Thank You For Your Support!
Magic Bus' work in this community is made possible with the support of our donor, Minnie Burman.
Thank you, Minnie!
About Delhi
INA Colony is located between ring road and railway colony in South Delhi. It is situated on the east side of Sri Aurobindo Marg, opposite Laxmi Bai Nagar.
The population is around 1,500 of which 800 are children. Most of the men from this community work as ice-cream vendors, labourers, mechanics and vegetable sellers. Women work as sweepers, labourers and domestic help.
Water is supplied by the government through tankers. Most of the houses do not have toilets. There are a few public toilets in the locality but not enough to meet the needs of the community. Residents have to resort to open defecation in the nearby maidan. As a result, sewer lines are choked and a foul smell hovers around the community.
Magic Bus started operations in INA Colony in 2012. Rajni, 22, is the Training and Monitoring Officer in charge of the community. She is assisted by Pardeep, 21, the Youth Mentor.
A cricket tournament was organised by Magic Bus in November 2013.
Programme Inputs
Seventeen-year-old Gaurav lives with his grandmother in INA Colony. His parents passed away three years ago in an accident. He has no siblings. Gaurav dropped out the school after class 9 and started working part-time as a mechanic.
One day, he saw Magic Bus sessions in the playground and was intrigued by the idea of playing sports with other children. He asked the Youth Mentor if he could join.
After he started attending Magic Bus sessions regularly, the Youth Mentor motivated him to pursue his studies and talked to the Principal of Government Boys Senior Secondary School, where Gaurav was previously enrolled. His attendance was short. So, he could not be promoted to class 10. So, Gaurav was made to write class 9 exams again.
With constant encouragement from the Youth Mentor, Gaurav took the exam and cleared it. Currently, Gaurav is in Class 11 and regularly attends the school.
Impact
- The school dropout rate in the community was very high in 2012. With Magic Bus’ intervention, the dropout rate has reduced considerably. Earlier, children used to bunk school often. After attending Magic Bus sessions, they have developed an interest in sports which, in turn, encourages them to go to school.
- Children come to the sessions wearing clean clothes and behave with good manners.
- Parents meetings are regularly held to promote gender equity and motivate the community to adopt healthy practices so that they can teach their children the same.
Faces of change
Sessions are held on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 9 am to 11 am and from 4 pm to 6 pm (evening). Sessions are divided into 3 parts:
- Warm up: The development goal is introduced using interactive activities
- Main activity: The development goal is reinforced using sports and activities
- Review: A discussion is facilitated to draw parallels to real-life situations and sum up the learning objectives.
