VEDANTA KHUSHI - JEEVAN TARANG ENHANCING SPECIAL TALENT OF SPECIAL CHILDREN

Hindustan Zinc improving academic opportunities of these specially abled children by distributing Android Smartphones to educate & learn…

Hindustan Zinc under its unique initiative  - “Jeevan Tarang”, on the occasion of World Disability Day distributed Android Smart Phones to blind students of Pragya Chakshu School, Udaipur and Badhir Baal Kalyan Vikas Samiti, Bhilwara on 4^th December, 2017 with an objective of enhancing academic opportunities for these children and mainstreaming them into the society.

These Android Smart phones will enable the visually impaired students to ‘Read & Write’ using Accessibility Features on the device. These phones will allow these students to access their textbooks in DAISY format from the world’s largest Online Library for the Print Disabled – ‘Bookshare’. This will bring these students at par with other students by allowing them to comprehend, read and prepare their academic content for better understanding hence making them competitive & ready for any exam. These Accessible devices will also allow the students to access the power of the internet and also gain worldly knowledge. They will also be able to enjoy games specially designed for Blind users on their phones.

The report says, India is home to the world's largest number of blind people. Out of 37 million people across the globe who are blind, over 15 million are from India. It is also known that quality education is an absolute necessity in order to succeed and progress in this knowledge driven world. Most of the current educational curriculum is oriented towards the use of the eyesight thus poses paramount challenges to the blind and visually impaired students.

Many organizations are working consciously and tirelessly to ensure these children get their due attention. Through Jeevan Tarang, Hindustan Zinc has provided these Android phones to the students from Class 1^st – Class 5^th of Pragya Chakshu School, Udaipur and to all the students of Badhir Baal Kalyan Vikas Samiti, Bhilwara accessing them the basic human right to educate & learn, a critical step on the path to economic, educational, and social development. Hindustan Zinc has partnered with experts to build capacities of these institutions and under this initiative Mr. Nitin Patel has been appointed in both these schools as a trainer to train these students in these advanced gadgets.

The Chief Guest of the event, Amitabh Gupta – CFO, HZL expressed his happiness to see the passion of these students to learn and climb up the ladder of success. He emphasized that through Jeevan Tarang, Hindustan Zinc strives to provide better opportunities to these students to grow and learn.

Pavan Kaushik – Head Corporate Communication said “There is a need to understand and up-bring these children with all love and care. Jeevan Tarang is an initiative to ensure that every single ability & disability gets the same opportunities and recognition thus ensuring the development of both social & cognitive skills.”

‘Jeevan Tarang’ endeavours to support people with disabilities, with a focus to identify needs of deaf-mute, visually impaired and children with brain damages. Around 500 beneficiaries have been identified from HZL’s operational areas; Kayad Mine, Rampura Agucha Mine, Chanderiya Smelting Complex and Udaipur. 

HINDUSTAN ZINC’S JEEVAN TARANG INITIATES ‘GARV SE’ CAMPAIGN FOR SPECIAL CHILDREN

Mainstreaming the specially abled children by bringing them together with the society/community…

Hindustan Zinc under its ‘Jeevan Tarang – Zinc Ke Sang’ Project has initiated around six month long Campaign – ‘Garv Se’ where these Special Children of God would be participating in series of creative activities to engage them with Hindustan Zinc employees & their families on a same platform.

The program has been formally launched by Hindustan Zinc Ladies Club on 26^th September, 2017 where Painting Workshop along with other artistic activities – clay modelling, diya painting & block painting were organized that saw the participation of around 60 children from Viklang Kalyan Samiti, Udaipur & Prayas Sansthan, Udaipur.

The objective of the Campaign is to mainstream the specially abled children by bringing them together with the society/community and Garv Se has been a step towards it by engaging Hindustan Zinc employees and their families through the series of engagements – movie screening, sports, trekking, dance workshops to name a few.

"Jeevan Tarang - Zinc Ke Sang” was formally launched on Foundation Day of Hindustan Zinc, i.e., on 10^th January, 2017.

The fact says that there are over 70 million disabled people in India out of which over 12 million are hearing impaired with hardly 500 government aided Deaf schools providing formal education to these children. Even the teachers working in these schools are not equipped or trained to teach the hearing impaired students as Sign Language is still not accepted as a medium of teaching and communication. More than 90 % of students with deafness do not have access to and are out of the formal education system. Lack of access to language has also kept the deaf away from development of social and cognitive skills.

