The pandemic may have changed the face of education to the virtual mode, but not all children have the good fortune of having access to online classes, particularly the underprivileged. Additionally, several Child Care Institutions that provide support to children from economically backward families are battling a steep financial crisis with donation funds drying out.
With an objective to bridge this divide, city-based NGO HUManity – led by a team of young volunteers – initiated three projects and a campaign called ‘Donate a Device.’ Founded by Chanakya Karra and Abhishek Paluri in 2019, HUManity is currently associated with five Child Care Institutions (CCI) in Visakhapatnam, connecting 150 children through the efforts of the organisation’s 50 volunteers.
“Owing to the pandemic, there has been a dip of 80% in the donations resulting in a severe crisis among the CCIs,” says Mr. Chanakya, who completed his masters in technology from Andhra University before joining the social sector. As part of the efforts of the organisation, HUManity has initiated a ‘Donate a Device’ campaign to distribute donated mobile phones that can serve the purpose of online education for the kids at the CCIs.
Three projects
The organisation also initiated three projects to engage with the kids at the CCIs at the education level by providing free teaching classes in English and mathematics on weekends; start a life skill programme to improve cognitive and inter-personal skills of the children and build a library in each of these five Child Care Institutions through a collaboration with Harper Collins. “One of the main challenges that we have observed at these CCIs is that most children after they step out of the institution do not have the skill sets to sustain themselves. We plan to start systematic skill enhancement programmes at the five CCIs to address this issue,” says Mr. Chanakya.
Free sanitary pads
To improve the lifestyles of girls at 27 CCIs across Visakhapatnam, HUManity has recently partnered with Pee Safe for providing free sanitary pads to 100 children. “We will be starting with providing 400 sanitary napkins to girls every month to beginning from July,” says Chanakya.
(To volunteer at HUManity, one can email contact@humanityorg.in )
