As I walked down on the railway tracks in Tiljala area,Kolkata, slums sprawled on both sides of the tracks till eyes can see. Little kids in rags played on the tracks undeterred of any probable trains coming. Trains keep passing and rickety houses keep shaking still the life goes on like everything is normal. Though we may try to see , think and relate but we just cannot understand that feeling of growing up there.
As part of Social Awareness Program this is a full credit course which IIFT has included in the 2 year academic course of MBA where students are required to undergo 3 week NGO internship in the first year. Here, students are assigned particular NGOs based in Kolkata and they are required to work with them on assigned projects. The main purpose of this course is to sensitize the students who will be venturing in the professional world in near future such that they take the society along with them while they climb up the steps of success. Partner NGOs are selected which work for gamut of causes ranging from women empowerment to drug addicts.
I worked for Mobile School project in ‘Save the children’ as part of my internships. We in a group of two along with NGO team ventured in various parts of Kolkata where they have identified slum colonies as Mobile school bus stand. We used to spend two-three hours each in one location and then moved to another. Children above the age of five who have never attended school or dropped out for some reason were encouraged to enroll in this programme and attend the bridge course such that they can be main streamed in school soon. Children who have crossed certain age limit are counseled for taking up vocational courses.
We interacted with the kids of all ages as well as taught them little languages, mathematics. We counseled a few and motivated them to continue learning .Moderated a few children meetings and helping them identify their colony’s problem. Our main aim was to make a genuine effort to touch those children’s life a bit by giving them hope to rise above this, learn to see dreams, fill colors in them and reach out to achieve. Their simplicity and politeness towards us moved our hearts as seldom do we see kids of this age behaving like this. A simple act of making cute greeting cards along with those little kids made us all so happy that our another competitive parallel life looked so mundane.
Though we may not be able to bring a radical change in society in such a short duration but those moments do reflect back the time that brought heart felt smiles to those kids as well as mine.
By: Akanksha Garg
As part of Social Awareness Program this is a full credit course which IIFT has included in the 2 year academic course of MBA where students are required to undergo 3 week NGO internship in the first year. Here, students are assigned particular NGOs based in Kolkata and they are required to work with them on assigned projects. The main purpose of this course is to sensitize the students who will be venturing in the professional world in near future such that they take the society along with them while they climb up the steps of success. Partner NGOs are selected which work for gamut of causes ranging from women empowerment to drug addicts.
I worked for Mobile School project in ‘Save the children’ as part of my internships. We in a group of two along with NGO team ventured in various parts of Kolkata where they have identified slum colonies as Mobile school bus stand. We used to spend two-three hours each in one location and then moved to another. Children above the age of five who have never attended school or dropped out for some reason were encouraged to enroll in this programme and attend the bridge course such that they can be main streamed in school soon. Children who have crossed certain age limit are counseled for taking up vocational courses.
Though we may not be able to bring a radical change in society in such a short duration but those moments do reflect back the time that brought heart felt smiles to those kids as well as mine.
By: Akanksha Garg
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