May-June, 2015

Bimonthly Newsletter of VIDYADelhi NCR • Mumbai • Bangalore

The theme of this year's World Environment Day (June 5) is “ Seven billion dreams. One planet. Consume with care”.

How relevant ! The natural resources are being mindlessly exploited. Let us save our planet.

The theme of this year's World Environment Day (June 5) is “ Seven billion dreams. One planet. Consume with care”.

How relevant ! The natural resources are being mindlessly exploited. Let us save our planet.

School Watch Sizzling summers are here. The schools are closed for summer

vacations, yet there is no lull, never a dull moment at VIDYA. Beyond academics, there is a wonder world of summer camps,

adventure trails, workshops and lot more.

VIDYA School, Gurgaon

Bravo!

CBSE ResultsThe VIDYA students of class X have done the school proud. Vikram stands at the top with 8.8 points. Two more students are above 8 and four students score 7 points and above. 98% of students have scored first division. Each and every student has cleared the exam.

British Council International School Award

The assessment results for the International School Award have been declared. The portfolio submitted by the VIDYA School has been approved and the school in its maiden attempt has been successfully awarded with the British Council International School Award for the period 2015-18.

The British Council is the United Kingdom's international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities.

ETASHA’s EnablingA workshop on educational and career choices for the students of X and XI was organised by ETASHA- an NGO training youth for employability. It was conducted by Anandita Kargupta. The workshop was divided into two sessions on two days. The main aim of the workshop was to facilitate the students in choosing the best career option(s) based on their interest, aptitude and skills.

An aptitude test enabled the students to recognize their potential and interest areas. The different tests included reasoning, verbal, numerical and mechanical abilities. It was followed by a discussion on

professions for particular abilities and the importance of correlating one's interest and aspirations with career choices in order to get the maximum output.

Later,a graph depicted each student's performance in each of the skills. The graph helped them recognise their strengths. The students enjoyed a motivational movie which focused upon various fields like H.R.D., Hotel Management and success stories of famous personalities. At the end of the session, positive points of all the aptitudes were discussed and each student was given the most suitable career options.Career Counseling

2

3

Summing up by V. Suprabha- Principal

Register, Retain, Recall…

A workshop on learning skills was organized and conducted by Anant Kasibhatla from Memory Vision. It was conducted for senior students. The main aim of the workshop was to help students enhance their learning skills.

The session began with a video highlighting certain key issues relating to students' academic life. The i m p o r t a n c e o f t h r e e R' s i . e . Registration, Retention and Recall was discussed. Later, the Principal also interacted with the students and motivated them to attain their goals by following the tips given in the workshop.

Enhancing Learning Skills

Exchange and Explore

• The teachers of primary wing interacted with the teachers of Bal Vihar Delhi. The exchange focused on curricular and co curricular areas of primary education to draw out the best from students.

• A workshop on women's health and nutrition was organized at Bal Vihar School attended by primary and pre primary teachers. The workshop was conducted by Dr. Shikha Sharma's clinic highlighting health, hygiene, diet etc.

V. Suprabha- the Principal attended Edufest seminar in Chennai mid May. She shared the key points with the teachers back home, the emphasis being on enabling the school as a unit to cater to the job market demands. For this achievement, the teachers must focus on strengthening the students to become highly skilled, efficient, diligent, proactive and knowledgeable.

Nurturing from Nursery onwards…

Little Stars of Starwood

Starwood Hotels and Resorts Pvt. Ltd. is a consortium of 124 hotels all over the world. They have reached out to the VIDYA tiny tots of Nursery till they reach their employability. Currently there are 26 students under the Star care. A contingent of 45 members of the Star group visited the school to know the students they are sponsoring. They also conducted a session on organic farming and the saplings planted will henceforth be nurtured by the senior students.

A warm welcome was extended. Students from various classes put up a cultural bonanza. The traditional lamp was lit amidst chanting of hymns. There were songs, success stories, music and skits on various subjects. The KPMG scholars presented a guitar recital of the 'Jamaican Farewell' finally followed by the school song. VIDYA extends heartfelt gratitude to KPMG for bringing music in students' lives.