Mr. Pavan Kaushik – Head Corporate Communication said “There is a need to understand and up-bring these children with all love and care. Jeevan Tarang is an initiative to work towards a more inclusive society, where every single ability & disability gets the same opportunities and recognition.”

‘Jeevan Tarang’ endeavours to support people with disabilities, with a focus to identify needs of deaf-mute, visually impaired and children with brain damages. Around 500 beneficiaries have been identified from HZL’s operational areas; Kayad Mine, Rampura Agucha Mine, Chanderiya Smelting Complex and Udaipur. Access to knowledge is a basic and human right, a critical first step on the path to economic, educational, and social development. Hindustan Zinc has partnered with experts to build capacities of these institutions.

Hindustan Zinc has also partnered with National Handicapped Finance & Development Corporation to support for Skill Building of the disabled persons from among Hindustan Zinc’s districts. 

Also present were Ms. Neelima Khetan – Head CSR, HZL, members of Hindustan Zinc Ladies Club along with HZl employees and their families during the program.

VEDANTA KHUSHI - JEEVAN TARANG - SPECIAL CHILDREN TO GET SPECIAL ATTENTION BY HINDUSTAN ZINC

Jeevan Tarang – Zinc ke Sang - to enhance education and skill opportunities of more than 500 children with disabilities…

There are few children that god has made with lots of love, affection & care and this is the reason, these children are known as 'special children of God'. These children make you smile instantly and also brings tears in our eyes. As these are special children,  they do require and need a lot of care and attention.  

Many organizations are working consciously and tirelessly to ensure these children get their due attention. “Jeevan Tarang” is a unique initiative launched by Hindustan Zinc, a Vedanta Group company with an objective of enhancing education and skill opportunities for the disabled, and mainstreaming them into the society. Under the program, around 500 beneficiaries have been identified from Hindustan Zinc’s operational areas by working with schools for deaf-mute, visually impaired and for children with brain damages in Ajmer, Bhilwara, Chittorgarh and Udaipur.

"Jeevan Tarang - Zinc Ke Sang” was formally launched on Foundation Day of Hindustan Zinc, i.e., on 10^th January, 2017.

On 30^th August, 2017, on Zinc Day, Children of Jeevan Tarang from Shri Sanwaliya Bahuuddeshay Viklang Seva Sansthan (SSBVSS), Chittorgarh, Baadhit Baal Vikas Samiti, Ajmer, Viklang Kalyan Samiti, Udaipur and Badhir Baal Vikas Kalyan Samiti, Bhilwara performed during the cultural evening and enthralled the audience with their beautiful heart touching performances.

During the program, Hindustan Zinc also partnered with Noida Deaf Society(NDS) to develop a long-term vision and roadmap for the institutes of Deaf-Mute children. NDS has set up four permanent separate trainers (Deaf Mute themselves) who will teach Indian Sign Language(ISL) to students. Jeevan Tarang  also focuses on capacity building of teachers by teaching them ISL, who then will be equipped to teach the courses in ISL. Through this partnership, the aim is to enable 400 children learn sign language so to empower the children by imparting education and vocational training for rehabilitation of hearing and speaking impaired children, instilling self-confidence and skills & qualitatively improve both their professional and personal potential to be an active contributor to society.

During the program, Mr. Sunil Duggal – CEO, HZL said “The need is to up-bring these children with all love and care. After all they are special children of god and through Jeevan Tarang we strive to provide them with better opportunities to grow and learn.”

The fact says that there are over 70 million disabled people in India out of which over 12 million are hearing impaired with hardly 500 govt aided Deaf schools providing formal education to deaf children. Even the teachers working in these schools are not equipped or trained to teach the hearing impaired students as Sign Language is still not accepted as a medium of teaching and communication. More than 90 % of students with deafness do not have access to and are out of the formal education system. Lack of access to language has also kept the deaf away from development of social and cognitive skills.

Mr. Pavan Kaushik – Head, Corporate Communication said “Jeevan Tarang is an initiative to work towards a more inclusive society, where every single ability & disability gets the same opportunities and recognition. Hindustan Zinc has partnered with experts to build capacities of these institutions and also engaging industry representatives to ensure good job opportunities for them.”

