Ina Raja Memorial Education Trust (IRMET) came into being on 29th of January 1997. Born out of a personal tragedy in June 1996, the Trust has since then assumed a life of its own. IRMET has been working in an independent capacity for the last 24 years to supplement the efforts of the state education system. While the children remain enrolled in state schools they are encouraged to spend their time
outside school, hours at the Center run by the Trust, away from the vagaries of the street. A majority of the children who come to the Trust are officially enrolled in state run schools, which are the only education option for the urban poor in India. The problems associated with state run schools are numerous and well documented. These schools suffer from insufficient material resources, inept management and a generally unmotivated teaching staff. Consequently, they have a large dropout rate beyond the primary school and are notorious for their inability to inculcate even simple literacy skills in their students, even after five to six years of schooling. After school, the home for most children is the street. The children come largely from migrant families and many don�t have a permanent home in the city. Their parents work hourly jobs as domestic helps, construction site labour, rickshaw pullers etc. At night the family returns to a shanty dwelling in urban slums. While starvation is not an issue with these children, the nutrition value of their diet is questionable. The majority of the children that the Trust works with are underfed or chronically malnourished, which severely affects their cognitive abilities. Currently, there are 150 children in the care of the Trust. In 2002, 57% of children that the Trust worked with were academically ranked in top ten among their peers in the public school system. In 2003, that number increased to 68%. The number of students has grown by over twenty percent in the last three years. In 2004, the ratio of boys to girls was roughly 50:50. The introduction of a nutrition plan has contributed to increase in the number of students.
