A more in-depth look at our ambitious learning plan at iSaahasi.

1. Education

The predominant goal of iSaahasi Academy is to vest our students with a profound, critical, engaging, and effective education. Our curricula cover the core fundamentals as per Indian and international learning standards. Additionally, our teaching staff have developed unique supplementary classes to bolster the personal development, critical thinking, emotional awareness, and agency of our students while they engage in the classroom. The core classroom focuses on four topic areas: Mathematics, Social Studies, Reading and Writing (in Hindi and English), and Science.

• In Mathematics we focus on arithmetic, digits and sequencing, decimals/ fractions/ percentages, real life applications (such as time, money, averages, and statistics), and area, volume, geometry, and measurements.
• In Social Studies we focus on Indian and international history, geography, literature, culture, religious studies, race and ethnicity, gender, legal and social systems, psychology, child development, current events, and changing civil rights in India.
• In Reading and Writing we focus on phonics, writing, the alphabets, parts of speech, basic grammar, reading comprehension, growing vocabulary, writing paragraphs, creative and professional writing, reading as therapy and healing, and classic literature.
• In Science we focus on the scientific process, important scientific discoveries, geology/ earth science, biology and anatomy, genetics/ evolution, physics, and chemistry.

2. Health

We hope that our students will become active agents in caring for their bodies, health, and wellbeing, and we aim to equip them with the tools, knowledge, and confidence to engage in healthcare activities. In health class, we focus on seven main areas:

• Patient Agency: learning what questions to ask your doctor, understanding and exercising your rights as a patient, learning how to find reliable/ credible healthcare information, becoming familiar with basic medicine and first aid
• Nutrition: understanding the effect of food on the body, learning specific nutrition for women (including prenatal, anemia, hormonal), dissecting the different food molecules, learning about allergies and sensitivities
• Reproduction, Children and Sexual Health Education: learning about menstruation, ovulation, and conception, understanding STIs, becoming acquainted with contraception options, discussing consensual activities versus non consensual behaviors, engaging in conversations about sexuality, attraction, and sexual orientation, debunking myths and stigmas, discussing family planning, pregnancy, labour, delivery, and breastfeeding, learning about nutrition for children, covering the basics of parenting throughout different life stages
• Relationships: discussing healthy romantic and platonic relationships and how to effectively communicate in different relationships, learning how to end relationships and how to know when to let go of people, understanding physical, mental, emotional, and sexual abuse, learning how to navigate marriage and balancing work/ family obligations, learning how to set boundaries
• Exercise: conducting conversations about the physical and mental benefits, brainstorming different types of exercise and how to integrate exercise into a busy schedule
• Mental Health: building skills to reduce stress and cope with difficult emotions, learning about different psychological afflictions and best practices to help yourself and others around you, learning about different forms of therapy and self-expression outlets, understanding anger management, learning to find support and build empowering communities

3. Income

We want our students to graduate with financial literacy, the ability to secure financial stability and apply for diverse jobs, and an understanding of how to budget, save, and work in professional settings. With our focus on Income, our students learn about:

• How to be a wise consumer, critically analyze marketing campaigns, and avoid deceptive schemes
• How to manage finances, save, prioritize, apply for and pay off a loan, and open a savings account
• How to choose a career path, identify one’s strengths, weaknesses, and interests, network, develop leadership skills, and gain exposure to different jobs
• How to go after your professional dreams, write a CV, apply for a job, acquire professional email etiquette, make a presentation, public speak, manage time, and plan projects
• How to navigate computers, gain literacy in Microsoft Office, use the Internet safely and effectively, edit photos, and use productivity tools

In addition to classroom learning, the students will have opportunities to meet local professionals, go on field trips to offices around Mumbai, and take on externships.

4. Community

Our focus on community allows us to build a supportive, collaborative, and personally enriching environment that enables the students’ growth and success in the classroom. Additionally, we hope that students will apply community-building skills outside of the Academy as they move forward in life. Our innovative “Fusion” class emphasizes personal development as an instrumental step to community building. The Fusion class focuses on:

• Personal skills: problem solving, critical thinking, conflict resolution, communication, decision making, finding and using your strengths, and planning in advance, adopting a growth mindset
• Engaging the spirit: introduction to religions, finding your centre and reflecting on spirituality
• Community Engagement: local improvement and advocacy projects, social justice, peer counseling and mentoring, giving  back to society