The World of JAAGRITI

Case Study - Priyanka

2013-08-25T19:10:00.002+05:30

Priyanka is studying in Class 6 and 15 years old. She has been associated with us since our inception in 2009. Her father works as a construction worker while her mother is a housemaid. Priyanka is very hardworking and good in studies. She is always ready to go the extra mile and put in her best in whatever she does. She enjoys singing and dancing. Priyanka wants to be a doctor in future and we will do our best to support her in whatever way we can. All the best Priyanka!

Science Workshop by NSIT Volunteers

2013-08-25T18:57:00.001+05:30

It was summer vacations and we decided to teach the children some science concepts in an interactive manner by demonstrating some live experiments. Students from NSIT joined as volunteers for this 6-week long workshop for the senior children at Jaagriti.

Volunteers focused on teaching the children about life around us, health and hygiene, living organisms, importance of energy, matter, earth and the food chain. For every session, volunteers prepared in advance some charts, puzzles and experiments for demonstrating to the children. It was a great workshop which not only helped the children in learning more about the world but also the volunteers in developing their soft skills. We hope to conduct more such workshops on a regular basis.

Sadbhavana 2013

2013-08-25T12:21:00.000+05:30

Continuing with the tradition, we organised our 4^th annual day, Sadbhavana, with Rotaract Club of NSIT Regency. Numerous activities were organised across the day. The whole auditorium was decorates with ribbons and balloons.

The event started with a talent round where small children displayed their talent of dancing, singing and acting in front of such a large crowd. The confidence of these children was unmatched for. The highlight of the session was a comedy act by two children, and a few jokes by others which made the audience laugh out loud! The children were judged by a panel of judges which comprised few 4^thyear students and an ex-president of Rotaract of the batch 2010-2011, and prizes were given out to the best performers.

Then an art and craft workshop in association with Canvas was held at the green room. The students were taught to make flowers out of various coloured origami sheets. It was a very difficult task as they had to fold sheets of paper with their little hands and very less experience of origami but the most surprising thing was when everyone completed their jobs and a whole bouquet of flowers was made out of it. It reminded us of the flowers around the campus. Magical!!

After all the hard work, refreshments were distributed and then was the movie time ! Despicable Me!, a cartoon movie was screened for children. Even the volunteers had their share of fun with some phrases like “pinky promise” being relayed all over the auditorium. The cute characters and the sweet dialogues were just loved by everyone. After one and a half hours fun, a small dancing-cum-jam session was also conducted where all the kids danced to the tunes of some popular numbers. The last event was a lemon and spoon race held in the lawns. The competition was tough but we had winners from girls and boys who took away exciting prizes. At the end, tiffin boxes were distributed to all the children as a return gift.

The whole idea of such an event was to bring joy to such underprivileged kids. We all have fests and annual days in our college and schools and therefore it was an initiative to bring such an experience to them also.

Checkout more pictures on our Facebook profile: https://www.facebook.com/jaagriti

Life Skills Workshop for Girls

2013-08-25T12:04:00.000+05:30

A life skills workshop was conducted especially for the girls studying at Jaagriti for a period of 7 weeks. The workshop aimed to empower the underprivileged girls with necessary “life skills” and knowledge, which can help them make better decisions as they become adults and plan for their future. We believe that with these skills girls would be able to protect themselves from being hurt by others, study well, enjoy a better living and plan for their careers in future. Moreover, they will be able to live their lives independently with dignity and not be always dependent on others. The content of the workshop was developed with support from an NGO, Touching Lives, Mumbai.

Every Sunday, a number of exercises and modules were conducted by the volunteers - Rachna, Richa, Anindya and Richa Sharma. To make the workshops both fun & informative, tools like story recital, games, role playing, experience sharing, etc. were used. On a broader note, topics like self awareness, understanding one's emotions & thoughts, anger management, communication skills and value educations were covered.

By the end of the workshop, some small changes like better cooperation among the children and anger management could be noticed. We are planning to these sessions on a regular basis to make a larger impact on the lives of the girls at Jaagriti.

Volunteer Experience Sharing

2013-08-25T11:55:00.003+05:30

Teaching students have always been my passion as I personally feel enlightened on teaching someone. This is particularly because I am quite fed up from the system of education that prevails in INDIA, where we are asked to tell students to cramp the writings and not understand its relevance, its importance and very importantly, as to whether is it really needed for us to learn this? Because of these reasons only, I had only bookish knowledge till I cleared 10+2, after which I got to learn life in detail, and got to understand as to how things work in our country and many other things. At JAAGRITI, I got a chance to experiment my theory that says that many things can be learned outside books as used to happen in Ancient INDIA in VEDIC time. Fortunately, working here, it worked out. The kind of response that I received from students made me delighted and I got to learn a lot from them.

