Our aim is to ensure the students can stand on their feet and thrive in their social environment. This programme is geared towards helping students actualise their potential by providing a stimulating environment, peer support, individualised career plans, contextualized education, health, nutrition, and mentoring.
The students are transitioned to independent living once they start earning a minimum threshold salary. Ritinjali continues to mentor and support all the alumni of Second Chance School and has, over the years, built a robust network of students, who are economically self-reliant and doing well in their personal journeys.
Applications are invited from across the country for needy and deserving students. Students are shortlisted, interviewed, enrolled, and go through police verification and health check-up before starting the program.
Based on their intent, aptitude, and performance each student gets placed into an Internship or Technical course after completing the classroom training and some of the selected students nurture their business models. Duration of Internship and technical courses varies from student to student depending on the employer/institute/career students have chosen.
After completing their internship, technical courses, and business plan they enter the workforce and start doing paid jobs or earning through their business. Once they reach a threshold salary they move on to independent life and transition out of Second Chance School.
All students are also enrolled in formal education through the National Institute of Open Schooling, School of Open Learning- Delhi University, Indira Gandhi National Open University to complete their 8th/Xth/XIIth/BA.
All students living in residential facilities learn and interact with their peers from different regions, religions, and castes. They do their cooking, cleaning, and washing with guidance from a warden. They also go through guest lectures, counseling sessions, movie screenings, and excursions. We also focus on remedial support for students in need to accelerate their growth and learning.
Ritinjali is committed to ensuring that all children, irrespective of gender and social category, have access to education. It has set up various Learning Centres with a view to reduce the number of out-of-school children, to bridge learning gaps, and prepare children from marginalized communities for formal schooling. It also cater to school going students and provide remedial support to them. We try to bridge the gap of absence of parental support or peer support or infrastructural needs.
A Classroom training is aimed at grooming the students and equipping them with various soft skills, apart from training them in a vocational skill, in order to enable them to gain meaningful employment. Soft skills such as time management, decision-making, problem-solving etc., as well as functional, numerical and technological literacy equip the students for the job market. In the past year, 15 new students were enrolled who began their classroom training and got an opportunity to explore various fields of work through industry visits, field trips, seminars etc.
Life skills sessions along with one on one counseling, have created a significant impact upon the students, transforming them into more responsible humans who are conscious of their decisions. Periodic workshops on topics of relevance, such as leadership, work ethics, decision-making, communication etc. ensured that the students are on the path towards independent living and social reintegration. Theater sessions played a key role in setting off the process of healing in the students, enabling them to open up, place trust upon and collaborate with each other and express themselves freely.
Ritinjali has provided a helping hand in times of natural disasters, leading emergency relief efforts and community development in affected areas. While based in Delhi, the work and efforts have reached areas as
far-flung as Tripura, Meghalaya, Gujarat, Orissa, Pondicherry, Jammu and Kashmir, Bihar, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Kerala and Nepal. In a bid to empower individuals to live more positive and healthy lives, Ritinjali’s programme on Community Empowerment through Quality Healthcare provides access to quality health care facilities and elective surgeries.
NIOS exams are held in two parts in a year and students have to give theoretical and practical exams to clear the certification course. All the three programmes are National Institute of Open Learning School accredited course and students are able to build their careers through these certifications.
Most students gain self-reliance by securing jobs or setting up their own enterprises and supporting their families or get enrolled in courses of higher technical education to continue on the path of learning.
The Skill Development programme was abuzz with activities the year round with volunteers and teachers planning life-skills sessions, educational visits, quizzes, essay writing and painting competitions, movie- screenings etc. The presence of volunteers from different parts of the world led to a rich exchange of cultures, ideas and values.
Since its inception in 2005, around 1800 young adults and women have been empowered to become financially independent through the Skill Development Programme.
