Educo Saibaba Path school
Leader: Ms Meenal Srinivasan
Location: Saibaba Path Mumbai Public School, Lalbaug, Central Mumbai
Started: June 2009
Teachers: 50+
Pupils: circa 900 pupils (Junior KG up to Standard 8)
Supported by: Various generous corporate donors.
Saibaba Path Mumbai Public School is located in a large but somewhat underutilised school building in Lalbaug, owned by the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (formerly the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation or BMC). The BMC, under a public private partnership, has permitted educo to run an English medium school, in which we are currently educating 515 pupils in four classrooms, from Junior Kindergarten to Standard 2.
Educo has extensively renovated and furnished the classrooms provided by the BMC, including laying new floors and painting colourful murals on the walls. We also provide additional teaching materials and class supplies, including books, games and musical instruments. Our aim is to expand our school by one classroom each year as the children progress all the way to Standard 10.
Educo fully manages and funds the running of the school while the basic infrastructure is provided by the BMC. Our teachers are recruited from the local slum areas and we provide them with an intensive year’s teacher training, in partnership with the Muktangan organisation. Central to the Muktangan method is the impressive teacher-pupil ratio – one teacher for every 10-15 pupils, which encourages one-to-one tuition and remedial education to the children who need it.
Saibaba Path Mumbai Public School is located in Lalbaug, an area with one of the highest slum habitation percentages and lowest literacy rates in all of Mumbai. Lalbaug also has especially high rates of unemployment due to the closure of the local textile mills on which the local community depended for work. The children attending the school all come from the local slum areas. We employ a fulltime Community Liaison Officer who works closely with the local community to identify new children to join the school and to ensure the parents of those children are fully committed to the education of their children. Our CLO also ensures that children attend school regularly and will work to resolve any issues that arise within the home which are preventing the child from coming to school.
In addition to these four junior classes, educo also saw the need to supplement the education of the older pupils attending the BMC run school, in the same building. For this reason, educo now runs free English and Computer classes all year round for the 600 or so pupils who attend the BMC school. The Computer classes are run from our own two renovated computer labs, which house some 40 computers in total, and are given through the medium of English. The aim of these classes is to improve the English language skills of these pupils, as well as to give the older pupils the computer skills now necessary in modern employment environments.
Educo Saibaba Path goals
Saibaba Path has huge potential for growth and continued support from the local community & we aim to keep expanding our school into the available space to meet the need for a good quality free English medium school for local underprivileged children.