Khelghar: A Sneak Peak   

“कैसे आकाश में सुराख नहीं होता, कोई पत्थर तो तबियत से उछालो यारो!”

These are the inspiring lines from the renowned poet Dushyant Kumar! We had read these when we had just started Khelghar. They reminded us that if we wholeheartedly persevere in our stated goals, we will find success. Over time, we realized that an individual’s endeavors are seldom enough to cause social changes. It needs diligent efforts and teamwork from a large group.  

In the past 27 years, several like-minded people have come together through the medium of Khelghar to “make learning joyful” for underprivileged children. Many of you have supported this mission by contributing  your time, money and expertise. While we do not claim that everything has been achieved , there have certainly been many significant changes. Over 150 Khelghar students from the Lakshminagar Basti  have completed their education and are leading their lives with dignity and financial freedom. More than 200 children are now enrolled with Khelghar. We are noticing that under Khelghar’s  guidance, they are becoming more confident and the girls, especially, seem very keen on pursuing higher studies. Furthermore, we have trained over 800 teachers and volunteers across India regarding our goals and methodology. 

The past year has been a remarkable one for Khelghar! Here are some significant highlights:

• 10th Grade Results: 

18 of our Khelghar students passed the SSC board examination this year; with 5 of them scoring above 70%. All those who passed received monetary support from Khelghar to appear for the MSCIT test conducted in May. We are providing career guidance as well as a funding of up to Rs. 30,000 for each student in our “Youth” group. This is possible only through the donations that Khelghar receives from our well wishers like you. 

• Classroom Renovations: 

Classrooms must be inviting and inspiring places to  encourage  children to learn. We have renovated all three existing classrooms to give them a new, fresh look. A new room has been rented  to facilitate a primary class in the evening. To give you a glimpse of these changes, this year  we  are organizing an “Open House”  (Thet Bhet) programme in one of our centers in Laxminagar. 

• Parents’ Involvement: 

Last year several attempts were made to involve the parents in Khelghar’s work. The most important achievement actually is the change in our own perspective! Our previous efforts were focussed only on raising awareness within the parents but over time we feel confident that parents can actually participate in our day to day activities..
  Several parents were trained by Khelghar during the Covid crisis to tutor the students. Once schools resumed, the tutoring stopped. However, many parents developed an interest in learning and teaching. A group called ‘Khelghar Mitra’ was formed, and we facilitated their weekly training classes. Three of the parents are now working as assistant teachers’  in our primary classes. Ten other parents are interested in running a “Book-box library” from their homes, out of which six have already started. The community level   participation in Khelghar’s  activities  is extremely gratifying to us!

• Upskilling our team

Our staff learnt several new skills last year, which helped to enrich our work with the students. Wipro Foundation connected us to Art Spark, a Bengaluru based organization that taught us about art as a pedagogical tool for teaching life skills. At ‘Viridus’, our teamlearnt about psychological well-being and group harmony. This was instrumental in our team building efforts. Rajasthan based ‘O.E.P.L.’ taught us some new techniques for teaching languages. Whereas at Delhi based ‘JodoGyan’, we learnt new ideas for teaching Math. Gaining a new skill keeps us more engaged and enthusiastic towards our mission. We tried to use many of these new techniques throughout the year in various Khelghar activities. 

• Khelghar Activities

Scholastic studies were supplemented with training in life skills through events like book fair, exhibitions, picnics, “health month” etc. The students are involved in planning all of these fun events, which gives them an opportunity to learn about  taking responsibility, decision making, team building etc. 

Some students in the Youth  group go to help  in the Narmada Balmela every year. They gain new perspective by participating in such an important social movement. 

