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SHAKTII

Educate. Empower. Edify.

Project SHAKTII is an after school program to empower girl students from underprivileged backgrounds. We at Shaktii believe in a hands-on learning experience that focuses on delivering a wholesome education to these bright young girls.
SHAKTII was conceived in the year 2015 to create a model for meaningful engagement of students in arena of learning and self-development. SHAKTII made its impact in New City international school and Satish Haware Junior college, Kharghar from 2015 to 2019. We have since 2019 moved to a new location in Kharghar. We had girls attending Shaktii programme from 5 different schools of Kharghar.

We are proud and happy to announce that Shaktii has completed 9 years!

Why Shaktii?

India has an impressive enrolment rate in primary school but the rate drastically reduces especially for girls as they proceed into secondary school.

It is estimated that for every 100 girls that enroll in school in rural India, forty reach grade four, seven reach grade 8, nine reach grade 9, and only one reaches grade 12(source: Infochangeindia.com). Therefore, only 35% of girls reach the upper secondary level of education in India.

These stark statistics show that girls need support to complete their school education.

Our Vision

We at Shaktii, will educate, empower and edify girls from the underprivileged sections of the society of India through a quality holistic after-school programme.

Mission Statements

EDUCATE

Educate holistically through academic support and enrich their social skills, soft skills, life skills and sports.

EMPOWER

Empower girl students from underprivileged society by:
Providing vocational training for those who cannot pursue their studies beyond Std X or XII,
Providing financial support to bright girl students to pursue higher education.

EDIFY

Edify by motivating and guiding girl students to pursue their dreams, and providing a safe and healthy environment for them.




Objectives of Shaktii

01.

Innovation

Create academic programme and implement using innovative teaching techniques, inviting experts, and field visits throughout the academic year.

02.

Mentoring

Provide mentoring for non-academic programmes to develop social skills, soft skills, leadership skills and life skills throughout the academic year.

03.

Vocational Training

Identify girls who are unable to pursue studies beyond Std X or XII and provide and vocational training.

04.

Financial Support

Identify bright girl students and provide financial support to enable them to pursue higher education.

05.

Complete Safety

Ensure emotional and physical safety of each Shaktii student in the classroom and on field trips.

06.

Learning Environment

Provide a healthy learning environment.

07.

Role Models

Mentors to become role models to establish values like integrity, teamwork, punctuality and commitment.

TRUSTEES OF SHAKTII

Mrs. Vimala Nandakumar - Chairperson & Mentor

Namaste,
Shaktii has grown from strength to strength in the last 9 years.

The journey has been satisfying and enriching. Many mentors joined for short periods of time but left a remarkable impression on different batches. We have completed 9 years of existence. This year's batch was very promising and we did end on a high note.
We are grateful to all the mentors who have been with Shaktii for long periods of time. Our dream is to establish Shaktii Academy in the beginning of 10th year. The literacy rate of India in 1947 was a mere 6 %. Now the it is 70.30%. Our focus area is Navi Mumbai where it is 86.03%.

We envision to make the female literacy rate to 100%. We embark upon a tough journey making the dreams of women and girls who dropped out of school to become literate and the end of 2030.

As a Chairperson of Shaktii, I have grown too, in terms of knowledge of how to run an NGO, patience with the girls, and always remaining positive and optimistic.

"If people don't laugh at your dreams, it's not worth dreaming ".

TRUSTEES OF SHAKTII

A.N.Nandakumar, Member - Board of Trustees

I am a Ph.D in Physics from Mumbai University. I worked in Bhabha Atomic Research Centre from 1968 to 2001. I served as the Head of Radiological Safety Division of the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board, Mumbai. I worked in the International Atomic Energy Agency for about 4 years. I retired from service in 2006.

I have been providing support to Shaktii Trust since its inception, in whatever small way I could. I have seen Shaktii Trust growing from strength to strength. The students of Shaktii are turning into high performers in their fields of interest. They are proud to call themselves Shaktiites!

I expect Shaktii to educate more girls. Shaktii should become an academy. I expect the Shaktii alumni to play a significant role in the evolution of Shaktii into a major educational institution.

TRUSTEES OF SHAKTII

Ashish Gehlot - Board of Trustees

We envision a world where every child, regardless of their background, has the opportunity to receive a quality education and pursue their dreams. I am a result-oriented business professional with a proven track record of driving growth, improving operational efficiency, and enhancing customer satisfaction. With a relentless commitment to achieving excellence, I have consistently delivered tangible results throughout my career.

As a trustee of Shaktii, my life's mission is to make a lasting impact on the lives of underprivileged girl's child. I firmly believe that education is the most powerful tool we can provide to empower these young minds, allowing them to break the cycle of poverty and reach their full potential. As a trustee, my role is to help shape the strategic direction of the organization and ensure that our mission is carried out effectively. We are dedicated to:
- Education Access
- Holistic Development
- Empowerment

My commitment to this cause is deeply personal. Witnessing the transformative power of education in my own life, I am driven to pay it forward. Every girl child we reach is a testament to the incredible potential that can be unlocked through education.

