Ruchika Social Service Organisation: A Voice for Children
In response to the growing and seemingly insurmountable challenges faced by children in the slums of Bhubaneswar, Inderjit Khurana, an experienced teacher and director of her own successful school, founded the Ruchika Social Service Organization in 1985. Initially it comprised of a single “Platform School” and is presently reaching out to over 4,000 underprivileged children and their families.
RSSO maintains that every child has the right to education. Through a diverse assortment of various educational innovations, RSSO has dedicated itself to the ideal that if the child cannot come to the school, then the school must come to the child.
The railway platforms of Bhubhaneshwar in India have long been a breeding ground of despair, where underprivileged children of all ages have been subject to frequent abuse, starvation and preyed upon for the purposes of child labour and even prostitution.
Since 1985, Ruchika Social Service Organization with just a handful of dedicated volunteers and an underpaid staff, has committed itself to extricating street children from their apparently hopeless lives by providing safety, nutrition and education, to give them an opportunity to grow into a world of endless potential and realize the dream of every human being – to lead a safe and fulfilling life.
RSSO maintains that the way to lead children out of this predicament is to ensure that their time is constructively utilized in learning and to equip them for a productive future, by reinforcing their self esteem in ways that bring some joy and love into their young lives.
Ruchika Social Service Organisation aims to:
Provide all children with a joyful and creative school atmosphere that incorporates education and skills relevant to a meaningful and dignified existence.
Equip children with the knowledge necessary to become active participants and positive contributors to their communities.
Create a society free of child labour, abuse, destitution, exploitation and abandonment.
The Need to Help:
India is home to nearly half a billion children, many of whom live in extreme poverty. The Indian Government has not been able to find a way to educate these children, who spend their days begging, stealing and selling their bodies just to survive.
Inderjit Khurana, a teacher in Bhubaneswar (a town 300 miles south of Calcutta), noticed that the children of the slums spent their days begging on train platforms rather than going to school. So she decided that if the children couldn’t come to school, she’d bring the school to them.
In response to the growing and seemingly insurmountable challenges faced by these children Inderjit Khurana, an experienced educator and director of her own successful school, founded the Ruchika Social Service Organization in 1985.
Initially it comprised of a single “platform school” but has now grown to 12 schools with a host of other welfare programs and is presently reaching out to over 4,000 underprivileged children and their families. With teachers to guide and care for them, the children are helped to develop hope for their future.
Because the government refused to help her, Inderjit Khurana had to rely on charitable donations to raise the meager $12,000 a year that funds all 12 schools that now operate.
RSSO maintains that every child has the right to education. Through a diverse assortment of various educational innovations, RSSO has dedicated itself to the ideal that… If the child cannot come to the school, then the school must come to the child.
In all its activities, RSSO recognizes and understands the totality of the lives of the children it serves. Acknowledging that the complex demands of simple survival often preclude a child’s ability to attend regular school, RSSO offers a style of non-formal schooling that takes these issues into account, making education accessible, meaningful, and significant for even the most deprived child.
Asra 24 Hours Boys’ Shelter
Children in need of care & protection, living on the streets, working in vulnerable occupations, orphaned, deserted, trafficked, run away from home are rescued by the outreach workers of RSSO and given shelter in the Open Shelter Homes – separate Shelter homes for boys (ASRA) and for girls (SRADHA).
They are counseled and provided with food, clothes, medical treatment, bridge course education, training and outdoor visit till they are restored/ rehabilitated.
With the order of Child Welfare Committee, their families are traced and they are restored to their parents and others are placed in transit homes/ permanent shelter homes.
In 1996, Childline India Foundation (CIF) launched this project “CHILDLINE”, the country’s first toll-free telephonic helpline for children in distress and/or difficult situations. As of now, it operates in 366 cities in all over India through its network of over 700 partner organizations.
We are also a partner and running the CHILDLINE since 2000. The child or any other concerned person can dial the tool free telephone number 1098, which is supported by the Ministry of Women & Child Development, Govt. of India. After getting the call, our Childline team member will rescue the child and provide all necessary services like food, shelter, medical help, counseling and rehabilitation/ restoration.
Swachh Samudai
Ruchika Social Service Organization (RSSO), Odisha started its program in April 1985 for children in and around the railway station with a station platform education centre and gradually moved on to cover related facets like nutrition, medical and maternal care, hygiene, personal cleanliness, sponsorship of girls to the school, Vocational training to the unemployed disadvantaged slum youths, awareness of HIV/AIDS among the slum/street adolescents, providing 24 hrs telephonic outreach for children in distress and crisis, shelter for the homeless/orphan children, water and sanitation program for slum community etc. The ideology and overwhelming credo is “if the child cannot come to the school then the school must go to the child”
The project will aim to achieve the following objectives:
Demonstrated State Government and Urban Local Body (ULB) commitment towards sanitation and water service delivery in small cities;
Long‐term sustained capacity development of states and cities for effective sanitation service delivery;
Increased number of people in pilot cities has access to better sanitation and water services
Improve city‐wide planning approaches for water and sanitation
To date they have rescued more than 12,629.children from difficult situations. Out of which more than 92% children were restored to their parents and those who have not able to say their address or orphans are referred to different Shelter Homes, Orphanage and Child Care Institutions.
Your generous contribution to Ruchika will be of tremendous help in their efforts to provide much needed aid to children.
What is much more urgently required is regular support on an ongoing basis by socially aware organizations, businesses and compassionate individuals, to prevent any possible disruption to our various charitable programs.
You can provide help & support in many ways:
1. Cash Contributions
2. Sponsorship Support
3. Volunteer your Time and/or Services
To provide sponsorship or to volunteer, you may use the form below…
Cash contributions are more than welcome and urgently required.
While they could help pay for the numerous incidental expenses which constantly occur in the management of any charitable program, they would be most valuable in providing funds for the many one-time expenses such as purchase of a sewing machine, a computer or any such item for a graduating child.
If you would like to send a cheque, please make sure you include the following information:
– Your Mailing Address so they can mail you a receipt.
– Your Email Address – they will email you their annual report every year.
For Non-US Donors:
Make your checks payable to:
“Ruchika Social Service Organization”
and Mail Your Checks to:
Ruchika Social Service Organization,
3731 –A, Sriram Nagar, Samantarapur, Old Town,
Bhubaneswar – 751 002,
Orissa, India
OR
For US Donors:
Make your checks payable to:
“Indians for Collective Action”
and mail Your Checks to:
Indians For Collective Action
3838 Mumford Place,
Palo Alto, CA 94306, USA
