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Akanksha Foundation
The Akanksha Foundation is a non-profit organization with a mission to impact the lives of less privileged children, enabling them to maximise their potential and change their lives. Akanksha works primarily in the field of education, addressing non formal education through the Akanksha centre and also formal education by initiating school reform.

Over the past 16 years, the organization has expanded from 15 children in one centre to over 3000 children in 62 centres, 4 Kindergarten centres and 2 schools. A commitment is made to support each child by giving him or her a strong educational foundation, a good time, self esteem and values, and to help them plan how they can earn a steady livelihood as a step towards improving their standard of living.

1. Vision

2. Mission

3. Values

4. History

Vision

One day, all students will be equipped with the education, skills and character they need to lead empowered lives.

Mission

To impact the lives of less privileged children enabling them to maximize their potential and change their lives.

Values

1. Focus on the child – always ask “Is this in the best interest of the child?”

2. Belief in potential in every child’s competencies and in the goodness in every person

3. Relationships/Care - be warm-hearted and kind

4. Rigor – set high expectations for self and students, work hard

5. Relevance – ensure everything has meaning, focus on understanding

6. Reflection–solve problems collaboratively, no one is ever “finished”, learn from effective practices, everyone is always learning

7. Respect – for the teaching practice, for students, parents and colleagues

8. Fun/positive attitude – see challenges as opportunities, have fun, assume positive intent

9. Be the Change – lead by example

10. Focus on results – relentless focus on student achievement

History

Akanksha began in 1990 with a simple idea. There were thousands of slum children who needed and wanted to be educated. There were thousands of college students who had the energy, enthusiasm and time to teach. There existed pockets of available spaces located in schools that seemed ideal teaching environments. The simple idea then, was to bring together the three - kids, student volunteers and spaces- in schools for less privileged children run by college students.

The implementation of this simple idea was slightly more complex. Over 20 schools visited said no to a request for space to teach the children in. Reactions ranged from "What you are doing is too revolutionary for our private school" to "those children will give our children diseases." Finally, Fr. Ivo D'Souza, Principal of the Holy Name School opened his doors and the first Akanksha center had found its first space.

The next challenge was to find children and convince them to come. Akanksha's founder, eighteen-year-old Shaheen Mistri, recalls being asked by parents what a young girl who didn't speak Hindi could possibly do with their children. "Come see," she offered. So parents and fifteen kids were brought by bus to the first Akanksha center.

The truth was that Shaheen didn't really know exactly what she was doing. What she knew was that she wanted to make a difference, that she loved children and that she believed that every child deserved a space and time each day where they could just be children. So she recruited her first batch of college student volunteers, convincing them that "together we can make a difference."

With volunteers, kids and a space in place, the next question became what to teach. The volunteers met on Sunday mornings and thought of all the things they enjoyed doing when they were in school. The first very basic Akanksha program emerged from these meetings - clay, paint, counting real objects, lots of songs. The aim - a good time for the children - was clear. A good time that would make a difference.

So we started. There were many days when we had just five children in class, when parents said no, when the children spent more time bathing in the basins than sitting in class, when clay ended up on the ceiling and songs were hard to hear. There were days when volunteers asked, "but you said we were going to make a difference. What difference are we making?" And other days where we just knew that one day it would make a difference.