Thursday, December 25, 2008
Friday, December 12, 2008
IIM-A effort a noble 'Prayaas'
TOI Link
They would soon storm boardrooms and hold top posts in the corporate world. But, come evening, these students of India’s top B-school,
IIM-Ahmedabad, are with children from slums near their campus, teaching them, telling stories and putting a smile on these stained faces.
There are no bells, fixed periods or attendance registers here. But, there are children and there is learning. After hours of tough management lessons, the sprawling new campus of IIM-A comes alive with the cackle of children as students don the hat of teachers. They are a part of Prayas, an endeavour to make a difference by educating underprivileged children who are studying in a nearby municipal school.
What started as a classroom project — ‘Indian society and political environment’ by a group of students in 2004 — is now a big initiative.
Prayas is taken care of by a team of students and has become a fixture on campus. The kids are students of Vastrapur Municipal School and the group helps children with studies after school hours and gives them textbooks and notebooks. “It began as an education support system for underprivileged children living around the campus. Today, we are funding the education of 27 children in private schools. Funds required per child are Rs 12,000 a year including tuition fees, uniform, transport and cost of books,” says Samir Gandhi, student co-ordinator of Prayas from the batch of 2009.
Vaibhav Bhamoriya, a student of the fellow programme at IIM-A, was among the first few volunteers of Prayas in 2004. “It’s great to see what shape Prayas has taken today. IIM-A students used to teach students armed with slates on the temple premises near Blind People’s Association. Now, we have donors from outside campus as well.” Earlier, Prayas was funded by donations raised from the campus.
Now, there are eight students who have even adopted children.
They would soon storm boardrooms and hold top posts in the corporate world. But, come evening, these students of India’s top B-school,
IIM-Ahmedabad, are with children from slums near their campus, teaching them, telling stories and putting a smile on these stained faces.
There are no bells, fixed periods or attendance registers here. But, there are children and there is learning. After hours of tough management lessons, the sprawling new campus of IIM-A comes alive with the cackle of children as students don the hat of teachers. They are a part of Prayas, an endeavour to make a difference by educating underprivileged children who are studying in a nearby municipal school.
What started as a classroom project — ‘Indian society and political environment’ by a group of students in 2004 — is now a big initiative.
Prayas is taken care of by a team of students and has become a fixture on campus. The kids are students of Vastrapur Municipal School and the group helps children with studies after school hours and gives them textbooks and notebooks. “It began as an education support system for underprivileged children living around the campus. Today, we are funding the education of 27 children in private schools. Funds required per child are Rs 12,000 a year including tuition fees, uniform, transport and cost of books,” says Samir Gandhi, student co-ordinator of Prayas from the batch of 2009.
Vaibhav Bhamoriya, a student of the fellow programme at IIM-A, was among the first few volunteers of Prayas in 2004. “It’s great to see what shape Prayas has taken today. IIM-A students used to teach students armed with slates on the temple premises near Blind People’s Association. Now, we have donors from outside campus as well.” Earlier, Prayas was funded by donations raised from the campus.
Now, there are eight students who have even adopted children.
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
An early Christmas gift from the Exchange students!!
Earlier we had put up a post regarding how Antoine and Joe had done a wonderful job organising an event for the Prayaas children where all the exchange students were involved. But now they have outdone themselves.
Joe and Antoine, having interacted with the kids, then put in a lot of effort and went to each and every exchange student and explained to them what Prayaas was trying to acheive and how limited our sources of funding were. And it was also great to see that the exchange students were also were very understanding and were very intersted in helping out however they could. Some even offered to take classes for the children.
So our dynamic duo of Antoine and Joe set out on a mission to help us as much as they could with the help of their fellow exchange students in resolving our financial issues. After around a month of hard work, we are proud to say that the donations that the exchange students have given has totalled to a whopping Rs 48,000 plus.
Our dear friends from abroad, thanks to you guys, four children get to get a proper schooling.
On behalf of everyone at Prayaas, inculding the children,
We would like to thank all the exchange students, and Antoine Binard and Joe Eliston in particular, for their efforts and their wonderful contribution to our cause.
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Chaos performance
For a couple of years now, we have this tradition of preparing the Prayaas kids to perform at Chaos, the IIMA cultural festival. Chaos happens around late January - early February. The kids look forward to the day and put in a lot of efforts for the preparation. We do it in collaboration with another organization ARZOO that has been doing a great service for many kids who are underprivileged.
The performance is generally a dance event. The aim is to give a message as well as to have a fun. It allows us to create awareness about Prayaas among the large audience that comes to Chaos. We also put up a stall that sells Prayaas t-shirts. Along with these we also have little things like greeting cards, bookmarks etc. that have been made by the Prayaas kids. All proceeds go towards funding the initiative. More than the funds, it is the awareness we can generate through leveraging the event that comes in handy.
The above video is of the dance performance that happened at Chaos 2008.
Monday, November 3, 2008
Prayaas bears fruit, little dreams fulfilled
TOI Link1
TOI Link2
Kinjal, 8, just cannot stop smiling these days. This class III student has got a benefactor from Pune — Paresh Bhavsar who is an IT professional from Pune.
The little girl is part of an unique endeavour — Prayaas — that is rooted in the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A). Prayaas, initiated by the students of the institute to support the education of slumchildren around the institute had for the first time kept the option open for people outside IIM-A to contribute for the children of Prayaas.
And, girl child is top on the list of all those offers that have flooded Prayaas. Senior citizens, corporate houses and even individuals have joined hands with Prayaas. For instance, Bhavsar learnt of Prayaas through a report in TOI.
Since the beginning of this academic session at IIM-A in June, six children have been adopted by people outside the institute. The people who have adopted these children include senior citizens, businessmen and the employees of an investment firm. And, in most cases education of a girl child was most sought after by interested people.
