Educate 25000 Children through Volunteers in India

A child’s mind is not a container to be filled but rather a fire to be kindled!

Low-income communities have minimally educated, or uneducated parents dreaming of their sons and daughters to study well and turn their life around. However, with the reality being different the learning levels of the students studying in private and government schools are abysmally low. Equity should not be just about access but also the quality i.e. using targeted strategies to ensure that the best quality of education.Hence, Bhumi’s transformational education at slum communities programme is run through the week by community volunteers from the same community at 25 centres in Chennai, with the focus on providing basic literacy and numeracy skills (in Mathematics, English, and Tamil) for the children with individual attention centered around the children’s learning level through activities.

To create awareness amongst parents about their child’s growth in academics and skills, and to appreciate the progress, Bhumi conducted a Skill Declaration Event for 380 children of grades 3 – 8 who participated in the presence of their parents, community, tutors and other stakeholders.

Parents and stakeholders randomly picked children from the group to read a sentence in Tamil or English or solve a mathematics problem. The children declared their skills in front of the audience by answering what they had learned from the programme delivered by the tutors.

The progress of children from the beginning of the year towards mid-year skill declaration showcases that the project is progressing towards the objective and that the delivery methodology is child-centered.

Bhumi has got the support from the community members who understand and believe that every child coming to Bhumi’s learning centres get the opportunity to learn, grow and discover their talents. We hope to pursue this to catalyze the children of today to become the change agents of their own community in the future.

Links:

• What a skill declaration event typically looks like

“Ask nothing; want nothing in return. Give what you have to give; it will come back to you” – Swami Vivekananda

From Illiteracy to E-Literacy!

To ignite young minds to the endless possibilities of the computer, make children functionally e-literate, and help lay the foundation for a better career, Bhumi takes the computer to underprivileged children. One such beneficiary turned volunteer is Satadeep from Kolkata.

“Inspiring Change” - Story of Satadeep from Kolkata

Kindness and hope might not be the traits that you'd come across every day but we at Bhumi strive to help children realise their dreams and receive education to build dynamic young leaders of tomorrow.

His Background

One such inspirational story is that of Satadeep's who hails from a humble financial background, but things went haywire when he lost his father in class 2. Due to financial constraints, he joined of the homes, Saujatya Centre where he exceptionally performed with self-learning skills and Bhumi's support.

Bhumi started Computer classes in Saujatya Centre in 2016 when Satadeep was in class 10. He remained as sincere as ever and scored 85% to make everyone proud. With Bhumi’s training in computers, Satadeep got very interested and started spending more time on the subject. He is now skilled enough to develop apps and knows to code too.

In 2019, he appeared for his class 12 boards and secured 78%. He was so grateful to Bhumi that he pledged to give back to the community whatever he had received and more. It is a dream come true and brings tears of joy in Satadeep's volunteer teacher’s eyes.

His Volunteering Journey

What’s most humbling about Satadeep is the fact that he attended Bhumi’s orientation program in Kolkata in April this year to start volunteering. He now teaches computer every weekend at the same center Saujatya Home for Boys. 

When asked why he chose to volunteer, he says “My mentors at Ramakrishna Mission told me that kindness was beyond everything – so I want to spread this message by volunteering with Bhumi.” 

Satadeep holds a special place in his heart for one of our Bhumi volunteers Abhiroop Bhattacharya, who not only mentored him during his Bhumi classes but was constantly in touch with him about his progress in life and kept guiding him to achieve more. Satadeep says “I am here because I want to be like Abhiroop Da”. 

“Bhumi believes that every underprivileged child deserves a quality education. We have transformed this conviction into a volunteering opportunity for India’s youth, launching a snowball effect of talent nurturing talent on the path to an educated, poverty-free India” - Dr. Prahalathan (Co-Founder, Bhumi)