by anouradha bakshi | Jun 3, 2026 | Whats new
Empowering young minds with knowledge, confidence, and life skills.
Through our collaboration with Modicare Foundation, children and adolescents participated in engaging sessions on life skills, good & bad touch awareness, growing up and adolescence, self-esteem building, physical & mental health, and gender equality.
Together, we are creating safe spaces where young people can learn, grow, and thrive.
We are very grateful to the Modi Foundation for having conducted workshops on issues faced by children and adolescents in every centre for many years now.
The workshops are interactive, entertaining and loved by the children
by anouradha bakshi | May 21, 2026 | Whats new
For the past years summer holidays have been the bane of the Project Why teaching team. Children went to the village and came back having forgotten everything. This was happening constantly year after year.
This. year the team decided to address the situation and find a solution. They would make worksheets for all subjects and give them to the children to do. Then they would connect on WhatsApp to solve issues if and when needed. So the last few weeks worksheets were being made in every centre and neatly packed for the children to carry. Parents were also apprised of the same and requested to see that their child did the sheets each day and to share their smartphone with their child so that she can connect with her teachers when needed.
This is a new experiment and we are all very excited and waiting with bated breath for the outcome!
Happy holidays!
by anouradha bakshi | May 21, 2026 | Anou's Blog, Uncategorized
I have been trying to write this post for some days now. Each time I decide to do so, another article appears in the press and compels me to change my approach.
OK let us put this in context.
Over the past weeks there have been a plethora of news articles on education. Based on the New Education Policy the CBSE has release its syllabus for 2026-27. For those of you who have been reading my blogs, you know how much I have been harping about how useless and unproductive the education system was in today’s world and how it needed to be turned on its head to incorporate the skills our children will be needing to navigate the employment scenario that awaits them and how we at Project Why have begun incorporating these skills in our teaching approach. So when my eyes fell on the title of an article that read: Rote to reasoning: How CBSE is resetting the way students think, learn and grow I was pleasantly surprised and decided to delve further into the changes that one expected. But before I could do so, another article appeared entitled Papa don’t preach: CBSE’s parenting guide raises concerns about overreach I fell of my chair and felt the need to address it immediately.
Before we delve further into the subject let me share my take on all policy changes specially in education. Think tanks with eminent personalities sit around a table and conjure wonderful policies that look perfect on paper and reflect all the desires of the ruling dispensation. Then these are translated into curricula that would be implemented across the country. Now for some statistics; There are 1.5 million schools in India catering to 280 million children and employing teachers 9.8 million teachers. So whatever policy conjured has to be implemented 1.5 million schools. This sets the scale of things we are addressing. This is what I wanted to discuss in this blog till I read the article mentioned.
But first the reason why I fell off my chair and one more statistic. If there 280 million children in school and we take an average of our kids by family we re talking of 70 million families.
As if is changing curriculum was not enough the CBSE decided to enter our homes! As is said in the article The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has quietly taken on a new role, not just educating children, but guiding how parents raise them too. Through its recent parenting guidelines and outreach, the board is stepping beyond the classroom into homes, nudging families on everything from screen time to emotional well-being. Remember we are talking of 280 million children. The 60 page framework looks like a playbook for parenting. Parenting is no longer private but drawn into the institutional framework of schooling. This is disturbing and discomforting.
It defines what parenting should look like: Bedtime rituals, mealtimes, stories, songs are not extras… They are the primary curriculum of early childhood.” People are uncomfortable with the tone that does not feel like a suggestion but an instruction. Parenting is not one size fits all. How does a mother of let us say 3 school going children living in a tiny hovel and working the whole day set bedtime rituals – often there are no beds or one shared by many – mealtimes, tell stories etc. She often has to deal with a drunk husband who puts on the TV loud and blaring and if she says something would probably be beaten back and blue. The article goes on to say Parenting has never been seen as a standardised activity in India. It is shaped by culture, class, language, family structures, and lived realities. What works in a dual-income urban household may not necessarily work in a small-town joint family. And yet, this calendar reads like there is a single, ideal way to raise a child… one that can be documented, scheduled, and rolled out across schools. This is nothing short of concerning.
The parenting guidelines given seem to be more for middle class urban literate families but our 70 million families are not that. I wonder if anyone who drafted this has even visited a slum dwelling let alone spent one night there. I for one resent anyone telling me how to bring up my child and yes though I understand the need to talk about mental health and the effect of screens it can only be gentle. We at Project Why have a Parent Project Partnership that runs well without diktats.
by anouradha bakshi | Apr 10, 2026 | Uncategorized, Whats new
Keerthana is 9 year old. She lives in Narapanenipalle, a small village in Telangana. Once there were 70 children in this upper primary school. But slowly with time passing the rural education scene has changed as parents migrate towards urban centres or shift their children to English speaking convent schools. It is a true crisis. Today in Telengana over 2200 schools have zero or near zero enrolment. But in Narapanenipalle, the story is different. Keerthana is the only student in the whole school. Her father stood firm in his decision to keep her enrolled fearing that once a village school closes, the community loses a vital pillar that may never be restored.
This school is a beacon of light. I has kept its door open for this little class IV girl so that this girl maintains her right to education. Every morning the bells ring, and Uma her teacher comes everyday and follows the curriculum in the same was as any school would. “Every child is entitled to an education,” a district official noted, “and as long as Keerthana is enrolled, our doors remain open.”
The story of this school shows the shift in the education scene in India.Parents are now more aware and tighten their belts till it hurts to send their children to an English Medium school often a convent. It is time our law makers look at education in a proper manner keeping in mind the rapidly changing scenarios of employment opportunities. It reinforces the idea that education is not a commodity to be discarded when the numbers don’t add up, but a fundamental right that must be protected at all costs and necessary changes need to be made in the state run schools to lure back parents.
But kudos to this little school who gives true meaning to the words: no child should be left behind.
by anouradha bakshi | Apr 4, 2026 | Uncategorized, Whats new
I had decided to celebrate my 74th quietly, without much ado but that was not to be.With the very eclectic social circle I have, it is quasi impossible for me to have one big bash, not that I like those. But everyone needed to be satisfied. So planned a small lunch with two of my favourite people on the eve and planned a lunch with my granddaughter at the mall food court.
In the morning Shamika kept insisting I accompany her to the Govindpuri Centre.The Okhla and Govindpuri staff were there with a big cake and hot samosas. Still par to the course.
But a phone call changed it all. The Yamuna centre staff asked if I would be home and whether they could drop by for a few minutes. Four children and two teachers came by with the most soul stirring gift I have ever got in my life. A huge basket of fresh vegetable picked in the morning by the children from their fields and beautifully wrapped. It was the children who had thought of this. And with it a beautifully penned card that thanked me for having brought education to their doorstep and with time convinced their parents about how important education was. I asked the 4 children who had come what they aspired to be: one teacher, two doctors and a police officer. Way to go. You have to dream and dream big and Project Why will be the wind beneath your wings. But you children have taught me so much too: the hard toil needed for farming, respect for nature and above all the ability to stay grounded something that your urban peers have forgotten. You have taught us all that you can hold on to your values and need not cast them away in the lure of what we call urban dreams. Stay this way beautiful children. That is my prayer for you.
There were many messages from across the planet from my Project Why family and my amazing team; many videos from each and every centre with heartfelt messages from my wonderful children.
All in all, it was the best birthday in a long time.
