New Delhi, 4 October 2021: Amidst the Covid-19 pandemic, while children from middle and higher sections of society comfortably studying at home with access to laptops and other technology, those from the underserved sections face the bulk of their problems within their homes. Most of these children have completely been removed from their schools and have no safe learning space.

Over time, this will lead to the emergence of severe problems among children like child labor and child marriage, the latter being common exploitation among girls. This is why child education especially for girls until the age of 18 is very important.

Aahwahan Foundation is an NGO with a PAN India presence that works to improve the well-being of people throughout India with initiatives to improve social and economic sectors.  Beginning its journey in 2011 in India, the NGO claims to have impacted the lives of many unprivileged children by providing free education.

Commenting on one of their recent initiatives, Mr. Braja Kishore Pradhan, Founder, Aahwahan Foundation said that, “The country toilsome situation where schools and educational institutions were shut down. This impacted the overall growth and education of students. In marginalized or underprivileged communities where resources are scarce, girl children were badly impacted Most of them dropped out of school due to a lack of technical and financial resources. After critically analyzing the situation and future consequences, we at Aahwahan have adopted 1531 girl children from all over Karnataka. Aahwahan Foundation will facilitate their education till class 12th and will provide all necessary resources.”

“About 10 million girls are at risk of never returning to school putting the promise of ‘education for all’ into jeopardy, casting a long shadow on their future.” While school closures are an effective precautionary measure to contain the spread of COVID-19, evidence from previous emergencies suggests that the longer children are unable to attend learning facilities, the more likely it is they will never return to school. Owing to this situation, Aahwahan Foundation has understood the need for education in children’s lives and has come up with various other educational initiatives for marginalized groups like ‘Education on wheels’, ‘Adopting schools and building their infrastructure’ etc.