Also present were Mr. Ashwin Bajaj – Director, Investor Relations, Vedanta Group, Mr. Amitabh Gupta – CFO, HZL, Mr. Naveen Singhal – Head Projects, HZL, Mr. L.S. Shekawat – COO, Mines, Mr. Pankaj Kumar – COO, Smelters, Mr. Ramakrishnan Kasinath – Chief Commercial Officer, HZL, Mrs. Sonal Shrivastava – Dy. CFO, Mrs. Neelima Khetan – Head CSR, HZL, Mr. V. Jayaraman – Head EOHS, Ms. Ruma Roka – Founder of NDS and other HZL representatives during the program.

KHUSHI IS 5 YEARS OLD TODAY - CELEBRATING CARE FOR THE DEPRIVED CHILDREN

We are very proud to inform you that the Campaign “KHUSHI” that we started on 10^th April, 2012 is 5 years old today. During these years, we have organized several online discussions/debate, ground level workshops with street children, Awards and “KHUSHI” Walk and also direct interaction with thousands of school children to sensitize them about Care for the Deprived Children – their Nutrition, Education & Health.

Our “KHUSHI” Film ‘Humko Mann Ki Shakti Dena’ has been viewed by more than 7.6 million people across the globe – reaching to over 2 crore people, over 200,000 shares, 100,000 likes and 2000 comments. Here, today we celebrate the “KHUSHI” Day with our more than 225,000 followers.

HINDUSTAN ZINC GIVES SCHOLARSHIP TO 50 ENGINEERING STUDENTS UNDER 'YASHAD SUMEDHA SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM'

Being a responsible metal & mining company,  Hindustan Zinc has a strong focus towards uplifting the communities residing near is business locations. One such initiative is 'Yashad Sumedha Scholarship Program' where  Hindustan Zinc has sponsored engineering degree of selected 50 students who belong to household having annual income of less than Rs 1 lakhs. In this process, Sumedha Foundation has come forward and supported.

Hindustan Zinc in identifying these selected 50 students who are appearing in 1st year of their Engineering degree in different Government Engineering Colleges of Rajasthan. Hindustan Zinc organized Yashad Sumedha Scholarship Distribution Ceremony on 23rd December, 2016 at Head Office, Udaipur. All selected 50 students where 12 of them are girls were given scholarship cheques by Senior Management of Hindustan Zinc ‐ Mr. Amitabh Gupta – CFO, HZL, Mr. Vikas Sharma – COO Smelters, Mr. Dilip Pattanayak – HR Head, HZL and Mr. Ramakrishnan Kasinath – Chief Commercial Officer, HZL.

HINDUSTAN ZINC AWARDS 27 STUDENTS FOR PROMOTING “KHUSHI”

Hindustan Zinc awards 27 students with “Khushi” Child Care Awards for showcasing their emotions on canvas as part of care for the deprived children…

Hindustan Zinc awarded 27 students with “Khushi” Child Care Awards in a glittering ceremony organized at Hindustan Zinc’s Auditorium in Udaipur on 8th December, 2016. “Khushi” Child Care Awards were given to students for their portrayal of various child-care themes on the canvas.

Hindustan Zinc’s senior management honoured the children for their creative thoughts in the field of child labour, child beggary, atrocities of children, save the girl child, nutrition, education, child trafficking and child marriage which these children portrayed on the canvas.

The awards were presented by Mr. Sunil Duggal, CEO-Hindustan Zinc, Mr. Amitabh Gupta-CFO, Mr. Naveen Singhal-Director Projects, Mr. Vikas Sharma-COO (Smelters) and Mr. Laxman Shekhawat-COO (Mines).

Hindustan Zinc organized “Khushi Creative Workshop” for the children of classes 6th to 12th. On 23rd November 2016, Udaipur saw 250 kids from the schools - Delhi Public School Udaipur, Kendriya Vidyalaya, Seedling School, Ryan International, The Study, Bohra Youth School, DAV, St. Mary’s Convent, Vidya Bhawan and St. Matthews exhibiting their thoughts on child care.

Carried out at over 10 popular locations of Udaipur - Delhi Gate, Saheliyon ki Badi, Sukhadiya Circle, Chetak Circle, Field Club, Gulab Bagh, Panchwati, Fatehpura, Science College along with Hindustan Zinc Office-Yashad Bhawan - 8 selected students from each of the schools painted on one of the 8 pre-identified child care themes - Child Marriage, Child Abuse, Child Beggary, Save the Girl Child, Child Trafficking, Child Labour, Child Malnutrition and Child Education.

