Panikhali

We first began working in The village of Panikhali in 2006 in our Panikhali Centre. The programme started in Panikhali to help children and young people from this marginalised community receive education and uplift themselves from the poverty cycle for many families in the village. The community is home to many minority groups, among the most underprivileged groups in Indian society. In 2020 we completed the redevelopment of our Panikhali Centre when the old school building was replaced with a new building consisting of five classrooms, a library, an office and a community meeting room.

Boria

A neighbouring village of Panikhali, just 2km away and is where we began our second education centre. For many years we had a mother’s group in Boria where we would regularly discuss issues they faced in the local community. In the summer of 2017, the mothers requested we provide tuition to their children. We decided to start tuition in two local churches each morning for all Classes I – VIII students. In 2020 with support from Calcutta Connect, we began the construction of our centre in Boria. Construction of the new building was completed in late 2021. The centre in Boria has four classrooms, a computer room, a tailoring room, a community meeting room, a kitchen and a library.

Alor Disha

In January 2018, we began our programme in the village of Charadakatia. We named our centre Alor Disha, and classes started for preschool and follow-up coaching. Since 2018 with the support of Calcutta Connect, we have gradually expanded our Alo Disha Centre from the original two-room building to today having four classrooms, a community meeting room, a computer room, a tailoring training room, a kitchen, and a library.

Skills Training & Medical Centre

Located in Panikali village, the Skills Training and Medical Centre has two primary aims. The first is to provide skills to local people to empower them to generate an income and start their own small businesses. The second is to offer medical check-up facilities to the community where teams of medics from different specialities visit to provide check-ups free of charge.