OUR MODEL
The 360 Degree Initiative
As a centre for early childhood development and education, at Parikrma, children are provided with free CBSE (excellent English medium), high-quality education, three meals a day, comprehensive healthcare, and family support to enable a supportive and stable home environment. This model is known as our ‘Circle of Life’ or ‘360 Degree
Development Model’.
E2E Initiative
We believe in complete end-to-end assistance to a child from age 5 to 25. Through the e2e or the end-to-end model, children receive education right from kindergarten to college. It doesn’t stop there. Children further receive scholarships and are mentored through professional college until they find jobs and become financially independent. This journey is what makes Parikrma a complete program, an effort to transform the life of a child by enabling him or her to break out of the cycle of poverty.
The Final Leap
Given the nature of the backgrounds the children come from and the intense pressure to start earning a living as soon as they finish school, it is important to be with the child through this final leg of the journey before being placed in a job. We also provide scholarships to children to pursue college or vocational training.
The Last Mile
It’s not easy for individuals from difficult backgrounds to blend in and flourish without difficulties in a new professional environment. We offer students support through professional counselling on various nuances of professional life – including coping with new environments, team-work and leadership development.
Mentorships
Parikrma works closely with our corporate sponsors through employee engagement programs. Employees come to our schools and develop their own abilities to get the best out of others – absolutely critical for success in the modern workplace. Our volunteer mentors help our students understand the path to achieving their dreams. They provide motivation, strengthen academic performance, improve social interaction, work on communication skills and, most critically, provide focus and a clear direction for the future.
Our children
There are over 6 lakh people living in over 800 designated slums in Bangalore. But, over 1 million people live in non-designated slums in abject poverty with no safe drinking water or even adequate sanitation.
Our children at Parikrma come from somewhere between this ambiguous terminology and statistics. Children come from 99 slum communities and 4 Orphanages from different communities across Koramangala, Jayanagar, Sahakaranagar and Nandini Layout, with diverse histories. There are common stories of neglect, complete lack of medical care, alcoholic parents and various sorts of abuse. Perhaps, what is most alarming, is that sometimes our children don’t even get a meal a day.
However, one thing is for certain: if not for Parikrma, many of our children would not be in school.
Children Stats at Parikrma
Average People / Household: 5
Average Household Income: Rs. 7500/- (US$95) per month
Ages: 5 – 18 years
Total Number of Children: 1802, comprising 913 girls and 889 boys.
Children Selection Criteria
Orphaned & abandoned children
Children from slum households with income less than Rs. 7500 per month. (US$95)
Below 6 years
Special emphasis on the girl child
Special preference to siblings
No distinction of caste, creed & religion