NGO empowers urban poor students to safeguard families from Covid-19

Aurangabad, June 8:

The primary and high schools run by the government or private societies are closed for the last one and a half years (March 2020), in the district, owing to the Covid-19 pandemic situation. The schools are imparting academic education online to students, who are caged in the four walls of their houses. However, with a holistic approach, a Mumbai-based NGO ' Asude Foundation ' opted to directly interact with the high school students of Aurangabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) through door-to-door visits and empower them on Covid safety protocol so that they could further safeguard their families.

Foundation’s Chief Programme Officer, Alria Kharage said, " We have reached out 274 households of students studying in AMC schools at Mitmita, Priyadarshani Indiranagar (Garkheda), Chikalthana, and Harsul. We are visiting door-to-door of the students (most of whom belong to low-income group families) and distribute masks, soaps, sanitisers and apprise them about the Covid safety measures and precautions they had to take during the present situation. It is need of the hour."

The second wave prompted us to go beyond our mandate of education and focus on ensuring the health & safety of children. We are educating children on COVID safety protocol and empowering them to encourage their families in following this protocol, said the chief programme officer adding that the focus is on children as they are the most affected since the beginning of the pandemic situation.

The NGO had signed an MoU with AMC to facilitate holistic education across its 71 municipal schools, in September 2020. Accordingly, the Foundation facilitates life skills education and creates career awareness amongst civic school students.