Challenges of Street Education and How Pehchaan The Street School is Overcoming Them

Challenges of Street Education and How Pehchaan The Street School is Overcoming Them

Introduction

Street education is one of the most heartfelt yet difficult paths to creating social change. It doesn’t take place in conventional classrooms but in open areas or in slum areas. The students are underprivileged children—resilient, bright-eyed, and burdened by poverty and survival. For the children, education can seem more than just a social right but an impossible dream. 

According to EAG (2024) In India, only about 46.5% of five-year-old are enrolled in early childhood education and care (ECEC) programs. Lakhs of children live and grow up in underprivileged areas. With little to no access to formal schooling, they are often forced into child labour, many have to work from a very young age to sustain their livelihood. For children from such disadvantaged backgrounds education can bring a grain of hope to move towards a better future. 

Let’s read how one of the NGOs situated in New Delhi of India, Pehchaan The Street School brings colour into this distressing environment. Through compassion, consistency, and creative teaching, Pehchaan The Street School is overcoming the many obstacles that make street education so challenging.And how Pehchaan The Street SChool navigates through some of the crucial challenges to reach the children in need. Their journey is not easy. From resistance to education, lack of resources, and social stigma to emotional trauma and administrative hurdles. Street education faces countless challenges.

The Realities on the Ground

1. Instability and Lack of Documentation

Most of the underprivileged children do not have a permanent home or habitual. They are often displaced or shift due to their personal familial struggles, or unsafe atmosphere. Many of the children even lack essential documents which are necessary for formal school enrolment like birth certificates or Aadhar cards.

Pehchaan The Street School’s Approach:

Pehchaan The Street School doesn’t require paperwork to begin teaching. Learning begins wherever the child is. Volunteers create temporary classrooms in parks, footpaths, and community spaces, and slowly work towards helping children get documented.

2. Poverty and Resistance to Education

Many children see education as a luxury. Some work to support their families and can’t afford to “waste” time studying. Others have had discouraging experiences with formal schooling and believe they aren’t capable of learning.

Pehchaan The Street School’s Approach:

Pehchaan The Street School approaches children with patience and trust. Volunteers do not force learning but instead use fun activities like drawing, storytelling, or games to slowly introduce the idea of education. Lessons are informal and interactive. The goal is to make children feel safe and excited about learning. Once the child begins to enjoy the process, they start coming back on their own. Volunteers create a safe space where children can express their feelings and adjust in their familiarity henceforth, begin to enjoy learning. As they build trust, so does their consistency.

3. Lack of Resources

Chalkboards, textbooks, pencils. Even these basic things are missing when education happens on the street. Many children have never held a pen. Volunteers often come without any teaching infrastructure. The question is: how do you teach when you have nothing?

Pehchaan The Street School’s Approach:

Volunteers make the most of what’s available. Thanks to donors for the classroom supplies such as blackboards, slates, notebooks, chalks, pen, pencils etc. With the help of donors, Pehchaan The Street School also distributes essential school supplies when possible.

4. Mental Health Challenges:

Many children suffer from trauma. Neglect, abuse, or exposure to violence at a very young age. These traumas affect their behaviour and ability to focus. Some children are aggressive, some extremely shy, and some simply disconnected. Traditional teaching methods don’t work when a child is silently battling inner demons.

Pehchaan The Street School’s Approach:

Volunteers focus on empathy before education. Many professional counselors and psychologists are assigned to navigate their behavioral patterns and console them emotionally. Children are treated with patience, not punishment. Art, games, and conversation are used to build trust and heal. Only when a child feels emotionally safe can real learning begin.

5. Gender Bias and Safety Concerns

Girls often face additional hurdles. Many are expected to take care of siblings or help at home. Safety is a huge concern, and parents often hesitate to let them step out for anything, even if it’s education.

Pehchaan The Street School’s Approach:

Pehchaan The Street School actively encourages girls to attend. Female volunteers serve as role models, and special sessions on hygiene, safety, and confidence-building are held. Slowly, parents start trusting the process, and girls become active participants.

Conclusion

Street education is far from easy. It takes courage, patience, and heart. But every child who learns to write their name, every girl who finds her voice, every smile earned after a solved maths problem—these are powerful victories.

Pehchaan The Street School is not just providing education. It is offering identity, dignity, and hope. Amidst the dust and noise of the streets, Pehchaan The Street School is building futures—quietly, gently, and determinedly.

And in doing so, it is giving every child not just a name, but a chance.


To know more about Pehchaan The Street School and its dedication kindly visit the official links below:

Website: https://pehchaanstreetschool.org

Facebook page link— https://www.facebook.com/PehchaanTheStreetSchoolOfficial/

Instagram— https://instagram.com/pehchaanstreetschool?utm_source=ig_profile_share&igshid=181sger2fozl7

To Donate via Instamojo— https://www.instamojo.com/@pehchaanthestreetschool

To Donate via NEFT— https://pehchaanstreetschool.org/donation/

Email id— pehchaanschool@gmail.com

Youtube channel— https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXd4gnTazJh3JugKENt5yog

Twitter— https://twitter.com/Pehchaan_School?s=09

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