PRAYAS
Prayas is a student's organization involved mainly in educational activities for children around the campus of IIT Kanpur.
We run evening classes for children six days a week in SAC where around 70 kids read. We also help organize scholarships for the needy amongst the kids. In addition, we have also set up an education centre at the construction site of the Environmental Sciences Building where around 15-20 kids read from 10 am to 1 pm daily. We also run a library for the kids in SAC.
Prayas came into existence in the year 2001. It all started when a few students from the campus visited a school in an adjoining village, Lodhar - on the Republic Day of 2001. This first interaction with the villagers and the children not only started a never ending relationship, but also made them realize their conditions - so different from theirs. (Of course, though we relate this incidence as a concrete beginning, but people to be involved had been as well troubled by their past experiences, and feeling strongly about something wrong somewhere around them). The students, who visited Lodhar, formed a group which they called "One Wing One Child", the idea being to support one child per wing of students in their hostels. The idea never worked as planned, but the group that emerged from countless discussions was to sustain on. Activities continued a while under the misnomer. In the next semester with a widened set of activities, new name became essential and Prayas was selected. Later in the semester, it was formally adopted by Students' Gymkhana as a club, thus completing the formation of Prayas as it is.
The aim of Prayas is two fold - to enable and to inspire. Every child associated with Prayas should have the basic tools that nobody can fool him/her, so that he can sculpt a dream and to give him the confidence that education gives. We strive to enable them to read/write and do basic arithmetic, so they can find and follow their own way whenever they want.
Primarily, Prayas is an evening school so most of the time during the year was spent in teaching the kids. However, the evening classes are not on the lines of conventional coaching classes. Children get an environment where they study by choice rather than by force.
- We ensure that the classes are held regularly.
- We ensure that at least one volunteer is present in every class.
- We ensure safe return home of small children.
- We ensure that, in case of an accident [as happened this year]; the coordinator/volunteers must either take the child to his parents or if they are not accessible, ensure proper treatment.
- We also have a library in our school. The basic aim of having a library is to inculcate the sense of reading as well as to expose them to what nature is all about. We have various picturesque books, magazines (National Geographic, Chakmak), encyclopedias, atlases etc. We issue the books to the kids on a regular basis and ensure that the children return them. The library is a very important asset for our school
- We try to maintain a respectful environment. Some children are used to swearing and other bad habits. It must be ensured that children do not pick up each other's bad habits. However, more efforts have to be done in this regard in future.
- We monitor the attendance should be taken regularly encourage them to be regular.
The chronology of other related events that happened during the past one year is as follows:-
Scholarships for kids (May 2007)
Various students who study in Prayas study in Opportunity School (a school in Campus which provides affordable education to children) but incidentally, it is only upto class eight. The irony is that there is no government or public school in the vicinity. The only option for the students is to take admission into private schools, which are obviously very costly (as most of them presume opening school is a business).
Since Opportunity School provides education at affordable rates, there is not much of a problem for the parents to send their ward to Opportunity School. However, when the child passes class 8 and wishes to study more, many parents are not very serious. Thanks to Amarjeet and Alok, recent Prayas Alumni, who went to parents of two kids, talked to them and finally we successfully got both of them admitted to Shukla School, Nankari. The admission fee was borne by Prayas (the funds left over from the previous year were used for this purpose).
A good thing also happened around this time. There were some children who simply were not going to school. We thought of supporting their education. Some Prayas alumni helped us. Some help also came from fellow students. In consultation with related NGOs active in Kanpur, we got in touch with Prof. Sunder Iyer, a volunteer of ASHA as to what can be done in this regard. We were told to make sample profiles of the children for which we wished to get financial aid.