Prayaas has opened its doors to accept donation or help in any form from people outside the campus because it has chosen to expand its operations.
“A total of 29 children, 12 from June 2007 and 17 from June 2008, have joined a private school — Sahajanad School. Of these, 15 children are fully sponsored, at a cost of Rs 12,000 per head. Of these, one girl child each has been adopted by Baldev Handa and another by a group, Senior Citizens of Shaligram,” said Sameer Gandhi, the co-ordinator of team Prayaas.
Handa lives at the IIM-A campus with his son, Sunil Handa, a professor at the institute. Senior Citizens is another group of compassionate people, residing at Shaligram apartment in Satellite, who have extended their help.
Three boys have been adopted by a group of employees of Future First. Eight children have been adopted by students of the institute itself.
“We are happy with the response that we have got but are hoping to reach out to more people because there are still a lot of children who have to be moved to private schools. The word has spread and people know about us but the response could be better. The response of the alumni is still not encouraging,” said Gandhi.
Journey of Prayaas
Prayaas was one of the many classroom projects that the students of Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, do as a part of their curriculum. But four years down the line, Prayaas has become a regular feature of the institute, which has a special working team dedicated to it. Started only to help students of nearby slums with their school work, Prayaas has grown into something much bigger, where the IIM-A students are helping these children to get better education by funding their education in private schools. The project is under the guidance of Professor Anil Gupta.
Pooja Dhobi Class III Father: Washerman I joined the big school last year. I like it more here because I have more friends, better classrooms, nice teachers and a big playground. Initially, I had thought that I will have to study more in the big school but the studies remain the same. I have made friends and I am very happy. When I come back, I tell my father all about my day at school.
Yash Mali Class III Father: Rickshaw driver I have started liking all the subjects now but my favourite period is PT period. After I came to the big school, I know what I want to be. I want to be a doctor because not many kids from where I stay get to study as well as I do and there are so many people falling ill and in pain. I want to help them
TOI Link2
Kinjal, 8, just cannot stop smiling these days. This class III student has got a benefactor from Pune — Paresh Bhavsar who is an IT professional from Pune.
The little girl is part of an unique endeavour — Prayaas — that is rooted in the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A). Prayaas, initiated by the students of the institute to support the education of slumchildren around the institute had for the first time kept the option open for people outside IIM-A to contribute for the children of Prayaas.
And, girl child is top on the list of all those offers that have flooded Prayaas. Senior citizens, corporate houses and even individuals have joined hands with Prayaas. For instance, Bhavsar learnt of Prayaas through a report in TOI.
Since the beginning of this academic session at IIM-A in June, six children have been adopted by people outside the institute. The people who have adopted these children include senior citizens, businessmen and the employees of an investment firm. And, in most cases education of a girl child was most sought after by interested people.
Prayaas has opened its doors to accept donation or help in any form from people outside the campus because it has chosen to expand its operations.
“A total of 29 children, 12 from June 2007 and 17 from June 2008, have joined a private school — Sahajanad School. Of these, 15 children are fully sponsored, at a cost of Rs 12,000 per head. Of these, one girl child each has been adopted by Baldev Handa and another by a group, Senior Citizens of Shaligram,” said Sameer Gandhi, the co-ordinator of team Prayaas.
Handa lives at the IIM-A campus with his son, Sunil Handa, a professor at the institute. Senior Citizens is another group of compassionate people, residing at Shaligram apartment in Satellite, who have extended their help.
Three boys have been adopted by a group of employees of Future First. Eight children have been adopted by students of the institute itself.
“We are happy with the response that we have got but are hoping to reach out to more people because there are still a lot of children who have to be moved to private schools. The word has spread and people know about us but the response could be better. The response of the alumni is still not encouraging,” said Gandhi.
Journey of Prayaas
Prayaas was one of the many classroom projects that the students of Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, do as a part of their curriculum. But four years down the line, Prayaas has become a regular feature of the institute, which has a special working team dedicated to it. Started only to help students of nearby slums with their school work, Prayaas has grown into something much bigger, where the IIM-A students are helping these children to get better education by funding their education in private schools. The project is under the guidance of Professor Anil Gupta.
Pooja Dhobi Class III Father: Washerman I joined the big school last year. I like it more here because I have more friends, better classrooms, nice teachers and a big playground. Initially, I had thought that I will have to study more in the big school but the studies remain the same. I have made friends and I am very happy. When I come back, I tell my father all about my day at school.
Yash Mali Class III Father: Rickshaw driver I have started liking all the subjects now but my favourite period is PT period. After I came to the big school, I know what I want to be. I want to be a doctor because not many kids from where I stay get to study as well as I do and there are so many people falling ill and in pain. I want to help them
Sunday, October 12, 2008
There are no excuses
I was not sure whether to write this post or not, but then I thought of putting it down.
In my first year, I was not active in Prayaas at all. I knew about, I was interested in it but did not put in any efforts towards contributing towards it. In fact, when I got to know about various groups / clubs that operate in IIMA, this was the only one I wanted to join. But somehow that thing died within a few days.
I can give various excuses ... that there was the excessive academic pressure ... that it was difficult to find time ... that nobody told me properly how to get involved ... that I could not find much work that I could do etc. But the real issue was that it was not priority. Though I wish to think that I wanted to, the truth is that it was not the case. I firmly believe that if anyone wants to do something from his/heart, it is not possible that there would no time for it. He/she will definitely be able to find some time.
So, my pathetic attitude in the first year was that if somebody would ask me to do something specific about Prayaas, then I would do that. Else it is not my responsibility.
I saw my dorm-mate, someone in my study group and others doing so much work. How did they find the time? Did anybody do hand holding for them and told them what needed to be done? But I did not ask these compelling questions then. I knew if I wanted I can do something, but I didn't. Now, I sometimes feel very much ashamed at my behaviour.