In this Khushi Creative Workshop, children aimed to reach out to about 75% of Udaipur population and convey sensitivity of children of Udaipur towards child related issues.

A designated jury took rounds to all the 10 locations and motivated school children for the cause. The jury also made the children understand the concept and how they perceived and dealt with delicate issues painted on the canvas.   

During the Award Ceremony, Kendriya Vidyalaya (No.1) School received five awards on the paintings made by Het Choubisa, Vidhi Sharma, Saloni Jain, Gayatri Veerwal and Bhavya Soni.  Seedling School received five awards on the paintings made by Mohd. Hyatt, Anuj Soni, Bhakti Jain, Vedansh Mali and Tanish Pagaria. Ryan International School also received five awards on the paintings drawn by Melvin Thomas, Prabreet Gambheer, Sandali Rathore, Vaishnavi Mehta and Saloni Rathore.

St. Mary’s School received four awards - Sakhshi Jain, Savi Prajapat, Shraddha Tiwari and Harmita Chundawat. Delhi Public School received two awards - Sarim Khan and Rohit Maida.

St. Matthews School received two awards - Swati Rathore and Khushi Paliwal. Bohra Youth Public School, The Study School, DAV School and Vidhya Bhawan School received one award each for the canvas drawn by Sara Khan, Misbah Khan, Ayush Dangi and Harsh Talesara respectively.

The jury members comprising Mr. Hansraj Choudhary – Senior Vice President -UCCI, Ms. Jenny Nicol – UK National - Khushi Ambassador, Mrs. Shweta Dubey – Director Fusion Business Solutions, Mrs. Ruchika Godha - Chief Operating Officer - Advaiya, Mrs. Anita Sharma – Socialite and Mrs. Kavita Barjatiya – Freelance Anchor for TV and Radio programmes, also decided to pick-up best of the best category awards and accordingly 5 winners were also declared who made the best paintings across all the 8 themes. The winners were - Savi Prajapat from St. Mary’s School, Het Choubisa from Kendriya Vidyalaya (No.1) School, Sandali Rathore from Ryan International School, Gayatri Veerwal from Kendriya Vidyalaya and Saloni Rathore from Ryan International School who were awarded with trophies.

Each of the schools that participated in Khushi Creative Workshop has been recognized and a memento was presented.  All the children who participated in the workshop have also been given certificate for their contribution.

Speaking on the occasion, Sunil Duggal emphasised on the need to continue with such efforts to sensitize the society towards care for the deprived children. Acknowledging the sentiments of children, he expressed his desire to display these paintings at various Units of the Company to promote care for the deprived children. He applauded the sentiments of children behind such thoughts. Vikas Sharma, COO also appreciated the thoughts of children behind such projects and congratulated children for bringing such thoughts forward by way of depicting them on canvas.

Pavan Kaushik, Head - Corporate Communication and Founder of Khushi, introduced the thought of making “Khushi Club” in schools that can deliberate on the care for the deprived children and how schools can unite their activities towards a single focus on child care. With the “Khushi Club” the schools would also need to open “Khushi Bank” that would facilitate all funds that are now still diverted. These funds can be then spent on a focused activity through decisions taken by the “Khushi Club”.

VEDANTA KHUSHI - BE POLITE TO THE CHILDREN OF STREET, SAYS “KHUSHI”

I was travelling from Bangalore to Delhi in Karnataka Express. With fatigue of travelling almost 40 hours in train, with tons of baggage, it was quite an irritating and hectic journey. The time I got down on Delhi Station with all my baggage, a child not more than 6-7 years started pulling my shirt and started asking for money. As my hands were full of luggage and had a bag on my shoulder, I was getting terribly irritated. In all this push and pull my bag fell down and it opened. Everything inside the bag was on road. This was enough to push my patience and my hands did the rest.

Everyone who passed looked at me with anger and disgust. No one helped me. Rather everyone sympathised with the little child.

Though I left the Railway Station, that guilt of letting lose my hand stayed with me. From that day whenever I see a child begging I experience that guilt. Today, after almost 24 years, when I am attached with Vedanta’s “Khushi” campaign - for the underprivileged children in India, for their education, nutrition and health, I feel I am doing a bit for myself and for my country. My guilt has been now converted into energy.

