Bridge Programs

Bridge Programs are Samridhdhi’s flagship project. These are no-fee, tailor-made, need-based preparation schools for out-of-school children (OoSC).

In 2019-20, Samridhdhi Trust is running 3 Bridge + Montessori Projects in Bangalore and 2 in Delhi NCR.

The Need

Many out-of-school children aged 6-14 years belong to migrant labour communities and un-notified slums across Bangalore, Pune and Delhi NCR. Their families are often engaged in waste picking and waste segregation, construction labour, domestic work, begging, street vending, petty shops and other menial jobs.

Being interstate migrants (speaking Hindi, Bengali, Assamese, Oriya, Nepali, Telugu, etc.), the children do not relate to the local language and cannot integrate into government schools. Instead, the children take care of their younger siblings (babies and toddlers) while their parents are at work or manage household chores. Some are caught up in in rag picking, drug abuse, violence, illegal and harmful activities.

They are afraid to travel even a couple of kilometres to reach school. Many have never been to a school.

Objective of Bridge Programs

Provide access to basic education to out-of-school children (up to 14 years of age) in a multilingual and multilevel structure that is irrespective of age groups.

Admit them in mainstream English medium private schools or Government Kannada / English medium schools in age-appropriate classes.

Dent the vicious circle of poverty through education and employment.

The Process

Before an academic year begins, we conduct a survey of un-notified slums to identify out-of-school children.
We set up Bridge Programs inside the slums or in unutilised spaces of nearby government schools.
We enrol the children in Bridge Programs. The children are educated as per their learning capabilities as well as age-appropriate grade-specific requirements.
The Bridge Schools run for 6 hours every day for one year.
At the end of the year, the children are integrated into age-appropriate classes in regular formal private (English medium) and Government schools. (The parents are encouraged to pay half of the annual school fees of the children in private schools, while the other half is mobilized from Individual or corporate sponsors by Samridhdhi.)
Before we start Bridge classes in the following year, we conduct several workshops for our facilitators to ensure quality sustenance.