Of all the people in IIMA campus, most of us have seen wonderful performances of prayaas kids in chaos-2010,2011 and many other such occasions. Today it was the turn of these kids to appreciate themselves on their own performances, at the video and movie screening organised by MAD for prayaas kids in the old campus CR. They enjoyed to the hilt watching their own thrilling performances and their eyes were glued to the screen, while their hands and head moved in sync with their own moves.

Next, it was turn for them to choose between "hanuman returns" and "ramayana-the epic" and they went for the latter with an emphatic yes!! (as some of them had already seen the former).
It was a fun filled evening with an exposure to indian mythology for these kids.

Their joys knew no bounds when Lord Ram broke the bow and won the rights to marry Sita.They clapped as if our team india had won the world cup :). They enjoyed every scene for the whole duration of the movie.
Looking forward to having more such evenings with these kids, an evening which all of us enjoyed to the core.

What goes on beyond those red bricks?

"What goes on beyond those red bricks?"...wonder the eyes of the small ones who are going to spend most of their childhood on the peripheries of this Mecca of learning. Some think it’s a hotel, others think it’s a hospital, but definitely not a school.....they never see kids running out at the end of the day with bags hung over their backs.

The answer to this question was the theme of the project done by Geeta- a PGP-I student and her study group as part of the curriculum requirements of the course-ISPE(Indian Social and Political Environment) conducted by Prof. Anil Gupta in 2003.

What started off as a curriculum project took the form of an endeavor to make a difference to the lives of these small ones, to give them hope and support to one day live their dream of running out at the end of the day at the strike of the bell, and return the next day to learn, have fun and more importantly to have a childhood that would give them a chance at having a better future.

What stands as the spick-and-span new campus of IIM Ahmedabad, was at that time a shanty neighborhood and the odds were, that the children of this locality would have a future no better than their present.

But fortunately for these children this project did not just end with a report that would gather dust in some corner, it evoked in the participants a feeling that they must do something meaningful for these kids. A health camp with the Ramakrishna foundation was followed by a search for a place where classes for these kids could be held. The compound of a temple in front of the blind people’s association school presented itself as a bestowment from the deity of the temple himself.

The journey thus began which continues to this day. Some inspiring anecdotes make the story of this endeavor called prayaas, a story worth telling. Once, in a class of Prof. Anil Kr. Gupta, the Prayaas kids were invited to participate. The class was asked to come up with uses of used matchsticks. The kids came up with some forty odd uses such as making kites, applying sindoor , padding them with nails for better strength and many more. Prof. Gupta wondered “Will these kids ever be able to make it to this side of the red bricks?”

On one occasion a PGP-I student, while teaching these children faced an embarrassing problem, he could not help a child write 6, no matter how hard he tried. Help came from unexpected quarters- a kid asked for his permission to help this child and lo!- the child was able to write 6, the very next moment. A little in-depth analysis of the incident threw up the fact that some people’s brains are wired clock-wise as opposed to the majority whose brains are wired anti-clockwise. This little minority prefers to write digits such as 6 clockwise. Stories of their wits can run upto hundreds of pages.

Along the seven years of its journey, prayaas has touched lives of many such kids. It has opened a whole new world of opportunities for these kids. The eyes of these kids light up when they dance to the numbers of ‘Wake up sid’ and ‘Taare Zameen Par’ .Their joys know no bounds when they celebrate festivals such as Diwali, Rakshabandhan, Independence Day and many more. They now sport a uniform, attend a vernacular medium school and are on their way to have formal education which will enable them to become a part of the vitals of this democracy of ours ,instead of being just a vestige.

In the words of Prof. Gupta “Prayaas is a success for me, even if it has touched the life of even one child positively, because this touch would carry on for generations, it would help these families get that one push required for a better future of their generations”.

