Here we have students who have dreams to achieve goals in life and “My Street School” is a place where this is done free of cost.
Umang Learning Center
Umang Learning Center
Umang Foundation Trust runs a learning centre for serving the less privileged students with education, counselling, mentoring & employability skills. Many of these children come from broken or abusive homes. Through our initiatives we intend to make a better world for them. Volunteers from different colleges make all the difference from spending their time each day in helping our Umang children with their daily studies, teaching them vocabulary, communication skills, book reading, building their confidence and oratory skills.The Learning centre also encourages fun activities such as art crafts, educational movie session, creativity workshops.
I was walking in the streets of Annapanpantai in the Nagai district of Tamil Nadu that was hit by a tsunami in the year 2004. As I walked, silences and sadness is all I could feel. Tsunami had not just flattened houses, temples and structures, it was much more. The walk made me uneasy and I wanted to know more.
I went ahead and talked to people living there.I wanted to know the after effects of the disaster as it was not just the loss of their house and supplies is what I could feel. I asked them about their lives and how they were recovering. They said their lives were shattered. The tsunami in a blink of an eye disrupted everything and they lost all their belongings.
The tides of tsunami not just took away their food and shelter, the waves also washed off their happiness and peace. Their occupation came to a standstill, their lives came to a standstill. The tsunami ripped through Annapanpantai causing a major havoc there, as well as in the minds of the residents.
As I walked in schools, teachers were getting paid as it was government aided even though classrooms were empty. Students didn’t have their uniforms to wear,their books to read and their pencils to write.
The situation was so strange, pepsi could make it’s way here but not drinking water. I was terrified with the thought of children losing it all at this young age. I knew I wanted to help these children.
‘We rise by lifting others’ as rightly quoted by Robert Ingersoll, I decided to offer a helping hand. I had no plans, no idea how will I help; just a pure passion to lift their lives.
After I returned to my hometown, I talked about the situation to one of my friends who worked in Cipla and Lo! My friend too wanted to help. I and my friend came up with the idea of collecting supplies for students by spreading the word in our circle. The response was magical. From a bag full of supplies we made it to truck full of supplies! Now the issue was how will all reach there. They say ‘when you really want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it’ and Bluedart came to our rescue!
I am so happy I contributed my bit. This ignited a feeling of empathy towards the society and this was the seed that grew into a tree of Umang foundation Trust. This was when I realized, giving back to the society is the most rewarding experience one could have.
What We Do?
It started with a vision to provide free coaching, focusing on their school subjects and providing them vocational training. Regular counselling to the children and parents has been provided for their overall development. The school is an eclectic team of volunteers who come to the classroom with extensive, real-world experience .
English training is important because we want them to come out of that place and work in a food chain, work at a corporate firm or work in a mall. Along with this we give them communication, vocabulary, diction, accent we give them the usage of right grammar. Through the computer education that we train them with designing, DTP, we help them understand the latest software, social media.
We get them to do DTP and we give them small assignments through which they start to earn. The learning centre also encourages fun activities such as art & craft, educational movie sessions, computer training, creativity workshops and group studies.
This enables the students to learn and develop their talents and social skills. The learning center is a place for the kids to grow and expand their imagination and creativity.
About
B. Beyond Academics
Beyond academics my street school also conduct different activities like:
1. English Speaking :
English Speaking program began on 3rd August 2013.The student and tutor simply meet in a classroom to accelerate learning and ensure student is able to speak well!
During the session the tutor uses variety of tools and practice exercises to ensure best outcome. This includes role plays, listening exercises, vocabulary building exercises, by connecting the program with day to day situations.
Students and tutor move through each course together, beginning with a review of the last class materials, followed by a new lesson, then by guiding practice, and finally ending with a mastery demonstration. The English speaking class has helped the students to communicate more efficiently and confidently.
2. Employment:
Another project undertaken by “My Street School” (Umang) was Employment Program.
It involved:
- Identifying Youngsters who are suitable to work
- Training them
- Searching for vacancy
- Preparing the candidate for Interview
- Placement
Eg: Beautician Courses, Tailoring
3. Skill Development Programme:
The objective of Skill Development is to create a workforce empowered with the necessary and continuously upgraded skills, knowledge and qualifications to gain access to decent employment.
Umang aims at increasing the productivity and employability of workforce (wage and self-employed) in some sectors.
Hence Umang started skill development programme such as Beautician Courses, Tailoring Course. Skills development can help build a “virtuous circle” in which the quality and relevance of education and training for youngsters who are suitable to work fuels their innovation.
4. Counseling:
The counseling pregame started with a view of providing ways to test students and meet their needs.
Counseling helped many students from non-dominant backgrounds (i.e., students of color, poor and working class students, students with disabilities, and bilingual students) from getting the rigorous coursework and academic, career, and skills needed to successfully graduate from high school and pursue post-secondary options including college.
Counseling is been provided to students as well as their parents.
5 . Explosure To Self :
The main objective of this programme is to give students to experience their skills.