Many a times they made me feel that I need to grow up as a human being as I am not even aware about my surroundings, the trees, the kind of effort that goes in making my one day and, thus, I need to work on it to become a good human altogether. This is quite relevant as after having finished the workshops, I have started running in morning hours for about 3-4 Km(s) daily to strengthen my body from inside. Also, I have started to study about plants and their various species available around us especially medicinal plants, so that if I get to do another workshop in future, I will have a rich resource of knowledge to share with these children. Thus, this experience that I had here, made me a new kind of personality all together.

Working with people of different thoughts, different interests, and having different ideologies for life is always difficult. This I realized while working in a group. This experience made me realize the fact as to why companies must be conducting GD’s and Group activities as part of their selection procedure, because, this is a great way to judge a person’s flexibility with different people around him/her. Also working in a group made me realize one more interesting fact that working without a leader is very difficult. Because none of the group member was termed a leader and we had to work out things and content beforehand by mutual interaction, some points or activities remained a part of conflict even on the day of delivery of the workshop. Thus, in many ways these workshops were a tutor of human psychology to me. In all this was a brilliant effort on part of the organisers of the workshop to provide students with something new, and a rich experience that I will personally remember for my life time.

- Aman Gupta, NSIT

Final Examinations

2013-04-30T14:42:00.001+05:30

Come March and it is time for the children to get busy studying day and night for their final school examinations. To get our children prepared in advance for the exams, we conducted an internal final examination at end of February and also had some volunteers take up doubt classes.

We are glad to inform you that all children have performed well and got promoted to new classes. Congratulations to all the children and volunteers!

English Learning Classes

2013-04-30T14:27:00.001+05:30

Our experience with Jaagriti introduced us to a side of Delhi that we knew existed, but never had a chance to interact with. Our group of friends spent over a month trying to teach a class of underprivileged children English. The class was an assortment of children between the ages of 8 and 15. The classes took place in a room in one of the student's house, with no fans. The hot Delhi summer made it harder for the students to concentrate and so we had to make our classes really interactive to keep the students engaged.

The 7 week long program began with a test to assess the students' proficiency in the language, so that we could proceed in a structured manner. Teaching them English was not as easy as we expected it to be, in order to help them learn we decided to make worksheets for them. This kept us on our heels because we had to do a lot of reading ourselves so that we could make worksheets that helped them strengthen their flaws, while at the same time could be solved easily with a little deliberation.

No matter how difficult it got at times, the enthusiasm displayed by the students for learning a new language and the happiness we experienced when they conversed with us in good English, kept us going and made the 7 weeks at Jaagriti a memorable experience.

- Abhishek and Sakshi

Life Skills Workshop by LFT

2013-04-21T08:49:00.001+05:30

Over the years we have felt a strong need to go beyond the classroom education and provide the children with certain “life skills” which can help them in dealing with various physical and mental challenges they encounter as they grow into adults. Some of these challenges include low self esteem, lack of confidence, social discrimination, poor communication skills etc. We believe these life skills would help the children to study well, develop their personality, enjoy a better living and plan well for their future.

With this in mind, we collaborated with LEADERS FOR TOMORROW (LFT), a not-for-profit youth leadership movement established mainly in college campuses. LFT conducts LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT programmes, SKILLS development programmes and SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT programmes to create LEADERS FOR TOMORROW…!! IGNITING YOUNG MINDS (IYM) is a LEADERS FOR TOMORROW initiative in which they train volunteers from colleges to be the trainers for SOFT SKILLS. Every weekend, these volunteers devote 2 hours to impart soft skills lessons for underprivileged children.

LFT started its LIFE SKILLS workshop with Jaagriti in February for a period of 6 weeks. A group of volunteers came every Sunday and spent 2 hours doing interactive games and activities. Other activities included storytelling, drawing, colouring, word association and role plays focused on building communication skills, moral and social skills, etiquettes, personal hygiene and general knowledge. ‎All the children seemed very happy and actively took part in the activities. They worked independently and behaved well with the volunteers. As most of the volunteers were first or second year college students and were having their first volunteer experience, they were quite nervous initially but the children made them feel very comfortable and followed their instruction carefully. One of the volunteers remarked – “Working with Jaagriti children was a great experience. We won’t ever forget this in our life, each day we spend with these children was a new lesson of life. Thank you Jaagriti for this opportunity.”

The results of the workshop have been very encouraging. The children now exchange pleasant greetings with each other, treat their elders with respect, wash their hands properly before and after every meal, have their nails trimmed, know the meaning of the traffic lights and are also aware of many morals and virtues by way of stories. We can proudly say that these children along with many others like them are on their way to become well mannered and responsible young citizens.

