Projects
Nanhe Kadam
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Nanhe Kadam is our flagship project. A lot of students in Government schools do not have any foundation in English till 5th class but start learning subjects in English from 6th class. They are completely unequipped to deal with the situation. The teachers too in most cases cannot teach or speak in English. This leaves them at a great disadvantage. We hope through our efforts we can help children cope with this challenge as they move into higher classes. While we try to address this specific problem, the goal is also to address the bigger issue of poor quality of education in Government schools.
Our goals include -- To develop life skills – working in groups, speaking in front of the class, classroom manners and behaviours
- To provide an open channel of communication with an adult educator that is based on trust and love and not fear
- To inculcate the love of learning
- To enhance the quality of learning experience for students
- To teach English
CURRICULUM:
We at Orenda Initiatives believe that children learn the most when they have fun and when they get to ‘do’ rather than just ‘listen’. Our constant endeavour is to infuse life and energy into the classrooms we deal with. To this extent, our sessions are full of activities, rhymes and games that are exciting for children. While we cannot take up the full-fledged role of a teacher, we realized that we can add value without interfering with the existing curriculum. After much thought and deliberation, we narrowed down on these four topics –
- Health and Hygiene
- Nutrition
- Environment
- My Family and Body Parts
Every Saturday, Orenda Initiatives’ volunteers visit Government schools and teach primary school children (1 – 4 classes) for 2 hours. CRAY – Career Resources for Advancement of Youth
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The objective of this initiative is to provide youth with a wide range of tools and resources to be able to make informed choices about their careers and education. Our current education system leaves little scope for self-discovery and important choices are made under peer and societal pressures. Students from lower socio-economic backgrounds are often crippled by lack of just not quality opportunities but of accessibility to information.
Through this initiative, we provide students and young professionals information in terms of choices available and mentor them. Our team comprising of professionals from various backgrounds are act as friends and mentors and are available to them for guidance.
Exposure Visits
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Orenda Initiatives organizes exposure visits to NGOs, Foundations and other organizations and institutions to learn from their experience and incorporate some of the lessons into our work, to sensitize the volunteers and to provide an opportunity to discover any latent interests they might have. Most of the team members of Orenda Initiatives have discovered their passion through one of such visits. We believe such ongoing visits are an extremely important part of the journey we have embarked upon.
We identify orphanages, disability centers, schools and other such institutions once in two weeks and spend time one day of a weekend interacting with the staff and pupils of those centers. We try to understand their work, identify their requirements and, to the extent possible, help them.
Blog
Progress
Posted on Friday November 05, 2021
A disclaimer to begin with – we do not announce or make public marks of any student in any way. When we give them results, we discuss what they learnt and what they need to learn more or improve. However, we are putting up the results here devoid of names to illustrate a point. 6 […]
The Turnaround
Posted on Friday November 05, 2021
This 2nd grade kid was known in the village for stealing eggs, fruits etc. He used to lie with confidence. When we started school few months back, he would often escape into forest and if we got him back, he cried. Unable to read or write basi9c three letter words, he was admonished frequently by […]
Sir, do you love me?
Posted on Saturday October 23, 2021
When she came to village and joined school, she always looked lost and disinterested. Morose and forlon, she tried to avoid all the morning assembly fun activities. She constantly complained that she didn’t want to attend school or do maths. Every morning she would come to our home to check whether school would be closed […]
Kamjong High School, Manipur
Posted on Sunday January 26, 2020
This is easily one of the most difficult assignments I had taken up! After dealing with students from difficult backgrounds in widely varied contexts across the country, I now feel reasonably confident in my ability to engage with students and build relationships. But this proved to be a challenge – the 10th class of Kamjong […]
Year 2015-16 Review: Shivani On Her Volunteering Experience
Posted on Thursday May 19, 2016
How has the teaching experience helped you evolve/grow as a person in the last year? The first and very important lesson that I have learnt is to be patient. Out of 20 students in a class, few can comprehend the subject quickly, while other requires explanation to be repeated a number of times. And to […]
Year 2015-2016 Review: Volunteer Suresh Speaks
Posted on Sunday May 15, 2016
On how the teaching experience helped him grow as a person – The teaching experience here has helped me in a lot of ways. It has helped me become a better communicator. I believe if you are able to explain something to a kid, you can very well do it to anyone and this helps. Every Saturday […]
Volunteer Speak – Mayur Deshpande
Posted on Thursday September 17, 2015
WHY THIS WORK? Since my childhood, I have always wanted to do something for the society. I tried a few ways but could not walk on them for long. But after coming here, I am motivated to keep walking and not give up, as this is something which has become a very important part of […]
Volunteer Speak – Anubhav Mishra
Posted on Tuesday June 30, 2015
ANUBHAV: “When I first entered a classroom, I never imagined that I would be able to connect with the kids the way I can today. The whole Orenda experience has brought out a part of my personality that I never thought existed. Emotions and expressions were something alien to me, as I was never very expressive and […]
True Education – Eklavya School
Posted on Sunday November 30, 2014
“Imagine a boy who is not at all good at Maths, Physics and other subjects but is patient, hardworking, responsible, diligent and punctual. Now imagine another boy who is very good at academics but doesn’t have any of the above qualities. If you have a child, which of these two kinds would you want? Don’t you […]
In the villages of Kerala
Posted on Wednesday November 05, 2014
All through the trip we were singing and having fun. When it was time to leave and we boarded the bus to return to Bangalore, for few minutes every one was silent, staring out of the windows. It was a telling moment and I knew what was on their minds. We visited Kerala for two days […]