Prabhat  Foundation

Making Learning a Jouful Experience for those who need an alternative.
Prabhat Education Foundation is a Public Charitable Trust registered  under the Bombay Public Trust Act 1950 (Regd. No. E/17688/Ahmedabad).

Prabhat is committed to the national effort to help children with special needs to find their way to independent adulthood. Prabhat programmes seek to bring about positive changes in the lives of these children by building their skills, knowledge and self-confidence. Prabhat is one step toward every Indian child having the opportunity to exercise the fundamental right to education, and to fully participate and contribute society.

Prabhat Education Foundation reaches out to those who need and are looking for a creative environment in which learning takes place, quite distinct from “learning by rote” so common in our system. In all its programmes, Prabhat can be seen as an expression of the national effort to remove the burden of stereotyped approaches in school education, and to replace these with experience that can help the child to grow and succeed in a complex world.

Current programmes are ‘building blocks’ which are helping to prepare Prabhat for its central mission: to create learning opportunities through a new school which will welcome children who cannot cope with exam-oriented school systems. These include Prabhat for Kids, Prabhat for Environment, Prabhat for Teachers and Prabhat Jeevan Taleem.

Jeevan Taleem
Background
The Prabhat experiment in serving children with special needs began informally in 2005, following the work of its Director Keshav Chatterjee with the Eklavya Education Foundation (Ahmedabad) since 1998. These years of training, experience and exposure to needs within the formal system led to efforts at working with special children within and outside the system. The national crisis they represent became clear. The Prabhat Education Foundation was registered as a Trust in 2006, in response to a clear need to provide special children with concentrated attention and service to individual needs. Since 2006, the focus has been on a ‘Jeevan Taleem’ life-skills programme for children faced with a range of physical and mental challenges. Their ages extend from 3 to 19. Jeevan Taleem functions out of two locations in Ahmedabad city. One opened in March 2007 in the relatively low-income area of Maninagar. The other is attached to a mainstream school in the upper-income Satellite area, and opened in July 2007. Maninagar is close to areas in which many special children live. The Satellite centre is also able to perform an advocacy role with mainstream educators, positioned as it is within the premises of Anand Niketan, one of Ahmedabad’s top schools. The evolution of Prabhat programmes, including Jeevan Taleem, is described in the report attached.

Human resources
Prabhat began with a small team of volunteers, who received modest payments toward their expenses whenever possible. It now has a team of 20 persons, including 11 professionals who receive honorariums and salaries (ranging between Rs800 and Rs5,000), 7 honorary volunteers, and 2 support staff. The team is supplemented by access to expert advice as required.

Experience
Prabhat is encouraged that most of its enrollment has come through a word-of-mouth from parents. Indeed, the movement by parents from a helpless, hopeless attitude to constructive engagement with their children’s progress has been significant. Home visits, an important element of Prabhat’s system, have contributed to this understanding. Parents take heart from and report significant indicators, such as successful toilet training and the ability to perform small tasks of drinking, eating or communicating through expression, sound and action that once seemed impossible. Neighbours in Maninagar (including families, shopkeepers and auto drivers) have moved from curiosity to concern and an occasional helping hand. At the Anand Niketan School, teachers and children who had earlier kept Prabhat children at arm’s length have now come to know them and have even volunteered to assist and play with them. These small signs of engagement could perhaps lead to greater inclusion within that School. A few children have already moved out from Prabhat into mainstream opportunities. Concerns include parent expectations of vocational training opportunities that Prabhat does not now offer, and the need for male care-givers for boys in adolescence.

Prabhat   exempted u/s  80G (5) of the Income Tax Act 1961 till 31.03.10

Mailing address
Keshav Prasad Chatterjee
Prabhat Education Foundation
B-1002 Rushin Tower                                   
Opp. Star Bazar, Satellite Road                     
Ahmedabad 380015, India                            

Phone: ++91-79-25462191/26922662                                                                                                                                                                   
Cell : ++91-9825009427
Email: prabhat@prabhatedu.org, website: www.prabhatedu.org

For Donation please send cheque or Demand Draft in favour of Prabhat Education Foundation payable at Ahmedabad,

Address:

Rotary Club of Ahmedabad North,
F-9 Fair Deal House, Swastik Cross Road,
Navrangpura.
Ahmedabad. 380 009
Gujarat, India.

Phone No. 91-79-26568426, Email. president@rotaryahdnorth.org