MASOOM

Masoom's Vision: "To support youth learn while they earn", and Masoom's Mission is to "Enable night school students achieve their full potential through educational and policy support". Students of night schools are those that work during the day to provide financial support for their families, but still attend night school as they have a strong desire to pursue their education. However, there are several infrastructural gaps in the system, and the issues of night schools often go unnoticed by the authorities and the citizens alike. Masoom's Night School Transformation Program is a three-pronged approach which focusses on bringing about reformation in the functioning of Mumbai's night schools through:

(1) Educational Infrastructure and Inputs: providing notebooks, textbooks, mobile science labs, libraries and nutrition (2) Capacity Building: of the school trustees, headmasters, teachers and parents and (3) Advocacy: Pushing for policy level changes for the cause of night schools with the Government. Since its establishment in 2008, Masoom has seen a good degree of impact for its efforts: the Masoom intervention has increased from 2 to 15 schools, and the aim is to now reach 40 schools by June 2013 (start of the next academic year). The overall graduation rate out of Masoom-supported schools has doubled over 4 years - from 36% to 72%. Over 170 teachers have been trained so far. Masoom is also developing a Career Cell which aims to place graduating students in better jobs, or to assist them in further studies or vocational training.