Through the dedication of our team and the support of our leaders and partners, we have achieved significant milestones at SHAKTII, including:
- Enabling hundreds of children to access quality education.
- Establishing mentorship programs that inspire and guide our young beneficiaries.
- Creating safe and nurturing learning environments that foster growth and well-being

TRUSTEES OF SHAKTII

Lakshmi Ravindran - Board of Trustees

Lakshmi is a management graduate, an experienced finance professional currently managing a Fintech market place and mother of two inquisitive boys. She has worked for decades in the banking space in India and is now part of the fast evolving Fintech world and digital space. She has been a mother for 10 years. Lakshmi had taken a career break in 2015 after her kids were born and was looking to do something meaningful in the break. Through her childhood friend she met Mrs. Vimala Nandakumar who had just started SHAKTII and thus began her journey with SHAKTII. The concept of SHAKTII, as heard from Mrs. Nandakumar, was very unique and this was an opportunity to "give back"

The idea of educating girls in Class 8 & 9 to encourage them to dream, guide them in these crucial years to not give up and pursue their dreams, exposing them to career opportunities beyond what they learnt from their parents, school was exciting. Lakshmi got involved in an initial fund raising and helped SHAKTII set up a website. She continues to be involved in SHAKTII and supporting marketing, fund raising etc. whenever required.

The impact of SHAKTII is now visible with the 1st and 2nd batch girls doing well and successfully pursuing their dreams. Lakshmi hopes that SHAKTII continues on this journey, grows and is one day able to help girls beyond Mumbai too. A formal set up and a larger institution helping many more girls is a dream of Mrs. Vimala Nandakumar and Mr. Nandakumar. Lakshmi hopes to be part of this impactful journey and will be actively involved as a "Trustee".

Current Mentors

Ms. Kalyani Basu

I am Kalyani Basu. I am a full time mentor in Shaktii. I teach Biology and English (Reading & Creative writing). I have been associated with Shaktii for the past eight years. We train and mentor our girls ,so they have fun while learning the concepts of Math, Science and English.
That the girls are always eager to learn from us and attend Shaktii regularly is a proof in itself that our program is working. Moreover the visits from our ex-shaktii girls to update us of the positive progress in their careers and lives gives us immense hope and pleasure.

If an after school program can be this successful, we definitely want to take the next step to start the NIOS program as an academy. We want Shaktii to impact many, many more girl child who otherwise lose out on opportunities to better themselves and their lives.


Ms. Madhu Rekhan

I am Madhu Rekhan , associated with Shaktii for 2nd year now . I teach chemistry to the girls. Generally my subject is not liked by most of them initially, so my challenge is to teach them in play way methods so that they get connected to the subject and enjoy chemistry.
Shaktii as after school is doing superb in terms of building lives of the girls where they understand their potential and take a step forward towards their bright future.

It’ll be really great to see Shaktii as an academy as it’ll connect to many more lives and create value .


Ms. Prerna Goel

For the past three years, I have dedicated my time to Shaktii, where my focus has been teaching spoken English to the incredible girls. This year, I am particularly impressed by the remarkable progress of these girls. Many initially began with reservations and hesitancy, but over the course of the year, they have not only gained confidence but have also developed impressive spoken English skills. What truly captivates me during my time with the Shaktii girls is their unwavering resilience and boundless positivity. It's a joy to witness their transformation and growth.
I am thrilled about the upcoming launch of Shaktii Academy, an initiative I have actively contributed to. The anticipation of taking our efforts to the next level is genuinely exciting, and I am looking forward to the opportunities and impact it will bring.


Ms. Aparna Muralidharan

I am a Finance Professional who has spent the last 13 years working with non-profit organization mainly in the education and healthcare spaces in New York.

I have stayed close to SHAKTII’s work since its inception. I find watching the girls learn and grow at SHAKTII very rewarding. They come in with inquisitive minds and absorb everything that they learn like sponges. The mentors and students of SHAKTII never fail to inspire me.

This year, I am working with the current batch of girls to encourage them to express themselves in English. I hope to teach them better listening, reading, writing and speaking skills. I am also responsible for summarizing the year’s events and progress in this document (The Year That Was).


Ms. Aparna Bhatnagar Saxena

I have been involved with Shaktii since its inception in 2015 as a supporter and a mentor for the girls despite being based out of India for a few years now. I enjoy taking sessions on India, environmental awareness for the girls. Without much publicity, Shakti has quietly trudged on to change the lives of so many girls for the past 9 Years.

We will take this to the next level with "Shaktii Academy" and will be finally actualizing our dream of setting up an academy for self-learning. We are already in the final stages of planning, and are now lining up core team members and the business plan. Even if it is a drop in the ocean, we want to change the face of education for young minds and we will persevere on the path. After-all, a journey of a thousand miles starts with a step and we have already covered some ground.


Ms. Swetha Mehta

My association as a mentor with Shakti is about 2 years old, it has been an incredible experience to work with these girls .it has given me wonderful platform to see the real world through Shakti.

