COVID Warrior: How Saarthi Education is empowering women, educating over 8,000 children amidst COVID-19

The goal of education is not merely to provide information but also to help people connect socially and emotionally to one another, thereby building a sense of belonging, connection, and mutual responsibility. Since COVID-19 has put almost everything on pause, universities and colleges are making sure that they pursue the course online for their current students.

Amid lockdown, many people are trying to spread education and knowledge. Organizations are working to teach students from different sources. Saarthi education is one of them. Saarthi education aims to create excellent early learning experiences for children in India. Ankit Arora founded Saarthi education in 2017.

Saarthi education solves problems related to poor education and women unemployment in urban poor communities. During the pandemic, their group launched a WhatsApp-based intervention program for children in urban poor communities. Each community has one relationship manager generally a woman. Apart from education, the saarthi group also generated a fund for direct cash transfers to families who are in financial crisis. When the situation was not in control and patients were dying because of lack of facilities. NGO also created a live dashboard for oxygen cylinders, beds, etc., to handle the increasing demand.

“We have used evidence-backed practices to create a program that is contextualized to Indian urban poor communities,” Ankit says. At present, Saarthi education is working with over 8000 children and 157 women in Delhi. Education is generally perceived to be the gateway to the best jobs and better educated one is, the better jobs one gets, and therefore getting out and away from poverty via education is an aspiration for most people. Such organization helps to build students knowledge and works to make children progress in society.