Humana has been working towards mainstreaming out-of-school children (OoSC) since 2005. The idea of developing a pedagogical and operational model germinated and it was aligned with the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009, and the Ministry of Education’s programme of OoSC under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (now known as Samagra Shiksha).
The concept that developed after HPPI’s experience of bridging children’s learning gap by working in the field, matured with the Kadam Step-Up Programme in Haryana with a three-year partnership with Haryana School Shiksha Pariyojna Parishad (HSSPP) from 2016 to 2019. An extension to the partnership was granted for 3 years in December 2019, and again for another 3 years in 2022. The Kadam Programme has been adopted by the State and is implemented through the Special Training Centres for OoSC in Haryana. The primary goal is to identify and enrol the OoSC in Special Training Centres, bridging the education gap and integrating the students into government primary schools using Kadam methodologies. Tool-kits consisting of workbooks covering curriculum for grades 1–5, a theme manual for the teachers, and tools for formative and participatory assessment are being printed and distributed to the Centres by the State Project Office. Since 2016, 81,081 OoSC have been formalised into schools in Haryana.
In the years 2017 and 2018, the Ministry of Education provided a platform to HPPI to present its Kadam model in four to five regional workshops which were held in different parts of the country. This opportunity catalysed Public-Private Partnership Models, ultimately resulting in MoUs with Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, and Jammu and Kashmir.
A model of bridge education was also developed by HPPI, called the Kadam Programme for primary school children, which bridges the learning gaps of children in the lower primary grades so that they do not drop out of the education system.
