School to College Pathways
Ensuring 100% enrollment in grade 11 (Junior
College)
Given the high rate of girls who drop out of the school system post the 10th grade, the School to College
pathways helps girls stay on track to complete their education through individualized counselling and
mentorship.
College mentors are typically those who have already gone through the process themselves and assist
girls with subject selection, remedial classes, and college matching. The program seeks to achieve 100
percent success rate in college admissions among its students.
School Leader Training
A top-down approach to gender inclusivity in
schools
We believe that bringing girls back to school is not enough. We must also work to keep school as a
welcoming space for all girls enrolled. We work closely with school leaders and administrators to create a
gender-inclusive school environment.
We host several school leader workshops throughout the year where school leaders are urged to think
through issues as they pertain to the girl child from a bottoms-up approach.
Leadership Development
Enhancing leadership skills and confidence
building among girls
Students across schools enrol in Balika projects every year. Under the guidance of Balika volunteers,
students use the design thinking model to ideate and implement solutions to the most pressing issues in
their communities relating to women.
Over the past few years, Balika has led community projects focused on menstrual health and hygiene,
nutrition, sexual assault, technology implementation, water accessibility, and installation of public
restrooms.
Through the Balika projects, girls take ownership of community problems and facilitate the dialogue
around addressing these issues. In the process, girls develop essential skills such as leadership,
confidence, and problem solving.
Each year, girls are pushed to take up and excel in any two extracurricular activities of their choice.
Our girls are trained in dance, debate, elocution, Model United Nations, and drama.
English Literacy program
Leveraging English for economic empowerment of
mothers in the community
According to a report by ASER (2017), 70.7 percent of out-of-school youth in India have mothers who have
never been to school. Mothers who are educated tend to make more educated choices for their children.
Our English Literacy program enables mothers to learn English at our centers, free-of-cost. Our trainers
work closely with mothers from the community to teach English reading, writing, and speaking. Over the
past years, many of our moms have succeeded in securing jobs owing to their English fluency.
Making Leaps
Academic excellence classes for 9th and 10th
grade students
Every year, 47 million Indian youth drop out before completing Grade 10. Children from at-risk communities
face a higher risk of failure in the grade 10 state board examinations.
Our ‘Making Leaps’ initiative is focused on academic excellence in the state board examinations. Our
volunteers enter Grade 10 classrooms to assist teachers with remedial teaching and extra classes. 100
percent of the children enrolled in our classes have successfully cleared their examinations, and over
80 percent have enrolled in college.
COVID-19 Community Impact
Providing mass outreach of ration and female
hygiene supplies
Through strategic partnerships, Balika has provided ration packets to over 25,000 people in Malwani during
the pandemic and female hygiene supplies to 5,500 young girls in the community.
Our distribution drives have focused on single mothers, and Balika volunteers have undertaken
contactless door-to-door delivery for single mothers and their families.
Menstrual health and hygiene
Promoting menstrual health awareness among
girls in the community
Balika works with community members to host workshops on menstrual health and provide subsidized access to
sanitary products.
Health and nutrition
Enhancing health and nutrition standards
A large number of girls drop-out of school because of poor nutrition. Balika has partnered with a local
nutritional supplements supplier in Mumbai to provide free-of-cost nutritional supplements to girls across
five schools. All girls have access to free yearly health check-ups.
Safety around schools
Partnerships with local police and municipal
bodies to ensure safety for all girls
Balika works with the Mumbai police to ensure safety of girls who walk to school. In the past 3 years, we
have reduced incidents of female harassment outside schools in Malwani by over 50 percent.