- Bhawana Rana

Case Study - Sangeeta

2013-04-20T20:49:00.001+05:30

Sangeeta is one of the most hardworking and dedicated students at Jaagriti. She has been associated with us for last 3 years and has recently appeared for her Class 10th board exams. Her father works as a rickshaw puller while her mother is a housemaid.

Inspired by our Master Ji, she wants to become a teacher in future. We have seen she has a great potential to become a good teacher. She has a good rapport with all the children, who listen to her carefully. Sometime she also helps Master Ji in taking classes and teaching the primary school kids.

We have made her a promise - Jaagriti will provide her all the necessary support and financial resources to help her become a qualified teacher. Not only this, her first job as a teacher will be with Jaagriti. Wish you ALL THE BEST Sangeeta!

4th Birthday Celebrations

2013-04-20T14:43:00.002+05:30

February 10th and it was time for the 4th Birthday Celebrations of Jaagriti. What started with a group of just 10 children and 2 volunteers in 2009, has now made a positive impact in the lives of over 200 children from 5 communities and over 150 families. To celebrate the day, we decided to get together all the volunteers at the project, cut cake with the children and organize a good feast for them. All the children enjoyed very much and ate lots of cake and aloo poori. :)

Financial Literacy Workshop

2013-04-20T10:27:00.004+05:30

FLAY organized an interactive workshop on financial literacy for Jaagriti children on February 24^th 2013. Around fifty students from different age group participated in the workshop. The aim of the workshop was to teach the students some basics about finance, why it is important to save money and how to save money and role played by banks. We believe this would help the children in better planning of their future and careers. Specifically, following topics were covered -

· History of money

· Inspirational life story of Warren Buffet

· Workings of a Bank

· Important concepts such as Savings, Deposits, Loans, Interest rates, Collateral

· Business Structures - proprietorship, partnership and corporation

· Inflation and introduction to time value of money

· Towards the end we showed them a video clip from the movie Guru explaining basics of stock market operations.

All the students enjoyed the session. It was a learning experience for them as well as for the FLAY team since the kids are really smart and astute. We hope to do more such interactive workshops with the Jaagriti children in future.

About FLAY

Financial Literacy Among Youth (FLAY) is an initiative by MBA college students to spread financial literacy and make the young generation of India aware about the money market. Our team believes that "It's not your salary that makes you rich, but your spending and investing habits".

Our idea is to make students well equipped in this financial world, so that they are able to interpret the various financial happenings around them and are informed of the changes taking place in this dynamic economy.

FLAY conducts workshops for school students under which there are four different modules. We also conduct workshops in NGO’s wherein we focus more on delivering the absolute basic knowledge which will prove helpful for the students throughout.

- Kanika Mahendru (FLAY Team)

Republic Day Celebrations

2013-04-20T10:10:00.002+05:30

In association with the Sparsh club of Lal Bahadur Shastri Institute of Management (LBSIM), Dwarka, Republic Day was celebrated at our project. Several management students from LBSIM volunteered to organize the event. The children were very enthusiastic and prepared various songs, dances and play for everyone. Many of them recited wonderful and patriotic poems in English as well as Hindi. Some of them delivered amazing patriotic essays as well. Once they were through with the poems and essays, they went on to enact a play for us wherein they portrayed the importance of right to information for people. Also they tried to show the plight of the people living in the rural areas in relation to the presence of the faulty police structure and problems faced due to it. This was followed by a patriotic dance performance by beautiful girls of Jaagriti. On demand of the children, the volunteers also joined them in singing and dancing.

Prizes were given by Master Ji to the students who stood first and second in their respective classes. This was followed by giving away of refreshments to the students by the volunteers. Overall it was a wonderful experience. The students are very intelligent and responsive and it was great to spend time with them. I would like to thank Jaagriti for giving us this wonderful opportunity and hope for many more such opportunities in the future as well.

