About Us

Maya School was started in 2008-09 with 48 kids at two construction sites, with an aim to cover more and more kids of construction workers under this initiative.   It has grown from an activity to an organisation today, covering more than 455 kids at more than 13 different sites.  Maya Foundation is  registered under the Mumbai Public Trust Act, 1950 and also under the Societies Act, 1860 in April 2011.

Construction workers are one of the most ignored due to their constant migration as per the availability of work, and they have .remained far from any developmental programmes.  Their work is of migratory nature and full of insecurity, as a result of which their children suffer a lot.   Educating their children is beyond their imagination and can never be a priority in the struggle for survival.

Maya schools run by Maya Foundation is a humble effort to give the exposure of education to the  children of migratory workers below the age of 12 at work sites, and provide an opportunity for their better future by making them aware about their right to education. Maya is also a platform to prepare them these kids for vocational trainings. Maya follows the integrated approach and gives exposure to the education, health, nutrition and skilled training to the kids of migratory workers.

Vision & Mission

Vision

Maya wishes to leave a considerable impact on the efforts to alleviate of alleviation of poverty by increasing access to educational opportunities, good health and an exposure to vocational trainings to most ignored communities of migratory and construction workers.

Mission

“To provide an exposure to basic education, health and hygiene to the kids of migratory and construction workers under the age of 12, thereby ensuring a dignified life and bright future.”

Goal

Maya aims to provide basic education to the kids of construction workers and other migratory workers and prepare them to complete the higher secondary education successfully.  Maya also intends to provide vocational training to the talented young kids.  Maya School running all over the country so that the kids who leave from one site to another can continue their education un-interruptedly.

Activities of Maya

• Education
  • Curriculum and the schedule of the day of the school (curriculum based on the Sarva Siksha Abhiyan)
  • Educational activities during the day in the school
  • Enrolment to the potential and eligible children in formal education system, and provide all the support.
  • Value education
  • Capacity building and training to teachers and helpers on  child developmental aspects.
• Crèche
  • Cradles for the kids under the age of 3
  • Care for the kids and provides required food for them.
• Extracurricular activities
  • Exposure and study tours to the educational institutions, or recreational, and historical and places of heritage or important places.
  • Drawing and other hobby classes and trainings
  • Sports/competitions
  • Celebrations of festivals
  • Cultural events
  • Food and nutrition
  • Selection of daily menu
  • Training in on preparation of food with focus on considering nutritional value
  • Seasonal food preferences
• Health care
  • Organising Health camps/ general health check-.up camps and paediatric camps as well.
  • Maintenance of health cards and growth chart of each child kid
  • Immunisation of each child kid
  • Provide hygiene kits to each child kid  and train them to use the same properly. The hygiene kits consist of neem soap, tooth paste, tooth brush, petroleum jelly, mosquito net, nail cutter, napkins and towel.
  • Life skill and grooming for kids:
  • Exposure to vocational training for the young children kids:
  • Parents to meet together meeting at the construction site
  • Meeting and briefing to site contractors
  • Research and Development
    • Registration of each child at the sites
    • Conduct case studies
  • Impact assessment

Message from Founders

Namaste!
It gives us immense pleasure to share the “Maya Foundation” initiative with you all. 
Due to the involvement in the construction industries since years, we are familiar with the contribution of migrant construction workers.   However, we were sad to see the children at the site with their parents deprived of their rights of basic education and other support systems, just because of the nature of the work of their parents!!!   The people, who contribute to development, keep their kids away from all the developments.  We feel they are the most ignored segment of society and isolated from any government schemes or development process of society. We could not satisfy or justify ourselves with a small initiative of opening a school for the kids of construction workers at one of our sites.   It was just a humble beginning to give an exposure to education to the kids of migrant construction workers.   But it has now developed and is not limited to education but has also extended   its services to health, hygiene and extracurricular activities as well. 

We are now glad to inform you that this small initiative has been converted in to full fledged “Maya Foundation” just in less than 2 years’ time having spread at no. of sites. Maya Foundation has been formed with the main aim of giving an exposure to education to the kids of migrant construction workers.

During the past year, we have travelled a great journey of learnings.
We are a strong believer of equality and firmly believe that poor and most ignored groups should be given enough opportunities to enable them to lead a dignified life. They need our support.  Hence it is our moral duty to facilitate and provide all the needed support, guidance and environment.  We know it is the initiative of all of us and we believe that all of us who believes in equality and have passion for contributing to society or “giving back” or have. Feeling of  “have not done enough” and desire to do something are the owners of this initiative.  We are thankful to all our developers community who have initiated schools at their respective sites. 

We plan to expand the schools at maximum number of sites from small to big.

It is our dream to continue our efforts for making construction workers, the integral part of our industry, smile and enable  them to lead a dignified life.

Ishita and Maulik Shah