Education for 100 street children in India

This summer vacations there were multiple themes for the hobby classes. Ashraya also had many volunteers too coming from companies who were enthusiastic to help children build new skills. Below is a list of different sessions held during this summer:

 Science

The objective of the sessions was centred on science experiments and was to encourage and enable students to develop inquisitive thinking especially about the application of the topics from their academic curriculum. Also it helped in making the subject more interesting.

Students were given experiment kits based on various scientific principles or concepts. At least two experiments were performed every day. In one of the workshops, the children learnt how to build a water filter by using sand, pebble stones and coal. It was not only a lot of fun; it also taught them some practical craft skills. Considering that a lot of their families only have access to flowing water for 3-5 hours a day in their homes, this can be useful knowledge.

The students found this class and the activities very interesting. They would always look forward to the class the next day.

Dance

Dance which literally means “moving quickly and having fun” is the perfect way to incorporate exercise into kids’ lives in a fun easy way with numerous personal and social benefits.

Volunteers from BMC Software (an Information Technology company) held dance sessions for a month. The dance sessions involved high impact moves, like bouncing and jumping which became a workout. Students carefully followed and executed volunteer’s instruction. After the final class students were ready with completely prepared performances on different songs.

Students had a wonderful time during these classes and to express their gratitude to the instructors, arranged a mini farewell for them. They prepared beautiful hand-made cards to thank the volunteers for their efforts and time taken.

English

Another set of volunteers from ZS Associates conducted sessions to help student’s build fluent English communication skills. They started with the conventional way of teaching through an English curriculum though over a period of time they built a bond with children and introduced interactive activities which encouraged student’s to think and speak in English.

In one of the sessions students were given an English word and told to form sentences in a way that it all ties to become a story. In another session instructors picked objects from the surrounding and student’s had to make a sentence with respect to its usage. These session were fun packed where both students and volunteers had fun while learning and improving English skills.

Brain development

This is a new exercise introduced at Ashraya which aims to improve student learning skills through meditation. The instructor used various exercises to relax student’s mind and improve their memory power. She also explained them the science behind the memory power. There were also discussions about handling stress management during exams or performance pressure in academics. All these sessions helped student to build critical thinking skills and apply it in day to day academic assignments.