First Success Academy Center opened in Garyakol Gorakhpur

Schooling in rural India depends primarily on government and government-supported schools. It is not easy to travel to rural India, children from rural areas face many challenges before they complete their education. It was Mr. Ray Prasad’s dream; who wanted to eradicate the darkness of analphabetism or illiteracy by providing quality education, and probably knew villages better than the villagers themselves. He assessed the gaps in the existing rural education system and decided to provide funds for the development of systems. In Garyakol villages, Uttar Pradesh State, Gorakhpur district of India, he founded “the success academy” with his dream.

Since Opened:
It has over two month since this center is functioning.  Success Academy Center is not a typical school. It is designed to create interest among young children about the education, teach them in fun way using our specially designed fun activity curriculum.  We are showing them original American Children TV shows and Teachers asking what they have learned as a part of curriculum. For older kids our emphasis is the English language (reading, writing, spoken) and preparing them to score better in their school exams. Computers and Education toys have been added for to bring them to main stream.  While Center was getting ready our teachers spent time with village women to teach them how to write their name and how to sign.

Center opens 2 pm to 7pm for 6 days a week.  We have appointed three trained staff members. Two coordinators guide them on deciding curriculum on weekly basis. So far this center has 88 children enrolled. Selection is based completely based on family income. Trying to enroll poorest of poor from local community first. There are NO charge to the students.

The birth and unique offer of the Success Academy:
Be Educated began a noble initiative with the opening of their first Success Academy to overcome these obstacles. The first center of this Success Academy to offer its students free education. This center has modern facilities including computers, televisions, wireless internet access, modern toys, and modern educational facilities. Sir Ray Prasad has generously supported the center. Salute and Thanks to him.
The aim of this center is much more than providing children with basic and free education. This Center aims to enable children to live quality lives utilizing education, to create equal opportunities for children in future and also to uplift the weaker sections of society.
Now, both girls and boys are excited to come to the academy daily, You have both the opportunity and the freedom to interactively learn new things. The teachers appointed are devoted to society, are well equipped and emphatic. They were trained not only to give their best out of work, but also out of compassion. With more children, with a sparkle in their eyes, and their parents’ acceptability with confidence, the outcome is very promising!

Challenges:
Poor basic skills / Learning results – Rural kids attend school but they don’t have a sufficient quality of education. Their reading and arithmetic foundation skills are poor.
Access to advanced learning tools – Rural school students either have no access or no access to advanced learning tools, such as digital learning, computing training, non-university books.
Financial restriction – Children under the right to education receive a free education until the age of 14 years, after which they are not entitled to an education. Rural families are constantly under financial strain for different reasons. For them, education becomes the second priority for their children, which is why they are forced to survive by revenue generation (earning for themselves and families). This is one of reasons why secondary and higher education is poorly enrolled.
Sports training and equipment – proper coaching and equipment for sports and sports are not available in rural schools. This leads to the absence of games and physically active opportunities for students.

Following school activities – it is very important to involve students in activities that improve their learning and quality of life. In urban areas, students attend music, dance and foreign language classes after school, whereas in rural areas, students simply wander around in the village and undertake unproductive activities. A key challenge is the lack of access to post-school centers in rural areas.

Digital literacy – poor or lack of access to the digital device, computer education, in particular, is a challenge for rural students to improve their digital literacy.
Personal attention – Most schools do not have enough classrooms, teachers and staffs to provide needed attention to students; therefore, lessons are taught for more than one std in the same classroom. The pupil ratio is low for students. This leads to little attention being paid to students who lack learning.

Report prepared by Toolika and Sara