Visit to Rail Museum

It was a  usual  mid summer hot afternoon in Pune on April 4th . We had planned to take some of  our students  to  Joshi Railway museum and wondered whether we had done the right thing in asking the students  to come all the way from far away places like Pirangut and Bhugaon Road.

When about 40  students arrived with their teachers,looking at the positive energy the group showed  we  realized that we had  done the right thing. The students were energetic and eager to see what lay ahead.

Joshi Museum was built by Mr. Balkrishna Joshi and exhibits finest of craftsmanship and minute details with which it has been built. It is also  maintained to perfection even after so many years of  inception. It has on display miniature models of moving  trains , monorails and  bullet trains  and railway stations. The exact replica created of a small European town  proves once again that  God is in details. With exciting commentary filled with subtle humor, the 30 minute show  has never a dull moment and had all the students curious and engrossed. Besides having the students excited , the child in every teacher surfaced and one could sense that from the smiles one could see across the faces of children as well as grown ups.

We spent some efforts in organizing this visit but what we received in return was the smiles on the faces of the children  which were priceless!!

Our next target :- Planetarium

Contributed by Rohit Verlekar, DSS Volunteer 

Interview of Mrs. Rajani Paranjpe in School - a Vadamalai Media Group's Education Journal

School, a Vadamalai Media Group's Education Journal published interview with Mrs. Rajani Paranjpe, Founder of Door Step School, Pune.

(Click on image to read)

"गरीब विद्यार्थ्यांना शाळेत आणण्याची व्यवस्था करा" - राज्य बाल हक्क संरक्षण आयोगाचे सरकारला निर्देश

लोकसत्ता, मुंबई । २५ एप्रिल २०१५

झोपडपट्टी किंवा चाळींमध्ये राहणाऱ्या गरीब व वंचित वर्गातील मुलांची शाळेतील गळती रोखण्यासाठी त्यांना त्यांच्या घरापासून शाळेपर्यंत वाहतूक सेवा उपलब्ध करून देण्याचे निर्देश महाराष्ट्र राज्य बाल हक्क संरक्षण आयोगाने दिले आहेत.

'दि सोसायटी फॉर डोअर स्टेप स्कूल' या स्वयंसेवी संस्थेने आयोगाकडे पत्र लिहून या मुलांची अडचण लक्षात आणून दिली होती. या संस्थेतर्फे मुंबई-पुण्यातील काही वस्त्यांमध्ये घरापासून शाळेपर्यंतची वाहतूक व्यवस्था गरीब मुलांना उपलब्ध करून दिली जाते. 'केवळ मुलाला शाळेत सोडायला कुणी नाही, या कारणामुळे त्यांची शाळेतील उपस्थिती घटू नये या उद्देशाने काही वस्त्यांमध्ये आम्ही ही सेवा उपलब्ध करून देतो,' असे डोअर स्टेपच्या पूनम भोसले यांनी सांगितले. मात्र, मुंबईची अशा वस्त्या पाहता ही सेवा अपुरी पडते आहे. त्यामुळे सरकारनेच स्थानिक सार्वजनिक वाहतूक सेवेच्या माध्यमातून मुलांना वाहतूक सेवा उपलब्ध करून द्यावी, अशी संस्थेची भूमिका होती.

मुंबईत गणेश मूर्ती नगर, बॅकबे, बाबासाहेब आंबेडकर नगर आणि शीव शक्ती नगर या भागात मोठय़ा प्रमाण गरीब व वंचित समाजालील कुटुंबे राहतात. ही कुटुंबे बहुतेक वेळा घरकाम किंवा रोजंदारीवर काम करणारी असतात. या कुटुंबातील मुलांना अनेकदा शाळेत सोडायला कुणी नसते किंवा पालकांकडे तितका वेळ नसतो. लहान मुलांना स्वत:हून मुंबईच्या वाहतुकीतून मार्ग काढून शाळा गाठणे त्यांना शक्य नसते. मुलींच्या बाबतीत तर सुरक्षिततेचाही प्रश्न असतो. त्यामुळे त्यांना शाळेला नाईलाजाने दांडय़ा माराव्या लागतात. खासगी वाहतूक सेवा या गरीब पालकांना परवडणारी नसते. पालकांची ही अडचण ओळखून यापैकी काही वस्त्यांमध्ये 'डोअर स्टेप'ने घरापासून शाळेपर्यंत बेस्टच्या मदतीने वाहतूक सेवा उपलब्ध करून देण्यास सुरूवात केली होती. परंतु, आता बेस्टने आपले वाहतूक शुल्क दरमहा ३० ते १०० रूपयांनी वाढविल्याने ही सेवा परवडेनाशी झाली आहे. त्यामुळे, नाईलाजाने संस्थेने ही अडचण आयोगाच्या लक्षात आणून देण्यासाठी पत्र लिहिले.

या मुलांची जबाबदारी शिक्षण विभाग किंवा पालिकेच्या वतीने घेण्यात यावी, अशी मागणी करणारे पत्र संस्थेने आयोगाला लिहिले होते. कारण, मुले शाळेतच येऊ शकली नाही तर नाईलाजाने त्यांची वर्गातील उपस्थिती कमी होईल. गरीब मुलांच्या शाळेतील गळतीत हे देखील प्रमुख कारण असते. हे एक प्रकारे 'बालकांच्या मोफत व सक्तीच्या शिक्षण हक्क कायद्या'चेही उल्लंघन आहे. या सर्व बाबी संस्थेच्या अध्यक्ष बीना लष्करी यांनी आयोगाच्या लक्षात आणून दिल्या. त्यावर आयोगाने बेस्टला बाजू मांडायला सांगितले. बेस्टने वाहतूक शुल्कात कपात करण्यास नकार दिला. काही वस्त्यांमधील मुलांकरिता आम्ही आधीच दोन बसगाडय़ांची सेवा देत आहोत. या हून अधिक आम्हाला काही करता येणार नाही, असे बेस्टतर्फे स्पष्ट करण्यात आले.