I was inspired and impressed by these people who despite of all the academic responsibilities and workload did something that so very important. I was amazed how people could be so driven for the cause.
Thankfully, I am doing a little bit better in the second year.
In my first year, I was not active in Prayaas at all. I knew about, I was interested in it but did not put in any efforts towards contributing towards it. In fact, when I got to know about various groups / clubs that operate in IIMA, this was the only one I wanted to join. But somehow that thing died within a few days.
I can give various excuses ... that there was the excessive academic pressure ... that it was difficult to find time ... that nobody told me properly how to get involved ... that I could not find much work that I could do etc. But the real issue was that it was not priority. Though I wish to think that I wanted to, the truth is that it was not the case. I firmly believe that if anyone wants to do something from his/heart, it is not possible that there would no time for it. He/she will definitely be able to find some time.
So, my pathetic attitude in the first year was that if somebody would ask me to do something specific about Prayaas, then I would do that. Else it is not my responsibility.
I saw my dorm-mate, someone in my study group and others doing so much work. How did they find the time? Did anybody do hand holding for them and told them what needed to be done? But I did not ask these compelling questions then. I knew if I wanted I can do something, but I didn't. Now, I sometimes feel very much ashamed at my behaviour.
I was inspired and impressed by these people who despite of all the academic responsibilities and workload did something that so very important. I was amazed how people could be so driven for the cause.
Thankfully, I am doing a little bit better in the second year.
Sunday, October 5, 2008
An afternoon of fun and frolic
For the uninitiated, IIMA has an Exchange program with many B-schools across the world. As per the program, there are some seats available at these B-schools so that IIMA students can choose to spend a term there. Similarly, some specified number of students from these schools can opt to come to IIMA for a term in their second year.
On the 5th i.e. today, Antoine and Joe, two of the exchange students on campus this term, were kind enough to organize an event for the children of Prayaas. They organized for lunch to be served to the kids and some other fun activities as well. Other exchange students also turned up in large numbers.
All of them were extremely surprised to see 50 odd kids sitting in a highly disciplined manner and in one straight line. Anders also got into the action with the others and helped in serving the kids the food and the ladies helped distribute glasses of water. Some of us also joined the line and had food along with the kids and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
This was followed by Joe getting all the kids together and showing them some "exercises" and all the kids and Antoine and Anders also repeated Joe's steps to perfection. After this, the Europeans taught the children the famous "Chicken Dance" or as we translated to the kids, "Murgi Naach"! Us Indian students also joined in the fun and that was probably a hilarious sight for anyone passing by. 50 children and close to 20 adults doing the Chicken dance! Later on, the kids returned the favour and were seen teaching one of the European women some Garba steps.
Another hour or so of playing various games followed, such as Statue and even Kabadi. We all joined in a very informal game of football (more like kick the ball around randomly:), which was fun for both the children and the football savvy Exchange students.
For some reason, more than any other sport, these kids like being spun in the air and flipped over and thrown in the air the most. The next half hour was spent in the adults being pestered and pleaded with to spin these children holding their hands, or to flip them upside down. Finally this stopped when all of us started feeling dizzy after twirling all these kids around.
The exchange students were not warned earlier about the dangers of carrying a camera along with them and taking snaps of the kids. There were even scenes of the kids taking pictures of the adults with their own cameras. As usual with every Prayaas event, this too ended up with a full blown photography session with the kids demanding more and more photographs to be taken. Abhishek Biswas was doing his duties as the coordinator of the photography club and teaching these small children how to take pictures, shortly followed by him chasing one of the boys who decided to take the camera and run!
In conclusion, I am sure that every single person there today had an amazing time. It was great seeing the children have so much fun and the smile on their faces and the spark in their eyes made it all worthwhile.
On behalf of everyone at Prayaas, we would like to thank Joe and Antoine for taking the time and effort to organize such a great event for the children and also all the Exchange students who took the time out to come and help out and interact with the kids and teach them in the process as well.
On the 5th i.e. today, Antoine and Joe, two of the exchange students on campus this term, were kind enough to organize an event for the children of Prayaas. They organized for lunch to be served to the kids and some other fun activities as well. Other exchange students also turned up in large numbers.
All of them were extremely surprised to see 50 odd kids sitting in a highly disciplined manner and in one straight line. Anders also got into the action with the others and helped in serving the kids the food and the ladies helped distribute glasses of water. Some of us also joined the line and had food along with the kids and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
This was followed by Joe getting all the kids together and showing them some "exercises" and all the kids and Antoine and Anders also repeated Joe's steps to perfection. After this, the Europeans taught the children the famous "Chicken Dance" or as we translated to the kids, "Murgi Naach"! Us Indian students also joined in the fun and that was probably a hilarious sight for anyone passing by. 50 children and close to 20 adults doing the Chicken dance! Later on, the kids returned the favour and were seen teaching one of the European women some Garba steps.
Another hour or so of playing various games followed, such as Statue and even Kabadi. We all joined in a very informal game of football (more like kick the ball around randomly:), which was fun for both the children and the football savvy Exchange students.
For some reason, more than any other sport, these kids like being spun in the air and flipped over and thrown in the air the most. The next half hour was spent in the adults being pestered and pleaded with to spin these children holding their hands, or to flip them upside down. Finally this stopped when all of us started feeling dizzy after twirling all these kids around.
The exchange students were not warned earlier about the dangers of carrying a camera along with them and taking snaps of the kids. There were even scenes of the kids taking pictures of the adults with their own cameras. As usual with every Prayaas event, this too ended up with a full blown photography session with the kids demanding more and more photographs to be taken. Abhishek Biswas was doing his duties as the coordinator of the photography club and teaching these small children how to take pictures, shortly followed by him chasing one of the boys who decided to take the camera and run!
