Let Us Come Together To Exercise Our Personal Social Responsibility
Sunshine Society
To quote from the National Education Policy 2020: “Education is the single greatest tool for achieving social justice and equality. Inclusive and equitable education – while indeed an essential goal in its own right – is also critical to achieving an inclusive and equitable society in which every citizen has the opportunity to dream, thrive and contribute to the nation.”
Sunshine Society started their operations with the above goal in mind. The members of Sunshine Society believe that education is the single largest tool to ensure a healthy, happy and a self-dependent nation. The reason to come together to form a society was to ensure continuous and sustainable efforts in this direction. Seven years after Sunshine Society’s formation, we are on a happy path to contribute towards a larger picture of an educated Nation building.
Our nation’s education policy has always written about bridging gender and social gaps in all levels of education, and Sunshine Society strives to embody that ideal. Starting with the education of 25 children in our 1st year of operations, today, we are sponsoring the education of 250 children from the economically weaker section of the society and supporting the after-school studies of additional 250 children. There are still many more who require support - both financial and academic and we are trying our level best to ensure that the children receive the required, and sustainable support.
There are two ways to support the child’s educational needs. Firstly, financially, where we ensure that the child’s school fee is paid, the books and the uniform are provided to the child and the child is able to attend school regularly. Secondly, academically, where we monitor the child’s progress, understand the gaps in education and ensure that each child is mentored according to their need. This requires more effort as the requirement is that we should be able to match the child’s need and the available resource.
Through our three after school study centers, we are able to connect the available senior citizens, who are ready to impart their education and wisdom to the children who can benefit. Given the size of our country and the population the need is always for more. We are also very fortunate to be connected with technologically oriented initiative of senior citizens Gyan Vigyan Sarita, who understand the need and are technologically capable of adopting the available and latest technology to reach far and wide in the areas where reaching physically is a big question mark. To be able to touch the lives of children, they relentlessly gear up with their laptop, tablet and headphones and started their mission to teach the children the subjects he knows best – Physics and Mathematics. We are fortunate to have a few more senior citizens who have managed to adopt the changing needs, taken up technology and have started reaching out to the students through Interactive Online Mentoring
Sessions (IOMS).
Coming back to the National Education Policy 2020, the policy states that “Every literate member of the community could commit to teaching one student/person how to read, it would change the country’s landscape very quickly”. This is also a part of our Personal Social Responsibility (PSR).
Given the changed times that we are experiencing, the disadvantage that the children from the economically weaker section of the society face, let us take it as our goal to ensure that the students are able to access the online learning platforms. We can ensure that together we are able to provide them with smart phones or tablets so that the students can access the study material and attend the online classes that are being held by their respective schools. Let us ensure that financial stability is not the reason a child is denied education. Let us ensure that the children are able to cope up with the new educational system to tide over these difficult times.
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