Bringing Anand in people's lives

Hyderabad: There are hundreds of children studying in kindergartens and schools with learning disabilities that go unnoticed, partly due to lack of trained teachers who can spot them and majorly due to the system.

Seetha Anand Vidyam, founder of Ananda Foundation, is striving to make a difference by not just helping children cope with learning difficulties but also making them become responsible citizens by caring for the environment.

Ananda Foundation works in the areas of environment and health apart from education. Cleaning lakes on weekends is one activity that Ananda Foundation takes up earnestly. For instance, cleaning the Kotha Cheruvu in Shaikpet is a case in point.

The NGO has also adopted a government primary school in BJR Nagar, Film Nagar, and offers support in holistic education and also plant trees in government schools across the city.

Tracing the origin of Ananda, Seetha Anand Vidyam said, "While I was working as a kindergarten teacher in 2000, I noticed seven children with learning difficulties. There was not much information about learning difficulties so I started researching and reading.

In 2003, I resigned and did courses in remedial therapy. Later, I realised that there are many therapies that are not available in India and those available were expensive. So with the help of my husband, I started Ananda Foundation in 2008 to help needful children with remedial therapy."

"Initially we only were involved in early childhood curriculum, teacher training, and remedial therapy. Later we entered into the fields of wellness and nutrition and later into the promotion of a sustainable chemical-free lifestyle that's how we got into environment protection," added Seetha.

Early childhood curriculum development and teacher training, art therapy classes, workshops on holistic wellness and sustainable lifestyle solutions for school children and teachers are major areas of focus.

It provides end-to-end solutions for kindergartens across India, teacher training workshops, parenting workshops, mentoring of teachers. In the health sector, remedial therapy classes which are one on one for children with learning difficulties, nutritional counseling and wellness workshops, promoting healthy without chemicals are given importance.

In the environment sector, Ananda promotes organic edible terrace gardening, compositing, sustainable lifestyle solutions, clean up drives. Spread awareness through workshops and talks amidst locals.