Abhyudaya, a non-profit organisation collects old newspapers from people, gives them for recycling and with the funds it collects this way, it helps educate destitute children.
Sandeep Varasankar, founder of Abhyudaya explains how the organisation works.“We visit schools in areas that we are familiar with and then identify children who are in dire need of funds for education.” Sandeep works as an associate professor at GITAM University. “ I have always strongly felt about education and I believe that every child should have access to good education,” he says. The idea of the NGO was conceived by Sandeep when he was in the last year of his engineering. It took him several years to set up the framework and the NGO was established in 2013. What was started by one man is run by a team of over 15 members. Most of the members are students of GITAM University.
Currently, the organisation is helping fund the education of 11 kids from Srikakulam, Visakhapatnam and Annavaram.
It is not just about paying the fees, Sandeep is quick to point out. “When we adopt the children, we ensure that they are also taught about values and ethics so that they become responsible citizens. Usually, we prefer children from primary schools as they can be moulded easily. We plan to fund them until they are capable of fending for themselves,” he says.
Apart from this, the organisation has also been conductingorientation programmes in government schools since 2016. “Most of the children feel that engineering or medicine is the only way forward after class 12, so they quit studies as they cannot afford either of these courses. But, through the orientation programmes, we draw their attention to various other vocational courses that are widely available,” he says. The team till date has conducted this programme in eight government schools.
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