- Kanika Mahendru (LBSIM)

Volunteer Experience by Pranjal

2012-04-02T19:22:00.002+05:30

It all started with just a casual talk with one of my friends, who volunteers for Jaagriti. She asked me to come along someday, so I did. What I saw was a bunch of adorable and confused children, sitting on the floor, right under the nose of sun. These were not 5-6 children, they were more than 25. Just think about yourself, after a week full of college work and jobs, we just want to sit at home and relax. But these children, some of them go to school and they come for classes even after school and there they are on a Sunday morning, studying again. Never have I seen such dedicated and determined set of children.
I took up Science and General Knowledge, because when I was a kid, my main interest was only in these subjects, I was hooked. Now even after about 10 years, these subjects remain the most interesting to me. I vouched to come thrice a week for an hour or two. My first class had about 20 children, most of them aged more than 10 years and my first topic was Pandit JawaharLal Nehru and these children were listening so intently to every word I said. That was when I knew that I can take this further. So after a week full of boring Gandhis, came India. It was like magic, they wanted to know more and more about india. We did not have maps in the room, but I made them understand about neighboring countries through a very badly drawn Indian Map. Don't worry, we have one now. A good big one.
These children just need a little inspiration to move forward, so Jas and I decided to ask them to make drawings of everything they want to be in future or anything they think of. Come now to the site and you'd see a room full of drawings rather than a dull grey room. One of the children, Usha made solar system only keeping in mind how I drew it on board. Such is the imagination they have. You tell them about something, and it inscribes in their minds instantly. I hope children remain as good as they are and continue to grow. As for me, I have found my calling. All thanks to them!
- Pranjal

Are We the Change We Want?

2011-06-16T15:29:00.004+05:30

The words “Be the change you want” seems to have struck very hard to the minds of some. As we see a whooping’ no. of Non Government Organizations (or “NGOs” - for those who can not relate to the expansion) being registered and struggling with a cause, which they believe if eradicated, would make the world a better place to live in. Being blessed (or cursed) with an inquisitive mind, I decided to explore one such NGO & its founder and write it all for you. So if you happen to be one of those who are curious to know about the functioning of these organizations & wonder what exactly goes into the making of the flesh and bones of the people who build these NGOs, I recommend that you bear the next 800 words and figure it out.

The organization I elected for my task is called “Jaagriti”. It has been initiated by a young lad Anchit Goel and operates in the newly developed sub-city Dwarka. Now before I proceed to dissect the mechanism of this setup, here is a brief introduction of this NGO so that we are aware of the subject in discussion. With the intention of assuring the elementary education and basic skills to those unfortunate kids who have been deprived of this basic attention the project “Jaagriti” was launched last year by Anchit, as a chapter of the famous N.G.O called “AID Delhi”. In just a year’s time the project has successfully enrolled over 80 underprivileged kids to regular schools, approached over 150 kids, constructed a team of over 30 volunteers, expanded from only one centre to three centers, collaborated with four educational institutes, three well known NGOs and raised funds from legendary cooperates. All this, accompanied with workshops on computer literacy, theatre, music and other important crafts. After such a gigantic expansion, the project “Jaagriti” deserved to be converted from just a chapter of an NGO to a full fledged registered organization. The towering achievement gets even taller when this fact is unraveled that all the volunteers including Anchit are part timers and mostly contribute only on the weekends. Some of the volunteers are students while others are office going professionals; in fact Anchit himself works as a research associate in an economic council. Now the obvious question that arises is that, how such an impressive result was then accomplished? The analyzed answer would certainly be incomplete without mention of the phrases “team work” and “individual contribution” but it would be unfair to expect from a writer to cite the account of each person’s approach & contribution. Hence I choose to take the convenient-conventional way and describe the leader and his tactics that led to the rewarding times, assuring to myself that the team anyhow is inspired by its leader and identifies with him.

The story begins at a time when Anchit is in his formative years and is engaged in his school program of imparting non formal education to slum children. But due to a few unavoidable obstacles, he is unable to carry on with his deed & drops it halfway. This breakdown of his effort strikes him hard and a seed of inspiration is sown - a seed of which is nurtured further as he grows up. Anchit while growing up learns more about the world and its problems by reading & interacting with various people and situations, and gets firmer that he ought to do something. In his college years Anchit learns the art of management and organization by involving himself in various extra curricular activities and different initiatives and somehow develops a liking for entrepreneurship. By the time Anchit gets out of his engineering college he is sure that he would not settle for a regular life where the only concern is to get a heavy paycheque instead would do something that makes a change, something that is important, challenging, and that finds him a purpose, something- something that gives him satisfaction to be alive. But the question persists - what is this something? Luckily this time he has an answer-Jaagriti! So soon after finding a mean to earn his bread, Anchit starts working on his project & decides to work for it after his office hours. The reason I emphasize so much on Anchit’s pursuit of knowing what he wants to do, is to show his desperation to find a platform. And because he didn’t find one for himself, he made sure that others are not deprived of it. So Jaagriti is not only an NGO to help underprivileged kids but as Anchit puts it “Jaagriti is also a tool to awaken the youth and provide them a platform to act”. Perhaps it is because this motive to enlighten the economically backward children and to awaken the youth that he named his initiative Jaagriti.