Following students got scholarships for their school admission and tuition fees (on merit-cum means basis):-
1.Varsha (Class 3)
2.Jyoti Singh (Class 1)
3.Pooja (Class 5)
4.Priya (Class 3)
5.Neha (Class 2)
6.Gayatri (Class 1)
7.Bablu (Class 8)
8.Rameeta (Class 9)
9.Laxmi (Class 9)
10.Preeti (Class 11)
11.Shweta (Class 11)
12.Nikhil (Class 11)
13.Sangeeta (Class 9)
14. Pinky (B.Sc First Year)
Other kids that have been assisted in buying their books
1.Abraar (Class 3)
2.Rekha (B.Sc First Year)
3.Sandhya (B.Sc. First Year)
4.Preeti (Preparing for Pre-Medical Tests)
5.Shilpa (Class 10)
6.Pushpendra Pal (Class 12, Hall 1 Mess worker)
7.Rahul (Class 10)
Profiles of these students were prepared and funds were raised from the student community and other organizations. A sample profile looked like this :-
Finally, we were able to support the education (partially or fully) of 13 children. For seven out of these 13 children, all the expenses have been arranged (thanks to Prof. Sundar Iyer, Professor, Department of Electrical Engineering, who alone funded six of these children). The admission fees of the other six have been arranged and we have also raised some funds for them (which will be used for paying their school fees for 3-4 months).
Buying Course Books for Students (May 2007)
Several children reported that the text books (as well as the reference books for the elders) are very expensive. We thought of making a library where we can keep all the text books for all the classes and issue to them (may be for a year or so, as per the case and number of children). Reference books for class ten, eleven, twelve and first year B.Sc. have been bought and will now onwards be a part of the library.
Teaching elder kids (May 2007)
This year Prayas regularly taught kids of 11th and 12th standard all the subjects mathematics, physics and chemistry. They are also being taught English nowadays. Although teaching elder kids was never the focus of prayas but this year because of availability of volunteers, it was successfully achieved and brought forth a point that this (9th-12th standard) is the most important time in any student’s life and they aren’t completely matured by this time. Shouldn’t we try to put a little extra effort at this crucial point of their life to help them realize their complete potential depending on the availability of volunteers?
Health Checkup (April 2007)
The yearly health checkup was performed freely in Hamara Swastha Kendra (HSK) and we thank the HSK for their kind gesture. One girl child Anju, in class 7 was also provided medicinal help and health counseling, as she is suffering from anemia.
Rakhi Celebrations (August 2007)
A very popular event where students tied strings ’Rakhis’, to all their brothers including volunteers, who are incidentally called “bhaiya” and “didi”. Strings and sweets were provided.
Book Stall at Shopping Center (September 2007)
Prayas has had good relations with Eklavya, a non-profit organization based in Bhopal, primarily involved in preparing educational materials for improving the children learning. Since Eklavya continuously researches over the new methods of improving the child learning, their publications get renewed year after year, which can be useful for all sections of the community; a stall was put up in Shopping Center on October 3, 2007. The response of the campus community was good.
Fund raising for Govind’s Operation (September 2007)
Govind, a Prayas student broke his left foot thumb during the school. He was immediately taken to hospital and a steel rod was inserted to correct the fault. Post operative care was also provided. Funds were later collected from student halls to cover the personal expenses of the volunteer. About Rs.7000/- were required and nearly the full amount were collected from fund raising. We sincerely thank the student community for their instant and generous support.
Vigil for Indian Farmers (October 2007)
On the issue of the increasing number of suicides by Indian farmers, AID (Association for India’s Development, an NGO) took an initiative of organizing a global candlelight vigil on Gandhi Jayanti, October 2, 2007. Prayas team along with Jagriti went to Moti Jheel. The basic issue is that government policies have not been well thought and hence have only worsened the plight of farmers. Government relief packages have been not reached the affected farmers and their families. To add to that, government officials have made irresponsible statements about the crisis.
Our basic demands were twofold:-
Provide a guaranteed Minimum Support Price that is more than the cost of production.
Increase grants and provide training to farmers who wish to move away from mono-cropping to multi-crop, or organic agriculture – this will serve to increase food and livelihood security
Voices for Bhopalis (October 2007)
Bhopal is known to be the world's worst industrial disaster. Despite the fact that the disaster happened in our country, there is a lack of awareness about the most generic facts related to the disaster while survivors continue to suffer. More importantly, Bhopal like situations and Other Bhopals in the making are much evident. Delhi being one of them. In order to create awareness about this issue, we had with us Shalini Sharma, a very active volunteer of the “Students for Bhopal” Organisation. A movie named “Secrets and Lies” was screened for the whole campus community. In addition, we had a signature campaign (addressed to the government) for raising our voices for Bhopalis who still haven’t got their compensations. We collected funds for the recent Bhopal Padyatra (a march by Bhopali Survivors to the PM residence) and sold Post cards (addressed to the PM) for the same.
