"The greatest good you can do for another is not just to share your riches but to reveal to him his own."
Benjamin Disraeli
Almost after two months, we finally decided to write a post on, “Teach for a Change” after we got the confirmation from Nalanda School, JP Nagar Bangalore that a economically backward student will be provided fee discount as a result of our efforts.
Teach for a Change was an idea of taking our Career Guidance+Crowdfunding to the next level.
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| Poster for Teach for a Change |
Christ University is already known for its social responsible activities across Bangalore through its CSR Club KARMA. Being part of the same University helped me to associate with KARMA Club and provided me an opportunity to propose about Blogateurs to Director Fr. Thomas. The idea was encouraged immediately and support from Faculties Prof. Vijayachandran and Prof. Arti Arun Kumar helped me take this idea to Christ University Volunteers.
Initial framework for the event was set after co-ordinating with CSR KARMA Club Co-ordinators Vijay and Mudra.
On February 9, 2014, a mail was sent across to all students of Christ University Institute of Management calling for volunteers.
Teach for a Change
Feb 22 - Mar 5, 2014
A brief about the Program:
The program involves volunteers to visit rural and semi-urban schools across Bangalore and take career guidance workshops for free.
2 Volunteers will be allotted for a school. Blogateurs will provide the materials and the training required to conduct the 2 hour session. Students from Grade 9 to Grade 12 will be the audience since this is the period where vital career decisions are taken.
Why Career guidance?
We belong to a generation where lakhs of Engineers pass out every year not knowing their future and sometimes even unaware of what they really want to do. This has prompted us to help our future generations from this pitfall. This workshop aims at helping students to make career decisions carefully and consciously.
Crowdfunding?
At the end of the career guidance workshop, the students of the school will be asked to donate. This amount will be given to the same School Management, who will use it to fund a bright student of the same school, unable to pay his/her school fees due to financial constraints.
The Number of Schools we visit = The No. of Children we help
The interested students were also asked few questions in a spreadsheet. Few of the responses we got from Christ University Management graduates were sensational.
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| Responses from Christ University Institute of Management Students |
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| Responding to the things they were proud of in the last one year |
After going through all the responses, we shortlisted the volunteers who were really passionate and were ready to contribute something to their society.
Then we conducted the volunteers meet on February 17, 2014 and briefed the volunteers the tasks that were to be done.
A collaborative worksheet was created and all the details of Bangalore Schools were updated. Volunteers were given an option to chose their team of two and schools of their choice. They were made to approach the schools by themselves and finalize on the dates.
But since it was the month of February and the schools were already packed with exams, only 12 volunteers were able to find the schools.
Our Proposal Document to Schools:
It was always going to be important what these volunteers were going to teach the school children. So, on Feb 21 , volunteers were given materials and training by Blogateurs to conduct the workshop.
After providing the materials, we told them to use it only as a guideline and gave an option for them to innovate as much as possible.
Below are the details of the visits made by Christ University Institute of Management Volunteers:
All these schools are State Board medium schools.
February 22, 2014: Nalanda English School
Total Strength Covered: 256
Standard: 8,9, and 10
Volunteers: Priya Thomas, Vishnu Salimkumar, Vijay, Swapnil, Shyam, Vignesh, Raj Bharath and Saravanan
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5th standard children. We did a 5 minute fun activity with them. |
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| KARMA Club Co-ordinator Vijay started the program with 9th standard girls |
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| From Left to Right: Volunteers Swapnil, Vishnu, Vijay, and Priya Thomas |
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| Volunteers Shyam and Saravanan handling sessions for 10th standard students. Shyam had prior experience in Careers with a Purpose and this stage was definitely not a new one for him. |
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| Raj Bharath S handling 9th standard students sharing his personal experiences. |
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| Vignesh explaining the importance of Personal You and Professional You's to 9th Students. |
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| The students were excited and participated in the discussions. |
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| Volunteer Priya Thomas giving her inputs to female students. |
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| It was a new experience for these students. A picture clicked when they were carefully listening Shyam's lecture. |
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| Our VITAS test which enables the participants to measure themselves |
February 25, 2014: Bangalore High School
Volunteers: Archana Bhat and Varsha C J
February 25, 2014: Mary Immaculate School
Volunteers: Shreyas and Kush
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| Volunteer Shreyas addressing a large crowd of students. |
Crowdfunding was not allowed in Bangalore High School and Mary Immaculate School. But we were able to convince the management in Nalanda English School.
We sincerely thank Ms. Prakash, Ms. Asha who were instrumental in collecting funds from the students of Nalanda English School. The amount will be with the same school management who will use it to fund a student picked from 10th standard of same school.
MBA, Master of Business Administration is one of the educational programs which is now seen as the best option for Return of Investment by both parents and students. Students screen colleges based on salary packages and they end up getting paid fat cheque from corporate companies.
Is that Life?
There has to be some contribution irrespective of means, to our society.
Teach for a Change provided an opportunity for MBA students to get a break from their hectic schedule and heavy books to a refreshing social cause.
Here we have two volunteers sharing their experience.
There has to be some contribution irrespective of means, to our society.
Teach for a Change provided an opportunity for MBA students to get a break from their hectic schedule and heavy books to a refreshing social cause.
Here we have two volunteers sharing their experience.