I am excited and looking ahead for Shakti academy to start where we can work more thoroughly with girls to give them vibrant personalities. It gives me immense pleasure to use my passion for teaching to help these girls explore their potential and dream big for their future.


Making them smarter

ACTIVITIES FOR 2023-24

March 2023
Visit from Ms. Prerna Goel - In her own words:
"Today my #heart is full and my #eyes wet. I have received the best #gift a girl can ask. I finally met my girls in person- who I have had the privilege to teach spoken English for the past 18 months via zoom. I feel at the top of this world. These girls who come from some of the harshest backgrounds are an absolute inspiration!"

To my dear girls, so #bright and #strong,
You fill my heart with a #joyful song.
With eager #minds and #eyes so wide,
You #inspire me with an abiding #pride.

Though #life may not have granted you much,
Your #determination and #grit are such,
That you light up the classroom every day,
And #remind me why I #love to teach and play.

Thank you for the #honour and #privilege,
Of guiding you on your journey, so rich,
I learn from you as much as you from me,
And together we grow, ever so free.

So let us cherish this precious time,
And build a #world that is truly sublime,
Where every girl can learn and thrive,
And make the most of her precious #life.
April 2023
Donating Laptops
- Shaktii donated a laptop to blind organization so that they can learn typing and get employment in banks etc. Thanks to Sudha kamat for initiating this.
- Disha Kanojia is doing her management studies. She found doing projects challenging with a laptop. Shaktii received 5 Dell laptops out of which one was given to her.
April 2023
Creativity Fest
- Vijaylaxmi Ghattargi and Kalyani Basu from Shaktii Eduction Trust attended The CREATIVITY FEST of Parisar Asha which was a certificate workshop in series NEP 2020. The much needed change in our education system is slowly coming into realization with the implementation of NEP 2020 from this year onwards. So teachers need to gear up themselves and update themselves as much as they can in the 4 C's
1]Critical Thinking
2] Creativity
3] Collaboration
4] Communication

Vijaya and Kalyani attended three workshops,
1] Experiential Learning by Ms. Aarati Savur
2] Spark your Creativity by Ms.Sapna Shirodhkar & Ms.Sukhada Sahasrabudhe
3] Language Arts & Creativity by Ms.Vidya ramaswamy.

- A note from Ms. Basu:"All three workshops were very interesting and gave us a lot of perspective on how easily we can make learning enjoyable for children with the help of art, music , role playing, physical activity etc. All three days we did a lot of activities which helped us realize that each and every one of us are creative in our own way and we can make learning fun for the children with help of various activities. This way children retain the knowledge and also can recall when needed, apply the same when needed. NEP 2020 encourages multi learning activities like Visual, Auditory, Read & Write, Kinesthetics & Multimodal. At Shaktii we already have been implementing lots of activities in the above modes so that our girls have fun while learning, but attending the workshops have definitely given us more tools to spark our creativity as teachers. Thank you Parisar Asha for conducting such beautiful workshops and big thank you to Vimala Nandakumar Ma'am and Shaktii for giving us this opportunity to learn. ""
June 2023
Orientation Day 1
- As we do every year, this year too our orientation started with a session by Mr.Satyendra Singh about the Power of Subconscious Mind. We had around 35 students (mix of old and new batches) attending the session. The older students were already aware of quite a few concepts which Mr.Singh was explaining but still they soaked up everything that the session had to give them. The new students were in awe.
- Points from today's session:
1.The whole universe is full of positive and negative energy.
2. All our subconscious minds are connected.
3. Each of us has minimum 61000 thoughts in our subconscious mind each day. Most of it is negative.
4. When we give out negative thoughts, we attract negativity 10 folds.
When we give out positive thoughts, we attract positivity 10 folds.
5. So why not always think positive. So we need to teach our mind to think positive. All negative thoughts should be cancelled.

