Essay Writing Competition

 To encourage stage presence and thinking skills in children, a storytelling competition was organized in December and an essay writing competition was organized in January. These competitions were organized under the Reading Culture Program of DSS. The essay writing competition was conducted online and offline, for which the essay topics were as under.

- Coronavirus

- Importance of online education

- Rajmata Jijabai

- My favorite book or story

Each student picked one of these topics and sent their essays to the teachers.

This competition had a very good participation of students.

Testimonial by Sushila-11th Grade student

 Sushila is attending 11th grade, online classes, now. A big achievement for a "girl" from Lamani vasti where parents are not inclined towards educating girls. With consistent efforts from the DSS team, Sushila has enrolled in school 11 years ago. We have seen her grow up as she was a regular student at one of our Educational activity Centers. Sincere and focussed on studies, Sushila had a long way to go. But during Covid, she has contributed her bit. When our activity center was closed since lockdown in March 2020, Sushila was the one who took it upon herself to continue teaching the children at the center. She has also maintained an attendance register just like DSS teachers do. And when things are returning to normal, she requested the site coordinator to contact DSS to resume classes for children; so she could focus on her studies. Sushila has penned down her experience and thanked her mentors at DSS - Sarika Madam - 1st teacher at DSS, Tehsin Shaikh, Shaila Shelar, Firdos Momin, Sheetal Lankeshwar, Nagesh sir, and Sangita Dhumal. 

Story contributed by Gauri Katkar, Coordinator, Project Foundation, DSS, Pune

A little support and strong will goes a long way!

DSS met Nandkumar Yadav through the Parents Participation Project in Moshi in 2019. Nandakumar Yadav worked on a construction site and was staying with his family in Dudulgaav. With the help of DSS, his son was admitted to a school in grade 5. He started studying well but during the Covid-19 lockdown, their entire family had to move back to Chattisgarh. This family was in regular communication with the DSS team. Mr. Yadav said that his niece Parvati taught his son as well as other kids in their town.

Parvati, aged 27 has completed her B.A. (Geography) and lives in Benetara, Chattisgarh. Parvati stays in a joint family with her parents, uncle-aunt, cousins, and grandparents. She takes part in household work and helps her parents with farm work. While talking about her family, Parvati briefed us that while working in a factory her father lost one of his hands in an accident. After which her father started working on their farm and took up work like grazing animals. They had family support but their financial condition was not very good. Due to this Parvati's younger brother left education after 8th grade and started earning. However, Parvati was determined to continue her education.

 

She was always inclined towards education due to her parents' support and especially due to the encouragement of her grandfather. With family support and self-determination, Parvati completed her graduation and became the only woman in her town to hold a degree. Another reason everyone appreciates her was because of her work towards education. She started taking free classes for 35 kids in her town. Apart from the school timings, kids visited her for the classes.

While studying, she also worked to support her family. She gave education to other kids in town, due to which, not only her family but also the people from her town are proud of her. When Parvati needed help in improving the learning levels and academic skills of older kids, she reached out to us. We gladly shared our teaching tool bags and methodology so she could continue her good work. We spoke to Parvati and appreciated her work. It was a pleasure talking to her. 

Parvati will be getting married soon and this means her students at Benetara are going to miss her. But we hope Parvati spreads the light of education wherever she moves. We wish her All the Best for her future!

 

Narration by Shobha Pawar, Networking and Nurturing Project, DSS, Pune.

Translated by: Manali Oak, Volunteer, DSS, Pune 

An inspiring story of dedication towards work.

To take the teaching tool bag to Latur, Phadke Sir took a lot of effort to coordinate with Badame Sir who could not take the bag or make any arrangements for the same. Finally, Phadke Sir took the bag to Latur. Sachin Sir, despite being on leave for his brother's wedding, collected the bag from Latur station and took it to the class. Girls in class handled the tools in the bag with great interest and also read all the books in the bag. As the bag could reach the students, it lifted everyone's spirits and classes could be conducted with more enthusiasm.

A beautiful experience parents of a DSS student had, with our teachers and volunteers.

 In the Hadapsar CLC area, Vinit Sir teaches English to students of 6th grade. He works in Cognizant. As some students had some difficulties, with the permission of the supervisor and coordinator, he decided to have a discussion with the parents. Vinit Sir stays abroad and takes English classes over Google meet. He spoke to the parents of Vaishnavi Bansode as to how they should pay attention to her studies. The parents said they will follow his advice. Later, the parents spoke to supervisor Manisha Dhanavde and told her that in spite of admitting their child to a private school with a fee of Rs.10000, no one addresses our queries. However, DSS teachers take regular followup of students due to which we see improvement in our kids. Since Vaishnavi attends English classes, she makes a good effort at speaking English and improvement has been seen. She also takes science classes and a positive change has been noticed. My difficulty is that every time while leaving for work, I cannot keep my phone at my place. So for the class duration, I come to my place to let her use my phone. Sometimes I find it difficult to return and provide her with the phone at the given time. Overall, DSS teachers and volunteers take good followup of our kids. We are not given much importance even where we pay money, while at DSS, all our concerns are addressed and due to their involvement and follow-up, we are seeing immense improvement in our kids.

Our small effort in creating awareness about the importance of education.

 On 12th December 2020, a parents' meeting was organized at Mr. Abdul Ajij's brick baking site at Punavale. The meeting was about admitting kids to school. During the meeting, the importance of education and the law about the right to education was discussed. After this, two parents expressed willingness to admit their three kids to school. In all, 5 parents were present for this meeting.

Testimonial by Manali Oak

I have been working with DSS for over 3 years now. My work has majorly been in creative writing, translations, and social media. It has been a fulfilling experience to be able to contribute in my own small way towards the noble cause that DSS is working for. The team members I have worked with, have always been kind and cooperative and I look forward to working with DSS in various domains where I can help. With the strong leadership and dedicated volunteers that constitute the DSS team, it surely has a long way to go. Wishing DSS all the best and a very Happy Volunteers Day to everyone!