachers every year since then.We have also funded a number of Indian students from disadvantaged backgrounds to study at the University of Northampton. This funding enables Indian nationals to gain new skills so that they have the capacity and capability to return to India, bringing their expertise with them to further educate disadvantaged communities. We have seen the remarkable impact funding these students had on young lives in India and we would like to see more.

We are looking to extend our partnerships with individuals and organizations to help us continue and extend our work. Additional funding will also enable us to do further research and provide resources for us to engage with families, education officials and employers to understand how education can be provided to vulnerable children.

Help us to provide more opportunities for Indian students.