DAY CARE CENTERS FOR VULNERABLE CHILDREN

"Being children again"

The main purpose of this Project is to offer care and protection to vulnerable children in the city of Pune, and contribute to promote their global development by providing them with

  • Day time shelter
  • Nursery services
  • Healthcare and nutrition
  • Education
  • Creative and recreational activities
  • Individualized psychological care

Currently, FUNDACIÓN ASHA-KIRAN operates two Day Care Centers with room for 25 to 40 children, and cares on a daily basis for

  • Children who are vulnerable and ostracized and lack the means or the necessary support to access protection, education and healthcare services.
  • School-going children whose rights are not always protected.
  • Children whose parents cannot properly care for nor give academic support to on account of a lack of knowledge, time or interest.
  • Children who need nursery services adapted to the community's specific needs.

The Day Care Centers are unassuming premises, built in the slums that the children live in, which makes it easy for them to attend.

The Centers offer children healthy childhood experiences that give them resources and stimuli within safe surroundings, and prepare them to join the state schooling system if need be.

This Project sets out from an orientation based on the defense of children's rights as set forth in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989), paying special attention to the areas where their rights are violated such as education, nourishment and healthcare.

Our objectives are to create a safe and protecting atmosphere for the children, provide them with global basic education, improve their physical, psychological and emotional health, mainstream them into society as able and vital individuals, raise their parents' awareness about the importance of education and health, and raise public awareness.

Thanks to our Day Care Centers Project, a brighter future has begun to take shape for children like Rajendra.

Rajendra was considered a troublesome child. He used to work as a rag picker and bottle cleaner; he was addicted to chewing tobacco and had no interest in school whatsoever. Although he had attended the DCC now and then, he would always end up making excuses for not being regular.

His interest in sports acted as a bridge for us, since we often had sports-related activities at the Center. He was also very good in math, so we kindled his interest in this subject. Little by little, he became interested in other subjects and was later admitted in a nearby school.

At first, he was reluctant to go to school because he would have to be in the same class with children much younger than him. We told him that if he made an effort, he would be promoted to a higher grade.

In only four months, he excelled in his studies and was promoted to second grade. He is so sharp that this year he will take the 3rd grade exam in order to go to 4th grade next year. He has stopped working and chewing tobacco; in fact, with the money he had saved he bought notebooks and a compass box. He now says he wants to be a police man and is convinced that he will get a good job when he finishes school.


See Project summary: [pdf]