Inspiration, vision and passion are fine but for a set up to be a success what is required is an idea that clicks. The innovative idea that gave Jaagriti a kick-start was Anchit’s plan to take it online; in fact much of Jaagriti’s success is credited to a strong network that has been developed on internet. At this point it is crucial to mention that Anchit doesn’t even spend a penny to get this strong base of network. All he does is that he stays regular and makes a point that the activities of Jaagriti are constantly informed and updated to a wide spread mass through free internet services such as blog, Youtube, Picassa and e-mail groups etc. Anchit defiantly says “I don’t want to work in isolation. If our work is good then others must witness it, so that they are encouraged to associate with us or they replicate such work at more places.” Due to this constructive use of internet, Jaagriti has earned a wide mass reach, because of which, funds and volunteers (two issues which otherwise have lead many organizations to collapse) were never a big deal for Jaagriti. Apart from gaining popularity, internet services have also been Jaagriti’s bulletin board. Be it a requirement, an event notification or any information about an activity, every single detail is updated to all the associates just by a single click. In view of these advantages Anchit goes on describing internet as “Least expensive but best quality output.”

Once you are out in the sea, the tides would not always be in the direction you swim, at certain times you would have to swim against the tide to reach the shore. If you have started to believe that Anchit has been a lucky chap for whom situations have always been lubricated then let me clarify he’s had a fair share of friction in his pursuit. He had some hard instances in the beginning, when he was still figuring out how to be sure of funds, human resources, convincing adamant laborers to send their kids etc. But somehow not only his tasks, but all the tasks that were picked up by Jaagriti cleared the hurdles that were on the way and emerged victoriously. When asked about his biggest challenge Anchit says “The most difficult thing for me has been to handle my parents, they know that this is a good cause that I am working for, but still they are not convinced and want me to focus more on my career.” and when asked about the solution he devised for this problem he replies “Well this is one problem that remains unsolved.”

Now that we have understood extensively about the working of Anchit and his team, how do we see the concluding paragraph to be? The adjectives and appreciation that describe Anchit as a heroic figure, is perhaps what most of us would expect. But hang on when Anchit was asked what appreciation meant to him he said “I try and stay away from it simply because I don’t think I deserve it. Had I been the almighty I would have made it mandatory for everyone to indulge in an activity that’s noble. What I do I believe is my duty and is not something extraordinary.” And I completely agree to what Anchit says. In this concluding paragraph I’ll give a brief recap of reasons which made things possible for Anchit and you will follow that he is not a hero or anything of that sort. By now it must have been clear that Anchit possessed certain managerial and organizational skills that he had picked up in his college years; it was his liking for entrepreneurship that helped him in his endeavors. Jaagriti for him in a way is an enterprise; he took a social problem as a management problem. So he is simply catering to his hobby by indulging in something that uses his abilities- So by what means is that heroic? In fact the whole team of Jaagriti is the same - the one who teaches music is doing so because of his interest in music so is the case with the one teaching dance and every one else. All of them do it because their qualities and abilities are used to accomplish the results. Now the argument that they are bringing a positive change to the society and thus are heroes do not stand because more than the positive change they bring to the world it is the inner change that they experience is what gets them going. E.g. Anchit groomed as an entrepreneur by taking the first hand experience of the real situations. He has become better with decisions, can take larger risks and finds himself more confident and optimistic than ever before.

The good that this young lot has done is that they have also made others benefit from their talent. The Mahatmas and Teresas of our time need to be this way; they need not be exceptionally different creatures of the only kind but be very regular people who bring change to society only because it helps them to bring a change in their own selves. The team of Jaagriti reminds - that all of us can do our bit to bring a change to the society, and not consider it as a sacrifice but as an opportunity to groom ourselves. All we need to ask is a question “Are we the change, we want?” and then work, in order to get an affirmative answer.

- Abhishek Kukreja

Teacher Training Workshop

2011-06-01T12:21:00.002+05:30

Dear All,

In association with an NGO, Touching Lives from Mumbai, we are organizing a Teacher Training Workshop in New Delhi from 30th June to 3rd July 2011. Based on the unique Quantum Learning Model, developed by Touching Lives, the workshop would be useful to teachers/volunteers or anyone involved in teaching the children.

After attending the workshop, the participants would be able to:
- Understand their life-purpose as a teacher/entrepreneur and the how the relation between teacher and student evolves.
- Understand, plan and execute transfer of knowledge to the children in an effective and efficient manner.
- Learn best practices in the classroom and innovative ways of teaching.
- Learn how to overcome challenges and develop a vision plan and road map.

If you are interested in participating in the workshop, kindly let us know your email id so that we can send you the detailed schedule of the workshop and the registration form. There are limited seats available for the workshop, so we request you to let us know at the earliest.