Volunteer Vishnu:
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| Volunteer Vishnu said it was a great experience to teach students. Read his experience written below. |
We ‘teach for a change’ team reached Nalanda School around 10.30am. Students who were assembled in the ground, dressed in yellow, red and green reminded me of my own good old school days. I along with my partner Priya addressed around 150 students – two sessions with 10th standard girls and one session with 9th std boys.
As we took them through our presentations, some students shared their ambitions with us. It really surprised me to hear some of the fabulous ideas they had. One student wanted to take up performing arts and start a theatre school himself. Another wanted to associate himself with some automobile company and design cars.
Our balloon activity was crucial in initiating an interactive session. Students and teachers equally enjoyed it. Students also gave us a feedback telling all the other activities and information that we shared with them were very helpful.
As a volunteer for Teach for a Change I was most delighted, when many students came back to me asking for my email and phone number. I am sure my experience with students of Nalanda School will always be an unforgettable happy memory of mine.
Thanks to my seniors Raj and Vijay for guiding us.
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Volunteer Saravanan:
It has been few years since I have visited a school. Thanks to ‘Teach for a Change’ programme, that gave me an opportunity to visit Nalanda School in Bangalore.
The first thing I saw when I entered was an unfinished building within the school campus. Students were doing their drill in their sports uniform in a small area (then it struck me that there is no playground for those students). Then all our volunteers went in search of a classroom (in another completed building, where classes were happening) for the presentation.
Now, I again saw the unfinished building & the students doing drill. This time I was really taken aback because even in a city like Bangalore, that too in a paid private school, students are not getting the right kind of environment they need.Then, what is the plight of the school children in the remotest of remote rural areas in India.
All this reminded me of one thing, ‘A lot of things need to be done, for there are lot of unfinished tasks in the society’.
The interaction with 10th& 9th standard students made me understand how important a career guidance session is for them.Even though the 1-2 hour session would not have created a great impact on them, but at least they would have gained few essential insights about career and how to start with their career planning.
Any great journey should start with the small step. May be, ‘Teach for Change’ programme could be the trigger to the first small step of their journey.
The entire school experience reminds me of a wonderful line from the movie Evan Almighty,
People want to change the world, don’t know how to begin.You wanna know how to change the world son,
“One act of random kindness at a time…”
I must sincerely thank the efforts made by Raj Bharath, Vijay and all the volunteers who made the programme possible. Also my sincere appreciation to Shyam, who did a decent homework and designed the career map layout for the students.
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Thank Note:
Blogateurs sincerely thanks Christ University for giving this platform to take our idea to the next level.
We thank Dr. Fr. Thomas, Prof. Vijayachandran, Prof. Arti Arun kumar for believing in us and giving the opportunity.
We thank KARMA Club co-ordinators Mudra and Vijay for their support even after college hours.
Finally, we thank the volunteers who were the backbone of this event for making this idea a success. It would be very unfitting if I did not thank Vignesh, who supported me throughout the event and assisted me in roaming the streets of Bangalore in pursuit of schools.
We also wish this idea will be taken forward in the following years by our Christ University juniors. Already Archana, Vishnu, and Ravikiran have taken responsibilities for the next year’s event.
Blogateurs also thanks volunteers who could not get any schools. Your Intention to join us is more important. You can share this idea with your circle and implement on your own.
P.S.:
Generally in Blogateurs, we do not discuss about our personal life. However, this is important and relevant to the post we are sharing it.
Many people across the globe have appreciated (with the recent being RTBsystems from Russia and they offered an adspace unit in our website for free) for our Crowdfunding Concept.
The idea was born inside Christ University premises.
Not long back, on 11th of January 2013, when I was in first year as a Christ University Management student, we were invited to a book release by our own faculty Prof. Rajasekharan in Christ University auditorium. He was the author of “How to get Rich and Retire early”.
I thought this was just going to be another book launch until when Prof. Rajasekharan announced that 100% of the profits from the book will go to a poor girl child from a South Indian State.
That single moment had made a lasting impact on me. He could have easily commercialized it. He could have made easy money with the popularity of the book which was already generated. But then he chose the other way.
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| Prof. Kshtregna and Prof. Rajasekharan in a event in Christ University. |
When I came outside, I had already bought 2 books and forced my friends Ashwin, Sharad to purchase a book each. That was the case with many of my classmates.
Until then, Blogateurs was doing only free career guidance workshops. After this event only, I got this concept of crowdfunding and I applied in our very next workshop on January 26, 2013.
On March 6, 2013, I wrote a blogpost on Crowdfunding and Blogateurs implements this concept in each and every school we visit. The 100% funds we collect from our workshops goes to financially backward children.
My two years at Christ University has ended. But the values and morals inherited from this institution will stay with me forever.
Inspirations and ideas are everywhere. Actions that follow ideas are important. The onus is upon us to take them and use it for the benefit of our society.
The moment we get an opportunity to any education, we should understand that there is an equally deserving child deprived of this opportunity due to financial reasons. So, each one of us should understand the value of our education and put their hands up to do something better for the society.
On behalf of Blogateurs, I feel proud to have accomplished such an event which has not just provided a career guide for needy students, but also been able to finance a struggling child to an another year of education.
Blogateurs, with all our heart and soul, hope that Teach for a Change inspire millions of educated individuals (not just MBA's) that we are responsible for the upbringing of our society and not just our families.
"Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much"
Helen Keller
Jai Hind!
Blogateurs