The very first line that “Khushi” wrote to its members was ‘be polite to the children of street – they are not on street by choice but by force’.

With largest child population in the world and almost 1/3rd of world's malnourished children living in India, our country has to find a future for these crores of children. 

”Khushi” encourages individual efforts are what the country needs today.  Government, NGOs and Corporates cannot do it alone.

With about 50,000 members in the “Khushi” group on facebook from across the world, many want to donate money. But “Khushi” is not about donating money, but for donating time. Donations are not encouraged or accepted.

I am sure, many of you must be carrying some feeling for the underprivileged children in India. Here it is a chance to put value to life.. Join “Khushi” – www.facebook.com/groups/vedantakhushi. 

VEDANTA KHUSHI - LAKSHMI GOT SURPRISE GIFT OF HER BOOKS-NOTEBOOKS TODAY..

Lakshmi’s father works as car cleaner and has been cleaning many cars, including ours. A  work that he starts early morning. He is determined to educate his daughter, Lakshmi, and wants her to study till she wants. He has a cycle and daily drops Lakshmi to school, though the school is not far from his house. He proudly says, ‘I will clean more cars and do other work sir but education of Lakshmi will not stop’.  

We have been asking him about the education of his daughter since the final school result had come-out. He informed that she has passed satisfactorily and is now in class-I. After repeatedly asking, Lakshmi father informed that he has not been able to get the books for his daughter due to sudden expenditure pressure. May be he would buy after the summer vacations and till than he would save money.

Lakshmi has been asking for books from her father almost daily. Carrying empty bag to school, for a child who is keen to study, is very disappointing and discouraging, he informed.

My fear was that in all this financial crunch education of Lakshmi should not be left and the school should not remove her from the school.

This is when we decided to buy school books and other school items to Lakshmi so that she is sure of her continuation of school.

Adhering to the “Khushi” philosophy, giving cash was never considered. So I decided to go to the school myself, call Lakshmi and accordingly buy all the books and notebooks to her.

Today perhaps was the day. Lakshmi was called by the Administration Head of the school and she came with an old water bottle and an empty school bag. Neatly dressed she was quite, wondering what is in store for her. I told her that she would get books and notebooks and all other things that she requires to get good marks right now.

Lakshmi smiled and smiled and smiled.. also wondering why I was buying for her.

I requested the Administration Head to kindly get the books-notebooks. Lakshmi constantly kept looking at the Office Assistant who was to get the books. Honestly, the books did not cost much.

The Principal of the school asked me, ‘how was I related to this matter’. I explained him the objective of Vedanta’s “Khushi” and told him that ‘I did because I could’. ‘Someone else would also do, if he could too.’ 

I experienced a satisfaction of doing something for a needy child who wants to study.. and for Lakshmi, it was a bright “Khushi” on her face, a priceless “Khushi”. 

VEDANTA KHUSHI - VEDANTA ADOPTS 3056 ANGANWADI CENTRES IN RAJASTHAN

1000 Anganwadis in Rajasthan to be converted into Model Anganwadi Centres

Government of Rajasthan, Hindustan Zinc (a Vedanta Group company) and Vedanta Foundation today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) under the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) to adopt 3056 Anganwadi centres in five districts of Rajasthan - Udaipur, Chittorgarh, Bhilwara, Rajsamand and Ajmer for 5 years. This adoption will benefit more than 90,000 underprivileged children in the age group of 3-6 years and will contribute significantly towards their overall development that would include nutrition, education and primary health.

As part of further strengthening of these Anganwadi Centres, Hindustan Zinc and Vedanta Foundation would also convert 1000 Anganwadi Centres into model Anganwadis. This project would also be spread across a period of 5 years, and in each year 200 Anganwadis would be converted into model Anganwadis.  In these selected Model Anganwadi Centres, Hindustan Zinc and  Vedanta Foundation will carry out repair & renovation of the building, construction of child friendly toilets, story painting on inside wall, provide water filters, daris and swings. Uniform will also be provided to all the enrolled children.

All the Anganwadi Centres will get clean drinking water, new utensils and smokeless chulha for the kitchen. Supplementing morning breakfast, poha and groundnut will be provided.

