Through its childcare programme, working through our balwadi centres, the Bhuvaneshwari Mahila Ashram is trying to protect the "rights of the child" in every respect. Our programe therefore emphasizes health, education and future opportunity.
In health, we have tried hard to move away from the "outpatient syndrome", in which only the illness is treated and no thought is given to nutrition, immunization and child-spacing. In the under- five clinics that we operate in the balwadis, the supervisee are trained to instruct mothers on matters such as personal hugiene, environmental sanitation, child safety, vision testing and dental care. Mothers are also shown how to deal with day-to-day ailments such as cough, cold, fever or diarrhea. We have "feast-days" to promote supplemental feeding for the children. The Ashram doctors and health workers periodically instruct the balwadi supervisors and counsel individual families with specific problems.
While the Ashram is equipped with audio-visual aids, we feel that our volunteers are more important for spreading health awareness. After all, personality, knowledge, dedication and tact are qualities that can never be taught to a slide projector.
In education, we stress "values" more than "techniques", because the child is first taught to identify with his or her roots. The learning commences within the child´s immediate environment and spirals out to encompass learning about other lands, peoples, cultures, literature, music and history. After our children outgrow the balwadis, they are encouraged to enter the Pariavaran Vidyalayas, which are our primary schools.
When a teacher stands in front of a class and tells the children what they "ought" to know, that is not true education. Instructors think they have to pour whatever they have learned into the children, so they can pass exams, get degrees and and become qualified for employment. This kind of education produces human beings whose whole focus is to take all that they can from life, with no idea of giving.