• Teacher Training

Our experts Manasi Mahajan (Languages), Jyoti Kudale (Life Skills), R adha Joshi (Mental Well being), Amruta Dhage (Arts) and Vandana Kulkarni (Reading) significantly help us up-skill and improve our  quality of work.. Additionally, Sumitra Marathe, Sandhya Phadke, Vipul Abhyankar and Sushama Yardi provide guidance for Maths tutoring. Aparna Kshirsagar guides us on teaching Languages and Shubhada Joshi also gives her crucial inputs  in  teacher training  as and when needed. Khelghar Outreach: 

For the past 15 years, we have been working to spread our mission and vision of “Learning with Joy”,  with many  teachers from different organizations. We have a capable team of resource persons specifically dedicated to spreading the principles and methodology which is unique to Khelghar. Teachers across India can participate in these programs via Wipro Foundation’s events. C.S.A (Maharashtra), ‘GramOorja’ (Ambejogai), ‘Vidhyoday’ (Ichalkaranji), ‘NavJeevan’ (Kalyan) have been some of the participants so far. 

• Recognition / ‘Loksatta Durga Award’

Ms. Shubhada Joshi’s work at Khelghar was recognized by Loksatta’s prestigious ‘NavDurga Award’ in October last year. Such an acknowledgment from the society helps to further motivate our team members. 

Challenges Facing Khelghar

• Students’ Annual Review: 

Students in grades 1-5 are performing at par with respect to maths and languages. Howeversome students in grade 5-7 are lagging behind.  The boys seem to be ill-mannered and rebellious perhaps due to the lack of a caring environment at home. They seem susceptible to bad influences and it becomes difficult even for our teachers to cope with them.  The girls also seem more aggressive in this age group. Girls and boys both seem disturbed, anxious and confused around questions related to sexuality and puberty. Access to cell phones definitely plays a role here. In this regard, we are consulting with Maitreyee Kulkarni and Shirish Darek from ‘Prayas’ institute. 

• Class Size:

We have noticed a decline in the class size especially for the afternoon batches. This could perhaps be attributed to coaching classes or English as the preferred medium of instruction. We launched a community-wide comprehensive survey in May 2024 to better understand the causes and the responses are being analyzed. 

• Violence in the community

Serving the underprivileged community is riddled with its own set of challenges. One such dreadful event happened a month ago when a young person in the neighborhood was murdered. One of our past students seems to be involved in this horror. He had lost touch with Khelghar over the past few years. Once the students pass Grade 10th exam, their contact with Khelghar tends to drop to about once a week or less. This shocking event was a reminder that as an organization we can only spend a limited time with these children. However, we commit to be more vigilant against the negative influences and closely monitor our Khelghar children henceforth to try and protect them from anti-social elements. 

• English Classes

Deepali Potdar has led our efforts in English tutoring for the past 2 years. However, last year, she had to leave due to health concerns. This responsibility has now been taken up by Khelghar staff. Manasi Mahajan is introducing teachers to creative methods to make English interesting  and providing guidance on how English learning can be fun when taught with compassion.

• Next Generation Volunteers Needed:

As the founders and veterans of Khelghar enter their 60s, it is imperative to seek out new, younger volunteers and employees. Newer staff will combine the experience of their predecessors with their own vigor and empathy to carry the baton forward. Priyanka Patil and Anuradha Chauhan have taken up the coordination duties at Khelghar. We are taking up initiatives like ‘Open House’ and This Newsletter to reach out to new potential volunteers, who can lend a hand in advancing Khelghar’s mission.  

• Fund Raising is a huge challenge!

Both our institutional donors, Wipro Foundation and Yardi foundation, are terminating their grants at the end of this year. We have the challenging task to raise close to 30 lac INR to make up for this loss. Fund raising usually takes up resources and focus away from the organization’s work but the present situation does not leave us with a choice. Also, we are budgeting about 7lac INR towards student aid for nearly 45 members of our Youth group this year. We will have to lean in on our friends and well wishers like you  to be able to carry forward our work.

Plans for the coming year Key resolutions from the annual review conducted in May 2024: 

• Start an evening primary class by renting a fourth space in the slum.

 Conduct a survey of all families in the basti with children aged 3-18 years  in order to understand the changing demographics. 

• Organize workshops for  kids who are currently not associated with Khelghar. 
• Network sessions with other social organisations  working for social causes in the Laskhminagar neighborhood to discover synergies. 
• Organize the syllabus and evaluation methods for life-skills being taught at Khelghar. 
• Radha Joshi is formulating ways to help teach students how to understand and manage their emotions
• Manasi Mahajan will work to improve students’ comprehension and writing skills. 
• Develop ways to teach geometry and ‘word problems’ in a more practical manner by connecting it to real-life situations.

