Value Based Skills Oriented Quality Education

As August 15, 2024 marked the 78^th anniversary of India’s independence, it meant many things to us at the BCT residential high school. It served as a reminder of the work that we have been able to do over the past 47 years. It also marked the milestone of a journey and the distance we still have to go. As we work to hone our future generation with a deeper understanding of our cultural heritage and ready them for responsible citizenship, here are a few developments in the past few months, along with the story of a person, whose been part of the BCT journey since the start.

Bringing back Khadi

Khadi has often been called India’s fabric of freedom. With the image of Gandhiji spinning the charkha imprinted in our minds, learning to spin the thread from cotton has been an ongoing part of the school curriculum since the school’s inception. With students from grades 6 to 10 already spinning yarn, it was a lack of indigenous cotton and deep technical knowhow that we faced. Bridging that gap was Sri Nagendra Satish Poludas, Founder of Kora Design Collaborative. In the past month he visited BCT and observed the spinning activity undertaken by the young students. Tapping into the potential of school students spinning locally grown cotton into yarn, work is now on to train the trainers, build systems, and provide skill mentoring. We are excited to see this collaboration shape the journey forward.

Working with our people

Back in the early 1990s, options for girl children, especially those from rural families were limited. Most were married off as soon as they attained puberty, while a lucky few could complete their basic schooling in the interim. The life of Padmavathi, the third born daughter out of four sisters would have taken a similar path. However, with BCT school just starting out, she joined 5^th grade under the ‘Child literacy training program in card system’. Being a bright learner, she studied up till 10^th, focusing on academics and even vocational skills such as tailoring, agriculture, toy making with wood, spinning, folk dance etc. BCT programs gave her the platform of ‘grama swarajyam’, enabling her to fight illiteracy for many other girls like her. Unlike her peers, she completed a degree and a technical training course in tailoring and joined BCT as a skill teacher for tailoring. Today, she is the Vice Principal of the very school she began her journey in, and continues to empower and mould many like her.

Celebrating the citizens of tomorrow

Our young school students are the citizens of tomorrow, and it is our duty to prepare them well for a bright and responsible future. As the new session began in June, a new batch of school students became part of the BCT family. With academics starting for all of them, they were also organized into groups for vocational skills and folk arts. Practical and theory sessions started for the children, as volunteers from different walks of life spared time to teach the kids spoken English and other soft skills. The very talented batch of students, that included both the old students and new joinees also actively participated in the 15^th August celebrations, putting up a wonderful show that filled our hearts with joy. This year, around 20 old students also joined the celebrations, following which discussions were held with the school management for a collaborative association with the school.