DISHA in ACTION

Disha operates a residential school with 96 girls and 121 boys and provides employment to 21 people. At Disha the activities are related to the:

Grass Root Connection

The beneficiaries are young children ranging from 5 to 19 years. They come from rural backgrounds and are mostly exposed to agricultural activity. So Disha uses more than half of it's available 6 acres of land for agriculture. There are more than 2200 trees comprising approximately 90 fruit trees, and 22 vegetables are grown.All the children work in the field for a couple of hours everyday under the supervision of the only gardener, another assistant cum teacher and also a health care worker cum matron at staggered hours throughout the day. The little ones just pick up twigs and clean the ground, the slightly older ones gather leaves for the compost pit and fuel, The still older ones cut grass for the cows food and water the plants. The other older children help with making beds ,preparing the soil and then planting the seeds.

The children and resident staff are provided with at least 15 Kg of vegetable per day, the endeavor is to grow our own vegetables.This way the children literally partake of the fruits of their own labor it is a financial relief and of course they get freshly plucked produce.

Disha also has cows that provide milk for the children and some of it is sold to supplement the cost of maintaining the cows. Gobar is used as part of the fertilizer. Some older children help with the daily chores of feeding, milking and cleaning the cowshed.

 Residential Facility

Attempts to use the buildings all round the clock ,so the Assembly Hall is used for sleeping at night and during the day it is used as a multipurpose Hall for various school activities ,like morning assembly entertainment and entrepreneurial training.The boys bathroom and Box Room is located in this building as well.

The girls reside in another building which houses the Dinning Halls, one of these is used by the girls for sleeping.The girls Bathroom is connected to this building .The Store Room for the groceries and the Office are also located in this building.

Everyday in the morning after breakfast the boys clean the school building and the girls clean their building.

There is a separate Kitchen, where the cook with the help of a couple of girls cooks for all the 217 children. The cooking utensils at night are washed by the boys.The boys and girls follow a previously determined routine to carry out these activities.

The senior girls use the office to study at night.

Health Care

Each student's medical history is maintained in a separate file . Every child is checked once every day and any medical problem is addressed immediately. Depending on the prblem the patient is treated either in house or is taken to the local State Hospital Sometimes a Doctor is also called on site for referral.One room is dedicated as a clinic for medical purposes.

Entertainment

Children from Class 5 above are allowed outings under the supervision of seniors for a couple of hours. The girls and boys watch a movie in their respective buildings on Saturday evenings.Diwali is celebrated with a lot of fanfare.The boys and girls decorate their respective buildings and depending on which one looks better the winners (boys or girls ) are awarded a group prize. 

Extra Curricular Activity

The students are provided tabla, singing and  dancing lessons.They are also encouraged to do elocution and public speaking. During Assembly everyday in the morning a different student speaks on a predetermined topic and another one speaks on a current issue selected by the student from the newspaper.