The Ganesh Festival was held during 8th to 14th September 2008, where Apnalaya staff distributed information regarding health, education, women’s empowerment as many other issues to people living in the slums of Govandi and the surrounding area.

As scheduled every year, the Study Classes have started in August 2008 for 920 children belonging to private as well as municipal schools. These classes are run in Hindi, Marathi and Urdu language for children from Class I to VII with the help of mentors. These classes help the children to focus on self study while the mentor is available to every student on a one-on-one basis in case of any difficulty. Each study class has 50 students and these classes have helped to improve their academic performance along with their ability to think independently.

The Director, Leena Joshi takes 2 months off and Dnyaneshwar Tarwade and Manoj Shirsath (both Assistant Directors) take charge.

Project offices located in the slums (Govandi) undergo reorganization in order to improve communication and optimize infrastructure.

A health check-up camp was held in Rafinagar (Part 2) on 30 & 31st August 2008 where 313 children were checked by doctors from Indian Pediatric Association. Children were given free medicines or referred to other health posts / govt hospitals. Every child was also checked for malnutrition and proper diets were suggested to the parents. This health-up was supported by the community based Youth Group.

270 local children as well as children belonging to municipal schools from Standard VII have been enrolled for a unique recreation program which is run by Apnalaya for the past 36 years. Children are encouraged to play carom, football, skipping, badminton, chess, etc. Art and craft is also included in the program.

A basic balwadi teachers’ training program has been started for women living in slums. These training programs enable women to run balwadis in future. The minimum qualification is Standard VII.