About Aatmjyoti

To provide a well-balanced diet for the children, a monthly food chart is made and verified by a dietician to ensure that the children get to eat a healthy diet for their overall development.

For breakfast, they are given milk and recommended breakfast i.e., poha/ upma /paratha etc. During lunch, they are served lentils, rice, chapati, vegetables and salad. For the evening snacks, they are given Poha/ Upma with tea, and at dinner, they are served lentils, rice, roti, vegetable, khichdi, etc.

Our volunteer doctors pay a visit to conduct health check-ups regularly. Every month, doctors visit the school to conduct health check-ups of children, including routine tests, and if needed medical care, they are sent to the hospital for their treatment. The doctors also conduct regular workshops and seminars on health and hygiene-related to girls and are informed about cleanliness, especially during menstruation and the difficulties they face, and how they can take care of themselves.

For their mental well-being, specialised teachers conduct Yoga and meditation sessions every morning. This helps them to be happy and focused in their day to day activities, including studies.

They are learning basic programming like MS Office- excel, word, etc. Aatmjyoti has a well-equipped computer lab in which desktops have been kept for the convenience of the children. The school also provides laptops to help the students to continue their studies in case they are unable to attend the lab due to some problems.

Keeping the Corona epidemic in mind, and how mobile phones became a virtual class across the country during this time, Aatmjyoti also arranged for smartphones for all the children so that they can continue their studies. Since girls started taking classes through smartphones, it came to everyone’s notice that they efficiently gained knowledge in all their subjects using smartphones. Through the audio clips, the children were able to understand things easily and were also able to explain their points of view. That way, even during the corona epidemic, Aatmjyoti Sanstha continued their education without any break. Aatmyoti not only prepared the children to fight this epidemic but also took full responsibility for their education and helped them in every way.

Along with qualified yoga teachers at the school, all the girls and teachers at Aatmjyoti are proficient in almost all yoga asanas. Every day, from 6:00 to 8:00, there are physical and mental health activities for the girls in which yoga has a prominent place. Sometimes it is surprising to see girls performing asanas that children of this age are usually unable to perform. From time to time, yoga trained teachers also visit Aatmjyoti to teach how to perform various yoga asanas properly. Some of the girls at the school have now become certified yoga teachers and teach yoga to their hostel inmates. Furthermore, they may adopt yoga as a career in the future if they so desire.

An open gym has been built for girls on the school premises to help them take care of their physical health. For this purpose, many machines have been installed in the gym. Not only do girls use this gym for their physical well-being, but they also get to spend a lot of fun time with each other during their time at the gym. It is a fun place for children designed very beautifully where they can play, have fun and become healthy. They are given pre-training by the sports teachers before the exercise and kept under the supervision of teachers throughout their gym sessions.

Not only does music help develop spatial awareness through movement but it is also a convenient way to teach body concepts and positional concepts using songs and movements that require students to follow directions and perform actions on their own since any student who is visually impaired cannot learn by observing and imitating the actions of others.

In the evening, girls take up different types of training according to their interests and abilities. These cultural activities have their importance. For this, with the help of trained teachers and volunteers, Aatmjyoti Sanstha trains them in music and dance activities.

They get training in musical instruments like Tabla, Violin, Drum Harmonium, Synthesizer, Guitar, etc. Some of these girls have also participated in various competitions and won many awards as well. The girls are very skilled in singing, and it is an essential part of the prayers in the morning and evening, and also at the time of lunch and dinner. At bedtime, they also recite slokas in Sanskrit, thus making the atmosphere of the hostel pious and pure. Along with music, the girls are very adept at performing dances. At Aatmjyoti, many forms of dance are taught to the girls like Kathak, Garba and Bollywood dance. They are very fond of dance, and they do it exceptionally well.

For this purpose, a kitchen has been set up at Aatmjyoti, in which all kinds of cooking-related equipment like the gas stove, microwave etc., have been arranged under the supervision of a teacher. Along with training for cooking regular items, girls are also trained to prepare bakery products such as cookies. Here girls are trained to cook North Indian, South Indian and Italian food, including different types of pickles, amla dishes, like Amla candy, etc., moong and chana gram papads. From time to time, many local people come to buy these delicacies made by the girls of Aatmjyoti Sanstha.

Along with decorative items, they make beautiful rakhi as well. Since girls like to use colour and paint, a pottery class is also conducted. Art & craft is not only a good vocation for the students, but it also helps to develop their fine motor skills. In some ways, through this activity, they also develop their communication skills, especially when they are encouraged to reply to such questions- “Why did you choose that colour?” or “Tell me about what you made.”

Art and craft activities give girls a sense of achievement and allow them to take pride in their work, which makes them confident. Making art is a great way to discover that it’s okay to commit mistakes, and sometimes doing things ‘wrong’ can lead you to a whole new idea. Art & craft helps develop creativity that is relevant throughout their lives as it allows for self-expression and lets children express (and cope with) their feelings.

Aatmjyoti provides options for both indoor and outdoor games to visually challenged girls. Not only do sporting activities help these girls become physically and mentally strong, but also infuse confidence and team spirit in them so that they can deal with life’s challenges.

Aatmjyoti offers free of cost facilities and training to students in both outdoor and indoor sports.

In outdoor games, we encourage girls to take up Athletics- 100/200-meter races, long jump, high jump, Javelin throw, Discus throw. We also provide all the equipment and training for outdoor and indoor games such as Cricket, Kabaddi, Chess, Carrom, Dumbbell, including Lezim and Yoga. We are proud to announce that some of our girls have won numerous awards at the state and the national level in various sports such as Athletics, Kabaddi, Cricket, Yoga, etc.

Since the entire setup is offered free of cost, hence the girls can put their entire energy into going up higher with their education without financial burden, stress, or guilt. The hostel has been designed to provide a comfortable and homely life to the girls, which includes personal beds, well-ventilated rooms, and clean toilets. The infrastructure is designed to be appropriate for residents with visual impairment.

Our hostel facilities are a lifeline for 40 visually challenged girls. The hostel is divided into two wings, Junior & Senior. The hostel has inmates from different states, i.e., Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and Madhya Pradesh. These girls come from the most marginalized and poorest of the poor families, with little or no family support.

Their morning routine starts at 6:00 with a yoga session. Trained teachers have been appointed at Aatmjyoti for their yoga training. Some of the girls have become so proficient in yoga that they have even obtained a certificate of yoga training and can teach others too. Post yoga and bathing, children take their breakfast and start their day with formal schooling till noon. Some children study at AatmJyoti Sansthan and few are sent to other schools as per need. They come back to the hostel using the transport facility arranged by Sansthan, have lunch and then take a rest for some time. During the post-school evening session, children participate in many activities in the hostel, such as music, sports, and, later on, study after their evening prayer meal. The entire arrangement for their stay and food is done by the Aatmjyoti Sanstha. At the special request of students, a temple has been built for children on the school premises for their spiritual well-being.

For better care of the girls, a lady warden has been appointed in the hostel, who stays with them all the time. The warden keeps a close watch on the girls from morning till bedtime and helps them to be self-reliant. Since the warden herself is also a teacher in the school, she is able to help the children in their studies.

The best part about the accommodation is that some of the teachers also stay with the girls and have become part of their life, during school hours and after school hours, too. From 6:00 am to 9:30 pm, children stay completely occupied with numerous activities in a positive learning atmosphere.