Pavan Kaushik, Head of Corporate Communication, Hindustan Zinc, informed that “our focus is on overall growth and development of these rural children. Colorful books & charts, toys and other pre-school educational material will be provided by the company to encourage interactive play-way method. Hindustan Zinc will also provide special training on pre-school education to the Anganwadi workers of the all these Centers and to our own field coordinators for better coordination, understanding and learning.”

As per the new WHO guideline, adopted at all selected Anganwadi centers, digital weighing scale and hygiene up-keep items like hair oil, talcum powder, hand wash shop, phenyl and detergent will be provided. Special emphasis will be given to health & hygiene and weight measurement of these children.

Vedanta Group has a strong focus towards care for the underprivileged children. Mr. Anil Agarwal, Chairman – Vedanta Group has set his vision to make India a child malnourished free nation.

Since 2008 the Group has been associated and supported about 14,000 child care centers in Rajasthan, Karnataka, Chattisgarh, and Odisha reaching about 500,000 rural children – for their nutrition, health and education. Incidentally the first MoU on adoption of Anganwadi Centres by Vedanta Group company Hindustan Zinc was also signed about 7 years back in the presence of Rajasthan Chief Minister Smt. Vasundhara Raje and Chairman of Vedanta Group, Anil Agarwal.

Vedanta had launched campaign “Khushi” that sensitizes common people towards care for the underprivileged children and take-up individual steps for such cause. The campaign is first of its kind ‘Non-Funding’ campaign which has more than 45,000 members across the globe on facebook. “Khushi” itself has 75 child-care Centres across India benefiting directly to about 2500 underprivileged children. Hindustan Zinc and Vedanta Foundation will be executing this project under “Khushi” campaign.

The MoU was signed today by Tribhuvan Pati, Additional Director (ICDS) from Government of Rajasthan and by CSR Mehta, Head-Corporate Relations, Hindustan Zinc. Also present on the occasion were Smt. Anita Bhadel (Independent Charge), Women and Child Development and Dr. Gurjot Kour, Additional Chief Secretary(WCD), GoR, Jaipur.

VEDANTA KHUSHI - TIMES OF INDIA - 1 IN 5 PRIMARY TEACHERS UNQUALIFIED

Subodh Varma, TNN | Apr 5, 2015, 12.41 AM IST

NEW DELHI: A fifth of all elementary school teachers in the country do not have the requisite qualifications to teach young children. If this doesn't shock you, take a look at what's going on at the state level. 

In a wide swathe starting from all eight states of the North-East (including Sikkim), through West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and up north in J&K, the share of qualified teachers is much lower, ranging between 29% in Arunachal Pradesh or 30% in Nagaland to 68% in MP and 70% in Jharkhand. It is through these untrained hands that the foundation of education is being laid in children. 

What is even more worrying is that according to district information system for education (DISE) - it's a school education database managed by the National University for Educational Planning - this condition has persisted for past many years. 

In larger states 90% or more teachers are professionally qualified. In Odisha, the proportion is 79% while in Uttar Pradesh it is 78%. Karnataka (96%) and Punjab (88%) show decline in proportion of qualified teachers. 

It's essential that teachers, especially of smaller children, be professionally trained, stresses Anita Rampal, professor at Delhi University's department of education. 

"Just knowing a subject or being a graduate is not sufficient qualification to become an elementary school teacher. You need to be trained in understanding the learning process of children, their diversity, and you need to develop necessary teaching skills under trained supervision," she said.

The situation in the eight North-Eastern states has been like this for many years. Elementary schools in Assam, the biggest state of the region, are running on just 39% trained teachers, virtually the same share as in 2006-07. Arunachal Pradesh has slid from having 35% trained teachers in 2006-07 to 29% now while Mizoram is facing a calamity - its share of trained teachers has plummeted from 61% in 2006 to 40% currently. Tripura and Sikkim have seen improvements, but at a worryingly slow pace. 

Bihar has one of the lowest shares of trained teachers, because teachers training colleges remained closed for about a decade, says Rampal, who explains the condition in North-East as arising from lack of teachers training colleges. In 2006-07, the share of qualified teachers in Bihar was 62%, which has now reduced to 43%. In West Bengal, too, the situation is fast sliding as the share of qualified teachers went down from 75% in 2006-07 to 49% in 2013-14. 