In conclusion, I am sure that every single person there today had an amazing time. It was great seeing the children have so much fun and the smile on their faces and the spark in their eyes made it all worthwhile.
On behalf of everyone at Prayaas, we would like to thank Joe and Antoine for taking the time and effort to organize such a great event for the children and also all the Exchange students who took the time out to come and help out and interact with the kids and teach them in the process as well.
Saturday, September 6, 2008
There are no barriers
You realize the significance of an alumni network, the significance of belonging to a community. There are issues which arise, which you need to tackle and it might happen that after trying for long and putting in efforts, there are still things which do not happen. Then you look to the people within this community for help.
We were in urgent need of finances some time back. We tried to raise as much as we can and asap but still were short of some for the fees we needed to pay for the kids. We finally thought of asking our alumni for funds. There were people who did an online transfer as soon as they heard from us. Some of them adopted a kid, others donated whatever they can. Some others not only donated themselves but contacted their batch and others and followed up till the required funds got collected. One of them is Mr. Vipul Kedia who has already convinced many to donate large sums.
Currently, am in campus, but in a few months, my graduation would get completed. I always think that when I leave, would I be able to give any amount of time to the effort. I believe that if you want to do something from your heart, you will always find time for that. It is only when you pretend to want to do something, but deep deep down inside, the thing does not matter so much that one does not find time for it.
Even distance does not come in the way. There are various ways you might be able to contribute or at least remain interested and try to find ways in which you would be of help. It just depends on how much you want to do it.
I see people daily telling me that I was so busy that I could not do this; that I could not get time to meet you / talk to you etc. I don't tell them but I know, that they considered other things more important and there was no compulsions.
May be I have digressed a bit, but my aim of saying all this is one can always find ways of doing some work for a noble cause. Please decide that you would do something and you will automatically find a way to remove time from your busy schedule to do that.
We were in urgent need of finances some time back. We tried to raise as much as we can and asap but still were short of some for the fees we needed to pay for the kids. We finally thought of asking our alumni for funds. There were people who did an online transfer as soon as they heard from us. Some of them adopted a kid, others donated whatever they can. Some others not only donated themselves but contacted their batch and others and followed up till the required funds got collected. One of them is Mr. Vipul Kedia who has already convinced many to donate large sums.
Currently, am in campus, but in a few months, my graduation would get completed. I always think that when I leave, would I be able to give any amount of time to the effort. I believe that if you want to do something from your heart, you will always find time for that. It is only when you pretend to want to do something, but deep deep down inside, the thing does not matter so much that one does not find time for it.
Even distance does not come in the way. There are various ways you might be able to contribute or at least remain interested and try to find ways in which you would be of help. It just depends on how much you want to do it.
I see people daily telling me that I was so busy that I could not do this; that I could not get time to meet you / talk to you etc. I don't tell them but I know, that they considered other things more important and there was no compulsions.
May be I have digressed a bit, but my aim of saying all this is one can always find ways of doing some work for a noble cause. Please decide that you would do something and you will automatically find a way to remove time from your busy schedule to do that.
Generous donation
Team Prayaas has received a generous donation from FII (Forum for Industry Interaction) of IIM Ahmedabad.
We would like to thank Gaurav Shimpi, FII co-ord for 2007-08 and his team who put in a lot of efforts to arrange for the contribution. They made sure that there remains nothing pending from their side and things moved fast so that funds get released as soon as possible.
A special mention for Manas Vijh, the current FII co-ord who helped co-ordinate the things and ensure smooth transition of the money.
Thank you very much.
We would like to thank Gaurav Shimpi, FII co-ord for 2007-08 and his team who put in a lot of efforts to arrange for the contribution. They made sure that there remains nothing pending from their side and things moved fast so that funds get released as soon as possible.
A special mention for Manas Vijh, the current FII co-ord who helped co-ordinate the things and ensure smooth transition of the money.
Thank you very much.
Thursday, August 14, 2008
IIM-A's fund-rasing drive: Sponsor a kid's education
TOI Link
AHMEDABAD: As long as the 'prayas' (attempt) was to help children of nearby slums get formal education, small-time donations from within IIM-A campus were enough. But, as activities of this student group have grown, so has need for funds. Supporting 26 children in a private school, the group is on a major fund-raising drive.
"We are paying for a child's complete education - cost per student comes to Rs 12,000 a year," says Sameer Gandhi. Till now, the group was managing with donations from students, faculty members and staff of IIM-A. Prayas has a scheme where you can adopt a child and sponsor his or her education for a year. It will be interactive -the sponsor will get to know the child and be sent progress reports regularly, says Ashutosh Agarwal.
"Many students have shown interest, but can't donate enough money. People can also support schooling in partnership, or give a fixed amount every month," he adds.
AHMEDABAD: As long as the 'prayas' (attempt) was to help children of nearby slums get formal education, small-time donations from within IIM-A campus were enough. But, as activities of this student group have grown, so has need for funds. Supporting 26 children in a private school, the group is on a major fund-raising drive.
"We are paying for a child's complete education - cost per student comes to Rs 12,000 a year," says Sameer Gandhi. Till now, the group was managing with donations from students, faculty members and staff of IIM-A. Prayas has a scheme where you can adopt a child and sponsor his or her education for a year. It will be interactive -the sponsor will get to know the child and be sent progress reports regularly, says Ashutosh Agarwal.
"Many students have shown interest, but can't donate enough money. People can also support schooling in partnership, or give a fixed amount every month," he adds.
Times of India article (Ahmedabad Edition)
A Prayas that has borne fruit: IIM-A students touch lives
AHMEDABAD: It was a simple class project that could easily have ended right there. But, in the last four years, Prayas has not only grown to become a passionate activity for students of Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A), but has also touched many lives along the way. The group was set up to help students of a municipal school near IIM-A campus with their studies, extra learning, homework and, even nutrition.
