dc.description.abstract | Education in India is provided by the public sector as well as the private sector, with control
and funding coming from three levels: central, state and local. Under various articles of the
Indian Constitution, free and compulsory education is provided as a fundamental right to
children between the ages of 6 and 14. The ratio of public schools to private schools in India
is 7:5 showing a huge increase in private schools since independence owing to deteriorating
quality of education at public schools.About 39 percent schools have less than 50 students while 21 per cent elementary school
teachers are "untrained," and only 18 per cent teachers are able to avail annual in-service
training. Founded in 2003, Prayaas is an initiative by IIM-Ahmedabad students to enable
children of neighbouring areas to get access to quality education. It relies on collective crowd
funding for its day-to-day operations. It is creating a change in life of children who live
around the campus in poor conditions by providing them a more nurturing environment in
which they can learn and develop their young minds. However, it is not bereft of operational
challenges as they struggle to garner support from the student community and outside IIMA
community. There are certain issues that Prayaas faces, some pertaining to its inability to
register as an NGO, due to changing teams and the rest because of lack of a sustainable plan
for the organization to survive.Through this project we have tried to study different kinds of supplementary educational
initiatives for the underprivileged and their business models. This knowledge and information
will be applied to develop a better understanding of the different issues that Prayaas faces and further attempt to create a sustainable strategy for Prayaas, as they face huge budget deficits
year on year leading to all team energy being expended in funding. | en_US |