Children are powerful agents of change!

At CRY, we often think about what the future could hold if all our country’s children are empowered to drive change at every level.

Let’s take you back in time to 2012. A government school in Shahbad Dairy in Delhi, which had children from CRY project areas in attendance, was in an extremely dilapidated state. The school building had developed a lot of cracks that led to leakages during the monsoon season – a situation that had made short-circuiting a very real threat for the children studying inside. One of the students even suffered grievous injuries due to electrocution.

The condition of the school kept worsening and the children continued to suffer. It was then that a bunch of children from CRY project Saksham decided to take matters in their own hands. They voiced their concerns to the CRY project staff and implored them to raise the issue at the highest level possible. Team Saksham conducted awareness campaigns and surveys to gather enough material on the matter. This led them to escalate the issue to the government through a letter. After much perseverance, the children’s request of getting a better school was finally accepted by the government authorities in 2015.

As the construction of the new school premises commenced, the children were shifted to another school temporarily. This situation led to a new set of challenges – a lack of buses for transportation and bullying being the prime issues. Unwilling to let the development process take its own time, the kids organized a protest in 2017 by blocking the road to the school – demanding their school to be built urgently so that they could focus on their education. Not only were their voices heard at the highest level but their courage also prompted the local mayor to arrange extra buses for their commute in the interim.

Today, our children have a brand new school building in Shahbad Dairy that operates double shifts and also accommodates over 4000 children!

While our hearts burst with pride at everything our kids have achieved, we dream of a day when every child’s voice will have the platform to be heard and considered. What a world that would be!

You can give more such children the chance at a brighter future. Donate to CRY by clicking here.