त्यावर मग आयोगाने शिक्षण हक्क कायद्यानुसार ६ ते १४ वर्षे वयोगटातील मुलांच्या शिक्षणाची जबाबदारी सरकारची आहे. त्यांच्या शिक्षणात वाहतुक सेवा हा अडथळा येऊ नये म्हणून त्यांना वाहतूक सेवा पुरविण्यात यावी, असे स्पष्ट करणारे निर्देश दिले आहेत.

http://www.loksatta.com/vruthanta-news/make-arrangements-to-bring-poor-students-in-school-1095865/

(Click on image to read)

A Toast to Shailesh Sahni... Volunteer Speak

By Shruti Pimplikar, DSS Volunteer

So who is Shailesh Sahni? And why a toast to him one fine weekend?

Let me give you a background into this. I started teaching English at a local PCMC school as part of my social responsibility. I started off with a skit on my first day. It was something new for the kids. A live skit with English greetings? “Hi! Good morning!” Every kid joined in. They were having fun. I bet none of the teachers had done something like this before. It was entertaining and it encouraged me to be innovative. What ways could English be fun for thirty 10 year old boys who thought English was never going to be their cup of tea?

The answer is varied. But the two most important things when approaching this answer are – Innovation and Patience.

Innovation, when for example, Nouns become difficult to understand. You play Name/Place/Animal/Thing with the entire class. There is excitement and chatter. They become a boisterous crowd. They love the game and they now understand nouns.

Patience because I come from a convent background. Discipline was the way of life there. And here in this school, discipline most of the times seems to never enter the door. It can get very unruly and you tend to lose your patience and you feel like the task of managing these thirty boys is not going to work out. But that is where the entire point of this article comes into picture.

I took a fifty marks test today. It was a small, twenty minute test. Nouns, days of the week, months and verbs. I wanted to gauge the progress the children had made in the year. You must now sense why the toast to Shailesh Sahni.

He scored a fifty. He was the only one to. I checked his paper and smiled a smile for myself. I taught for a year and there were moments I doubted if I could do it. If I had it in me to teach English and if I was doing a good job? Would they learn even one simple thing after I had invested a year in teaching them? Was I a good teacher? So many doubts and his paper answered those doubts for me. You should have seen his paper. No spelling mistake, beautiful handwriting, every answer was correct. That paper was pristine.

I haven’t stopped smiling all day. It is a small achievement but that paper was my certificate. I had one kid score a fifty. And most of the others scored above thirty five. Thank you Doorstep School for the opportunity. It was a daunting task when I started out but after my certificate, that divine paper, I guess I can say that it was totally worth it.

So here’s a toast to Shailesh. I am proud of you. I rarely get these moments where I am proud of myself. A very big thank you. For making me proud and for that incredible I-am-proud-of-me feeling.

(Original post at: https://rambling24x7.wordpress.com/2015/04/05/a-toast-to-shailesh-sahni)

A memorable trip to Katraj Zoo.... Volunteer Speak

By Sharmista Deshpande, Volunteer

During a regular English class with the Door Step school children at Kondhwa, we discussed about taking a break and going for an outing before the summer holidays begin. We considered various venues and finally decided to go for an outing to Katraj Zoo.

On 28th March, Wipro Cares along with Door Step School organized this visit to Katraj zoo with thirteen primary and middle school children. We also had few friends of the Wipro Cares volunteers who helped with the event and photography. All of us were quite excited about the event, as for most of us it was the first time we would be involved in taking a group of school children out for a picnic.

The children along with the teachers and Kaka were at the venue sharp at the given t. They made a really fabulous entry with all the children neatly dressed. It was very evident that each one of them had taken special efforts to be very presentable. The most admirable part of the entire event was the discipline shown by each and every child. They walked in a queue throughout the park and showed amazing social skills. Hats off to the teachers who are constantly vigilant and pay attention to every child. They have imbibed the values of punctuality, sharing, discipline, having the curiosity to learn and simplicity. Each one of these values are so evident in the children and very often prove to be more important in life than just academics.

The children enjoyed doing long jump in the sand pit and also swinging in the monkey zone on the monkey bars. They could spot and identify all the animals especially the white tiger, leopard and the elephants. They were very enthusiastic and noted down the names of these animals in English in their notebooks. They were able to remember all the animal names during a quick Memory Game which the volunteers had organized.

Post lunch of a Subway mini meal, we all went to the snake park. This excited the kids the most. The grand finale was the photo session followed by the “Wada Pav” session in the bus.  Just before we left Katraj zoo, the kids presented us with a beautiful Greeting card prepared by them. It was absolutely priceless.

This was one of my most memorable trips to the zoo. It was made special by these young children and their dedicated teachers. Thanks to Wipro Cares and the Door Step School, we have started on a long but rewarding journey to educate these children and teach them the values and various life skills that are important to succeed in life.  Every step we make will bring us closer to this goal and help realize our vision.