A new school in Mankhurd

Khoj is Apni Shala's SEL-Integrated School Initiative, currently operating at a Limbuni Baug Mumbai Public School in Mumbai, India. Khoj uses a holistic educational model that centers students' psychosocial wellbeing to educate and heal and incorporates counselling, mindfulness and inclusion practices to help empower its students and their families. 

Central to its commitment to education is the view that when it comes to teaching a student, it cannot happen in isolation, but through a harmonious and healthy ecosystem that revolves around the student’s wellbeing. 

Khoj aims to become a model school in the given context. With a curricular focus on students’ wellbeing and development, the school’s design is informed by students’ lived realities and continually strives to build an inclusive and compassionate ecosystem where all students can thrive.

Goals

BE A lab school for community development in india
Khoj aims to  offer a high-quality, contextually relevant education and become a lab school for research and development of concept-based and multicultural education that focuses on community development in India. It is proposed to be a Kindergarten to Grade 10 (K-10) institution catering to over 300 students in its full capacity (25 students per class, K-10).
address education needs OF THE diverse M-east ward
“Recording a slum population of 77.55% and Human Development Index of 0.05, M (East) ward ranked lowest in Mumbai Human Development Report 2009. This apart, the 256+ slum settlements and 13 large resettlement colonies in this ward are reflective of the creation of a ghetto in a global city,” reports Social Economic Conditions and Vulnerabilities, A report of baseline survey of M (East) ward, Mumbai. “Poverty, availability, and accessibility are three big reasons why children drop out of school,” says Soha Moitra of Child Rights
and You (CRY).

Lallubhai Compound houses rehabilitated families from across Mumbai. During our field work and conversations with families, we have found that access to good quality, English-medium, affordable education is a strong need. This is a neighbourhood where only 19% of fathers and 27% of mothers have studied till grade 10 and above. Most guardians are working and are employed in various forms of physical or clerical work. All parents have shown high personal engagement with Khoj since its inception. The first cohort of Khoj students therefore bring with them a rich linguistic diversity with Hindi, Marathi, Tamil, Bhojpuri and English being spoken at home.

Looking at socio-cultural diversity and interest in education from the families, Lallubhai Compound offers an exciting opportunity for a school like Khoj to be set up and be nourished by the active engagement of the members of this learning community. While the school will help address the accessibility challenge for quality education in the area, it will also provide an opportunity for a more wholesome and individualised education that children coming from such linguistically, socially and culturally diverse backgrounds need.
engage through context driven learning methods
The curriculum will operate within the broader framework of National Curriculum Framework. The schools will provide programmatic opportunities include counselling and support for mental health, life skills education, service learning program, an adequate arts and science programme and extensive community development initiatives. Teachers at Khoj will undergo a year round training for multicultural education. 
collaborate with community
Khoj will be a community-driven initiative, where participation and decisions made by the community will drive the key content, processes and structure of the center. Khoj has collaborated with The Akanksha Foundation and Seeking Educational Equity and Diversity (SEED) program housed in Wellesley College, USA..

We need your support  

Parents of students pay a nominal fee of Rs. 250 / month. However, some parents are not able to pay even a part of the nominal fee. The center hopes to create supportive structure or alternatives to the contributions.
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Direct Cost Per Child in AY 2021-22 is Rs. 63,903 (approx. 900 USD).

Why did we start this school?

‘People are not the problem, the problem is the problem' (Narrative Practices)

The school has taken great strides to get to the heart of issues causing distress to its students in their home life, with the understanding that the breakdown in family relationships is commonly the result of oppressive systems of poverty and exclusion. 

Who's attending the school?

The school caters to 180 students from Grade K-4 who come from low-income families in Mumbai’s Govandi, Makhurd and Chembur areas, part of M-East ward, some of the most marginalised areas in the city. 
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No. of Teachers

10​​

What are our students learning?

Social Emotional Learning
Themes/Concepts 
English Language Development 
Math
Art/Music
Physical Development

4 Focus Areas / Theme to choose from

SEL for Self
Each educator needs to have learning and growth opportunities.   They look within oneself and discovering areas of  psycho-social competencies in one self.
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SEL in Classrooms
Educators will learn to integrate simple games and circle time activities into their classrooms.   Age-appropriateness and time availability will be taken into consideration.

Educator as a Facilitator
This programme creates a shift of mindset from educator to facilitator,  ​arising from an active reflection into one’s own practices as teachers.

SEL integration
Provide holistic SEL opportunities to all  children in the school based on  the CASEL  framework.

Work at Khoj

We're always looking for people to volunteer, intern, or work full-time at Khoj.  Click here for opportunities.