Since 1999 Learning for Life, along with the Society for the Integrated Development of the Himalayas (SIDH) has been working to provide education for children in some of the most remote areas of the mountains.

In these areas, many girls have never been to school. In response to this, SIDH, with support from LfL, run Balwadis - pre-primary schools that let pupils bring their younger brothers and sisters to class with them. This progressive thinking has already produced results: two balwadi teachers have become teacher-trainers, and will go on to teach another generation of children.

SIDH is also training teachers through its Sahjan Teacher Training Programme to improve the relevance, gender sensitivity and overall quality of teaching. The money earned from working in state schools is being ploughed straight back into the programme to help ensure its continued success.

Currently we aim to reach 60 to 75 schools a year through the Sahjan Programme. Happily, the brand new Learning Resource Centre (LRC) is now open. Thanks to the LRC we are able to accommodate much larger numbers of teachers, pupils, employers and members of the community.

Testimonials
Babita attends the SIDH Hamari Pathshala school in Matela village. Every day she walks 1km from her home village of Lagwalgaon, rather than attend the local government school. She believes that because the SIDH teachers are from the community, they pay more attention. Most importantly, she says that thanks to SIDH: "now I am confident, I do not feel shy while talking."

In 1990, Sureshi Chauhan was a student in SIDH Hamari Pathshala in Bhediyan village. Today she is a teacher in Riyatgoan Balwadi. She wants to establish her balwadi as a model for others, and says she feels: "very positive, motivated .. as if I have come home.

Learning for Life has launched a new four-year project, with a generous grant from The Big Lottery Fund in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. We will be working with a consortium of five partners, led by the Sanghamitra Service Society (SSS). Together we will implement a programme to ensure sustainable and long-term improvements in education and health standards through access to education, vocational skills and the creation of an enabling environment within a strengthened community for orphans, semi-orphans, street children, and children infected/affected by AIDS and/or belonging to vulnerable families. Over four years SSS and our other partners will reach over 5,000 vulnerable children and their families in Vijayawada, Chilakaluripeta, Visakhapatnam, Guntur and Chirala.