In the golden jubilee year of this institute’s esteemed existence, we celebrate the success of this truly golden endeavor called ‘Prayaas’. Prayaas looks forward ambitiously to create a larger impact and to become a bigger movement. According to Prof. Ankur Sarin “Prayaas provides an opportunity to the student community of IIM-A, to learn management of initiatives with benefits for the society. Prayaas can help them widen their perspectives of management and at the same time their involvement can benefit Prayaas to increase its ambit and create greater social good.”

Prayaas is a sapling, which aspires to grow and given proper care and attention, it can soon take the form of a perennial fruit bearing tree. For supporting its activities, prayaas looks forward to contributions from the community to nourish this sapling in to well grown flourishing tree.

Prayaas can be reached by e-mail at prayaas@iimahd.ernet.in

-- Abhishek Ranjan (PGP'10) and Saurabh Katiyar (PGP'10)

Janmashtami Celebrations at SAS

What a day for the kids. It was nice to see them perform along with other children during the festival of Janamastmi. Shanti Asiatic School (SAS) was generous enough to give Prayaas kids a chance to perform with their students. It was a great learning experience for them as they were preparing for this event for last 5 days at the SAS itself. The performance was exceptionally well given the time they had to prepare. The environment was very cheerful with little kids dressed up as radha and krishna. They showed different colors of krishna's life through the dance. The incidence like krishna stealing makhan, krishna fighting with yashomati maiya for being black, rishna teasing radha and radha jealous of other girls cannot be displayed in better way. A group of small kids performed the 'matki phod' with lots of candies and chocolates in the matki to end the event. There was special mention of the Prayaas kids during the event. What touched me most was the way they mingled with the other kids and the zeal and confidence they showed during the performance. SAS is looking for long term relationship with the kids. Hopefully the kids will get more such chances to perform. Special thanks to the teachers who were there with them all the time and helped them to prepare for the event.

Parent Teacher Meeting

We had a small Parent Teacher Meeting today for the kids going to the privte school. We feel that education happens as much at home (if not more) as in school. Especially with Prayaas, where are efforts are directed towards sending kids to school with willing consent and pledge for continuation of education, such an event gains even more importance.

We conveyed 4 things:
1. They need to spend time with the kids making them study
2. They need to take ownership of the child's academic performance along with the school
3. They need to continue sending their kids to school. Not to be discontinued at any cost
4. They need to pay Rs.100 per month as token money to show their support towards the cause

Looking to extend this to other kids in the school also ...

Cheers.

Bid adieu ...

This is that time of the year when one bunch of people associated with Prayaas leave the campus. The association does not break, yet it changes. One goes on to become more of an outsider from someone who is actively involved in the day-to-day activities.

One batch at the B-school is about to complete its education and is waiting for the Convocation. They are happy that these were two years well spent, and they look forward to their life ahead. Many are also sentimental about the place and the whole experience, not to mention the different groups each one has formed.

Volunteers share these emotions and they are not too happy with the fact that they would not be able to see the kids as often as they would have liked. They would not be able to celebrate festivals with them, but just eagerly wait for photos to be uploaded to see what happened. They would have to rely on blogs, notice boards etc. to know about the new initiatives, the academic progress of kids etc. One can always visit the city, but I understand that it would not be very easy.

At the same time, volunteers are happy that the next batch has taken over the responsibility rather well. They have been involved for the last year and the transition has been smooth. It is now upto them to take the effort forward. Well, one of the primary aims of Prayaas has been to associate as many people with it as possible. So, this periodic transitions augurs well to that end.

A new batch is also getting ready to come to the B-school. They might not have heard about Prayaas when they are outside, but they would surely do once they are in. Some of them would want to get involved in the effort and the cycle would continue. They would be waiting when the baton gets passed on to them ...

Chaos pics

Chaos, the annual cultural festival of IIMA commenced on January the 29^th and the Prayaas kids helped light up the closing evening on 1^st Feb, giving the viewers an evening’s worth of blissful movement. Innocence, poise and zest spurted out from the 50+ young dancers of various ages. Graceful skips and leaps along with the idyllic outfits rendered a visually heartwarming experience.