The endeavour moved to another level last year when 17 students from Vastrapur municipal school were shifted to Sahajanand Vidyamandir near Panjrapole.
This year, another 14 kids are studying in that private school. Of 55 students under the Prayas umbrella, 26 are enjoying benefits of better education.
Schooling for them is completely free. The group pays tuition fees, funds purchase of books and uniforms, transport to and fro, extra lessons and even snacks and milk for children at the end of a tiring day.
"Of the 17 children shifted last year, five left because their parents moved out of the city. This was a learning experience for us. While picking this year's batch we kept stability factor in mind," says Ashutosh Agarwal, IIM-A student and active member of the group. Shifting kids to a private school started as an experiment.
The group spoke to teachers of Sahajanand Vidyamandir , its own teachers and parents. Students who were shifted last year have shown considerable improvement, says Sameer Gandhi, another student member. "Both their grades and behaviour have improved.
This time, we interviewed parents too, because their willingness and appreciation of the opportunity their child is getting is important. We are charging a token fee of Rs 100 from parents now, so that efforts of Prayas are not taken for granted," he adds.
TOI Link
AHMEDABAD: It was a simple class project that could easily have ended right there. But, in the last four years, Prayas has not only grown to become a passionate activity for students of Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A), but has also touched many lives along the way. The group was set up to help students of a municipal school near IIM-A campus with their studies, extra learning, homework and, even nutrition.
The endeavour moved to another level last year when 17 students from Vastrapur municipal school were shifted to Sahajanand Vidyamandir near Panjrapole.
This year, another 14 kids are studying in that private school. Of 55 students under the Prayas umbrella, 26 are enjoying benefits of better education.
Schooling for them is completely free. The group pays tuition fees, funds purchase of books and uniforms, transport to and fro, extra lessons and even snacks and milk for children at the end of a tiring day.
"Of the 17 children shifted last year, five left because their parents moved out of the city. This was a learning experience for us. While picking this year's batch we kept stability factor in mind," says Ashutosh Agarwal, IIM-A student and active member of the group. Shifting kids to a private school started as an experiment.
The group spoke to teachers of Sahajanand Vidyamandir , its own teachers and parents. Students who were shifted last year have shown considerable improvement, says Sameer Gandhi, another student member. "Both their grades and behaviour have improved.
This time, we interviewed parents too, because their willingness and appreciation of the opportunity their child is getting is important. We are charging a token fee of Rs 100 from parents now, so that efforts of Prayas are not taken for granted," he adds.
TOI Link
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Cartoons and more
Taking a break from the usual Prayaas activities, this Sunday, we organized a Cartoons screening session for the children in one of our classrooms. We are very happy with the way things went. The kids had a nice time and it was an opportunity for them to get away from studies and have fun with their friends. After a couple of hours of Tom and Jerry and the Hanuman animated movie (which us PGP2s, FPMs enjoyed as much as the children), on the children's demand, we played them a couple of Bollywood songs to which they were ever so eager to jump around and dance to.
And we were delighted to see that they still remember the steps we taught them for the Chaos performance. This was followed by us holding off the kids as they tried grabbing the camera which was intended to be used to capture a few images of the event, but instead turned into a full-fledged photography session.
We were also able to use to opportunity to distribute to the children the generous donations made towards Prayaas in the form of clothes and stationery by the PGP-X batch of last year.
We would also like to express our gratitude to CIIE and the Entre club for their help and for providing the children snacks and lunch. Thank you for contributing to the cause and helping make the occasion more special.
Also thanks to everyone who helped us with our effort.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Some progress, a lot left to be done
I had talked about some of the difficulties we are facing in the last post. Things have not been exactly smooth from there, but by God's grace we have been able to make some progress. We are trying to take one step at a time so that we do not falter at any place.
But one thing which I have learnt lately is that persistence pays. You need to keep working on something to make things happen. The key to success is sometimes not getting frustrated and giving up but to continue for that extra mile, for some more time.
I have taken a course in which my Professor told me how when he had to get something done for his own company, he had to pursue that issue consistently and persistently. I have had some similar experience, but did not fully realize until he told me about his own experience.
How is all this related to Prayaas and the issues being currently faced? It is again persistence that came to our rescue. After the issue arose, we quickly took stock and met the concerned people about what their problems were with us. One by one we tried resolving each concern, so that we do not leave any weapon in the hands of the other person.
We have been going to the municipal school almost each day for the last 15-20 days. It becomes a little difficult for we need to go at times when we might have classes. So, co-ordinating becomes an issue. Ideally we would like the same person (s) to tackle an entire issue, but that may not be possible due to time and capacity constraints. To the people we are dealing with, we still need to appear as one entity.
On the first day when we went to school, we got a lot of flak from 4-5 people. Three of us went and we were bashed up as if we had done the crime of the worst kind. We were caught unaware of the situation in which we were in and also were not fully aware about the bargaining power we had. So, there was no option but to listen. We have come a long way from there. Though, the criticism has not stopped, it has decreased a lot. And we are more able to put our stand point forward. Going through proper channel and knowing how the hierarchy works helps a lot.
There are two broad issue we are tackling. One was the compound thing which I talked about in the last post. The other was getting leaving certificates (LCs) from the municipal school for the kids we have gotten admission into private school. The first issue is still where it was when it started. On the second issue, it seems that we should be through in a few days. The authorities which preside over the school were helpful in getting this issue resolved. We also did our fair bit in getting new children admitted to the municipal school to compensate for those that had left them due to us.
We managed to get some LCs and are in the process of getting the others. When we got the first batch of LCs, the person asked us to stop coming to the school daily. Her words made us realize that it was because of the fact that we constantly probed her about the LCs and persistently when to the school that she got fed up. One of the reasons for giving us the LCs was that she wanted to get rid of us and our daily presence.
