The idea of Ankur emerged in the late seventies and early eighties when there was a growing discontent with formal education system and a restlessness to explore alternatives. Ankur was founded in 1983 by a group of educationists, academics, social workers and activists. For over three decades, Ankur has been engaged in experimental pedagogy in marginalised neighborhoods of Delhi.

Our Concerns

The education system reflects the inequality in society

• It is indifferent to the reality of lives of students from marginalized communities
• It discourages questioning and reduces the learner to a passive recipient of knowledge
• It fails to develop the inherent potential of learners

Our Beliefs

• Education is a force that can empower people and transform society
• Education plays a significant role in realising the inherent potential of children and young people
• Education gives the marginalised the confidence to articulate and navigate the social milieu they encounter

Our Aims

• Empower children, young people and the communities in marginalized neighborhoods to reflect on their lives and strive for a life of dignity.
• Evolve pedagogical alternatives that unfold their creative and intellectual potential
• Connect with the formal education system to make it more sensitive to marginalised children and their contexts
• Contribute to processes of building a just and humane society

Our Objectives

• Building collective spaces of learning for children and young people that help generate and project their voice
• Building communities that nurture children
• Strengthening the initiatives of the community
• Developing learning resources in different media forms
• Collaborating with schools, educational bodies and institutions in areas of classroom transaction, curriculum design, textbook writing, teacher training and policy deliberations
• Capacity building of concerned actors in areas of pedagogy, child rights, gender, peace and conflict
• Collaborating with initiatives for the rights of children, women and the marginalised