KPMG Scholars Strumming Guitar Melodies

4

5

Tell a TaleInter House English Story Telling Competition was recently conducted for the students of VI-VIII. Two participants from each house developed the topics given on the spot. The students expressed a great sense of creativity and spontaneity as they crafted their stories. Innovators secured the first position followed by Creators, Dreamers and Achievers at second, third and fourth position respectively.

Super Cycling

A bicycle race was organized for the juniors. The objective was to promote cycling as an important exercise for good health. The event was managed by sports teacher- Jitender Kaushik.

There were two categories in each class for girls and boys, all enjoying and pedaling away.

Bicycle Brave hearts

On Health and Hygiene

Pratima Goel- VIDYA Board Member and her counselor colleague Manisha conducted a workshop on health and hygiene for the students of class X & XI and their mothers.

The focus was on balanced diet, prevention and cure of various diseases by nutritious food, physical exercise and meditation.

The students and parents were encouraged to consult the counselor if need be. Pratima's

Workshop

The students of class VI-X enjoyed an exposure to the miracles of science in their day to day life. The science workshop was

conducted by Biswajit and Kanha Ram from Society for Promotion of Science

and Technology in India. The 13 days workshop was a great hit. Even

though the summer vacations are on but there is never a dull

moment at VIDYA.

Thanks

VIDYA is truly grateful to Genpact for generous support and facilitating the School's progress. The Genpact team recently visited the school,

interacted and motivated the students.

6

Genpact Creates an Impact

7

Bal Vihar School, Delhi

• Just before the summer vacation, there was a beehive of activities apart from academics. There were competitions on English poem recitation and Hindi speaking extempore on the topics given on the spot. EQUALITY house won the first competition of the year.

• The Special Assemblies are always a delight. The topic of the yearly morning assembly is States of India. Be it Haryana or Uttar Pradesh, students presented special features of each state with great relish.

• Mother's Day was celebrated day on May 14.

• Bal Vihar teachers regularly get valuable exposure to art and craft, health and hyegine etc through various workshops throughout the year. Vandana and Kanchan attended the Katha workshop and learnt story telling techniques. Kamlesh and Nandini attended art and craft workshop at Panchsheela Montessori School to create wonders out of waste.

• Neha Seth, Child Nutrition Counselor conducted a workshop on healthy eating habits and cleanliness.

Neha's Nutri Guidance

Learning is FunToddlers' Training

At VIDYA, Learning is an ongoing process. It is unique.

It is lovable.

Ascending and Descending by

arranging children's height

Ascending and Descending by

arranging children's height

Numbers and Alphabets by writing on sand

Unique Colouring

Smallest and Largest by hitting theball on the flash card

8

Munirka Motilal Nehru Camp Project

It is summer, so what. Summer camps are here. These camps are a joyous experience beyond school full of fun, excitement and surprises. Children learn to think out of box and reach or even cross limits of creativity. All the while academics are not ignored as children are helped with their homework.

There have been a number of camps encouraging children to use waste materials, learn music and computers even a bout of Karate and Taekwondo.

Exam results are out and are encouraging. Nisha Singh of Sarvodaya stands first in class VII with grade B1. Suhana of class VIII score 82%. In all 63 students have gone mainstream.

Community Update,

Delhi

Congratulations to Ankit with 80%, Rahul with 68% and Sikandar with 70%. Rahul is also selected for Hotel Management Course.

Lest we forget that these boys are from slums living in shanties under deplorable conditions yet they have moved on with dignity.

CBSE XIIth Results

9

Okhla Community Project

When Shaken…

Recent Nepal earthquake has shaken the people living in and around Delhi who felt the tremors. Tahzeem- one of the teachers, engaged the small children at the centre about the pitfalls of an earthquake. These young children had no idea about why the earth shakes. They were encouraged to practice a drill that simulated an earthquake and instructed on safety measures.

The senior students as well were also given tips on safety measures. The power point presentation added the needed punch to the workshop.

Drop, Cover, Hold- Be Safe

MAA Tujhe Salam!