So, if somebody is not doing some work that he / she should have done, just probe then again and again. Send mails, meet them on a regular / daily basis. Sometime or the other they would have to budge and respond in your favour. I saw 'Shawshank Redemption' a few days back, and one of the characters wanted some funds from a central office. So, he sent a letter to the office every week. After 6 years, he got some amount. But he was not satisfied with the amount, which was less than what he had demanded. So, he started sending two letters per week. the letter which cam after 6 years mentioned one thing,
"We now consider the matter closed. Please stop sending us letters."
They had to budge someday.
But one thing which I have learnt lately is that persistence pays. You need to keep working on something to make things happen. The key to success is sometimes not getting frustrated and giving up but to continue for that extra mile, for some more time.
I have taken a course in which my Professor told me how when he had to get something done for his own company, he had to pursue that issue consistently and persistently. I have had some similar experience, but did not fully realize until he told me about his own experience.
How is all this related to Prayaas and the issues being currently faced? It is again persistence that came to our rescue. After the issue arose, we quickly took stock and met the concerned people about what their problems were with us. One by one we tried resolving each concern, so that we do not leave any weapon in the hands of the other person.
We have been going to the municipal school almost each day for the last 15-20 days. It becomes a little difficult for we need to go at times when we might have classes. So, co-ordinating becomes an issue. Ideally we would like the same person (s) to tackle an entire issue, but that may not be possible due to time and capacity constraints. To the people we are dealing with, we still need to appear as one entity.
On the first day when we went to school, we got a lot of flak from 4-5 people. Three of us went and we were bashed up as if we had done the crime of the worst kind. We were caught unaware of the situation in which we were in and also were not fully aware about the bargaining power we had. So, there was no option but to listen. We have come a long way from there. Though, the criticism has not stopped, it has decreased a lot. And we are more able to put our stand point forward. Going through proper channel and knowing how the hierarchy works helps a lot.
There are two broad issue we are tackling. One was the compound thing which I talked about in the last post. The other was getting leaving certificates (LCs) from the municipal school for the kids we have gotten admission into private school. The first issue is still where it was when it started. On the second issue, it seems that we should be through in a few days. The authorities which preside over the school were helpful in getting this issue resolved. We also did our fair bit in getting new children admitted to the municipal school to compensate for those that had left them due to us.
We managed to get some LCs and are in the process of getting the others. When we got the first batch of LCs, the person asked us to stop coming to the school daily. Her words made us realize that it was because of the fact that we constantly probed her about the LCs and persistently when to the school that she got fed up. One of the reasons for giving us the LCs was that she wanted to get rid of us and our daily presence.
So, if somebody is not doing some work that he / she should have done, just probe then again and again. Send mails, meet them on a regular / daily basis. Sometime or the other they would have to budge and respond in your favour. I saw 'Shawshank Redemption' a few days back, and one of the characters wanted some funds from a central office. So, he sent a letter to the office every week. After 6 years, he got some amount. But he was not satisfied with the amount, which was less than what he had demanded. So, he started sending two letters per week. the letter which cam after 6 years mentioned one thing,
"We now consider the matter closed. Please stop sending us letters."
They had to budge someday.
Thursday, July 3, 2008
It's not all easy
We have been facing a few issues for the last few days. Initially, we did not realize the severity of the problem but now we fully do. Here, is how it all started and where we are now ...
June 30
Some of us needs to go to the Municipal school, in the compound of which the Prayaas school is conducted. Today, they had changed the lock and even after lot of efforts from CB (one of our teachers) and others, they were not able to get the keys. they had to take the kids to the garden near Vastrapur lake and the studies suffered. We need to go meet both principals - morning and evening and ask about the reasons. They have refused to ... and we need to talk to them about this ...
July 1 - day
WE HAVE A PROBLEM!! The evening principal is on leave but has left strict instructions not to give us the compound. We intend to speak to the princi whenever she returns but things don't look encouraging. The school people very categorically told us that there is little scope of we getting the compound.
Second issue is ...
While the morning principal has been co-operative enough (so far) the word from the evening one is as discouraging as above. On this front we need to speak to the principal when she returns ...
July 1 - night
To solve the Prayaas school premisis problem our first effort would be to speak to the principal of the municipal school and try our best to convince her. Plan B is to try to get permision from ...; Plan C is ...
July 2
We went to meet the municipal school principal and needless to say it wasn't a very pleasant visit. She is still stuck up on ... and insists that unless we speak to her superior she won't relent. As far as meeting the superior is concerned we can pretty much rule it out coz she hinted that he would only be coming around diwali and she also wouldn't let us go meet him/her. However, on the compund issue she seemed to be slightly accomodating. All she wants is to hear the nod from the morning principal who in turn hasn't shown any opposition to this. Her stance is that she's ok if the evening principal is ok. Hopefully this will pan out in our favour once we speak to both of them. On the other issue ...
July 3
Spoke to the morning principal at the municipal school (finally somebody who spoke softly and was ready to listen). She said she isn't authorised to give permission as she has been given instructions not to allow us to use the compound but she's agreed to speak to the concerned person and put forth our case for ...
However, this she says needs a couple of days and has asked us to come on Monday despite our insistence on getting it done tomorrow. Personlly, I'm not very hopeful of any success on this front but its still worth a try I guess.
The next few days / weeks are very critical and we need to take the right steps so that the events turn out so as to not affect the lives / studies of the kids.
June 30
Some of us needs to go to the Municipal school, in the compound of which the Prayaas school is conducted. Today, they had changed the lock and even after lot of efforts from CB (one of our teachers) and others, they were not able to get the keys. they had to take the kids to the garden near Vastrapur lake and the studies suffered. We need to go meet both principals - morning and evening and ask about the reasons. They have refused to ... and we need to talk to them about this ...
