PROGRAMS OVERVIEW

ISCO focuses its support on 5 main areas which it sees as crucial to providing the best help to the sponsored children:

1. Children Educational Support
2. Children Activity Centres
3. Children Health and Nutrition
4. Children Protection and Right Advocacy
5. Children Preschool Activities

CHILDREN EDUCATIONAL SUPPORT

This program is ISCO’s main program for giving full educational support to marginalised children.

Beginning from a very young age (pre-school where possible) through to secondary level, ISCO makes sure that these children can and do go to school each day, and supports them with school fees, uniforms and textbooks.

ISCO maintains good relationships with teachers and school authorities, as well as with parents and monitors the intellectual ability and development of each child in order to be able to see each child have the chance to grow up to become a responsible and productive citizen.

An ISCO educational support is more than just money. ISCO's educational support aims to give full support to marginalized children’s educational needs.

ISCO monitors closely each student’s school attendance and performance, by working together with the school teachers to make sure that these children will have good chance to pursue higher education.

ISCO is currently working closely with 59 schools and institutions to assure the children’s quality of education.

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CHILDREN ACTIVITY CENTRES

ISCO realizes that in order to achieve its goals, providing formal schooling alone for these marginalised children is not adequate. Reinforcement in the areas of personal development, living values, creativity and leadership is required.

For this reason, ISCO sets up Children’s Activity Centres in each neighbourhood where it operates. Children are able to visit these Activity Centres after school to do some interesting and beneficial activities, instead of going to the streets or being forced to work by their parents.

ISCO provides tutors, educational materials, arts and crafts activities, as well as remedial classes for children who have difficulties in certain school subjects.

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CHILDREN HEALTH AND NUTRITION

After two years of operation, ISCO decided to add this important program to its main education program, because more and more children were found to be under-nourished and vulnerable to illness, which consequently affected their school performance. ISCO provides food supplements and vitamins for the children, examines their physical condition on a regular basis, and introduces the parents to healthy living and a clean environment. ISCO also provides meals to students at Activity Houses. >> More info

CHILDREN PROTECTION AND RIGHT ADVOCACY

The Children Protection Program is an important extension to this service and ISCO introduced this program in 2003, as indications of child abuse or domestic violence have become more apparent.

ISCO always tries to let children get all right they have by giving advocacy to the parents, communities and the children.

One of our big concerns is about child’s identity. ISCO believes that each child has the right to know his or her identity, historical background, and memory of his or her childhood. Advocacy for the children’s rights is definitely an important agenda in ISCO’s programs.

ISCO monitors each child’s educational development progress very closely. To facilitate this, ISCO ensures that all records, school reports, tutors’ notes, rewards and health records are filed carefully. ISCO also maintains photographs and important documents in relation to the child’s chance for better future.

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CHILDREN PRESCHOOL PROGRAM

ISCO tries to give scholarships for marginal children starting from preschool or kindergarten age. ISCO found that kindergarten facilities for marginal preschool kids often has inadequate facilities or sometimes preschool doesn’t exist in slum areas. This motivates ISCO to establish a kindergarten run by ISCO itself to gives marginal kids opportunities to reap benefits since kindergarten age to give them equality in education since preschool age.

The ISCO children preschool program run by ISCO itself and the formal kindergarten program with learning and playing methods program for kids and also combine between theory and practices for them. ISCO preschool program aims for long term education awareness in marginal kids since preschool age. This also means that ISCO want in the future education starting from kindergarten, parents of marginal kids aware that good education from kindergarten age prevent this kids from become street children or child labourer and reduce the number of street children in the future.