Facilities

The facilities at Ankur include two bright, airy, cheerfully furnished hostel blocks, each with three dorms, studies and recreation rooms, in-house libraries, laundrettes and spotless bathrooms. Between them, the two hostels can house 100 children. Sharing the extensive grounds of The Samhita Academy, the Ankur hostels have easy access to the school and playgrounds. A healthy diet, planned by a trained nutritionist, is cooked in the canteen on the premises, and served in the dining hall that accommodates 64 people at a time. There is also a recreation complex with an auditorium and provision for various indoor games, television, computers and so on.

The facilities include quarters for the residential staff, including a Boarding In-charge, Supervisor, Administrative Officer and Teachers. Nurses, House-mothers and their assistants care for the children and look after all their needs, and a doctor is on call in case of emergencies.

Efforts are made to preserve the cultural heritage of the children. Festivals are celebrated in the hostel. Equal importance is given to all religions and children are free to follow the faith of their parents. Morals and values are taught through stories. Plays enacted by the residential staff at the weekly programmes in the recreation centre reinforce these values in an atmosphere of fun.
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At Ankur, we try to make education a joyful process. The children attend classes at The Samhita Academy, which provides excellent teaching and quality education. Ankur children are on par with the fee-paying students of the school.

Due to their backgrounds, the children usually need a high level of priming before they begin schooling. After admission, remedial classes and special coaching are also required to bring them up to speed with their peers. This one-on-one attention is provided by the resident teachers, house mothers, tuition teachers and volunteers after school hours.

Sports and other extracurricular activities in the evenings, weekends and holidays are organised through a network of professionals and volunteers.

The campus will have several small typical home style facilities. Each home is run by a trained house-mother helped by assistants and houses 10-12 children.

The homes are well secured and all residents are provided food and clothing. A trained nutritionist helps plan the menus. The assistants help the house-mother care for and meet the needs of the children.  
Equal importance is given to all religions and children are free to follow the faith of their parents. A few festivals are also celebrated in the homes.

Of Parents

At Ankur, parents play a very important role. We are committed to maintaining the parent-child bond, which is so essential for the overall well-being of the child.

Separation is traumatic for both the children and the parents, so the transition phase is handled with sensitivity and understanding. Parents are allowed to visit Ankur once a month at a pre-defined time. They are encouraged to follow the schedules to help maintain discipline while simultaneously keeping family ties healthy. The children are allowed to go home twice a year, for one week at a time, during school holidays. However, there is continuous involvement throughout the year through the parents’ monthly visits and sharing of photographs and videos of outings and events at school, report cards, school work sheets etc.

All the children and staff are medically insured. Ankur has tie-ups with a few medical institutions to take care of regular check ups, immunizations, trauma care and other medical emergencies, where the facilities are provided free or at cost. These include:

• Shanthi Nursing Home, Jayanagar, Bangalore.
• Manipal Hospital, Airport Road, Bangalore.
• Clumax Diagnostics, Jayanagar, Bangalore.
• Apollo Hospitals, Bannerghatta Road, Bangalore.

The medical history, immunizations and growth charts of all the children are maintained.