Khelghar

‘Khelghar’ is a sincere endeavor which works for the education of underprivileged children and make their learning a joyous experience.
Khelghar strives to create an environment for children of warmth and of joyous learning through games and activities so that children develop an urge for learning.

Experience of bringing out a Palakneeti magazine helped in devising processes and methods for Khelghar.

Khelghar has mainly owned up two initiatives

1. Since 1996, it has taken up task to educate both children and their parents from Laxminagar slum area in Kothrud, Pune.

2. After 2007, it has started the initiative of ‘expansion Khelghar to extend same experience of joyful learning to more under-privileged children across the state of Maharashtra. The ‘Train-the trainer’ approach is being used for this purpose.

1. Khelghar at Laxminagar

Children in urban slum areas constantly face many insufficiencies at three levels — school, home and society. This impacts their very desire to learn. Many social evils like religious blind faith, various addictions and vandalism further drive them away from education and take them down a negative spiral.

Khelghar has set the following goals that will take the children out of downward trend.

• Children experience the joy of learning
• Their learning abilities are enhanced
• Inculcate habit of critical thinking
• Children learn to take thoughtful decisions and to own them up
• Children get experiences which help to inculcate humane values with in them and ultimately helps them to lead a dignified life.

Laxminagar is a slum area on the hill slopes near Dahanukar Colony with around 1500 huts. Khelghar works with about 150 children from this area in the age group of 6 to 18 years.

2. Expansion of Khelghar concept –

Success of Laxminagar project encouraged us to take up Khelghar Expansion project to extend the same joyful learning experience to many more underprivileged children across larger population. The outcome of the work done in first couple of years at Laxminagar measured in terms of number of children taking interest in learning and gaining confidence made us believe that such a change is possible. To build on this success, we started our efforts to set up a number of new Khelghars across Maharashtra in 2007.

The “Train-the-trainer” methodology emerged out of these efforts.

• Yearly 5-Day Residential Workshop:

This is a forum for like-minded people taking interest in fostering joyful learning of underprivileged children.    Workshop aims at sharing experiences about joyful learning through actions, expressions and dialogue among participants.

• Support for New Khelghars:

The Khelghar core team works with people interested in setting up new Khelghars for underprivileged children in localities near them.

• Khelghar Handbook:

In 2015, Khelghar developed a handbook, titled “Aanandane Shikanyachya Dishene”, for the benefit of teachers and volunteers from new Khelghars and contains well documented processes and methods. The handbook is aimed at giving them strength and direction in their endeavor. It is found useful by school teachers as well. Khelghar conducts training programs to familiarize teachers about ways to use this handbook.

• Special Training Programs:

Khelghar arranges quarterly 1-day workshops on mathematics, languages, social sciences, positive discipline and responsible parenthood.

• Collaboration with Government Schools:

Training programs are arranged to help main-stream government schools to adopt creative teaching-learning methods developed by Khelghar.

Impact of our Outreach Programs

• Over 1800 teachers and facilitators across India trained for the Khelghar methodology

 since 2007. The approach has been extended to thousands of children through them. 

• To date, we have mentored 127 organizations across India to set up 

 joyful learning centers for deprived children. 

• Publishing of a 400-page handbook outlining Khelghar’s practices and methodology, 

currently in its third edition.