Latent talents of these children were on exhibition and their feat gathered great compliments from the large assemblage, giving them the respect and adulation they deserve. The preparation for this dance number had started quite early and it was heartening to see the kids maintain their initial enthusiasm and project it on stage. Dance for the sake of dance draped the Louis Kahn Plaza (LKP).   

The free-spirited kids danced to the bright positive tunes of Shankar Mahadevan’s “Sabse aage honge Hindustani” and came up with a stirring performance in line with the Chaos theme of “Khalbali”. These young artistes, of different ages, impeccably massed with each other to give the audience lots to cheer about.

Such platforms help inspiring and encouraging children to cling on to their dreams and work to bring them to fruition. Taan and Mohit Chauhan followed later in the night, but needless to say that the evening was lit up by these young talented kids. More the opportunities such as these in our nation, greater would be the standing of “Sabse aage honge Hindustani”.

Different strokes for Prayaas kids

TOI Link

Viral went home on Saturday, holding a trophy for her mother. This was no medal but a greeting card, that she had hand
painted herself, so what if the lines and strokes were not perfect.

After all, Viral and several other students of Prayas, an initiative of students of Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A) to impart education to underprivileged children, were trying their hand on water colours for the first time under guidance of trained designers.

Children of Prayas, on Saturday, met students of NID where they were taught various techniques of art and craft, using which, they made cards and bookmarks which are being sold on IIM-A campus. Over 10 NID students participated in the workshop, which was conducted for students above five years.

"Around 36 students of Prayas participated in the workshop. NID students know of Prayas and they expressed interest in conducting the workshop," said Sameer Gandhi, second year student at IIM-A, a Prayas co-ordinator.

"We taught kids spray painting, blow painting and thumb painting. We had a lot of fun and it was great to see their creativity. they exceeded our expectations," said Fatema Jaliwala, a student of Apparel Design and Merchandising at NID.

Prep time

This is that time of the year when Prayaas gets into the preparation mode. Chaos, the annual cultural festival of IIMA is approaching. From 29th January to 1st February, the campus would witness a different colour, a different crowd, a different ethos and it would have a different feel than the rest of the year.




There was a post about how Prayaas gets involved at Chaos sometime back. So, there would be dance and fun, stalls and cards, crowd and the cause.




This year as well we are planning to have the dance event and the stall. The preparations for the dance sequence have started 2 weeks back and the kinds are full enthu about giving the audience a worth for their money and time. I would not mention the name of the song and break the surprise. I will talk about this after the event.






Last weekened and the current weekend, we are organizing workshops for kids for making cards, bookmarks etc. This ways we would have sufficient items for the stall - to sell and thereby make people aware about the entire effort.






But frankly speaking, many of us are far away from coming up with creative ideas for cards. So, we had to take help of the experts and they were kind enough to oblige. Few of the students from NID, Gandhinagar came for the workshop on a Saturday morning. They spent time teaching kids many methods of making cards and actually sat down with them helping them do the same. The loved the kids so much that they stayed around even after the workshop, just to play around with the kids.

Update

Just wanted to provide an update on the activities at Prayaas.

In total, there are around 50 students enrolled at Prayaas. 25 of them are now going to Sahjanand school which is a main-stream private school not very far from the IIMA campus. The other 25 go to a municipal school near Vastrapur lake in Ahmedabad. The kids are in classes from I to IV.

Of the 25 kids going to Sahjanand, we have been able to get 18 sponsors who are sponsoring one kid each. We allow them to choose the kid they would like to sponsor and plan to extend the programme for subsequent years. This would allow a donor to sponsor the entire education of one particular child if he / she wishes to do so.

Given the current resource constraints, for the time being, we have stopped adding any more students to the initiative. This would help us in consolidating our efforts and help the current children in an effective manner. We think 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.

The academics and other events (festival celebrations, movie screening etc.) are going on as before and the first year students have taken the responsibilities in their hands well.

This blog, that we started sometime back, is a good way of getting to know the current happenings at Prayaas.


Team Prayaas

Christmas celebrations at Prayaas

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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