Makkala Jagriti

Partnering with Anganwadi units in urban and rural Bangalore, Makkala Jagriti set out to improve the learning levels of children in the three to six age group. Its approach involves working with children, capability-building of teachers and motivating the community to get involved.

This programme focuses on an all-inclusive approach towards learning and development in children from six to fourteen years of age. The intervention includes setting up of learning centres within government schools, urban slums and Government childcare institutions, leading to supplementing academic learning with activity-based learning.

Under Its Yuva Jagriti programme, it has set up Yuva Cafés across the city of Bangalore through which Makkala Jagriti is working to empower youth. These cafés are situated in easy-to-access locations and provide a platform for youth to get together and learn skills based on their talents and interests that would lead to fruitful employment in the future.

To help urban-poor and rural parents bring up their children facing socio-economic challenges, Makkala Jagriti initiated contact meetings with them in schools, Anganwadi’s and communities.

It conducts two-day residential contact workshops which lead to better parent-child relationships. Teachers are mentored and trained online as well as offline to improve their classroom delivery and make learning more effective and engaging.

The Early Childhood Care and Education program aims to provide quality preschool education to children from 3 to 6 years in Anganwadis by empowering and building capacities of Anganwadi teachers to impart early childhood education in their respective Anganwadis. The program focuses on different aspects of improving preschool education in Anganwadis including creating of a safe and conducive learning space in the Anganwadis; capacity building of Anganwadi teachers as well as sensitization and capacity building of parents of the children. The mainstay of the program is the training of Anganwadi teachers to implement early childhood education so that children progress appropriately in all domains of development (social, cognitive, language, emotional and physical (fine and gross motor skills). There are dedicated facilitators who work closely with the Anganwadi teachers on the ground for handholding and mentoring them. Additionally, the program also works closely with various functionaries of the Department of Women and Child Development at different levels to ensure that preschool education in Anganwadis is prioritized.

Holistic Development and Learning Centre is Makkala Jagriti’s oldest and largest program where we work with children from government schools and urban poor communities providing them access to quality holistic education. The program model includes setting up of a children’s learning center in schools and communities where children can learn in a safe, non-threatening environment. Dedicated and trained facilitators from the organization engage with these children through daily sessions, events, exposure visits and other activities. The facilitation is done based on a specially designed SPICE curriculum that covers the Socio-emotional, physical, intellectual, creative and ethical development aspects among children. Following the Covid-19 pandemic, there has also been focus on supporting children with foundational literacy and numeracy skills to help them recover from learning losses suffered due to prolonged school closures. The program also focuses on capacity building of teachers to become child-centric facilitators and institutionalizing of practices within the school that aid in holistic development.

Government run Child Care Institutions are an important part of the child protection mechanism in India. Children are provided care and protection in these institutions, but the institutions do not necessarily provide quality education or opportunities for children to grow holistically. The aim of Makkala Jagriti’s intervention with Child Care Institutions is to facilitate holistic development and learning opportunities for children staying in these institutions and also to establish sustainable practices in the institutions that aid holistic development. The key program components include setting up an attractive learning centre in the institutions so that it becomes a dedicated learning space; facilitation of sessions for children, activities and events by trained and dedicated facilitators; capacity building of the staff of child care institutions on various child-centric behaviors and practices. The program is run in 10 districts with the permission and support of the Department of Women and Child Development, Govt of Karnataka.