Vikramshila Education Resource Society

Supported by: Wipro Cares

About Vikramshila

For over 30 years, Vikramshila has been on a quest to bring quality education to children through various programs across the country. As a social sector organization working and engaging with children on a regular basis, we have been grappling with the issue of how to address their needs adequately in these difficult times. This forced us to reflect, and adapt to the ‘new normal’; and, remain a young, vibrant organization, true to the mission. This transition period has been re-energizing and reinvigorating.

New Approaches in response to Covid

In this year, the school closures have marked almost complete disruption of the education process for all the children. The effects have also been seen in Naba Disha, an urban learning support center in Kolkata. The children have limited/no access to android facilities, a suitable home-environment to study, food resources, internet etc. The gap in understanding the work the parents are being instructed to do with the children by ND teachers is one of the challenges that came under the lens of educational strategies formulated for this period of time.

In addition, these do not bar us from realizing that when the schools reopen, the children will be at the exact levels they were when the schools were closed. Hence, through planning, strategies have been made to address the gaps which include – carrying out surveys on employment status of the parents, informing the caregivers about ration and other resources, regular phone calls to the parents for both mental and educational support of the children, providing educational support to the preschool children through daily activities using readily available elements at home, electing volunteers with android facilities for more outreach, developing audiovisual resources with the leadership team and sharing them with the community. These issues have however enhanced our connection beyond the children in the community.