About Disha Foundation in 119/1B, Manoharpukur Road, Kolkata

Founded in June 1992, Disha Foundation has guided hundreds of underprivileged children to the path of success. The reason for Disha Foundation's existence today sprouted from the humble request of a domestic helper of Divyayan, a prestigious Montessori school, who asked the principal, Ms. Neena Singh, for a financial loan to fund the tuition of her son. This set the thought process rolling.

Ms. Neena Singh resolved to proactively address this social quandary. Just as children of affluent parents need help to cope with their studies, so do socially underprivileged children. They need special guidance as most of them are First Generation Learners and are more vulnerable to undesirable social elements. Moreover, the development of India is directly correlated to the welfare of all children- irrespective of their caste and creed.

Optimum use has been made of the available 800 sq ft premises. In fact we have rented a premise very close to the main Disha so as to accommodate our ever expanding family and scale of activities. Today, there are around 350 children, ranging from 2 to 18 years, enrolled in the morning Balwadi, informal afternoon school and the original evening tutorial classes. In addition, classes are held in Dancing, Singing, Craft, Spoken English, Computer, Karate, Yoga, Cutting and Embroidery. Disha Foundation has also had several courses in Computer Hardware, Graphic Designing, Nursing, Beauticians Training, etc.
Our dropout rate has become minimal. Over the years our children have made us proud with their brilliant achievements. This has instilled, in school Principals, a sense of confidence and respect for students from Disha. On an average we mainstream about 35 to 40 children from the Balwadi and Primary sections. We provide financial assistance, up to 75% for admissions into new school, as most parents cannot afford the admission fees in these schools.
With our sincere love and commitment towards underprivileged children, we have attempted to infuse their lives with a sense of confidence, joy and happiness. We have adopted several initiatives to improve the quality of their life and ensure that they have a safe and promising future ahead of them such as:

• We have regular health checkups for the children. The children are given Vitamin and Iron supplements regularly.

• We have regular Parent-Teacher meetings in which the parents are updated about the child’s progress.

• We have a long waiting list for admissions into various sections, and we also take in dropouts.

• Disha has now won full neighborhood support.

• We celebrate everything at Disha – Saraswati Puja, Holi, Rath Yatra, Diwali, Durga Puja, Christmas, Eid, Children’s Day, Teacher’s Day, Rabindra Jayanti, Republic Day, Rakhi, Independence Day and any other day of significance.

• Our regular programmes include Republic Day, Sports Day, Art Exhibition, Summer Camp, Annual Programme, Rakhi, Independence Day, Teacher’s Day, Durga Puja, Diwali, Children’s Day and Winter Carnival.

• Giving gifts is a tradition at Disha. Each child gets a set of new clothes for Durga Puja. There are other gifts also – sometimes on Diwali, or Children’s Day or sometimes just on an ordinary Day.

• To give exposure to the children at Disha, we organise ‘outings’ or field trips. The toddlers are taken to the zoo and the older ones to the museums. The children go for inter-school meets, picnics and competitions like art competition etc.

• Audio Visual lessons are shown to the children with the help of K-Yan donated by Reach India.

• Medical help is given to children with major illnesses.

• Our first major step towards expansion was the joint venture with Vikramshila for the Reach India Project from May’06 – July’07.

• Currently our association with ‘Children International’ of Kansas City is helping us expand in different areas.