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Soham for Kids is a non-denominational charity school
founded by Faiza Seth in 2010 for underprivileged and
orphaned children in Mallapur, India. Many charitable
schools require a nominal payment to ensure the
commitment of their pupils. While this improves the
consistency of attendance, for those with barely the
means to eat even the smallest fee is a significant
barrier. Therefore, Soham For Kids is a completely free
school that not only delivers a high quality education,
but also addresses fundamental necessities – food,
clothing and healthcare – that too often deter the
poorest children. Soham In Sanskrit, it is the mantra
signifying "I Am That", which identifies the self as one
with the world. Team Soham feels that since we are one
with the world it is our responsibility to improve the
world. Our ultimate goal is to secure the entry of our
pupils into good quality employment or higher education,
enabling them to become successful, positive role models
for their communities. In this way we aim to help
individuals, families and communities to permanently
break the cycle of poverty.
The Soham for Kids team develops a curriculum that
replaces traditional rote learning with modern academic
and experiential techniques supplemented with
extracurricular activities including music, dance, art,
physical education, as well as quarterly education
excursions and field trips. Currently the school has 100
students across four grades ranging from pre-school,
lower kindergarten, upper kindergarten, and first grade.
We plan to expand the school by one grade each year to
eventually provide an education through twelfth grade.
Soham for Kids HOPE School is a multicultural and
multi-religious institution in order to help our
students become open minded, and culturally aware human
beings.
Further efforts are being made to address the
challenges faced by pupils' parents and guardians by
providing vocational classes for adults after school so
they can develop skills and earn income to support their
families. This program was initiated by the purchase of
twelve sewing machines and the hire of a sewing teacher
who teaches some of the underprivileged students'
mothers how to sew and mend clothes.
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