To honour the mothers, the students observed Mothers Day. It was touching

to see the mothers being invited to the centre and being presented thank you c a r d s , p a i n s t a k i n g l y created by their children.

The mother and daughter bond stood strong. In the congested s lums, the overworked mothers are rarely acknowledged. This was that special day when being a Mother was such a big pride!

I love You MAA

The summer camp is here, so are the volunteers from US. They have come with UBELONG under Ivolunteer organization to help children develop physically and mentally. Elise and Monika coordinated the execution of craft making. They made lovely flowers out of match sticks and waste papers. They also made gift bags, they danced and sang joyously. The older children honed their typing skills on the computers. There were many sports and games engaging the children productively.

The summer camps help in keeping the deprived community members come together and learn to live with dignity beyond the world of drug and alcohol abuse, filth and squalor.

Here They

Come…

Mind and BodyWomen and girls participated in a Women's Mental and Nutritional Health workshop c o n d u c t e d b y Pratima Goel and Renu. The focus was on a healthy mind existing in a healthy body. The importance of self identification and n u t r i t i o n w a s explained. In case of mental illness o r p h y s i c a l a i l m e n t , o n e should not feel shy f o r s e e i n g a doctor.

10

Crafted with Love Hoo La La: oola HoopTime for H

Bhavishya Yaan

Echo Exposure

Students of Bhavishyayaan participated in the personality contest "ECHO" organised by the Rotary Club of H R College. Poised, confident and self assured, the children enthralled everyone present. It was heartening to see them go up on stage and express themselves freely and intelligently answer all the questions thrown at them. It was great exposure for the children as they left their inhibitions behind and soaked in the limelight!!

Winners: Mr ECHO - Satyam Kesharwani and Ms ECHO - Manjiri Shirodkarst

1 runners up - Vedant Kadam and Tannu Singh nd

2 runners up - Hari Singh and Priyanka Ram

Mr Congeniality - Rajiv Valmiki and Ms Congeniality Pratiksha Prarande

VIDYA Mumbai

Building Personalities

Amazing Imagica

Students of Bhavishya Yaan undertook a memorable trip to the theme park “Imagica”. It was a thrilling experience for them as none of them had visited a theme park before. They were very excited to watch a 6D film, visit a horror house, use their imagination and creative skills on one ride and put to work their team work skills on another. They had their meal buffet style, another first for them. All the children had a great day out and this trip helped develop their confidence, imagination, language skills and put their knowledge of basic etiquettes into practice.

11

Imagica-

Beyond

Imagination!

10

Finishing School

Discovering India

Six centres of Bhavishya Yaan Mumbai conducted a finishing school program for their students, 73 children participated and benefitted from this initiative. The objectives of the program were to inculcate a sense of self awareness, polish their communication skills, increase their confidence and enhance their personalities along with giving them requisite career guidance. Lots of activities along with workshops and guest speakers helped achieve these objectives.

Summer holidays have kicked in and are special for all the students. To make this time meaningful and enriching, an exciting project of discovery was conceived. Each of the eight centres was assigned one state of India, which they would learn about in diverse and interesting ways; this could be through music, the arts, folklore, food, geography, economics, socio-cultural aspects, environmental issues, history, literature, textiles, architecture or famous personalities hailing from that state. This was done through the use of English, computers, creative arts, workshops and field trips. The idea was to immerse them in this wonderful melting pot called India so that they could come out enlightened and enriched!

Summer Camp- Enlightening and Enriching

Computer Learning Resource Centre (CLRC)

Tech Fair

The Technology Fair 2015 was held at VIDYA on the occasion of National Science Day. The Fair kick- started with the visit of 25 kids from VIDYA Bhavishya Y?aan who? ?were welcomed by a? robot at the entrance. Visitors were taken through the various presentations put together by the four VIDYA CLRC centres. The objective was to create awareness of technology among the members of the community. The participants exhibited the power of Information Communication Technology in our daily life.

Young Scientists

CLRC Certification

CLRC had its First Quarter Joint Certification Program in April for all its 4 centres. Mrs and Mr Pramod Kumar, VP, C&P, BG Exploration and Production India Limited, donor partners for most of the CLRC Programs were the Chief Guests. Aparna Shetty and Georgina Bonney from UK represented BG to witness the event. Ekta Menon from Rotary Lakers, donor partner of CLRC Milind Nagar also graced the event. Senior Management Team of VIDYA Mumbai was present to encourage and applaud the students.