There is a registration fees of Rs. 200/- only per participant. For any further details/queries, kindly write to anchitgoel@gmail.com / sonia.touchinglives@gmail.com or call Anchit at +91-8860197400.

Thanks

Volunteer Speaks!

2011-05-29T23:09:00.002+05:30

I always feel “Education” can change the society and can uplift the underprivileged.

I had this thought in mind for my association with Jaagriti. I shared this with my college mates and got very good response. Even after their busy schedule they found time for working for this cause.

Special thanks to Angad Singh Malhan and Abhijeet Agarwal for co-ordinating everything.

Me along with Pulkit Ahuja, Pallavi Luthra, Swati Bhateja, Sakshi Mishra, Ashish Arora, Jeet(from Amity) met Anchit and Peeyush at NSIT, Dwarka.

Anchit and Peeyush explained us the whole structure of Jaagriti and also the role that we can take up. We took up our individual roles – mainly taking personality development classes for the children; Pallavi, Sakshi and Swati also taking dance classes for the girls.

We were to take care of the Sector 17 project run by Jaagriti.

The very first day when I reach the school, I had several questions in mind – as to how the children would be, how are they gone a take up the classes, are they novice and we need to teach them from the beginning, etc, etc.

Anchit introduced us to the children and the way they greeted us is simply great. Even an Englishman would wonder; the children said “Hello Bhaiya and Didi”. I felt I am going to enjoy here.

The first day we taught the children basic mathematics and then played games with them. The education of these children was really be taken well care of by Jaagriti and its volunteers as they children already knew the basic mathematics, English, Hindi and also drawing.

The girls were really interested in dancing and they are learning to dance on a song “Ainvayi Ainvayi Lut Gaya”. Meanwhile we have also completed our 4 week course structure of Drawing and colouring; and are about to start with some craft sessions.

As Pallavi, Swati and Sakshi commutes from long distances to reach Dwarka, whenever they are late, the girls always keeps on asking us “Bhaiya, aaj didi log nahi aayengi kya;humari dance classes nahi hongi kya”. This shows the real urge and keenness of the girls to learn.

We also keep on taking regular sessions on “Moral Education” and “Hygiene issues”.

There are two things that keep on fascinating me though-out my journey of around one and a half months with Jaagriti is – First, the student’s urge in learning new things and asking questions to clarify their doubts. Second, the respect they show us, it really makes us feel proud that we are able to impart the right moral educations to the students, which our country desperately needs in this fast changing world.

Thanks to all whose names I have mentioned above and also to Jaagriti for carrying out such a wonderful work. God bless you all.

Thanks,

Vivek Agarwal

Project UDAAN- her flight to freedom

2011-05-25T21:58:00.009+05:30

Greetings from Jaagriti!

Primary school enrollment rate in India has increased over the years. However, school dropout rates continue to remain high especially among girls. The Government of India statistics reveal that only three out of ten girls who enter Grade I complete Grade X. At primary school level, over 45% of girls dropout of school and this increases to over 73% by the time the child has reached Std. X. Research shows that reasons for this dropout may be as minor as the girl child not being able to afford a dress/uniform to go to school, non availability of toilet facilities and could include more complex factors like taking on the responsibility of household chores at a very young age and caring of their younger siblings.

At Jaagriti, we have laid special emphasis on education of the gird child as we believe that education can help the girl child free herself from the cycle of poverty, social evils and fear to become a successful human being. We have initiated ‘Project UDAAN- her flight to freedom’ with the objective of supporting education of the underprivileged girl child. The program provides girls with not only academic support and guidance but also direct material in form of stationary, books and uniform.

UDAAN is a participatory project where individuals, groups and corporates are encouraged to sponsor the education of a girl child for a minimum period of one year. To become a guardian of a girl child, the cost is only Rs. 1,800/USD 45 per girl child, per year.

The cost includes:
Tuition and Classroom Fees : Rs. 1200 (@ Rs. 100 per month)
Pencils, erasers and sharpeners : Rs. 120
Notebooks : Rs. 240 (for 24 notebooks)
Books for regular studies : Rs. 240
as well as skill building classes

Sponsors receive a profile of the girl along with her photograph followed by regular Progress Reports, so that they can track the academic progress of their sponsored child. There are 21 girls, going to school as well as studying at Jaagriti centers, who need your support to continue their studies on a regular basis.

If you are interested in becoming a guardian, kindly email to anchitgoel@gmail.com or simply call @ +91-8860197400. We look forward to your kind support.

