Dr. Reddy's Foundation

Using schools as community learning resource centres, DRF develops local knowledge, skills and leadership, and encourages self-sufficiency in schools through training and other services, and implements innovative schooling strategies in association with the mainstream education system. In 1999, DRF had initiated the ‘School Community Partnership in Education’ (SCOPE) project under the ‘Program for Enrichment of School Level Education’ (PESLE) with Aga Khan Foundation, with a view to developing the school as a valuable resource, by strengthening the participation of different stakeholders and creating access to the formal education system for out-of-school adolescents. Adopting government schools in Balanagar Mandal (RR District, AP) and the twin cities of Hyderabad-Secunderabad, DRF has launched several innovative initiatives in curriculum development, teacher training and community involvement.
Increasing Stakeholder Participation DRF brings teachers, children, parents, families, communities and government departments to a common platform, and engages in a continuous process of reflection and action to increase their stake in school development.
School Development Committees are school-level multi-stakeholder platforms that serve to plan and implement the School Vision, which is jointly evolved by teachers, parents, children and community members. Comprising parents, basti leaders, women / youth representatives, a community volunteer and a local NGO representative, Basti Schooling Committees are effective pressure groups that work towards liberating children from their workplaces, reinstating them in schools, ensuring their regular attendance, and influencing the local politico-administrative system. Taking collective ownership, Class Committees (comprising school-going children) ensure school cleanliness, maintain discipline, conduct the school assembly, supervise mid-day meal distribution, provide basic classroom facilities, track absent children, and campaign for children’s right to education. Set up in school premises and community halls, Children’s Reading Clubs encourage school children to come after their school hours and study at the library or borrow books at a very nominal rent.

Integrated Learning Program Rekindling Hope We often find many girls in urban slums, who drop out of school at the primary level, accompanying their mothers as domestic helps / maids. Many of them also end up getting married before they reach the legal age for marriage. Faced with deprivation and poverty, many become victims of human trafficking too. Recognizing the need to bring them out of this deprivation, DRF has designed an Integrated Learning Program (ILP) to wean them from work, help them continue their education and regain their self-esteem.
Empowering them to take charge of their lives and make informed choices about their future, the ILP also minimizes chances of their early marriage and shifts their focus towards better – and more dignified – livelihood avenues. The girls are put through an initial Foundation Course, which teaches them the basics of Mathematics, Communicative English, Telugu, environmental sciences, healthcare, life skills and computers. They are taken on visits to ABC centers (to help them prepare for Board exams at Class VII and X) and given requisite technical and job skills. The timings are kept flexible to suit their convenience.


Tribal School Program Going beyond the Mainstream Under its tribal intervention program in government schools in VR Puram Mandal (Khammam District, AP), DRF has developed learning material for tribal youth in their local dialects. Community ownership is enhanced through School Development Committees and Class Committees, as well as child rights campaigns to mobilize children to schools.
DRF has adopted a few villages inhabited by Koya and Kondareddy tribes. As these tribes have their own language, children at the primary level find it difficult to understand the language of the school, which does not reflect their culture and way of life. DRF’s intervention is aimed at developing educational material in their own dialects, to enable them to make a smooth transition to Telugu. DRF has published several books in their dialects, using the Telugu script. This has evoked a very positive response in the community, and led to improved attendance in the schools, which now reverberate with children’s voices singing out lines from these books. It has also enhanced parents’ interest in their children’s schooling.

Yuva Centers Reaching out to Youth DRF has set up Yuva Centers at several places in Hyderabad and RR Districts, with a view to assisting young adults who have had to drop out of the school system, and are left with few opportunities for further education. The Yuva Centers serve as platforms for the youth to identify their capacities and build on them.
Catering to the 13uva Cen-18 years age group (including dropouts, never-been-to-school cases, child labour and girls working as domestic helps), the Yters run bridge courses to mainstream them in age-appropriate classes, and also prepare older children for the Class X (SSC) Board exam. Never-been-to-school children are put through a Foundation Course that includes basic language / Math / computer skills, Communicative English, environmental sciences, health education, life skills and career guidance. Adolescent Bridge Courses (ABCs) are also run at some of these Centers.