Learning from the heart - SIP program with Shri Ram Foundation

“All who have meditated on the art of governing mankind have been convinced that the fate of empires depends on the education of youth.” Aristotle

We are an eight member team working with the SRF Foundation (part of the SRF group, one of SOIL’s industry consortium members). The objective of SRF Foundation is to reform rural education. As part of the SIP program at SOIL, Ankush, Uttara, Nataraj, Bhavesh, Rahul, Suraj, Vinay and Santosh are visiting various villages and documenting their schooling experiences.

The SRF Foundation is working to create a world class platform for sustainable education transformation. As part of its Model School Programme, the foundation has adopted 25 schools in Mewat Districit of Haryana and is addressing various issues in these schools. We, as students of SOIL are working closely with the foundation to study the problems in these schools and prepare individual cases for them.

The team till date has visited 9 of the 25 schools as part of our project learning and have taken away more learnings in this short period of time than we could have ever imagined. Challenges are many as we progress into this project; however, our belief in the project motivates us day-in and day-out.

Blind cannot lead the blind, thus, if we are to think of ourselves as the leaders of tomorrow, then we must be aware of every aspect of our environment. And what this project has done for us is that it has made us conscious of the disparity that exists in the Indian education system. It is heart-rending to see children learn in an environment where there is paucity of books, teachers and infrastructure. Here, the students are not motivated to attend the school for the value of education but only for the mid-day meal. So how does a system survive, when there is no hunger for education?

As we further along on this project, we are becoming acutely aware of the tasks and challenges that lie before us. However, we are hopeful that our emotions and hard work put in the project will not just replicate itself in the generous donors but also reflect in our future professional lives. And as the course rolls out, we are proud of our contribution as students of SOIL to a larger interest of the country.

Submitted by : Ankush, Uttara, Nataraj, Bhavesh, Rahul, Suraj, Vinay and Santosh