Thanks & Cheers!
Jaagriti Team

Update: RTE TASK FORCE at Jaagriti

2011-05-20T13:41:00.003+05:30

Dear Friends,

The Right to Education (RTE) Task Force at Jaagriti touches another milestone by enrolling 45 underprivileged children into schools in the current academic year, taking the total enrolled by Jaagriti till date to 139. This includes 45 girls admitted during the current and previous academic years. The children have been admitted in nearby Government schools in Dwarka in class nursery to class VIII.

But how does it all happen?

In the beginning of every academic year, the Task Force volunteers conduct a workshop (using theater and interactive sessions) to sensitize the community about the RTE Act and motivate parents to send their children to school. After the workshop, we identify the children who can be admitted to school and in which classes. This includes children from our non-formal education centers also. The Task Force then approaches the nearby schools, consults the school authorities and helps the parents in admission.

Earlier parents found it difficult to get their children admitted into schools as the authorities did not cooperate and parents could not fulfill the documentation requirements. But now with help of Jaagriti the process has become easier as we help parents in arranging birth certificates of their children, getting the children photographed and also in filling admission forms to get their child admitted.

What next?

The admission drive will continue in the month of July once the schools reopen after summer vacations and we hope to enroll another group of 20-30 children into schools. But the work of the RTE Task Force does not end just with the admission of the children. We would also be focusing on regularly monitoring the progress of the children, ensuring there are no dropouts, and will also regularly monitor the implementation of the act through RTIs, brainstorming sessions with relevant stakeholders, visit to schools, interaction with parents and children, follow-up sessions etc.

We thank you for your continuous support to Jaagriti and its initiatives and hope to enrich more and more lives in the coming future.

Thanks and Cheers!
Anchit Goel
On behalf of the Jaagriti Team
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Financial Report of Jaagriti (FY 2010-11)

2011-04-14T23:11:00.003+05:30

Dear All,

I take this opportunity to present to you the Financial Report of Jaagriti for the FY 2010-2011. As Jaagriti had started functioning as an independent organisation since April 2011, we faced many challenges in raising funds to sustain our initiatives. But thanks to the hard work and consistent efforts of Jaagriti volunteers and the support provided by AID Delhi and Evalueserve (EVS), we were able to raise good funds in the FY 2010-11.

Jaagriti thanks all it donors, volunteers, associates and well wishers for their constant support and guidance. We look forward to continuing working with you in future which much more enthusiasm, dedication and outreach.

Thank you once again to everyone.

Cheers!

Anchit Goel

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Jaagriti- An Awakening!

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Jaagriti Celebrates Sadbhavana 2011

2011-02-06T22:52:00.004+05:30

The completion of two years of Jaagriti meant celebrations that symbolized attaining the older set goals and setting the newer ones to be fulfilled in the time ahead. The celebrations came in form of Sadbhavana 2011 organized by Rotaract Club of NSIT Regency. Sadbhavana 2011 was celebrated for two days. A fund raising event cum exhibition was organized on 2^nd February, 2011 where the greeting cards made by the children of Jaagriti were sold and a small exhibition was put on display at Netaji Subhas Institute of Technology (NSIT), Dwarka. The students of the college took deep interest in buying the greetings and set the milestone of purchasing all the greetings put on sale and further booking the orders. The exhibition too was quite mesmerizing with its pictures and text bringing alive in the college campus the glimpses of the lives of the children that are being raised under the care and support of Jaagriti. Around 250 cards were sold and more than Rs. 4000/- raised in a single day.

The Day 2 did not either lack in the luster of the Day 1. The Main Event was organized on 5^th February, 2011 in the campus of NSIT, Dwarka. The event started with sport events consisting of 100m race, lemon spoon race and three legged race. The children had been divided in four different groups to promote participation and sportsmanship. The young children participated in them with zest and enthusiasm and exploited their energies completely with their full focus on winning the sports.

The sports were followed by a lunch for all the children as well as the volunteers. The children loved the food as much as they enjoyed looking for Nemo in the auditorium while watching "Finding Nemo'. There were dance performances by the volunteers and the children. The day was wrapped up by the award ceremony.

The day was really enjoyable and made sure Jaagriti and Rotaract Club of NSIT Regency keep working together for years to come.

- Shryans Mittal (NSIT Rotaract Member and Jaagriti Volunteer)

Join us for Sadbhavana 2011!!

2011-01-29T14:25:00.003+05:30

Picnic to Rail Museum, India Gate!

2011-01-13T23:27:00.006+05:30

A chilly morning, a lazy one for most of us and we would've preferred to sit inside our blankets. But the enthusiasm among the children was enough to beat the chill. Yes, it was their long awaited picnic to the Rail Museum, India Gate, and children park. The bus had arrived, the children were ready well before time, and then began our trip from sector 12 to 17 and then to the first destination, Rail Museum. Some started singing songs, others started making noise, some inquisitive about the places we were planning to visit.

