About the Organisation: The schools are open, spacious and provide a bustling yet peaceful haven for the children. A far cry from their often difficult and disrupted home lives. The school facilities include outdoor play areas, a variety of arts and music equipment, dining rooms and communal halls for gym, assemblies and performances.
The children come from nearby slums and orphanages, and ordinarily these children would stand to receive little or no education as a result of the poor government school system that is failing to meet demand and basic standards.
Who they are: These schools have been founded by philanthropists and funded by various charities, receiving funds and support from across the globe to enable them to reach out to the poorest children living in
Bangalore's slums and orphanages.
The parent organisations run schools and outreach programmes, and ensure that the children's parents understand and support their children's education as a way of helping them to break the poverty cycle and grow up with a brighter future.
What they do: The schools welcome children from all of India's faiths and between them they are educating more than 1000 children from the city's 800 slums. Both emphasise the quality of the education compared with the sometimes poorly trained teachers and overcrowded classes of the government schools. Imagine not knowing for sure whether you will have a meal that day, whether your father will get drunk and beat you - or even come home at all - and worrying about what will happen if anyone gets sick.
11 year-old Karthik's experience is typical. He lives with his aunt, grandmother and two brothers after his mother died of cancer and his father, who works in a hotel, abandoned the family. Despite all this he walks to school every day, is doing particularly well in maths and science and is described as a "little leader" in his class.
What you can do: You can expect to divide your time between helping children with their basic curricular subjects in the morning, specifically assisting children that are falling behind and very much in need of individual support and attention, and extra-curricular activities, projects and events.
You will be encouraged to make the most of your personal strengths and interests towards organizing stimulating, fun and challenging activities for the children to add to the trips, summer camps, and visits that are currently aimed at opening the children's eyes to the wider world and its possibilities.