In Chhattisgarh, with 59% share of qualified teachers, and in Jharkhand with 70%, there has been only a marginal improvement in the past seven years. A similar situation exists in J&K where only 51% teachers were qualified in 2006-07 and now this share is 52%. 

School education is in the concurrent list of the Constitution with both, the states and Centre having power to deal with it. A large proportion of funds are provided by the Centre through the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, a centrally sponsored scheme. The regulation of teachers' qualification is done by a Central statutory body, the National Council for Teachers' Education. While it is mandatory for states to appoint qualified teachers to schools, clearly, the law is being brazenly flouted. 

The trend towards appointment of contractual or para- teachers which acquired great popularity through the 1990's has also contributed to the decline in teachers' qualification standards, experts believe. 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/1-in-5-primary-teachers-unqualified/articleshow/46809604.cms

Vedanta Khushi : I Can – My Father Can’t

(a heart touching story)

This incident is a little old. Dharmendra, a small farmer from Amara, Uttar Pradesh, has a small piece of land on which he cultivates seasonal crops, sometimes vegetables. His family has 4 people, his wife and 2 children, elder girl Radha is aged 12 and the son Cheeku is of 7 years. As the land is small he is comfortable cultivating himself and if required his wife helps him out.

The village is quite remote and children are not encouraged to go to school. This is the reason that he and his wife, both remained illiterate. The land holders took away almost half of Dharmendra’s land by forging documents.

But children are children, as they play together they also mingle for seeing pictures in the books of children who were going to school, though very few in number. This interaction helped both his children learn few alphabets and few words. Their interest in education was quite evident. But both the children never told about this to their parents.

After heavy rains, the village had a number of cases of viral fever. It was spreading in almost every house. Dharmendra was worried as his wife and son had caught viral fever too. The village doctor visited almost every house and gave medicines, with dose and frequency written on a slip. Dharmendra had arranged these medicines in such a way that it became easy to identify through positioning as he could not read a word, neither anyone within the family.

But destiny is destiny. In the night heavy showers and wind mixed packets of medicine. It was not possible to check with doctor because of heavy rains. Taking a chance, he asked his daughter Radha to get water to give medicine to the mother and son. The over-dose of medicines reacted and soon the mother and son started vomiting. Their condition became serious. Dharmendra ran to the house of doctor and brought him on his cycle.

As the doctor saw the condition and medicine he became very angry and slapped Dharmendra.

Whole family being illiterate had almost costed 2 lives.

Radha also started crying.

With great difficulty doctor was able to make both mother and son stable.

Dharmendra was ashamed of what had happened and could have happened.

He decided to break the rules set by his ancestors on education and very same moment decided to send his both children to village school. As the rains stopped and the viral retracted, he got his both children admitted to school.

Radha, though should have been in class 8th if she had gone to school regularly, is now in class 4 and his son Cheeku is in class 2nd.

When Dharmendra goes to school to meet teachers, he puts his thumb-impression, but when it comes to Radha and Cheeku, they both sign their names.

Radha is simple and humble, but Cheeku naughty and teases, look “I Can but My Father Can’t” sign.

**Not necessary we have to give importance to education only when we face drastic circumstances. Education is not just learning, it also silently teaches moral values.

VEDANTA KHUSHI : THE JOURNEY HAS BEGUN

 

India, home of the largest number of children in the world, also has 2nd largest educational system in the world. With a total enrolment of 114.6 million at primary and 41.3 million at upper primary levels, India has shown remarkable improvement in the education enrollment scorecard. But when it comes to sustaining it, the country's biggest challenge is increasing number of children who drop out or in simple language out of the school. This population was as huge as 8.1 million in 2008. Worse is out of 8.1 million children more than 2/3rd are girls.

‘VEDANTA KHUSHI’ campaign started with a thought that government, corporate and NGOs together cannot do it all and there has to be a direct participation from common people. We need to be aware and sensitive towards the alarming issues concerning our country and participate equally for its prevention and cure. 

While sharing the experience of the members through numerous debates and discussion on KHUSHI platform, it was realized that everyone had their point of view and perspective to look at these problems and also for had their probable solutions.   The words may be different but the meaning was same.  The first change KHUSHI members observed was the temperamental change in their behaviour, that inculcated a sense of responsibility towards underprivileged children, that extra instinct coming after the launching of KHUSHI campaign. The long running debates on girls’ education, infrastructure in schools, problem of street children, beggary, quality of education, rehabilitation, disparities in urban and rural education, sending underprivileged children back to school, not to burst crackers, effects of TV advertising on children etc. saw participation from over hundreds of members.

