August is a special month for us. We celebrated our Independence day, only did our girls did us proud at Rio and now we at Desh Apanayen have also been recognized for our work!
Since the last two years, we have been working intensively towards building a nation that thrives on the values of citizenship and ownership, and not apathy and disregard. Our mantra – Catch them Young – has proven very effective in inculcating values and understanding of democracy in middle school and high school children.
Engaging with the future of the country is the only effective way to create responsible and constructive citizenry. Hence, our school program, Disha, works with young students to build the WILL and SKILL in them and encourages active participation in democracy.
We are thrilled that The Pioneer, one of the oldest national newspapers in the country, has brought our work to light.To read the full article, please click here.
Here are excerpts from an article by our founder, Shri Vallabh Bhanshali, in the same
- “We are so used to complaining and cursing when the roads are flooded, water supply stops, trains are dirty, schooling is corrupt or inaccessible, and over a thousand other things. Occasionally, we also laud the Government when we find a perfectly paved road, or when a convenient bus service starts, vaccination service is free and easily accessible, and so on. We react as if it is a favour done to us. Such behaviour is so common that we never pause and think whether it is appropriate or actually harmful.”
- “we have all got so dispirited with things not getting done and many citizens misbehaving that the thought of all getting together to demand our rights or simply solve our own problems doesn’t arise often.
- The real problem is our defeatist and apathetic collective mindset. We need to fix this problem on an urgent basis. And the only way to bring about this change is by feverishly engaging with the youth — well before the negativity gets firmly rooted in their psyche. We need to follow the precept of ‘catch them young’ and start making the changes in our education policy, processes and institutions right at the school level.”
- “One hopes that if this is done in an intelligent, persistent and creative manner, then in a few years, this renewed effort of inculcating citizenship values will have new citizens ready to tackle their own problems or get them resolved. This new phase of renewal in education needs a whole new pedagogy using modern tools such as online content, smartphone apps, audio-video, activities, worksheets, workshops, events, and debates, all linked to the current Civics curriculum.”
- “Dialogue has to move away from “did we produce the next IIT-JEE topper?” to “did we do enough to ensure that the entire batch of our students has the right citizenship values deeply rooted in their minds and hearts?””
We are grateful that our work has been received so well. It has only motivated us further to do well, work well and not stop until the goal is reached.
Jai Hind!