Vocation Training...
There have been quite a few changes in the street school that we are running in the rose
garden. As mentioned earlier, a lot of grown up (above 17yrs) boys had also started
coming to the school...most of these boys polish shoes and encouraged their younger siblings to beg. The good thing was that all of these boys showed eagerness in learning to read and write and always showed up in time for the class. Apart from studying, we did a lot of talking during the class…this was mainly done to understand their issues, to win their trust and to encourage them to move away from begging.
We talked about various other skills that they could learn. They also understood that begging or polishing shoes would not sustain them for long… and showed interest in learning some vocation. With the help of Pramod (from yuvasatta), I approached the director of "Jan Shikshan Sansthan" – a vocational institute aided by the government. The response from the director was phenomenal…he agreed to send a senior manager from his institute to give a pep-up talk to the boys and to give a brief description of all the courses that are available and also what he thought these boys could learn. Finally, it was agreed that the boys would learn stitching and tailoring for two hours a day and continue with their regular work of polishing shoes in the evenings. Half of the cost of the course would be taken up by the institute and the other half would be taken up by us. The total cost to us is about Rs.1500 ($33) per month. Please email me if you would like to support this effort.
8 boys have started going to this institute regularly and so far have shown a lot of enthusiasm...they also didn't want to discontinue their studies so we have decided that i will go and teach them 2 to 3 times a week after their tailoring class. So far this has worked for a week and at the end of the class the boys feel a sense of accomplishment. It is a pleasure to see their beaming faces. i hope that the enthusiasm and the pleasure continues...
PS: some of these boys are also selling corns in the evening…see the next posting for details.
***the school at the rose garden continues since the younger children still come there.
garden. As mentioned earlier, a lot of grown up (above 17yrs) boys had also started
coming to the school...most of these boys polish shoes and encouraged their younger siblings to beg. The good thing was that all of these boys showed eagerness in learning to read and write and always showed up in time for the class. Apart from studying, we did a lot of talking during the class…this was mainly done to understand their issues, to win their trust and to encourage them to move away from begging.
We talked about various other skills that they could learn. They also understood that begging or polishing shoes would not sustain them for long… and showed interest in learning some vocation. With the help of Pramod (from yuvasatta), I approached the director of "Jan Shikshan Sansthan" – a vocational institute aided by the government. The response from the director was phenomenal…he agreed to send a senior manager from his institute to give a pep-up talk to the boys and to give a brief description of all the courses that are available and also what he thought these boys could learn. Finally, it was agreed that the boys would learn stitching and tailoring for two hours a day and continue with their regular work of polishing shoes in the evenings. Half of the cost of the course would be taken up by the institute and the other half would be taken up by us. The total cost to us is about Rs.1500 ($33) per month. Please email me if you would like to support this effort.
8 boys have started going to this institute regularly and so far have shown a lot of enthusiasm...they also didn't want to discontinue their studies so we have decided that i will go and teach them 2 to 3 times a week after their tailoring class. So far this has worked for a week and at the end of the class the boys feel a sense of accomplishment. It is a pleasure to see their beaming faces. i hope that the enthusiasm and the pleasure continues...
PS: some of these boys are also selling corns in the evening…see the next posting for details.
***the school at the rose garden continues since the younger children still come there.
posted by Gagan (Liza) Chawla at 7:35 AM
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