INTRODUCTION
Deepalaya is a Non-governmental organization in India’s national capital
state Delhi working on issues affecting the development of the urban and rural
poor in India, with a special focus on children. Deepalaya’s official motive for its
existence and work is the slogan ‘Every child deserves a chance’.
The organisation was founded in 1979, and since then it has seen a continuous
growth in staff, beneficiaries and fields of activities. Deepalaya’s main areas of
influence are the urban slums of Delhi, but inroads into rural development in the
states of Haryana and Uttarakhand have been made as well. The essence of
Deepalaya’s approaches is concisely inherent in the Chinese maxim ‘Give
someone a fish and you feed him for a day; teach the person to fish and you feed
him for a lifetime’, for Deepalaya similarly aims at triggering off sustainable
development from within.
According to statistics, from 2009–2010, 23.18% of the organization’s total
income is attributed to donations received and 52.37% of its total income consists
of government grants. HSBC India is an organization in the banking industry that
too supports Deepalaya through donations and voluntary works. However,
Deepalaya still runs a deficit in most of the years.
Deepalaya was awarded Sat Paul Mittal Award of appreciation in 2018.
VISION
A society based on legitimate rights, equity, justice, honesty, social sensitivity and
a culture of service in which all are self-reliant.
Deepalaya’s focus and sole reason for existence is the child, especially the girl
child, street child and disabled child. The family of the child is the medium
through which the development takes place. Organisation and sensitisation of the
community is the approach through which empowerment, capacity building and
social transformation are attempted.
MISSION
Deepalaya has clearly formulated its mission, consisting of three major parts. In
"Yatra – The Institutional Memory" the mission is formulated as follows:
"We in Deepalaya commit ourselves to:
Continue to identify with and work along the economically and socially deprived,
the physically and mentally challenged, starting with children so that they become
educated, skilled and aware
Enable them to be self-reliant and enjoy a healthy, dignified and sustainable quality
of life
And to that end, act as a resource to and collaborate with other agencies
Governmental or Non-Governmental, as well as suitably intervene in policy
formulation."
CURRENT ONGOING PROGRAMMES
The NGO was started on July 16th 1979 by seven founding members, and for more
than three decades, has been contributing to the crusade against illiteracy. Over the
years, Deepalaya has established several projects in the areas of Education
(Formal/Non-Formal/Remedial), Women Empowerment (reproductive health,
SHG, Micro-finance), Institutional care, Community Health, Vocational
Training and Differently-Abled. These projects are operational in Delhi, Haryana,
Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand
Educational Programmes – Deepalaya
Despite the enactment of Right to Education Act and several other initiatives of the
Government for educating children, more than a quarter of children in Delhi,
remain out of school. They may have been enrolled in government schools but
hardly they turn up. The teachers do not care to even find out why the children are
not coming. This is exactly where Deepalaya steps in. We understand the fact that
how education can change someone’s life. With an aim to empower and educate
children from underprivileged backgrounds we have set up two formal schools and
several learning centers. Both formal schools and non-formal education centers lay
stress on all-round development of children. They are given an opportunity to
showcase their talents at different forums, be it dance, music, sports, drawing or
arts and crafts.
Till today, Deepalaya has been able to reach out to 31,08,27 children and a major
of them went on to continue their education after schooling. 23 of our students
went to the United States through Community College Initiative Program, where
they got an opportunity to study for around 10 months in different streams of their
choice. Many of them have become self-reliant..
Figures of formal school education in the year 2017-2018
1] Total Children enrolled in Deepalaya School Kalkaji
Extension were 1653.Girls were 621 and Boys were 1032
2] Total Children enrolled in Deepalaya School Gusbethi
Were 992.Girls were 372 and Boys were 620.
Total Boys Enrolled In Deepalaya Schools were 1652.
Total Girls Enrolled In Deepalaya Schools were 993.
Non-Formal Education/Remedial Education
There were 2017 enrollments in total where 1186 girls enrolled
and 831 boys enrolled.
Deepalaya Vocational Training & Skill Development
Centers
“Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man how to fish and you
feed him for a lifetime.”
At Deepalaya, enabling self reliance is the belief that permeates everything we do.
Our aim is to impart education and training to children, youth and women so that
they can live a self-reliant life of dignity and respect. With this mind, we have set
up several vocational training programmes across all our projects. These
programmes provide marketable skills to the beneficiaries that can help them get
competitive jobs.
DIFFERENTLY ABLED
As rightly quoted by Albert Einstein “Everyone is a Genius” in their own ways.
