A new crop of NGOs, comprising the privileged youth of today, is fighting on behalf of India's have-nots

Lalitha is barely 15, but already has the poise of the air-hostess that she aspires to be. “I want to travel and see the world,” she says in impeccable English with a confident toss of her head. “Or perhaps a photographer,” she hastily adds.

She could have been any regular teenager dreaming aloud, except that her mother was a vegetable vendor at the local city market who died when Lalitha was four, leaving her at the mercy of another vendor. At the age of seven, when she refused to work as a maid, she was beaten with a steel spoon that cut her head open. She was found bleeding on a pavement.

Reena, meanwhile, is certain that she wants to be a journalist because she enjoys research, writing up reports and short stories. Her oratory skills have won her the post of deputy speaker at the school parliament of her ICSE English medium school. She reads novels in her spare time. This would not be an unusual description of any bright teenager, except that Reena was abandoned for being a girl child, and was adopted by a maid who left her in an orphanage after realising she couldn’t afford to take care of her.

Satish Manchikanti, one of the founders of U&I, an NGO that runs after-school tutoring programs for such girls growing up in orphanages and care centres, describes these girls as first-generation learners: Children who live in communities where they lack role models to inspire them educationally.

“Although 95 percent enroll in schools, 70-90 percent of children from such backgrounds cannot cope, which basically means that 9 out of 10 kids drop out before they reach Class X,” he explains. They remain on the other side of what he calls “the great Indian divide”, unable to catch up with their peers who come from stable middle-class backgrounds.

He realised that all jobs in the private sector required one to speak, write and read English, while the majority of first-generation learners who emerge from the Indian school system are unfamiliar with these basics, placing them at a permanent disadvantage. Fifty-two percent of Class V students cannot read Class II textbooks. They live in communities where they lack role models to inspire them educationally, and they attend schools where the student-teacher ratios are typically 60:1.

To try and bridge this gap, he opened his office post 6 pm and taught children basic English and computer skills. From 15 students in the first classroom in 2011, they have now grown to reach over 1,400 in after-school and in-school programmes, with 1,000 active volunteers spread over 13 cities and 36 learning centres. This ensures a 3:1 ratio of mentorship and tutoring, teaching the children skills such as spoken English, reading programmes through libraries, subject tutoring, educational trips and counselling — providing a structured 360 degree program of holistic education. Every volunteer has to pass a screening test, every class is audited to ensure accountability and impact. Their success is evident in the fact that in the last three years, all Class X students have passed with more than 70 percent marks.

U&I is volunteer-driven, a model successfully followed by two other NGOs doing similar work: Bhumi and Make a Difference (MAD).

Bharat Bhaskaran, one of the directors at MAD, is barely 29 years old and has been in the system for five years in different capacities, trying to provide what he calls “equitable outcomes” for children in shelter homes. “Not equal, but equitable,” he clarifies. “MAD aims to create enough opportunities to offer the same level of exposure to these children as their counterparts from middle class homes. We want them to reach the threshold of the opportunities available to the middle class by the time they are 28 and ready to begin a family of their own, so that their kids have a better future.”

Dr Prahalathan is a co-founder of Bhumi, one of India’s largest independent youth volunteer non-profit organisations that began in 2006 and now enables over 12,000 volunteers in more than 14 cities across India to work for causes such as education in after care programmes and also civic causes such as the environment, animal welfare and community welfare. “I finished my medical degree and had planned to go abroad, but met my co-founders and began to do this temporarily; I enjoyed it so much that I now work full time,” says the 35-year-old. “I’m a better person now” is his simple conclusion of the outcome of his decision to give up his career.

Bhumi follows a distributed leadership model, with older coordinators mentoring the newer ones, and every project has a HR and project coordinator to keep track of its many ventures. In addition to education, there are numerous civic activities: Tree planting in Chennai, lake cleaning in Bengaluru, recording of audio books in Chandigarh, food collection drives in Delhi and Chennai, apart from weekly road safety awareness drives.

“A lot of people want to do something good, are more socially aware and feel responsible, and this makes them volunteer,” observes Prahalathan. “Also, they get as much as they put in, in terms of leadership, management skills, and PR.”

MAD won an award that called it “one of the great places to work”, and like U&I, offers volunteers a community of like-minded people who are passionate about bringing about change in the lives of the disadvantaged. “Initially, volunteering was considered cool and was becoming a thing about 10 years ago. But now, youngsters are actively involved because they believe in its impact; they don’t do this just so that they can brag to their family about it. They also like the positive nature of the task,” says Bhaskaran. “In this line of work, I have met some of the most humble and genuinely passionate people; the quality of our interactions is great, and we don’t have time to worry about petty things.”

Sharon Paul, a psychologist who volunteers with U&I, says, “Volunteering has made me see how fortunate I am and the kind of change that is possible by just giving 2.5 hours of my time every week.”

Writer Susan Narjala says, “U&I gives me the chance to help in a way that is consistent and organised: They make me accountable to the kids and give me the tools to connect with them. I see each child as an individual; they have fun, interesting personalities that make me laugh.”

There is now the wonderful problem of plenty: This year alone, more than 30,000 volunteers have registered with Bhumi, but it only has the capacity to work with 15,000, and is stepping up to the challenge of finding opportunities for the rest. U&I began its recruitment drive this March and already has 4,907 sign-ups to date.

The best part of this large army of volunteers who are waging a war against an inequitable system on behalf of the have-nots, is that the have’s are leading it from the front. And having a blast while they are at it.