Effecting change in slums

BANGALORE: Putting thoughts into action is never an easy task. More so, when an organisation is working towards a brighter future for underprivileged children. While they have never clamoured for attention or publicity, their efforts have not gone unnoticed. They have been nominated for the Namma Bengaluru Award 2012. City Express takes a look into ‘behind the scenes’ action at Parikrma Humanity Foundation. It is a non-profit organisation that stresses providing  children from slums, access to the best opportunities and importantly, education. The foundation has designed the curriculum on par with the best privileged schools in the city. Started by Shukla Bose in 2003, it now is the home for over 1,300 children from various slums across the city. Parikrma has now established four Centres for Learning in Bangalore. A member of the organisation Aneesha said, “When Parikrma first began, Shukla and her team mapped out all the slums in the city. There were 800 slums where over 1.5 million people lived. The aim was to serve the most desperate communities. It was decided to have schools in the North, South and East of Bangalore.  Initially, we had to knock on doors of people living in the slums and convince the parents to send their children to school. Today, the reputation of the organisation has spread through the communities. They see the changes in our children that change is having the desired positive effect in their homes too.”