Today, when I approached one of the Govt. schools in Bihar, with the plan that I had prepared as part of my fellowship SBI Youth for India, they invited me with open arms. They were curious to see what is that I wanted to do in their schools. However, this day hasn’t come with my share of failures.

The first school that I visited with my plan gave me important lessons in planning and management which I will remember for the rest of my life. I had almost everything prepared starting from the curriculum to the number of students. There was only one thing which I wasn’t sure of. My local mentor at my respective NGO suggested me to setup an enterprise model where the local youth be trained to provide computer education to the school children. I had a doubt regarding the payment method adopted for the model. A nominal fee is supposed to be collected from the students and the payment for the youth has to be managed from the same. I am always of the belief that education everywhere in the world should be on knowledge sharing basis. However, in today’s world, the amount of knowledge shared has become directly propotional to the money in your pocket.

So, here I was, sitting with the school teachers, headmasters and NGO officials with a plan of which I wasn’t sure of. But, I decided to give it a try. They all seemed to like the plan of combining Life Skills/Moral values education with Computer Education using storytelling as a medium. One of my storytelling session, Our Storytelling Class, also took place in the same school. Everything was fine until we came to the final point of discussion, the fee.

The Initial Level Talks in the first school!

Since the fee structure was the least important factor which came to my mind while I was designing the plan, I took it a little lightly. I believe in a concept of participatory approach to the solutions which I encounter in daily life. So, I tried to apply the same approach in this situation as well. I asked the school authorities to discuss among themselves how much can a single child afford to pay? I gave them a number, 100 Rupee per month for a 4 month course, and asked them to debate on the same. I just wanted to try out this approach. I knew it might go either way but I thought, let’s try.

I went to the same school on alternate days, interacted with the students and teachers there. The students were very enthusiastic about the thought of computers coming to their schools. Within a short span of almost a week, I became friends with most of them. I have always loved being with kids. It was an enjoyable week.

It was a day when we were supposed to meet NGO’s field volunteers (people who work directly in the field). In the meet, we discussed my intervention as well. Mr. Rajesh, who is working with the same school where I have been going, told me that my experiment has failed. He suggested that I go with a plan with even the minute details worked upon. Coming from a field worker, I could have ignored his advice. But, I couldn’t. I knew that he was right. I actually thanked him for the blunt truth that he told me. It takes courage to speak up the truth, no matter where you are.

Over the course of next few weeks, I went back to my original idea and dropped certain points in the plan of which I was even a little skeptical. After almost 10 days of turmoil and frustration of designing the plan again, I was ready.

The presentation today lasted almost 45 minutes describing as to what I want to achieve through my intervention. The teachers’ participation enthralled me with optimism. They were firing questions and I was ready for almost every one of them. It was an enriching experience, an experience which taught me how to plan well.

The Second School meet with Head Master and Teacher. One of the most fruitful presentation till date!

There are exciting days ahead. I am ready to fail; not ready to not try.

PS: Post written on 19th January, 2016.

I did an experiment with 10 of the students who were a part of the Skill Development Programme of Aga Khan Rural Support Programme (India), the NGO I am currently associated with as part of SBI Youth for India Fellowship. I call this experiment “Story Telling and Learning“ experiment which follows the philosophy: Words can change the world.

I was asked to take a class on life skills which involved teaching certain life skills to students by means of stories. Not only was it something which I personally love to do but it was also something that I wish I’ll do during the course of this fellowship. I love taking classes and if it involves motivation and that too via telling stories, it was gonna be really fun. So, I was up for it.

The class went really well. I told them a story which involved a little boy named Ganesh whose mother died due to lack of medical facilities in his village. Since his mother died because of lack of facilities, Ganesh decided to become a doctor and help the needy. He was mocked upon by the wife of his poor father’s employer but he made sure that he was the one who saved her life at the end by curing her of cancer. The main theme of the story was Ganesh’s decision to take up the challenge and to fulfill it by hard work.

So, at the at the end of the story telling session, when asked upon, out of 10 students, 4 were able to come in front and tell their own stories of how they faced challenges in their own lives and overcame it. It gave them immense happiness. I could see that from their eyes. It was a small win. But to make these students talk about real life challenges, it was nothing short of magic.

These students are very hesitant. Some of them are in their school days, some in graduation, some even housewives, but what they lack is self belief. This is what I wish to provide them. Self belief. How to give that? Recognition.

After the session got over, 4 boys out of 5 and no girl (girls being more apprehensive) told their stories. But I could see that each and every one of them had a story to tell.

I asked them to write their stories and bring it to me the next day. They agreed readily and the session ended!
What happened next? Something interesting.  🙂

Pictures of the week:

It has been a wonderful journey so far with SBI Youth for India fellowship. My friends, family and colleagues, all have supported the fact that I have taken up something which is close to my heart. However, I am not sure whether this is just enough? There is a long way to go and there are a lot of things which still needs to be done.

I have always been passionate about kids and imparting education to those who can’t have it due to some circumstances. I remember giving lessons in Math to a girl who was of my age but had no access to education. For 2-3 months, we had our teaching sessions. The next when I heard of her, she was 14 and married. This childhood memory is still pretty fresh in my mind and pokes me now and then.

Out of a variety of project areas available, I wanted to take up education as my main project area. However, there were some good projects in social enterprise as well. The issue of women’s empowerment is also close to my heart. I was in a dilemma, really. I still am, kind of. So, I came here to Bihar taking education as my main area of interest. Here in Bihar, we will have our first interaction with the community tomorrow. This community belongs to Scheduled Castes, minorities and Other Backward class people (that is how they are classified by our society). After meeting them and listening to their problems and needs, the intervention for the next 11 months will be finalized.

Let us see how it pans out. No doubt, these 2 months will test my mettle. These 2 months will throw electricity cuts, mosquito bites, food troubles on me. What I will throw back at them is what will define me.

PS: Over the next few days, I will try to interact more and ask solutions to the problems I might face. I will need inputs from all of you.

Picture of the day: I met this kid while on a field visit to one of the villages in remote areas of Gujarat. He is a part of a vicious circle of poverty and has very little access to education but the way he smiles, mesmerizing. He needs very little, he demands nothing but he gives his everything in his laughter. We shared this laughter for about a few seconds and the whole world seemed nice.