80+ students from NIIT-CCIB, NIIT-H&N, Big Byte, Tally and Fun Byte courses of CLRC received their certificates. Students showcased their learnings through presentations and were highly appreciated.Centre Admin from each centre gave a presentation on the major achievements of their respective centres during the academic year April 2014 – March 2015.

NIIT Hardware and Networking course had its first certified batch. 10 students of Industrial Training Institute, Mumbai attended the Hardware and Networking training for two months at CLRC. As per the student's testimonial, this NIIT certificate will help them to get apprenticeship in a good set up.

13

14

Code-a-thon Mania!

BEYOND SCHOOL

VIDYA Mumbai CLRC hosted the Code-a-thon in May, in association with In Open Technologies and IIT-B on the occasion of Global Scratch Day. Ninety students from four centres participated in the event. It was a great experience for them as they learned Scratch, a programming tool for kids. They created projects based on a given theme which in turn helped in developing their logical reasoning and analytical skills. They also got to compete in the All India Junior Code-a-thon event. The junior coders did amazing short story based projects. It was a wonderful opportunity for the children and VIDYA is thankful to the organizers for introducing them to the world of programming.

• Food for Mother and Child Health( FMCH) has been conducting regular sessions for the parents of the Beyond School students. These sessions are important for a meaningful interaction.

• Barclays gave a platform to students to showcase their talents. They were invited for the CSR initiative program to perform a play. Students and alumni participated in the play. It was a great event. A stall from Margam SHG was also set up in the cafeteria.

• Recently introduced is the Teacher Eligibility Test (TETs). The teachers undergo the test for the subjects and the levels that they teach. The test format is of multiple choices. The purpose is to check their knowledge and assign appropriate classes to them in the next academic year.

• To make the base of the 10th standard students strong and help them in the quest for their board examination, the summer study circle has been started. Around 12 students from the previous 9th standard are attending the sessions. Teachers and volunteers are giving inputs on academics as well as on the approach towards the examination. How to solve the papers is one of the main agendas designed by the team. The students are regular and are happy to be part of the initiative. This year 31 students appeared for the X th SSC exam.

Testing the Teachers, phew!

11

Relief off to Nepal, Kudos to Our Youth

National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS)

Teach India Initiative

YOUTH FORUM

Help thy Neighbour

VIDYA Mumbai had partnered with Teach India for the Spoken English course. The first batch has graduated. Indeed a proud

moment!

A devastating earthquake left thousands of lives shattered in our neighbourhood Nepal. The members of Youth Forum at VIDYA Powai along with the NGO Goonj, decided to collect and provide relief material to the millions affected and make a difference. They organised a drive in the communities and in the adjoining areas and collected dry ration, sanitary napkins, basic toiletries, candles, first-aid kits and biscuits. They worked relentlessly for days on end and managed to collect, pack and transport the material to Nepal. These are the values that VIDYA stands for and we are proud of all our Youth Forum members.

Teach India of The Times of India Group of Publications celebrated five years of success on June 10. It is aspoken English training project implemented in Delhi, NCR and Mumbai through a network of 150 partner NGOs and an army of volunteers. VIDYA is proud to be a partner NGO in positive transformation of underprivileged youth enhancing their employability.

Combined Summer Camp

With the completion of 30 years of VIDYA, the summer camp was one of its kind. The title was 'Well-being, Survival Skills and Creative Arts”. Volunteers from different expertise were involved. Children learnt art, craft, painting, photography, singing, dance, drama and power point presentation skills in the creative art sessions. The Survival Skills incorporated sessions on financial literacy, food making (gender neutral), environmental awareness and self – defence. The Well- being sessions taught yoga, exercises, clean and hygienic habits and good nutrition.