Invitation for Khelghar Open House

Every year we conduct an Open House event so our friends, donors and well wishers get a chance to meet the children of Khelghar. And it helps Khelghar to make new friends!

This year we are conducting two events. One will be at the Khelghar Office with children in the Youth group. And another will be inside Lakshminagar with High School students, so visitors can see Khelghar’s premises as well as experience the atmosphere in the neighborhood first hand. 

Open House 1. 

Date/ Time: 27th July 2024, 5pm-8pm 

Venue: Guruprasad Apartment, 23 Anand Niketan Society, Karvenagar, Pune-411052

Open House 2. 

Date/ Time: 9th August 2024, 6pm-8pm 

Venue: Anand Sankul-1, Lakshminagar Vasti, Dahanukar Colony, Karvenagar, Pune-411029

We look forward to seeing you at least one of these events this year

In the wonderland of Fine Arts

Art Sparks foundation encourages the use of visuals to make learning and teaching fun. Khelghar member and artist, Amruta Dhage, organized various events last year based on her learnings at Art Sparks. Some examples are noted here. 

For students in grade 9th and 10th, we selected the picture book ‘Rasta’. It has paintings from Chandramohan Kulkarni and has been compiled by Swati Raje. Students were asked to think about the streets in their community and the different shades, textures and patterns of the numerous things that are seen there every day. Then the students were shown some examples of patterns seen in nature like onion rings or honeycombs and they were encouraged to find different patterns on their own. This sparked their interest.

The next day they were given various black and white photos, each depicting some street. They were to work in groups to try and reproduce a photo of their choice in their own sketch. The groups also had to use patterns made the previous day to fill in different elements on the picture…….be it trees, fields, sea, hills or animals. 

Starting from the basics like pen/ pencil grip, the students learnt many new and interesting things through this exercise almost effortlessly!

Youth Group : Welcome for newcomers

18 students from Khelghar appeared for and cleared their Grade 10th exams this year. Post Std 10, they enter the Youth group. Senior students in the Youth group organized an event to welcome these newcomers. Almost 35 students participated in this event very enthusiastically. Everyone’s favorite dishes – pavbhaji and ice cream – featured on the menu! The planners took on all the responsibilities starting from budgeting and fundraising to actual cooking and cleaning till the end of the event. 

For the icebreaker event, participants had to introduce someone in the group. This drew out keen and insightful observations about each other’s nature and inclinations.  While introducing Shubhada kaku, they said “ She is our kaku (aunt), she takes care of all the students…..actually she takes care of the entire Khelghar!” Shailaja Aaralkar, who has been working with the Yuvak group for the past 6-7 years was introduced as “She is our Atya (paternal aunt). She will take our calls at any time of the day and always helps us out. She has the answers to all our questions”.  Such heart-warming words from the youngsters are invaluable to us. 

Reading can be Fun

In January, it was decided unanimously to focus on reading skills. In order to improve the reading skills as well as move on to the next reading level, many solo and group activities were planned. 

P3 students (primary grade 4th -5th) had a read aloud session for the book ‘Khel”, which was conducted by their class teacher Sushma Yadav as well as the author of the book, Vandana Kulkarni. The session was meant not only to spark their interest in reading but also to enable them to express themselves through writing and painting; while gauging how the story would progress ahead. 

While Vandanatai was reading aloud, she paused at one stage and asked the children what they thought might happen next. Most children guessed that some conflict between the characters of the story or even between their families would ensue. Only Ishwari said that the characters may become friends in the end…..she was able to think a little differently!

A brown paper was intentionally hiding the book’s cover page throughout this read aloud session. The students had a great discussion trying to guess the name of the book. Finally, when the cover was removed, they were amazed to find that the story was named “Khel’ (Games) and the author was Vandana tai herself!! 

The book had illustrations by Srinivas Balkrishna and the students had a lot of fun discussing those. They were able to identify the emotions expressed through the drawings and follow the story line more closely. At first they thought that it would be easy to reproduce such drawings. But when they actually tried their hand at the technique, they started realizing that it wasn’t so easy after all! Many of them also wrote letters to the illustrator.