- Mr.Singh told the girls to DREAM BIG. Simply because beliefs and desires become thoughts and then they become reality. He advised them on SMART Goal setting.
S......Be specific
M.....Goal should Measurable
A.....If it can be measured, it becomes Achievable
R.....Goal should be Realistic
T.....Goal should be Time-bound.
Orientation Day 2
Story Telling, Eat to evolve
Session 1- Story Telling - This session was conducted by young and dynamic Roshan Harwansh. She started her own initiative called Under the Banyan tree (UTBT) to encourage young kids to read and improve their vocabulary and writing skills. Soon she is leaving for London to pursue her dream of studying marketing, management & media
- All the girls enjoyed the session and it showed in their participation when they were divided into three groups and each group made up a story according to the graph and enacted it
Session 2: Eat to evolve - This session was conducted by Dr Sujata Udeshi. She is a clinical nutritionist with a career span of 35 long years and still going strong. She was consultant nutritionist with many corporates and educational institutions and also with Sanjeev Kapoor's Khana khazana.
- The girls were given a piece of coconut to eat and then describe the experience. Some said oily, others said chewy and some said sweet. All had different things to say proving that we experience food through our mind too. Food creates an environment within your mind. So we need to eat the food which is good for our body, mind and soul.
Orientation Day 3
Public Speaking
- This session was conducted by a very enthusiastic Rhea Sabherwal. Rhea has a master's degree in Industrial Psychology and is a marketing professional at ICICI Pru Asset Management Company
- She explained to the girls that Public speaking doesn't have a definition but then public speaking is a very important skill which everyone should learn because you need it in every phase of your life, be it school, college or in your professional and personal life.
- Public speaking has two aspects, Verbal and Non-Verbal communication. Three points to be noted for excellent public speaking: Eye-Contact, Confidence and Content
- Six girls were given a sentence and an emotion with which they had to tell the sentence and we all had to guess the emotion
- A game called Non Stop Nonsense was played. The girls had to answer to Rhea's question with anything that comes to their mind except the right answer.
Orientation Day 4
Art Therapy
- This session was conducted by Arunima S. Her son Anindya helped her facilitate the workshop. Arunima is a painter and art therapy practitioner by profession. She is passionate about art psychology ,self growth and self-awareness.
- Arunima started the session by telling us that Art has healing powers
- Arunima made the girls perform three activities.
1) Draw your breath
2) Color the Mandala
3) Affirmations
Orientation Day 5
Rath Yatra
- This session was conducted by Vimala Ma'am herself.
- The girls , specially the new students were unaware of a state called Odisha. So they learnt about Odisha, which part of India it belongs to, and what is special about the Rath Yatra. They were shown the animated story of how Lord Jagganath came into existence
- A competition was held of 3D still drawing of the three deities, Jagganath, Balbhadra and Subhadra and coloring of the Chariots or the deities.
Orientation Day 6
Confidence Building
- This session was conducted by Mahalakshmi Krishnan who completely took over with her speech on CONFIDENCE.
- In addition to understanding the ways to enhance confidence the girls fell for Mahalakshmi's charisma. They listed things that they would do from her to improve their confidence.
- Mahalakshmi said she knows1000 songs by heart!!! It was but natural that on our demand she sang - Kailash Kher's Saiyyan. The girls were simply thrilled to hear her sing so well.
Orientation Day 7
Dance Workshop
- Ninety percent of our girls, when asked about their hobby, say dancing. So it was inevitable that today was an extremely exciting session for them.
- Ms.Poonam Lama and her daughter Dechhenn Lama conducted the session.
- They taught the girls two dances on two upbeat bollywood songs
Orientation Day 8
Physical & Mental Health (Self Care)
- At Shaktii we want our girls to be strong mentally and physically and today's session is a big step forward to address Self-Care amongst the girls
- Ms.Manisha Jhamb, a multi-faceted lady who runs Mind Buddies and Shrikanth Aiyer, a brilliant Psychologist conducted this amazing session
- After the girls listed out a lot of positive words as important factors in life we performed two activities of enacting mother-daughter situations where the daughter disobeys and how the mother reacts.
- The session was ended with the positive promise that we will all give our 100% to Self-Care.
Orientation Day 9
Djembe Drums, Computer Programing (Coding)
Session 1 - Djembe Drums
- The third time Arwin David and his team came to our centre to play the Djembe Drums to us and with us.
- Arwin started the session with a beautiful song - "Ummedowali dhoop, Sunshine wali aasha, Rone ke wajah Kam hai, Hasne ke bahane jyada."
- He also enthralled us with a medley of old Bollywood songs
Session 2 - Computer Programing (Coding)
- This session was conducted by a beautiful & confident young lady Anshika Jhamb. Anishka has completed her graduation and is soon leaving for UK for her higher studies.
- In an hour Anshika informed our girls that coding is the language of computer and is used in every industry, every aspect of our lives today.
- Anshika also told the story of Margaret Hamilton (American Computer Scientist), the original coding expert. How with the help of her coding , America could complete Apollo Missions successfully.
Orientation Day 10
Basics Of Photography
- This session was done by Suhasini Ahluwalia. Suhasini made the session so very interesting, first by talking about herself, her education, her work and then her passion/ hobby that is photography
- She taught the gilrs that Photography doesn't always need a big camera. You can do it even with your mobile camera
- Some Nuances of good clicks suggested by her: Point on focus, Use natural light,Keep negative space where the eyes focuses, Hold your phone still, Find different angles and so on.
- Suhasini ended the session by giving an interesting project to the girls. They have click six photographs according to all the points that they learnt today. This homework was whole heartedly welcomed by all the girls