July 1 - day
WE HAVE A PROBLEM!! The evening principal is on leave but has left strict instructions not to give us the compound. We intend to speak to the princi whenever she returns but things don't look encouraging. The school people very categorically told us that there is little scope of we getting the compound.
Second issue is ...
While the morning principal has been co-operative enough (so far) the word from the evening one is as discouraging as above. On this front we need to speak to the principal when she returns ...
July 1 - night
To solve the Prayaas school premisis problem our first effort would be to speak to the principal of the municipal school and try our best to convince her. Plan B is to try to get permision from ...; Plan C is ...
July 2
We went to meet the municipal school principal and needless to say it wasn't a very pleasant visit. She is still stuck up on ... and insists that unless we speak to her superior she won't relent. As far as meeting the superior is concerned we can pretty much rule it out coz she hinted that he would only be coming around diwali and she also wouldn't let us go meet him/her. However, on the compund issue she seemed to be slightly accomodating. All she wants is to hear the nod from the morning principal who in turn hasn't shown any opposition to this. Her stance is that she's ok if the evening principal is ok. Hopefully this will pan out in our favour once we speak to both of them. On the other issue ...
July 3
Spoke to the morning principal at the municipal school (finally somebody who spoke softly and was ready to listen). She said she isn't authorised to give permission as she has been given instructions not to allow us to use the compound but she's agreed to speak to the concerned person and put forth our case for ...
However, this she says needs a couple of days and has asked us to come on Monday despite our insistence on getting it done tomorrow. Personlly, I'm not very hopeful of any success on this front but its still worth a try I guess.
The next few days / weeks are very critical and we need to take the right steps so that the events turn out so as to not affect the lives / studies of the kids.
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Stall at the Entrepreneurs' meet
An Entrepreneurs' meet was organized by Centre for Innovation Incubation and Entrepreneurship (CIIE) at IIMA. It was an initiative initiative to bring together entrepreneurs from IIM Ahmedabad who quit cushy jobs to carve out their own corporate empires. The event was organized last weekend and we thought that it was an excellent opportunity to create awareness about Prayaas as well as generate some funds.
We were greatly supported by Pringoo.com, which allows you to create, share and sell your unique designed products such as t-shirts, mugs etc. We managed to get decent amount of funds through selling of t-shirts and general donation. As Prayaas was started only about in 2004, the previous batches had little idea of any such thing going on. Many alumni visited our stall and were extremely happy that such an initiative is being pursued.
Here are some photographs of the event
We were greatly supported by Pringoo.com, which allows you to create, share and sell your unique designed products such as t-shirts, mugs etc. We managed to get decent amount of funds through selling of t-shirts and general donation. As Prayaas was started only about in 2004, the previous batches had little idea of any such thing going on. Many alumni visited our stall and were extremely happy that such an initiative is being pursued.
Here are some photographs of the event
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Contact us
If you would like to know more details and / or would like to contribute in any way you like, you can contact us through this blog. Please leave a comment for any post with your email id and the issue you want to discuss and we would get in touch with you.
How can you contribute?
There are various ways in which you can contribute. Apart from the funds, if you have time and want to volunteer for some activity, we are than happy to work with you.
1) Sponsor a child: Under this scheme you (as individual or as a group) can sponsor a child for a year. The annual expenses of a child is Rs 12000. This amount can be paid in one or more installments as per your comfort. These payments can be done to any of the prayaas team members by cheque or cash. You can also transfer the money directly to the Prayaas bank account. You can get in touch with us and we can discuss more details about the particular child you would like to sponsor etc. Last academic year, we had 4 children who were sponsored under this scheme.
2) Other donation: You can donate any amount you want. Again you can pay by cheque, cash or direct bank transfer.
3) Volunteering for Prayaas: At Prayaas we do not have any hierarchical setup and we do not have any head or secretary or anything else of that sort. We all work as a team. Anybody can join in and contribute as much as he or she wants and can. The main task we have is to monitor the progress of kids. The prayaas school runs from 5:30 PM to 7:30 PM , Mon-Sat. One of us goes there everyday to ensure that the school runs smoothly. We also need to be in constant touch with the private school authorities to monitor the progress of kids studying there. We also organize dance, music and drawing workshops for kids on weekends. You can choose to participate in any of these activities. In case you have any other ideas, we would love to work with you on them.
1) Sponsor a child: Under this scheme you (as individual or as a group) can sponsor a child for a year. The annual expenses of a child is Rs 12000. This amount can be paid in one or more installments as per your comfort. These payments can be done to any of the prayaas team members by cheque or cash. You can also transfer the money directly to the Prayaas bank account. You can get in touch with us and we can discuss more details about the particular child you would like to sponsor etc. Last academic year, we had 4 children who were sponsored under this scheme.
2) Other donation: You can donate any amount you want. Again you can pay by cheque, cash or direct bank transfer.
3) Volunteering for Prayaas: At Prayaas we do not have any hierarchical setup and we do not have any head or secretary or anything else of that sort. We all work as a team. Anybody can join in and contribute as much as he or she wants and can. The main task we have is to monitor the progress of kids. The prayaas school runs from 5:30 PM to 7:30 PM , Mon-Sat. One of us goes there everyday to ensure that the school runs smoothly. We also need to be in constant touch with the private school authorities to monitor the progress of kids studying there. We also organize dance, music and drawing workshops for kids on weekends. You can choose to participate in any of these activities. In case you have any other ideas, we would love to work with you on them.
What do we do?
Part of the things we do have already been mentioned in the last post. This is a more comprehensive post with the events and activities we and our students undertake. There are also details about the current status of the initiative.