Our first destination was a perfect start. Trains everywhere, colorful, old and big! Some started posing on trains and others tried to inspect them! The youngest of them all, Bhandari who's only 2 years old, stood in the driver's cabin for a perfect click! A joy ride on a toy train soon followed, which was enjoyed by everyone, including the volunteers.

Soon we moved towards our next destination, India Gate. Most of them had heard about it from friends, now it was their turn to salute it. It was time for lunch, with India gate in the background. Their patience had been tested for a long time now and they rushed towards children's park. The rides were extremely fascinating, and one could see long queues for every ride. There was competition to be on rides, and one could see children stealthily joining the queues way ahead of their turn. And in no time, it was time for the picnic to conclude.

Smiles and happiness all around, it was a treat to watch. A big family of 69 kids and 12 volunteers, it was definitely one of the best outings ever, for EVERYONE! :)

- Manish Paul

Christmas Celebrations 2010

2010-12-28T22:13:00.003+05:30

Christmas celebrations this time at Jaagriti were a bit different. Along with the volunteers we had people from around Dwarka and a couple of volunteers from Rotaract club of NSIT Regency who came to ensure that this Christmas becomes one of the most memorable one for the kids. The children awaited their advent with great enthusiasm and excitement. They decorated their classroom and also a small Christmas tree to make sure that Santa makes a visit to their place. Santa, the father of the local Church in Dwarka and rest all came in a mini-bus. As soon as they got down they were greeted with applause and a loud "Merry Christmas".

The children had made drawings of Santa, Christmas tree, bells and snowman, which they showcased on their arrival and convinced everyone about their fabulous aesthetic skills. The visitors too had come with full preparations. They sang Carols, interacted with the kids and distributed cakes to everyone around. The Father discussed with the young buds about the significance of Christmas and did take something back from them- a promise to keep smiling and laughing always.

However, the show was stolen by Santa all alone. He shook hands with kids, gifted them toffees and grooved to the songs sung by them. It was a very rejuvenating experience for one and all present there. We thank all of them for spending their precious time with us and appreciating our efforts and look forward for their presence next time too. The children are still in an awe of the celebrations and the smile on their face has only got widened.

- Shryans

Diwali Celebrations!

2010-12-01T17:31:00.002+05:30

Diwali celebrations at Jaagriti..Rangoli Competition..Diya Decoration Competition...Drawing Competition..Sweets, Games and lots of fun.. :)

My First Day at Jaagriti- Prerna

2010-08-14T08:53:00.000+05:30

My first day at Jaagriti added a new meaning to the word ‘happiness’ in my dictionary.

I knew it would be a great feeling to share my knowledge with others, but when it actually happened, it was a totally new experience. To think that I made some children smile that day made me happy. To think that this very small contribution that I make was going to make a difference in someone’s life made me happy. I felt as if I had entered a new world, out my regular schedule of going to college, completing assignments, going out with friends, etc. Here, I met children who were so eager to learn new things. They welcomed me so nicely that I had no problem mixing with them.

Putting it straight, I think it was awesome. I went there as a music teacher. And yes, I want to thank Manish and Sidhant, who came there to guide me through my first class. I was a bit nervous in the beginning, but the children were so friendly and enthusiastic that my nervousness did not last for more than 2 minutes! We talked about their likes and dislikes and I was glad to hear that many of them liked studying. I insisted them on singing any song that they knew. They hesitated at first, but in the end, almost everyone had performed something or the other. Anita gave us two dance performances, Sangeeta cracked a joke where as others like Sugni, Rekha, Ravi, Rahul, Priyanka, Noor Jahan sang nice songs. I started liking everyone instantly. I think, Ankit who was the youngest there, was also the naughtiest!!! Of course they didn’t spare us after all this. Sidhant, Manish and I had to sing ‘Twinkle twinkle little star’ for them! It was really fun.

Then I started teaching them about the little music that I know. There were some who could sing a bit and there were others who couldn’t but the spirit with which everyone was singing was commendable. In the end, I clicked their photograph as well. That was my first day.

After all these descriptions, I still can’t describe the self satisfaction that I got that day. I think it’s not just about teaching them. It’s about learning something from them as well. We don’t realize how lucky we are. Our parents gave us the opportunity and the resources so that we can study and grow in life. I think that is what Jaagriti is doing for these children. Hats off to everyone working for Jaagriti. I am really happy I did my little bit to help. But this is just the beginning. There is a long way to go.

- Prerna