Their real-time experiences and suggestions have given KHUSHI the advise to formulate new strategies and act accordingly. The members mentioned that improved infrastructure, furniture in schools, sponsorships for the meritorious students, introducing computer education, counseling parents, improved mid-day meal programs, organizing extra classes, appointment of teachers, constructions of toilets would certainly facilitate increase in the enrollment and also help in reducing the out-of-school statistics.

It was evident, the work needed to begin - in short span, 9000 rural Anganwadi children were promoted to Government Schools, 92 rural government schools have been adopted to improve infrastructure, 100 tribal children in Odisha have been sent to formal schools, educational support has been provided to about 700 migratory children in Nilgiri in Tamil Nadu, Vedanta Hindustan Zinc Heart Hospital has been upgraded, 2500 Anganwadi Centres have been adopted in Karnataka leading to total adoption to about 5000.

At present 9 mid-day mean kitchens - 6 in Rajasthan, 2 in Chattisgarh and 1 in Orissa are providing hot mid-day meal to about 300,000 rural poor children every day covering about 2700 schools.

Free computer education to over 7.2 lakh children with free remedial classes for Board students are proving quite fruitful campaigns. Remedial classes alone have improved the pass percentage from 48% to 87%.

KHUSHI also tied up for the free lip cleft and palate operations for 2500 children in an year with Smile Train organization of US and American GBH Hospital in Udaipur.

The memories of spending 2-days with more than 125 Street Children of Malla Talai are so fresh.

VEDANTA KHUSHI started with a mission to spread the message to as many and encourage people to look for the contribution in their own ways, as we are doing as a corporate in our own way.

To take a note, India houses the maximum number of children, much larger than China. But unfortunately, 1/3rd of the malnourished population of children lives in India.

Together we can and together we will be able to build these children into productive resource for India. Contribution also comes with act and also by participating in awareness campaigns. We are proud to have over 20,000 members in KHUSHI Group.

KHUSHI will spread KHUSHI -

The journey has just begun......

VEDANTA KHUSHI : 'NANHI' IS GETTING MARRIED

This is a story sent from Bihar by Rajshekhar Pandey, who is a fisherman and has 3 boats. He got married in 1989 and has 2 daughters and a son. His story has been narrated by one of his friend from Patna, who is a VEDANTA KHUSHI member.

Bihar has been prone to floods due to heavy rains and high discharge of water in Nepal. Kosi, Gandak, Burhi Gandak, Bagmati, Kamla Balan, Mahananda and Adhwara Group of rivers originate in Nepal and carry high discharge and this drops it down in the plains of Bihar. As about 65% of catchments area of these rivers falls in Nepal/Tibet and only 35% lies in Bihar, the State is worse flood hit in India.

This is a story of Rajshekhar who found a girl in a basket in 1991 Bihar Floods.

Rajshekhar says, in 1991, Kosi was at its devastating floods and many families and houses were vanished. Once the rivers became a little normal he went on his boat for fishing and found a basket floating. Pulling the basket near, he was surprised to see a small girl of about 2-3 years sleeping in the basket. He lifted the girl from the basket and realized that she had fever. He came back immediately and told his wife about this girl and both took her to the doctor. With about a week of medication the girl was fine.

When asked about her name, she informed that her mother called her NANHI but she does not know her father's name or village. Rajshekhar could make out that she was a Bihari girl and due to heavy floods NANHI got separated from her parents.

Rajshekhar and his wife had no heart to leave her somewhere or anywhere. They decided to look after her. The villagers supported Rajshekhar's decision. Rajshekhar recalls, NANHI sometimes used to remember her mother and father and cry, even not eat food. But slowly slowly his wife convinced her and she started calling hiM PAPA and his wife AMMA.

At the age of 5 years, NANHI was admitted to nearby school. By this time Rajshekhar's wife gave birth to a boy and a girl. NANHI was the eldest child now.

Time passed and just last month NANHI became a qualified Teacher. Her father, Rajshekhar has searched a school teacher as her groom and NANHI is getting married now.

Rajshekhar is very happy as he believes, his deeds have made him a good human being.

For VEDANTA KHUSHI, he is our HERO.