Every individual has a potential that can be groomed and further developed into
something productive. But not every eye has the potential to discover this
talent.Deepalaya strongly believes that differently abled children can learn to lead
a normal life if they have effective access to services like early identification,
intervention, education, vocational training, employment opportunities and the
availability of aids and appliances. The unit was established in the year 1998-99
and has been supported by various donors, funding agencies and companies from
time to time.However, since 2014 the unit has been adopted by Laj Jagdish
Foundation founded by Mr. Jyoti Sagar, a renowned advocate, in the fond memory
of his parents. The unit was thereafter named as ‘Sambhav Project –
Mainstreaming the Differently abled’. As the name ‘SAMBHAV’ rightly suggests
‘POSSIBLE’ we believe that every differently abled child can excel in life if given
special care, love and guidance. The Sambhav Project mainly takes care of
children with various disabilities like Intellectual Disability, Cerebral Palsy, Down
syndrome, Autism, Hearing and Speech Impaired, Muscular Dystrophy and other
physical impairments.Deepalaya works for making children with special needs
self-reliant. In other words, it not merely includes physical development but
holistic development aimed at rehabilitating and mainstreaming them into the
larger society. We help children in performing activities of daily living from
sitting, to standing, wearing clothes etc. They are also helped in learning alphabets,
reading, and writing, recognizing, comprehending and also responding while we
communicate with them.The project focuses on child to child approach; where
participation is the key factor. ‘Child-to-Child’ is one of the participatory
approaches where participation from children is central. This approach aims to
assist and enrich learning and teaching by making the process child-centred,
participatory and relevant where children enjoy learning and understand what
learning is.
Sambhav Project - Mainstreaming the disabled.
MAINSTREAMING THE DIFFERENTLY ABLED
Deepalaya strongly believes that differently-abled children can learn to lead a
normal life if they have effective access to services like early identification,
intervention, education, vocational training, and employment opportunities and so
on. With this in mind, Deepalaya Special Unit, Sanjay Colony, also known as the
Sambhav Project, works on rehabilitation of differently-abled children through the
provision of specialized services such as Physiotherapy, Speech Therapy,
Occupational Therapy, Special Education, Vocational Training cum Product
Designing and Making, Sports Training, and Latent Talent Development.
They follow unconventional methodologies to encourage every child to create his
or her own identity by knowledge and learning. The project during this reporting
year had 102 center-based beneficiaries and 23 home-based beneficiaries. Eight
children were mainstreamed into various government schools during the year. The
activities at the center not merely included physical development but holistic
development of these children. The students participated in various extra-curricular
activities, sports and games, dance, music, painting and drawing, etc. during the
year.
A new beginning for Pooja
Twenty-year-old Pooja suffered from hearing and speech impairment since
childhood. Being the youngest in a family with four siblings, it was expected that
she would be nurtured like a little flower. But her family members saw her
disability as a curse. Her mother, who was the only pillar of support in the family,
passed away due to sudden illness in 2014. Life for Pooja became all the more
difficult.
Her only ray of hope was Deepalaya’s Sambhav Project. All these years, she was
trained on different vocational skills. She had made beautiful cards , miniatures,
flowers while she was a student in Sambhav Vocational Training Centre.They
strongly believed that this can help in building her identity and self-reliance And
indeed , they were not mistaken. In 2017, her family members were counseled by
Deepalaya community workers to realize that what they were holding back were
wings of real talent. If given a chance to fly, she would touch the sky. After regular
discussion, her parents agreed and enrolled her in Deepalaya as a trainee. Pooja
turned out to be the most active Vocational Trainee at the center. Nowadays, she
takes part in sports, dance and other cultural activities, apart from earning a living
out of her vocational skill sets.
HEALTHCARE
When it comes to healthcare in India, only a privileged few are able to afford
expensive treatments. Many people living in semiurban and rural areas remain
aloof from professional healthcare practices. They fall prey to quacks, who give
cheap medicines.
Deepalaya believes that no one should be deprived of proper healthcare due to
lack of money or resources. Through various initiatives, Deepalaya has been
addressing the health care needs of the poor.
Deepalaya Honda Vision Centre Deepalaya Honda Vision Centre is situated at
Village Gusbethi, Sahsola, Mewat Distt., Haryana. Every week doctors from
AIIMS visit the vision center for conducting OPD and identifying patients
suffering from cataract. The identified cataract patients are brought to AIIMS in
the next week on a pre-decided date for conducting surgery at the hospital. This
vision centre is also providing preventive eye checkups, eye health education,
screening, follow up etc. The Center was started with the support of Honda
Motorcycles and Scooters India Private Limited.
The first OPD was done on May 12, 2017. Since then, the OPD is conducted every
Wednesday. The project could reach out to more than 4000 people last year and
226 cataract surgeries were performed. Our health team also follows up regularly
with the beneficiaries and community residents to understand and maximize the
impact.
Deepalaya Vision Centre: Eyeing for Better Healthcare
Adding another feather to its cap, Deepalaya recently inaugurated a community
eye care service in the national capital in collaboration with the prestigious
Rajendra Prasad Eye Centre of All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi.
Under the aegis of Deepalaya Vision Centre, free weekly eye check up camps are
being organized at our various project locations in Delhi, such as Janakpuri,
Sanajay Colony and Trilokpuri. In these weekly camps, BP and other basic eye
care tests are conducted, those who need medicines are given on the spot by eye
experts, and those who need cataract operation are referred to AIIMS. The centre
has been supported by Swiss NGO Vision for All.
Health Camps at Sanjay Colony
Our health unit at Sanjay Colony has been serving the poor people living in slum
colonies near Sanjay Colony Okhla Industrial area, New Delhi. The unit conducts
regular eye camps in collaboration with AIIMS, and various immunization
programmes for children and pregnant women in collaboration with the MCDs.
