Our Education Sponsorship Program is aimed at providing quality education to underprivileged children, who otherwise are vulnerable to exploitation. Our Program focuses on helping them learn, play and grow up in a safe, hygienic, and happy environment. 

 

We wholeheartedly welcome child sponsorship, where regular financial support from the sponsor brings about the comprehensive development of the sponsored child. It is an enriching experience both for the sponsor and the sponsored child, where they develop a long-lasting relationship based on respect, care, and compassion.

The thrust of the entire sponsorship program is on providing quality education to children in need. At CFI, we believe in empowering children and their families through education. As this program is need-based, every unit has different needs and different budgets relate. The units in the urban areas like Pune,  focus more on formal education whereas the units like Dabhol and Raigad emphasize more skilful education.

Highlights

• Distribution of school material
  
  To motivate children to attend school and take continued interest in their schooling, aid in the form of school uniforms, notebooks, textbooks, stationery, school shoes, raincoat, and umbrellas is offered. The distribution of this aid is done at the unit level considering the need of the children based on meeting with the school teachers, students, and parents. Here, we try to avoid the duplication of services. This benefit is given to the sponsored children and other children in the community on the basis of need assessment done by the social workers.
  
  
  
  
  

• Reimbursement of fees
  Though the Government has, in principle, made education free for girls, schools charges various kinds of fees resulting in a financial burden on their families. And the inability to pay school fees regularly is the primary reason for school dropouts. To avoid this, CFI reimburses the school fees of the sponsored children. At times CFI approaches schools for such payments and sees to it that the schooling of the sponsored children gets secured. This support is also available for non- sponsored children, based on the discretion of the social workers involved.
  
  
  
• Supportive coaching class
  Most of the children we work with are from illiterate families. In fact, they are the first literate generation. As there is no support system for them at home, our children need extra support to better their academic performance. Taking this into consideration, CFI supports study classes run under its supervision as well as reimburses the expenses incurred for the coaching classes.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Career guidance
  Success in a career to a large extent hinges on making the right decision during one’s student days itself, particularly in SSC or HSC. It is also necessary to guide students appearing for the SSC/HSC exam to help them overcome the fear of failure. CFI conducts various such sessions to guide the students of 10th and 12th on the said issues. For some of the meetings, the parents are also invited.

• Assistance for vocational/professional courses
  Keeping in tune with the changing times, we encourage our students to take up vocational or professional courses, which would enable them to be self-reliant at the earliest. Sponsored and other non-sponsored children too are benefiting from this initiative. They are opting for various courses, such as Nursing,  Medical, Computer education - Hardware and Software, Beauty care, Fashion designing, Engineering, among others. While giving this aid, we encourage children to try to get education loans too, as they have to bear exorbitant fees.
  
  
• Skills development workshops
  Having talent alone is not enough for a child’s growth and development. It needs to be identified and nurtured. With this objective, CFI organizes various workshops on issues like art and craft, personality development, drama, science, gender equity, women empowerment, and so on for the children covering different age groups as per the need and try to identify the hidden talent in the children.