Teaching Center at Environmental Sciences Construction site (December 2007)
Workers at the constructions sites bring their kids (mostly below 6-7 years) along with them. They don’t have any experience of schooling. A makeshift school with slates and chalks was opened in the open. A past girl student of Prayas, Urmila, who has completed class 12, agreed to teach them on a regular basis, Monday to Saturday 10-1pm. Monthly allowance of Rs.800/- was provided to her. After starting from Jan 2008, significant progress has been made. Children now know how to count, do elementary additions, write simple words in Hindi. Their parents are also eager to have their kids educated and make sure that they don’t miss the classes. Support from the contractor and site manager is acknowledged and we look forward to further support from them, especially a shaded brick room for coming summer days.
Science experiments of Shiksha Shopan ( December 2007)
Shiksha Sopan organized a large-scale science education and training program. A science fair was set up to show case the effort of kids during the training program. Many of the students in this program were from Prayas. T hese students later performed the experiments in their schools too. Some students of Shikha shopan and Oppurtunity School presented experiments during TECHKRITI this year along side ENDEAVOUR. It was highly appreciated by many.
Movie Screen (January 2008)
We screened “TAARE ZAMEEN PAR” on 5th of Jan this year with the help of a projector on one of the walls.Kids enjoyed it a lot and could also relate it a lot to their lives.That inspired them for drawing a lot and we had a drawing competition too after a few days.
Career Counseling (May 2007 – March 2008)
Most of the times, when kids are asked as to what they wish to become when they grow up; they gullibly reply “Didi, Police Inspector banoonga”; “ Bhaiyya, mujhe Pilot banna hai”. Most of them are dreams which all of us had but if we can help these children out, show them the path to their dream, then may be we have made a link between education and employment, something which is essential in a country like India.
Elder kids preparing for different competitions (Pre-Medical, Polytechnic, Diplomas, Computer Courses) have been assisted in choosing from the available options or alternative ideas are tried to be suggested. Kids have been assisted in filling the application forms and other modalities.
Visit to Kanpur Zoo (January 2008)
We had a zootrip on 20th of Jan this year. We went by a bus. That day we had some 88 kids with us and 14 student volunteers. We enjoyed the entire route and played many games and antakshari in the route. At the zoo we divided the kids into groups of about 7-8 and distributed among volunteers. We went through the entire zoo and saw different types of birds and animals in between we had a lunch break too where kids had some food which they brought from home. At the end we also spent some time in Children Park in zoo. We came back and gave them some poori sabzi at the end on our part.
Digital study hall (January 2008)
Digital study hall is a concept by Mr.SALIL DAVE,an IITK alumni. In this, video recordings are made by good teachers on CBSE curriculum class 4-6 on various subjects. In this the teaching is done with the help of videos where teacher explains the video. Efforts have been made so that we could view the videos and teach better.
Republic Day Celebrations (January 2008)
On the republic day the children at Prayas prepared a cultural program in which they danced on traditional Indian and hindi pop songs and we sang patriotic songs . Prior to that we the volunteers told them about the historical importance of Republic Day and the way it is celebrated. Sweets and Samosas were distributed to all.
Selling Greeting Cards (January 2008)
Many a times, kids sketch beautiful pictures but their effort gets unnoticed. Jagriti had come up with really a cool idea of scanning these images and making greeting cards out of them. We sold these greeting cards in the hostels, in the nursery show and in Megabucks with two aims:-
1.To raise funds for the 7 kids whom we were still not able to sponsor.
2.To spread the word about Prayas and ask for community support by emphasizing the flexible work hours.
Teaching Mess workers (January 2008)
A mess worker, named Laxman is also an active member of Prayas Evening School. He has made commendable progress and now can read simple words.