Orientation Day 11
Drama/ Theatre, Cooking without Fire
Session 1: Drama/ Theatre
- This session was done by Ms.Aarti Patt. She is founder of Creative Expression - A drama academy. She started the session with a miming activity. The girls came forward to tell their names and enact their hobbies and others had to guess
- She spoke about the acronym PEEP, P - Posture, E-Expression, E- Eye Contact, P - Projecting your voice
- The girls had to imagine they are on a beach and select any activity related to beach and as soon as Aarti yells "Alive" they start doing the activity. Girls enjoyed the activity.
Session 2 - Cooking without Fire
- This activity was done by Shehzin. Shehzin told us that we would be learning to make Continental Chat. So she started the session with a Spell Bee trivia of all the ingredients of the recipe of Continental Chat
- She then shared the recipe for a continental chat without cooking with all the girls and the mentors.
Orientation Day 12
Music, learning English songs
- This session was done by Caleb Ellis. Caleb has been associated with Shaktii since last year and girls always enjoyed his music class. Caleb has a deep soulful baritone voice and when he sings , his voice reverberates in the room and we all love to sing along with him.
- The songs he sang were - " Clap your hands", "Take me home, Country roads", "Leaving on a Jet plane"..
- Caleb showed us this wonderful trick of clapping with our right hand fingers on our left palm, adding one finger after another to increase the sound and vice versa
Orientation Day 13
Basics of Makeup
- This session was done by the beautiful Lipi Sengupta. Lipi is a trained professional makeup artist
- Lipi spoke about basic skin care : types of skin and a CTMP process to prepare your face for the makeup
- Lipi went on to demonstrate on one very willing model - Renu, the whole process of Makeup. Dipali, our Shaktii-ite then did the process on another enthusiastic model, Ravina.
Orientation Day 14
IT Basics
- Abhishek Gupta , a computer engineer is a successful entrepreneur and has two big offices in Navi-Mumbai. He has given employment to about 35 people. Today we were fortunate to have him at our centre and talk to our girls about basics of Information Technology.
- He spoke how communication has evolved since our ancestral days to our current times. Technology has brought a drastic change in our communication system. It has made the world so small that we can reach anywhere with a tap of our fingertip, though virtually.
- Abhishek also explained how Truecaller works and how the future of IT is AI
- Lastly Abhishek gave a wonderful advise to the girls. Like a computer follows processes to give accurate results, he advised the girls to make a process about their aims and steps they need to take to reach the aim and follow them to become successful in life.
Orientation Day 15
July 1 -Founder's' Day
- In the last 15 days we conducted orientation for the new students; all the ex-Shaktii students were invited as well. Almost 20 of them were present each day. The new ones were coming as usual after their school, but the old ones were coming after attending half a day of college, or missing classes, or at their lunch time to attend these sessions. It was heartening to see their love and dedication towards Shaktii
- They conducted the whole program on Founder's Day. The theme was suggested by Ravina, "Breaking the barriers"
- Flow of our program - Theme: Breaking The Barriers
1. Welcoming the guests - Vimla / Ravina
2. Documentary I and II- Ruhi / Soha
3. Felicitation of 12th std Students - Renu
4. Felicitation of Dharamchandji - Kalyani Ma'am
5. Shaktii Poem by Aastha
6. Best ambassador awards to Prerna and Siddi- Kalyani ma’am
7. Interview of seniors ( theme- based ) - by Shrikant sir
8. Request Speech by guests - Kinjal
9. Invite Vimala Ma'am to speak
10. Vote of thanks - Dimple
- Ms. Sheetal Bapat , Director of Shyamchi Aayi Foundation came all the way from Pune to be our Chief Guest. Mr. Sujan Sinha, Ex-MD & CEO of Shriram Housing Finance readily agreed to be our Guest Of Honour.
- Shrikant Iyer did a wonderful job of interviewing some of the senior Shaktii-ites.
September 2023
TED Talk
- Vimala Ma'am showed the girls a video of a seven year old giving a Ted Talk about parent-child relationship. The girls loved it.
- The girls immediately came up with varied topics like Flowers, Life, Birds, Success, Father, Mother, Gymnastics, India and our very own Shaktii, to name a few. To add fuel to their enthusiasm, it was turned into a competition.
- On Teachers Day we invited Ms.Tessa ebastian and Ms.Kumari Sequera (Retired Teachers from school of BARC) as judges for the competition.
- The following were declared the winners by the judges: Nitika – 1st prize, Suhana – 2nd prize and Priya – 3rd prize.
September 2023
Plant Cell
- To teach "cell" in biology, the girls were asked if they would be interested in making a model of a plant cell and then give a presentation in front of the 9th class and the mentors
- Each of them made a part of the model and they assembled it in the class
- The mentors and 9th class girls were full of appreciation after the presentation. The 8th class girls swear that they will never forget the structure of cell and functions of all the cell parts
September 2023
Podcast
- In the past few weeks, the girls became familiar with the format of podcasts by listening to them. They followed the story of a young woman from a small town in Odisha who was inspired to become a spokesperson for sustainable living through the practices of her community.
- The girls were challenged to create their own podcast and were split into 2 teams
- While both teams had the same topic and flow, they were each asked to put their own unique spin into the program
- The teamwork, attention to detail and confidence of each girl shone through
September 2023
Garba - By Ashwin Pandey
- Dr. Ashwin Pandey won the hearts of all of us with his extraordinary dance skills.
- He gave a brief introduction about dances in India and educated the girls about the difference between classical and folk dances. He told us the movements in various folk dances relates to the environment where the people live.
- The Kolis of Maharashtra - fisher folks movements will definitely differ from those of Garba of Gujrat of flat land or the sand dunes of Rajasthan - jumping or bouncy movements are a strict No No. On the other hand Punjab - a land of fertile fields were ideal for Bhangra- full of vigorous kicks, body bends and leaps in the air. The girls were stunned and completely floored by this lesson.
