Hyderabad, April 16, 2024.....AVEKSHA,   four-day care centres, for children of women workers working especially in the industrial sector and the underprivileged sections of society, inaugurated on Monday at four different locations such as Alkapuri, Santoshnagar, Durganagar and Suraram in the city

Aveksha Day Care Centers for industrial workers is an initiative of the Confederation of Women Entrepreneurs of India (COWE) and SIDBI (Small Industries Development Bank of India), the Principal Financial Institution for Promotion, Financing and Development of the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) sector as well as for coordination of functions of institutions engaged in similar activities.  SIDBI is an organisation set up under an Act of the Indian Parliament.

Rich people and white-collared employees can afford to send their kids to Day Care Centers.  Some IT employees have pre-schools at their workplaces. But, what about the poor Industrial workers?  Thanks to COWE and SIDBI, the poor women working in the industrial sector now have Aveksha daycare centres for their children.

The Alkapur centre was inaugurated Mr B. Gouthqm, Manager of SIDBI and Sivakumar Dev; Santoshnagar centre was inaugurated by Suresh Challa, Director of Sri Vijaya Educational Academy; and SC Guptha, MD, Anand Food Products; Durganagar centre was inaugurated by Kedarnath Agarwal, Chairman, Dukes Group and Mr B. Gouthqm, Manager of SIDBI and Suraram branch by V. Chandramouli, GM, SIDBI and Ms R. Prabhavathi, DGM, SIDBI and Mr P. Praveen Kumar Reddy, President of JIA(Jeedimetla Industries Association). 

Aveksha, which means ‘To Take Care Of’ is a daycare facility meant for children of women workers, especially in the industrial sector and the underprivileged sections of society. It is supported by SIDBI towards operation costs, and by TSIIC and CSR of private corporations towards providing setting up costs.

COWE has inaugurated 4 new Aveksha Daycare Centres with the blessings of Mr Chandramouli, GM, SIDBI, philanthropists Mr Kedarnath Agarwal and Mr S.C. Gupta at Alkapuri, Santosh Nagar, Durganagar and Suraram.

With the Partnership of SIDBI, COWE will be setting up 20 daycare centres across Telangana state. With these four centres, it has 12 centres now.  One of these centers also includes a 1st Day Care Centre for construction workers.  All these daycare centres enable both parents to work.  COWE and SIDBI together will be setting up 8 more shortly.

The support towards infrastructure came from Ms Sucheta Nalla Mathu, Ms Anuradha Rao, Vista International School & OSI Charitable Trust.

COWE successfully launched on May 10th, 2022, with the blessings of Principal Secretary, Telangana, MD TSIIC and DMD Sidbi, 4 Aveksha day-care centres, each one in the industrial Areas of Jeedimetla, Cherlapally, Uppal and Kallakal came up first. Thereafter four more Centres, each one at Moulali Pashamailaram, Genome Valley and My Home Nishada at Kokapet were started.

The Impact of the 8 centres so far has been that at least 150 women have been financially empowered, and 60% of these could take up jobs for the first time, purely because of this facility. Besides, the discipline and creativity of children saw drastic improvement.

The centres are equipped with CCTV to monitor day-to-day activities and necessary amenities have been provided to create a joyful learning environment that encourages the toddlers to enjoy their stay throughout the day.

Each of the day-care centres is spread over an area of 500 to 1000 sqft. They are fully equipped to take care of 20-30 children from 9 am to 6 pm. Each centre will have three staff members, a Coordinator, a Sr. Caretaker, and a Jr. Caretaker. A vigilance team, monitoring CC footage, qualified trainers and systems auditors ensure best standards are maintained.

Aveksha is a National Project by COWE & SIDBI and is not just limited to Telangana. After completing the 20 centres in Telangana, the vision is to have Aveksha centres across INDIA.

Approximately rupees two lakhs are being invested in setting up each of these centres.  Rupees 40,000/- a month will be spent on running these centres.

COWE aims to empower women by facilitating skills through capacity-building initiatives and making them successful entrepreneurs. Keeping it in view COWE conceived a novel idea of extending support to working women, especially in the industrial sector and underprivileged sections of society. This resulted in the launching of Aveksha daycare Centres, a facility to provide free daycare to under-privileged children of industrial workers and labourers, so the women can focus on their jobs and economic independence.

COWE members Uma Ghurka ji, Madhu Tyagi, Aarti Patil, Srilatha, Darpana and Rama graced the four centres' inauguration