This quarter marked a significant milestone for City of Child (CoC) as the number of resident children reached 66—the highest enrolment since CoC began. Although 5 children eventually dropped out, the final count stood at 61, still the largest number we have ever supported at once.

For many children, adjusting to life away from home, family, and familiar routines can be challenging. Several who left had been out of school for some time, which made adapting to structured learning and daily discipline more difficult. Their experiences have opened an important area of learning for us: how to meaningfully support children who are disconnected from the school system.

🔎 Understanding the Needs of Out-of-School Children

We are working to better understand the challenges faced by children who have been out of school for extended periods. Our goal is to design individualised interventions that rebuild learning readiness, strengthen emotional resilience, and help them rejoin structured systems safely and confidently.

Alongside this, we are deepening our family-strengthening work. We believe that when families are better supported, children are more likely to grow, thrive, and remain connected to education—whether at home or at CoC. Strengthening family relationships will remain a major focus in the coming months.

🧠 Psychological & Aptitude Assessments by Manthan

Our counselling partners from Manthan conducted detailed aptitude and psychological assessments for all CoC children to gain deeper insights into their:

  • Cognitive abilities
  • Reasoning skills
  • Personal strengths
  • Areas needing support

Key findings included:

  • 72% of children demonstrated average to above-average reasoning skills.
  • 10 children were identified as requiring additional academic or emotional support.

These assessments now serve as an important baseline for personalised academic planning and psychosocial guidance.

The tests also revealed strong interests among children in:

  • Creative arts
  • Technical and vocational fields
  • Social and community-oriented professions

This aligns well with our ongoing vocational training, agriculture sessions, and new opportunities we plan to create that channel creativity and social responsibility.

🌱 Building Purpose Through Community Engagement

To nurture the children’s growing sense of responsibility and their interest in helping society, CoC is encouraging hands-on community engagement activities such as:

  • Village cleaning drives
  • Sharing resources with nearby migrant communities
  • Participating in service-oriented group projects

These activities aim to help children understand the value of empathy, teamwork, and contributing to the world around them.

🥋 District-Level Karate Championship Success

With the support of Rainbow Foundation, CoC children receive weekend karate training—an important part of building discipline, confidence, and physical fitness. This quarter:

  • CoC students represented their school at the District-Level Karate Championship
  • One child proudly secured a Silver Medal
  • Participation boosted confidence, leadership, and teamwork across the group
  • Other children have now shown greater enthusiasm for sports and physical activity

This achievement highlights the potential of structured sports programs in helping children grow socially, emotionally, and physically.

Aptitude sessions

Karate competition