Open Drawing Contest (February 2008)
The students at Prayas participated in the Open Drawing Contest (ODC), organized by the Techkriti team on 3rd February, 2008. The contest was open for all and had class-wise categories for students. The event saw a mass participation from outside schools and hence served as a good platform for our students to showcase their talent and skills. They were provided colors, drawing sheets and boards by the Techkriti Team. It was heartening to see the students coming up with colorful pictures and innovative ideas to protect the environment from pollution (theme of the drawing contest). They also had a gala time after finishing their drawings. A group of them sang the prayer in front of everybody, while others recited poems and danced on popular songs. One of our students also won a prize in the contest, Sushila Kumari from class 2. In the end, Prof. Anupam Saxena, Mechanical Engg, met all the students and encouraged them for their beautiful drawings. Though some students were unhappy for not having won anything, but they enjoyed the overall experience.
Teckriti & Prayas (February 2008)
Teckriti showcased some beautiful events, which we thought, could inspire the children or broaden their practical knowledge. A scientific exhibition put up by Shiksha Sopan as well as another exhibition put up by different schools that participated in “School Bag” was visited by the students. In addition, an astronomy session was also well received by the kids. The kids also enjoyed the innovative and funny games put up this time.
Fund raising for Sarita (February 2008)
This was carried on by Jagriti (a NGO), Hamara Swastha Kendra (HSK) and Prayas. Prayas volunteers worked enthusiastically to raise funds for heart operation necessary for Sarita, a 13 year old child.
SPIC MACAY Program (February 2008)
The students were taken to Kathak Dance Recital by Smt. Shovana Narayan on 22nd February, 2008 (Friday) in the IIT K auditorium. The aim was to let students appreciate the beauty of dance forms and also to look at dance as another form of education. The students also learnt to conduct themselves in auditoriums where you are expected to be patient.
GK questions + thought of the day (February 2008)
Every day students are given GK questions to add to their awareness levels. A ‘thought of the day’ is also put up which is elaborated upon by volunteers by story telling or narration of a personal experience.
Vox Populi Article (February 2008)
An article was written in February issue of Vox Populi to inform the student community about Prayas and its work, and to urge them to participate actively.
Test for Children (February 2008)
A test of two hours was conducted for the students of all classes (1 to 8) to judge their proficiency in the basic English, Mathematics and Hindi Subjects .By the performance in these tests we were able to judge the level of students and on that basis we divided students in to groups so that children facing similar problems in a particular subject can be taught from a basic level and then the teaching level can be gradually increased .
English Classes (February 2008)
The students at prayas have always exhibited a unique eagerness towards learning English. With the aim of satisfying their thirst, Prayas volunteers have started conducting English Classes on Sundays. Students have been classified according to their grasp of the language into three groups. This has made possible the teaching of the three groups differently according to students pace and prior knowledge. The allotment of a group is performance based and mobility within groups is very easy. The response of students to this initiative is very encouraging and has also lowered down the burden on regular weekdays.
Opportunity school visit (February 2008)
Most students coming to Prayas, are enrolled in various schools in the vicinity of IIT Kanpur. Many of them are from Opportunity School, situated in the campus itself. The grade sheets of some students are not very promising while rests are doing pretty well. So, we thought of understanding their behavior in school as well as the teaching methodology of teachers. We have done a survey to opportunity school. According to our finding, we have envisaged of putting our focus to those students who are weak in class and are not able to put their full attention to study due to any reason.
Nursery trip (February 2008)
On 24th Feb, the kids from Prayas were taken to Annual Flower show organized by the institute nursery. A stall was set up and children sold ‘Bhel-Poori’ and greeting cards made by them. Volunteers explained the idea to the children and they were given chance to do everything by themselves. Along with having fun the aim of the activity was to let children learn to do things by their own, work together in a team, increase their self-confidence. Meanwhile children could also enjoy the flower-show.
Association of Prayas with Megabucks 2008 (March 2008)
This year megabucks had an interesting competition called real-estate whose first round was associated with prayas. Different teams were supposed to collect things(no cash) for children of prayas by just asking people to help. This competition benefitted prayas in two ways one, a lot of people got to know about prayas(also participants from outside) and the other, teams collected a lot of stuff ranging from sports items, stationery to clothes for children. These collected things could be a great help to PRAYAS students. PRAYAS also has put a stall in Megabucks to sell greeting cards and to make aware others about its activities.
