Validation of our target segment
20th April 2015
When we shared the ShikshaDaan presentation with my ISB classmates in Hyderabad, Sekhar made an astute observation saying ShikshaDaan’s target segment of 10th plus students doesn’t tug at a donor’s heart strings. It’s true.. When you see an orphaned baby or a little girl with a single mother or toddlers going to school, your heart does melt. Many NGOs work with smaller children and are doing a great service to the society.
When we chose to work with the older children, one assumption we made was once a child is 15 or 16 years old and is from the poor sections of the society, there is pressure to start working. Earning ₹100 or ₹150 a day seems more interesting and useful than studying and getting a degree or diploma or certificate. Girls get married off, simple.
On April 17th, we were at Hotel Hamir and decided to meet the manager to ask if we could meet with the staff and share ShikshaDaan’s vision and plans. He readily agreed and we met 12 of the staff members, some contractual too, in the conference room. Our assumption was proven right, many of them had children whom they had got educated till the 12th as education was free till then, but were struggling to get them to do their degree or a professional course. One of the contractual worker’s daughter managed to complete her 12th but has now dropped out of the education system because her father cannot afford to put her through college. He hasn’t even asked her what she wants to study …. Because he can’t put her through even an inexpensive Govt college. Another staff member told us that he has three daughters and has managed to put two of his daughters through college… But they had to do courses that he could afford and not what they wanted to do.
Another staff member has played the role of a mentor to a cousin and ensured the child writes the entrance exam for the Hotel management course from IHM and hopefully ShikshaDaan can fund his IHM program. The child’s father is a driver and is barely able to make ends meet.
We had several people come and speak to us individually about their specific needs and we realised that this interaction helped validate our focus on the 10th plus segment. There is a need for people to study further and ShikshaDaan hopes to support that, thereby improving their employment opportunities.
A small info graphic from the US that brings home the point, higher education equals higher earning potential. This is true of India too, so we need children to continue their education and get a higher education, so they can earn better.
Support ShikshaDaan’s efforts – by volunteering, mentoring and donating ! Help build India, by educating our children.