September 2023
Field Trip to Mani Bhawan
- Our destination was Mani Bhawan in Chowpaty. But we also added another destination, the Ranibaug Zoo
- At the Zoo, they all enjoyed watching the Penguins, they also got to see many different kinds of birds and crocodile and turtle and tortoise.
- At Mani Bhawan, the girls were in awe to see Gandhi Ji's room, his belongings, original letters of Gandhiji to Tagore, Hitler, Roosevelt and they admired the fact how well they are all preserved.
- They also saw and learnt a lot from the doll museum where Gandhiji's life was showcased from his birth to his death, with various scenes of freedom struggle as well. The "AHA" moment for all the girls was all of us standing on the same balcony where once Gandhiji stood and addressed the public.
October 2023
Shark Tank 1
- Varun Pratap Singh, a story teller turned entrepreneur, came to our centre and educated all of us about Shark Tank and Start Ups
- Following Monday, our girls came up with innovative ideas to pitch for their businesses.
- They hade to cover seven points: 1) Innovative product
2) Feasible or practical
3) Presentation or Pitch
4) Market size ( minimum 1 billion reach)
5) Founder = Market fit
6) Market research
7) Making world a better place.
- We had nine teams. Business ideas ranged from producing slow absorbing sanitary pads with company named "Khul ke jiyo" to producing coconut leaf straw with company named EFS, Eco Friendly Straws to Miss India Cafe selling tea & Coffee with special masala ,a family secret. Then there was a farming company called FUV, Fresh Unique Vegetables, pitching that their vegetables are pesticide free and grown with drip irrigation. Then another team brought forward the idea of using seaweeds, (which is eco-friendly but works and looks like plastic) to make chocolate covers and other baby products. They named their company Eco-Savers. Ex-SHAKTII girls playing to their strengths came up with a company called "Quantum Coder -06" ,a website making company wanting to help small business owners by making their website at a reasonable price and giving them a digital presence.
- Our Shaktii girls are almost ready to face the world. We are sure that each one of them is going to have a bright future.
October 2023
Art Competition
- The girls were asked to draw either a flower or Ganeshji, since this coincided with Ganesh Chaturthi.
- Arunima judged the competition to select the above winners.
October 2023
Rangoli
- We told the girls to make Rangoli on black chart paper. Shruti Agarwal and Sudha Barshikar kindly agreed to the judges.
- Bhoomi and Vedika's Rangoli got the 1st prize. The second prize went to- Gowri, Tamanna and Khushi Sharma
October 2023
Mind buddies
- Mind Buddies - an initiative started by Manisha Jhamb conducts sessions on Mental Wellness. Shrikant a psychologist joined her recently.
- Both conducted a powerful one hour session talking of fearless women who made history. Manisha recited her poem on women . Shrikant gave the girls a list of inspirational women. Banwari Devi of Rajasthan headed the list. Then he spoke about Rani Laxmi Bai and Savitri Bai. He demonstrated the SHAKTII mudra which has many benefits
- “I learnt so many new things from it, I just liked today's session very much. Thanks to Shrikant sir and Manisha ma'am. Big thank you to Kalyani ma’am and Vimala ma’am because they escorted the session and really sorry because I didn't said anything” - Prerna
- "I am grateful to our mind buddies, Shrikant sir and Manisha ma'am. One of my favourite activities from today was Meditation on SHAKTII mudra. Thank you for saying that SHAKTII girls are an inspiration for you. It is a very big thing for all of us. We are thankful that you both are the part of Shaktii. Thank you dear Vimala ma'am and Kalyani ma'am for organizing this session." - Gauri
October 2023
Poetry
- As the girls were getting ready to wrap up their first term, we split them into groups and played a beautiful poem to them on youtube. This was a poem in Hindi, written by R D Tailang called “Tum Mujhe Kab Tak Rokoge”.
- The listening team was asked to listen carefully and write down the Hindi words (in English script), and pass it along to the reading team. Then the reading team was asked to translate the Hindi words into English and pass it on to the writing team. The writing team was in-turn asked to convert the words into sentences to the extent they could. Finally, the speaking team was asked to summarize the poem and share their takeaways.
- All of them spoke confidently and comfortably about the video. Another brilliant idea by Aparna Muralidharan.
November 2023
You are the hero of your story
- Our special guest Aparna Nagda conducted a workshop on characterization
- We began the workshop by writing about a fictional name we always wanted to have. The choice of name is never in our hands but in the workshop, we gave ourselves an imaginary name. Then we wrote about one dream that seems unrealistic to the world but we believe in it. We wrote about one weird characteristic that no one knows about us. Further, we acknowledged one real-life crisis that prevented us from achieving our dream.
- Using the above material, we drafted a fictional story where each girl was the hero of her story.
November 2023
Learning about the world
- The girls were divided into five groups and were given five countries from five continents to research. Argentina from South America, Australia, Cambodia from Asia, Egypt from Africa and Finland from Europe.
- They found out the location of the country on the globe, facts about its culture, art, language, flora, fauna and what the country is famous for. They also found out many unique facts about the country
- Vimala Ma'am had the fabulous idea of turning their research into a 14 feet long book. The front and back cover pages were also designed and illustrated by the Argentina team. The book has turned out to be a piece of art.
- Judged by three judges, Preeti Singh Roy, Dr. Shubhangi Hinge and Sheela Sankaran Iyer, each team did their presentation in the form of a skit and showed off their acting and dancing talents while giving us all the information about their country
December 2023
Spell-well competition
- The girls were told to prepare for the spell-well competition