As already mentioned, we are proud to announce that 14 more students have started going to Sahjanand school which is a main-stream private school not very far from the campus. This is in continuation of our efforts to bring the street children into the formal education system. I would like to remind that last year, 17 students joined the Sahjanand school and they have done well in studies. The school authorities are glad that the experiment is working and so have extended the support further by incorporating more students.
The new students have started going to school and all arrangements have been made. These include school fees, transportation to and fro from the school, school uniform, textbooks, notebooks and stationary, etc.
The admission of students into mainstream school which started last year, has also helped in containing the dropout rates. Over the last couple of months, we have realized that we might be running close to full capacity, given the current infrastructure, in terms of children we can help in an effective manner. So, for the time being, we have stopped adding any more students to the initiative and have freezed the number at 55 (including those which are already going to Sahjanand). We have come to the conclusion that it would be better to keep the efforts small and sustainable, rather than becoming too big and facing the risk of shutdown and thereby affecting the lives of all the children.
Other events
Prayaas aims at all round development of students. So while we stress on attendance at the school, we break the monotony through activities:
Prayaas organized a blood and a general health check up camp in association with the Rotary Club of Ahmedabad. The medicines prescribed to the children in these camps were sponsored by Prayaas. The volunteers also ensured that children have their medicines regularly and in future prevent the nutritional deficiency. A second health workshop was organized with help from the Armed Forces Batch of 2008.
There were regular features like drama, card making and art workshops. A professional drama workshop for the children was also organized by the Eklavya School especially for Prayaas kids.
The kids also enjoyed "Jajantaram Mamantaram" and "Om Shanti Om" specially screened for them at IIM.
Prayaas volunteers celebrated Holi, Dushahra, Deepawali and Christmas with the kids. The kids contributed to the festivities by unleashing their creativity for the preparation and decoration.
The annual sports day at IIM was an instant hit with the kids. They had races, football match, kabaddi and lots more.
Prayaas students put up a brilliant dance show at IIMA's annual cultural festival - Chaos. This show was in collaboration with an NGO - Arzoo. The cards made by the kids were also put up for sale in this event and were widely appreciated.
Apart from these we try to take the children to specific field trips as and when possible and if we get an appropriate opportunity.
As already mentioned, we are proud to announce that 14 more students have started going to Sahjanand school which is a main-stream private school not very far from the campus. This is in continuation of our efforts to bring the street children into the formal education system. I would like to remind that last year, 17 students joined the Sahjanand school and they have done well in studies. The school authorities are glad that the experiment is working and so have extended the support further by incorporating more students.
The new students have started going to school and all arrangements have been made. These include school fees, transportation to and fro from the school, school uniform, textbooks, notebooks and stationary, etc.
The admission of students into mainstream school which started last year, has also helped in containing the dropout rates. Over the last couple of months, we have realized that we might be running close to full capacity, given the current infrastructure, in terms of children we can help in an effective manner. So, for the time being, we have stopped adding any more students to the initiative and have freezed the number at 55 (including those which are already going to Sahjanand). We have come to the conclusion that it would be better to keep the efforts small and sustainable, rather than becoming too big and facing the risk of shutdown and thereby affecting the lives of all the children.
Other events
Prayaas aims at all round development of students. So while we stress on attendance at the school, we break the monotony through activities:
Prayaas organized a blood and a general health check up camp in association with the Rotary Club of Ahmedabad. The medicines prescribed to the children in these camps were sponsored by Prayaas. The volunteers also ensured that children have their medicines regularly and in future prevent the nutritional deficiency. A second health workshop was organized with help from the Armed Forces Batch of 2008.
There were regular features like drama, card making and art workshops. A professional drama workshop for the children was also organized by the Eklavya School especially for Prayaas kids.
The kids also enjoyed "Jajantaram Mamantaram" and "Om Shanti Om" specially screened for them at IIM.
Prayaas volunteers celebrated Holi, Dushahra, Deepawali and Christmas with the kids. The kids contributed to the festivities by unleashing their creativity for the preparation and decoration.
The annual sports day at IIM was an instant hit with the kids. They had races, football match, kabaddi and lots more.
Prayaas students put up a brilliant dance show at IIMA's annual cultural festival - Chaos. This show was in collaboration with an NGO - Arzoo. The cards made by the kids were also put up for sale in this event and were widely appreciated.
Apart from these we try to take the children to specific field trips as and when possible and if we get an appropriate opportunity.
About us
Prayaas is Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIMA) students' initiative to provide education to children living in slums around IIMA and enable them to merge in the social mainstream.It was started in 2004 as part of a student project in a course and have been carried forward from there by the following batches. The new campus was being built around this time in the institute and some students wanted to make a difference to the lives of the children of the workers involved in all the construction activity. They started with small steps which over a period of time formulated into the desire to make a permanent impact in the lives of such children through the medium of education.
They gathered these children as well others from the slums near the campus and helped in their education as much as possible. It was felt that the continuity would be maintained if the succeeding batches are involved who would take the initiative forward. It is hard to imagine that you would not find at least some students in a reputed B-school (or for that matter in any premier institution) who are willing to give back to society in some way or the other. So, the wheel started rolling and the legacy continues.
Each batch took it a step further and the scope grew gradually. Currently, the vision is to get these children into mainstream schools and let education blossom their lives. In the academic year 2007-08, 17 students were admitted to a private main-stream school called Sahajanand school. Seeing the good performance of these students, the school authorities kindly agreed to incorporate another 14 students in 2008-09. The students study in the 1st to 5th standards as of now.
Through this forum, we want to provide an update on what all the team has been doing and how has been the progress of the initiative. The blog is aimed to act as a source of information for everyone interested so that they can get to know what is happening with respect to the initiative. Also, it would allow flow of suggestions / recommendations in an easier fashion and would enable people to get in touch to contribute / volunteer.
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