The Finale was a culmination of all the events that happened in the 10 day workshop. It was the first time in the history of VIDYA Mumbai that the alumni of VIDYA hosted the show. It started with a small film created by the alumni. The puppets and the art and craft objects made by the students were displayed at the entrance of the hall. Volunteers were appreciated for their services at VIDYA. The summer camp ended with a vote of thanks and the national anthem.

Inspirational Summer Camp

16

17

VIDYA Bangalore

Be a Significant Force of Change

Run and Have Fun

Gottigere Primary and High School

Gottigere had an exciting summer break. After the summer camp, the team got busy with the counseling session for the students of Class X. It included career counseling, subjects and courses available to the students.

Amazing Results

Devaraj H V- 80% Pavithra G- 82% Sushmitha B- 77%

Congratulations to these students for amazing results in SSC. Well done.

Spearheading Scholarships

VIDYA scholarship champion, Sucheta has been working closely with the Gottigere team to identify the scholarship children for the year. These hardworking and lucky children will take up pre-university studies at Loyola, and diploma courses at ITI. Thanks to Synergy for spearheading the scholarship programme and making so many dreams come true!

This year, 15 new scholarships are added with the support of SociétéGeneralé. This will go a long way to benefit more deserving children. The students selected for the SocGen scholarships were felicitated by the CEO of the company, and the children were invited for an exciting evening programme at the Taj Whitefield. VIDYA is grateful to SocGen to have given the children an experience “straight out of the movies”.

Super Skills

The students attending the vocational courses at the end of their training, are grateful for the opportunity to learn new skills and to have used their summer holidays fruitfully.

Bold and Brilliant – Young Scholars

10

19

The boys have even wired up a small apartment by themselves! They visited the neighbouring apartment complexes to see how the electricals are set up.

The team is getting ready for the next academic year.

Great Going

Mali Foundation

Bhagini Women's Education and Empowerment Programme

Sumptuous Summer

Heartfelt gratitude to Malin Ma'am for supporting and sponsoring the summer camp 2015.

Scorching summer. Mercury is rising. The schools are closed. VIDYA has open doors for many exciting activities.

Summer camp is one of them. From housewives, small children, young adults to college students, all of them participated in the camp. The classes were full and the students enjoyed the multimedia programme by Tutan Debnath- Computer Teacher.

The video and audio editing and Photoshop opened new avenues.

Sangeetha Goel's workshop unleashing creative talents of the students was a great success.

Laxmi's fabric painting introduced a new art form.

Jewellery designing by Swathi had its own admirers.

Varsha's Kundan rangoli sessions were a great hit.

There were 12 students from Samridhi Trust who attended the camp and are willing to join the regular courses

Reaching New

Horizons

TCS World 10K

Slum Campaign

Various camps were conducted to register entries for Tata Consultancy Services World 10K, Bangaluru 2015 as part of VIDYAs 30th year celebration. The registration drive created awareness about VIDYAs journey.

Rekha Srinivasan, Ajanta Purkayastha and Meethu Jose conducted a rigorous awareness campaign in the slums and in smaller localities to bring in more beneficiaries under the programme.

Some of the VIDYA girls have now started working as teachers. This employability potential needs to be highlighted in campaigns and surveys.

The women drivers are road ready and VIDYAs partnership with Ola Cabs is in progress to get the driving programme ahead.

VIDYA is dedicated to

Educate, Empower and Transform.

VIDYA Varta TeamEditor: Sujata KaushicAssistance: Shreya in Delhi • Firoozi in Mumbai • Devika & Ekta in BangaloreDesign: Vinay Goel

VIDYA Integrated Development for Youth & AdultsBlock S, Plot No. 3126, DLF Phase III, Gurgaon -122002Tel.: +91-124-4049559Email: delhi@vidya-india.org, office@vidya-india.orgmumbai@vidya-india.org, bangalore@vidya-india.org Website: www.vidya-india.org

AP

P #

98111

28870

International YOGA Day

June 21

One VIDYA, One Mission, One Vision, One Culture…May the Force Continue to be with VIDYA

Gaga over Yoga

The Yoga Day is initiated by India and people across the globe are stretching, bending,

breathing and twisting like never before. There is an explosion and universal appeal and VIDYA has

regular yoga sessions in its institutions.