- We had 3 rounds. The first round was about filling in the blanks , tell the meaning of the word and use it in grammatically correct sentences. The second round was Hangman round and the third was “what is the good word" where the girls had to guess an easy word using 4 clues.
- Tanushree got 1st Prize. Suhana got the second. The Consolation prize went to Bhoomi.
December 2023
Sciemce Festival
- On 7/12/23, a memorable Science festival was celebrated at our SHAKTII centre. The chief guest was Dr. Nandakumar, a retired Scientist from BARC
- We had 3 rounds. The first round was about filling in the blanks , tell the meaning of the word and use it in grammatically correct sentences. The second round was Hangman round and the third was “what is the good word" where the girls had to guess an easy word using 4 clues.
- There were two teams of three girls each for each of the subjects - Biology, Chemistry and Physics; so six teams in all. They gave themselves the names of scientists such as Alexander Fleming, Homi Baba and Thomas Edison.
- After the experiments, two girls Riya and Siddi interviewed the chief guest.
December 2023
Self Defence Class
- A self defence class conducted by Raunak Mukherjee who is accomplished in various martial arts and belongs to the Kyokoshin clan of teachers.
- Raunak started the class with showing some techniques of being prepared of approaching danger and being ready to save ourselves and also retaliate if necessary with punches and kicks at the right places, so we can get time either to run or get help
- The girls enjoyed and learnt a lot. Here are some responses from them.
December 2023
Math Mania
- The second week was dedicated to finding the "Math Wizard" amongst the girls. Vimala Ma'am came up with the idea of the competition based on "Kaun Banega Crorepati", so our competition was named Kaun Banega Mathematician.
- Our office assistant Vijaya did a fantastic job of creating the game of KBM. It had rules like "Ask the audience" and "50 /50". The levels were from "Junior Kg" to "Post Doctorate " The one who reaches up to "Post Doctorate " level becomes the "Maths Wizard".
- Our Maths Wizard was Fenal Pansheriya.
December 2023
Secret Santa
- On Dec 22nd, we had a huge celebration
- The girls became Santa's elves and with dazzling enthusiasm made the Christmas tree, and decided on the flow of the program. The guests and mentors were welcomed by the girls with a shower of snowflakes and a big cheer of MERRY CHRISTMAS
- Our guests were Taruna Deepak, a Sociology teacher, ex-shaktii girls Dipali and Anushka and mentors
- The girls had all brought presents for playing SECRET SANTA
- The girls performed a cute dance on Christmas song "Rudolph the red nosed Reindeer".
- Vimala Ma'am had arranged for a few games like Treasure hunt, Pointing at Rudolph’s shiny nose blindfolded and Touch and Guess.
January 2024
Learning about human rights
- Members of the Innerwheel club IWC Bayside Navi Mumbai, came and educated our girls about Fundamental rights, Human rights and Youth development. Their speaker was Harshveen Kaur, who is a law student and on her way to become a corporate lawyer
- Thank you Reeta Sumbria (club president), Archana Gupta ( club correspondent), Hema yalameli ( club secretary), Sadhana Gupta (member), Usha Sankhe (member), and Harshveen Kaur Advocate ( today’s speaker), for a wonderful session.
January 2024
TED Talk 2.0
- We gave the girls a topic and asked them to write down their thoughts about it in the class itself. We mentors then just corrected their grammar and allowed them to search for videos and memes to accompany their writing.
- The topics given to them were very relevant to their daily lives, Teachers, Myself, Copying, Rote learning, Hard Work, Love, Beauty, Eve teasing, Brother, Sister and many more.
- The judges for this competition were Advocate Shraddha Yadav and Taruna Deepak. Both were very impressed with all the girls and they rightly chose Bhumi Koli with the topic "MYSELF" and Siddhi Bhingare with the topic "TEACHERS" as the winners.
January 2024
National Girl Child Day - 24th January
- SHAKTII has been celebrating this day every year without fail with our lovely girls
- This year our girls made posters of Girl Child.They all spoke about their caption, why they chose it to write on their poster. It was all impromptu and girls were absolutely wonderful.
- Atharva Iwarkar had interned at SHAKTII two years back, when he was doing his MBA from Narsee Monjee Institute of Management studies. He very generously donated wonderful School Bags for our girls
January 2024
Field trip
- On 28th January we took our girls for our 2nd field trip to Yusuf Meherally Centre which is a voluntary organization set up in 1961 in memory of the freedom fighter Yusuf Meherally
- This trip was special because the mothers of two girls joined us as volunteers. The girls got to see the Oil Press, Pottery, Carpentry, Bio gas plant, vermiculture, butterfly garden, a garden full of medicinal plants and later on they got to prepare a small flower bed and prepare it with dry leaves & mud and then sow seeds and water it. They learnt about sustainable & healthy ecology.
- This trip became more special when we all got to meet DR.K.K. Parekh ,a grand old gentleman of age 100, who was a freedom fighter. He had participated in the QUIT INDIA Movement.
February 2024
Annual Day
- On February 18, 2024, SHAKTII celebrated its ninth annual day. The program was planned, designed and executed by the girls themselves, with several performances and presentations which enthralled the audience.
- A note from one of our guests Ms. Sheela Sankaran Iyer:
What I witnessed was nothing short of a magic and miracle that transpired seamlessly over the past 24 months during which these young girls (aka lionesses) have been regularly attending the after school program at SHAKTII, Kharghar, the brainchild of my Atomic energy school teacher, Vimala Nandakumar.
Yes, they prepared well for various people performances and events. But their body language, my my, that spoke volumes of what has been imbibed by them, be it creativity, innovative methods to learn mundane subjects.
What touched me most was their absolutely genuine happiness on their faces not only for the applause they received for their work but also for the awards and prizes their classmates got.
They were 30 but they operated as One unit n team. I am deeply transformed by their presence and have resolved to spend a few more hours every week to strengthen the new age women my teacher is churning out year after year.

