Number of beneficiaries at present :250

Smile Foundation, following its mission of making a difference in the lives of the under-privileged children in the outreach of the country, has supported and joined hands with Parijat Academy in Assam for an Integrated Education and Health Care Project for the rural children.

	A Budding Artist Numali Ronghang is a 14 year old tribal girl, born and brought up in Garbhanga village, located in the Assam and Meghalaya border. Her mother died when she was very young, and her father practices shifting cultivation and barely earns Rs. 1100 a month. Numali had never imagined that she will go to school. As there are no schools in the vicinity, no one in her family had ever been to school. Her elder brother heard about Parijat Academy, a Smile Foundation Mission Education centre and Numali enrolled in it.   Numali is now in Class VIII and is very good at studies. Before joining Parijat Academy, she knew only a local dialect, but now she can converse not only in Assamese, but also in English. Numali is very active in extra curricular activities and has been selected for the National Youth Festival, Kolkata to be held in 2010. She will perform with a folk dance group.   Numali aspires to become a nurse and work for her community people.

About the Project

In order to reach out to the under privileged children in the wetlands of Deepor Beel (area prone to frequent flood and migratory birds), Smile Foundation along with Parijat Academy has initiated a project titled “Promoting Children’s Education & Health in Wetlands of Deepor Beel”. The project would be run in Pamohi Village in Kamrup district of Assam state, in the North East region of India.

The project aims to establish 6 Non-Formal Education Centres (NFE) covering 200-250 underprivileged tribal children in a year, with 30-35 children in different group, intimately mainstreaming them into formal schools.

The proposed area is a wetland prone to floods and is composed of tribals of Assam. Owing to the frequent floods cultivation of crops is not very feasible there and people earn their living through production and selling of home made rice beer. There is also lack of health care facility in the area which is very necessary especially for the children. The literacy rate is very low and intervention in the area is a necessity for the upliftment and development of the needy population.

About the Partner

Parijat Academy is a school for underprivileged children in a village named Pamohi in the district of Kamrup in Assam, close to Deepor Beel Wetland. It was established in the year 2003 as a non religious, non profit school covering 9 tribal villages.

The organization is being funded for its activities by a group of individuals as well as ASHA for Education & Association for India's Development (AID).

Major Components of the Pogramme

• Education Centre

The total number of children to be covered through the education center is 200-250 teaching them Assamese, Hindi, English etc. The centre would also organize sessions/ group discussions with the community/ parents on issues like eradication of child labour, literacy and the right of every child to go to school.

• Health Care Facilities

The project would have quarterly health check up for all the children including even those who are not studying in the centre. It would also cater to the womenfolk of the nearby slums and give them preventive, curative and referral services.

Major Objectives of the Project

• Ensure basic quality education to the disadvantaged children up till class I-VII
• To promote health status of the children and women