The Sunfeast Bangalore 10K run is happening in Bangalore on May31st. Yeppie...its coming again!! I am all game to run the 5.7kms, it was so much fun last 2 times.
Like the last 2 times, this time too I am running for the cause of 'educating under-privileged children' supported by Ashwini Charitable Trust fondly known as ACT.
I've been volunteering for ACT for more than 4 years now. It has been a truly wonderful experience for me being with those children, see them grow and come out in flying colors.
ACT is participating in the run for 1. Creating awareness amongst people about the cause 2. Raising funds to pay the children's fee for the coming academic year (2009-2010)
Today, ACT supports around 100 children of age groups varying from 3 years to 18 years. The estimated cost of educating these kids is around Rs.10Lakhs for the coming year.
If any of you think you can help these children by sponsoring for their education, please please let me know. We need support from everyone to accomplish the mission.
I have no doubts on the capabilities of these children - the proof of the pudding came yesterday when we heard 2 of our children made jobs by themselves without any recommendation in big firms.
The table below will give you an idea of how much it costs to educate a child for one year.
Let me know if you would like to sponsor a child. If you are interested to Run for Ashwini, go ahead and get registered. I promise you, its going to be fun and a more satisfying experience as you help spread the message.
All contributions are eligible for tax exemption under section 80G
For more details on the Run for Ashwini campaign - check the blog
My weekly sessions at CSIM have completed and I am now doing an individual project. This is like a dream project which I would love to implement some day.
My passion is in 2 areas - children and education. So, I plan to do a project that would bring more meaning to these. As most of you would know, I have been volunteering for ACT for the past few years. The idea of this project is based out of my experiences with children there. It has stemmed from the feeling of helplessness, frustration while teaching children and the constant urge to motivate children to learn the right way.
I have put down my thoughts of the project. In the coming weeks I will post my findings and ways to address the issue.
I would like you all to pass on your suggestions or any inputs you have.
Love, Me
BACKGROUND
Life of an under-privileged child
Today, there are many NGOs who work for educating under-privileged children. One of the biggest challenges these NGOs face is to sustain and increase the interest of the child in education. Being supported by the NGO, the child joins a government school enthusiastic about going the school and being the first generation literate in his/her family. Slowly as years pass by, the child keeps learning new theories and concepts in school and finds no relevance to it in daily lives. At home, their parents are uneducated and hence are not able to help them in understanding the importance or the science behind the concepts. At schools (typically government schools), the standard of teaching is poor. When the child reaches class 8 or 9, his/her interest in education drops as they hardly understand what they learn. They prefer to mug-up the question answers and score marks for the sake of exams than understanding the logic or reasoning. As time passes, they complete class 10 and face the big question of which branch/stream to choose. Most of them end up choosing commerce not because the want to become a C.A, but because they have an aversion to mathematics, physics and chemistry. Their choices are more derived from their dislikes than likes. Much before they realize, they end up gazing at the limited choices they have for an under-graduate degree. The girl enrolls herself for an arts course and the boy for a B.Com. As they have not developed their application and problem solving skills so long, they struggle to get a good job for their education. And there finally comes the irony - they land up in a job which has no relevance to what they have learnt so far.
There are multiple cascading problems here, 1. As teaching at school is more exam oriented and not application oriented, the child looses interest 2. As they loose interest, they start disliking subjects which need more logic like Maths and Science. This gives them limited options in class X and XII 3. Without developing the required problem solving skills, they don’t end up in the right jobs
Today, there are many organizations that are working for identifying the most appropriate streams for the child based on his/her capability. There are also organizations working towards getting a job for them.
OBJECTIVE
Through this project I would like to work on the root-cause of the problem which is – Learning not being application and problem solving oriented.
TARGET AUDIENCE
Education is important to every child irrespective of their background. The problem of rote learning is applicable to children in general and only to under-privileged ones. Through this project I would like to come up with some ways of addressing this issue for all children.
Coming soon ... Results of some study/surveys Analysis of existing solutions if any New solutions
Let me know if you would like to sponsor a child. If you are interested to Run for Ashwini, go ahead and get registered. I promise you, its going to be fun and a more satisfying experience as you help spread the message.