YESTERDAY

TODAY

TOMORROW



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Plans Ahead

Shaktii as an institution is in its transition phase now as we embark upon a bigger vision in the near future. We desire to evolve organically to a full fledged academy for these under-served girls

IMPACT STORIES...

  • Hello Ma'am, it's me Pranchal from New City Internaltional School.
    I just got admission in MBBS in Himachal. I want to thank you for supporting me.
    Thanks for believing in me. You are the best mentor!

    — Pranchal Sharma

  • Thank you Shaktii for not taking fees from us, infact giving us scholarships plus certificates. Thank you Shaktii for teaching Art, vocabulary, quiz games, technical maths, knowledgeable activities etc. and for taking us to visit many places Manibhavan, Byculla zoo, kidzania.
    Thank you Vimala Ma'am and all Shaktii mentors for starting Shaktii classes for girls. I am glad to be a part of it.

    — Aarati Chavan

  • Shaktii helped us in Std. X by increasing our English vocabulary and help us by solving our doubts.
    Mentors have taught us how to treat people even in bad times.
    They helped us in Std XI too by solving our Maths doubts.
    They made sure all girls were treated equally.

    — Adwita Kotian

  • Shaktii helped me in improving my English. Shaktii also helped me in studies, singing, arts etc. We also have leart Geography of the world.
    At Shaktii, all the mentors are very friendly and they helped me in may activities.
    I will always be grateful to Shaktii as it has improved by personality. "Shaktii is best!"

    — Raveena Lohar

  • Pranchal
  • Aarati
  • Adwita
  • Raveena


Speakers/ Mentors

What our speakers/ mentors have to say

Guest Speaker
Mr. Satyendra Singh

  • I feel blessed to have trained around 30 girls at Shaktii on the said date. The girls are very ambitious, highly motivated and go getters. I found, they were very brilliant, hard-working, full of life and very enthusiastic to pursue their well-defined ambitious goals.

Guest Speaker
Ms. Saytashree

  • It is a joy to present ideas to the girls at Shaktii, to witness their eagerness to absorb new information and to share their thoughts. The students of Shaktii are intelligent, sensitive and bright and under Ms. Nandakumar`s dedicated guidance and care plus the support of mentors including Ms. Basu, they are undoubtedly on their way to realising their latent potential.

Help us make a difference

We are entering the ninth year with gratitude for the support we get. We hope to provide better infrastructure in the coming years, with more goals to achieve we move ahead to help the girls realize their dreams. We know you are with us in this incredible journey!

Donations for the following are welcome:
1) Scholarship - Rs 10,000 per girl
2) Field Trip(s) - Rs 20,000 per trip
3) Stationery - Rs 500 per girl
4) Transportation - Rs 20,000 per month
5) Birthday Celebrations - Rs 500 per girl
6) Prizes for Competitions - Rs 500
7) Art Class - Rs 2,500 per year
8) Corpus Fund - Min Rs.10000
9) Student of the Year - Rs. 5000
10) Laptop - Rs. 28000
11) Sponsoring of former students' education

Donations to Shaktii Girl's Education Trust are exempt from Income Tax U/S 80G of the Income Tax Act 1961 vide Certificate No.CIT(E)/80G/1695 (2015-16)/(2016-17) dated 21st December 2016.
Write to us at following email addresses for further information:
shaktiigirls@gmail.com, vimalanandakumar4@gmail.com, lakshmiravindran@gmail.com

Shaktii Girl's Education Trust does not have any other branch