By Sameena Mehmood Shaikh | Donor Relations
Operation Vasantha (OV) has been impacting the lives of disadvantaged rural children since 2009. This highly interactive and empowering initiative addresses the problem of school dropouts. It also aims to educate families on the importance of education and engage dropouts. and other children through interactive activities and fun learning sessions. These activities include parent counselling, health and hygiene camps, and education on ecology.
Local college students are trained and given support from Agastya to teach children in their villages. These individuals willingly spend their evenings educating and inspiring weaker students and school dropouts from their villages. The target students, many of whom are first-generation learners, had dropped out of school for a myriad of reasons. Firstly, some were “encouraged” to do so to work and contribute to the family’s income. Secondly, younger siblings often have to give up their studies if their older siblings were already pursuing higher education. This is because many families cannot afford the hefty economic burden of putting all their children through school.
From October 2022 - December 2022, 25 units of OV centers reached 2,482 unique numbers of children and 43,485 student exposures.
Given below is the list of activities conducted in the OV centers throughout the quarter:
1. Volunteers and community members came together to celebrate Gandhi Jayanthi on the 2nd of October.
2. The OV in charge visited many centers and empowered community children and volunteers towards the importance of education.
3. On the 5th of October, children visited the Kuppam campus and performed some cultural activities.
4. A. N. Kothuru OV Center organized a Swachh Bharat campaign where the school chairman, community members and ward members showed their presence and motivated all our children through their inspiring words. There was also a parent meeting conducted in November.
5. A tree plantation drive was successfully conducted by Chintharalapayam OV Center with the strong support of the community people.
6. Children’s Day was celebrated across all OV centers. Children of communities around the Kuppam campus took part in various cultural activities. Gifts and chocolates were also distributed amongst them.
7. There was a training session on instructions and content by the OV in charge of the OV volunteers on the 16th of November.
8. On the 23rd of November, an ALP program was conducted at Chintharapalyam.
9. Shobha Narayanan and her team visited the Gudupalli Colony center along with Campus Head Mr Kumar to interact with community children and get to know about our program in depth on the 25th of November.
10. Our children celebrated National Constitution Day in Chintharapalyam OV center to spread awareness around fundamental rights on the 26th of November.
11. We even distributed paper bags in Dasumanupalli village for making the community people aware of plastic usage and its effect on the environment in November.
12. In Mittapalli center, the in-charge took a session on computer basics for high school students.
13. A parent meeting was organized at Guttapaalli center in which all parents participated actively and asked questions about their children to the volunteer and even to their own children.
14. In December there was an HIV awareness done for the community people in Dasamanupali.
15. In the first week of December, the OV in charge visited the Sirigiripalli center and gave a session on low-cost models.
16. On the 16th of December, Donor Team from the Bangalore Head Office visited the Chintharapalyam OV center and observed and gave positive feedback regarding our center.
17. We celebrated National Math Day on the 22nd of December for all centers and exhibited some math models and activities for other friends and community people.
18. A science fair was organized in the last week of December in Chinthrapalyam.
Curious questions from children about everyday life:
Feedback:
''The center has helped me immensely in improving and applying my prior knowledge practically. I see my future goals achieved through the guidance that I have been receiving here.'' -Harikrishna, Gudupalli Colony
"Operation Vasantha is a wonderful program because, to many parents and their children, it provides a platform to help them support their education. Children are encouraged to learn through hands-on activities than by the traditional method of rote learning. I have noticed children at the center turning their interests more towards studies and paying attention to self-growth.'' -S. Janaki, Dasamanapalli Volunteer
"I am an alum of Chintharapalyam OV center. Currently, my sister and a cousin are a part of the same center. I really liked the idea behind this program which aims to even somewhere improve English. Other than tutoring, their strong emphasis is on including community members and their children in various activities." -L. Murali, Community Member, Chintharapalyam
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