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"The children thus started attending school during the day, and came to D-20 for home work and other activities like dancing, artwork and singing, in the evenings. The efforts of the teachers whom Prayaas employed were supplemented by student volunteers and volunteers from outside the IIMA community."

Prayaas ('attempt', 'effort', 'endeavour' in Hindi) is a good example of an academic project on social change leading to a sustainable student-driven initiative to educate underprivileged children. In 2003, Ms Geeta and her group members, all of them first year PGP students did a project on providing education to economically disadvantaged children, as part of 'Indian Social and Political Environment', a course taught by Professor Anil K Gupta. In 2004, the project report led to students involving themselves with children of migrant labourers who lived around the IIMA campus. Student volunteers conducted classes for the children in the nearby slums. In 2005 Sony Goyal, another student, came in contact with Ms Chandrika, who was working on education with an NGO. She and a few of her colleagues agreed to help Prayaas. They counselled the parents and managed to get some children admitted to municipal schools. Prayaas also conducted evening classes. When the student numbers increased, the Institute allotted two rooms in a newly constructed dorm (Dorm 20) for Prayaas activities. The team soon decided to get their children admitted to private schools. They chose two schools, Sahajanand and Sharda, which were close to IIMA. Prayaas took care of the costs of about INR 11,000 per annum per child. (Prayaas later started charging a registration fee of INR 100 and an additional amount for transport.) Prayaas mobilized its funds from students, faculty and alumni. The children thus started attending school during the day, and came to D-20 for home work and other activities like dancing, artwork and singing, in the evenings. The efforts of the teachers whom Prayaas employed were supplemented by student volunteers and volunteers from outside the IIMA community.

In 2008, IIMA Alumnus, highlighted the work of Prayaas-there were 55 students attending Prayaas classes; 26 of them were supported financially by Prayaas (see box below).

IIMA Alumnus, October-November 2008, Vol. 40, No. 3, p. 58. Source: IIMA Archives
In 2011, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, former President of India, during a visit to the Institute, visited the Prayaas rooms and participated in the Children's Creativity & Innovation Day Celebrations, organized by the National Innovation Foundation (see photo).

Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam (centre), Prof. Anil Gupta (towards top right),
Prayaas team and children, October 15, 2011. Source: IIMA Archives
According to an article in IIMA Alumnus of October 2012, the number of students had touched 60 by 2012. The 'expense catalogue' published in that article shows that Prayaas was mobilizing a fair amount of money for its activities.

IIMA Alumnus, October 2012, Vol. 44, No. 3, p. 50. Source: IIMA Archives
Extracts from the article:

"Despite a rigorous curriculum, students like spending time with the children, teaching them basic concepts in maths and science and in the evening, playing volleyball and other games with them. They may, down the line, become managers and make million-dollar deals, but at Prayaas, they are "Bhaiyyas" and "Didis"- older siblings who teach the children how to count using their fingers and how to write their letters.

Pooja, who is one amongst the first batch of students at Prayaas, continues her tuitions because to her Prayaas is a second home, with her friends, teachers and the IIMA students. Pooja is one of the best dancers and has bagged the first prize in the Janmashtami festival event, Carnival 2012, which was held at TV Towers, Ahmedabad, and was telecast on local channels. Another one of our remarkable children is Gayathri who is continuing her studies and fighting family pressure to quit. She is one of the brightest students at Sahajanand. When Gayathri stood first in the painting competition held at Prayaas, she received her prize at the hands of Honourable Dr A P J Abdul Kalam."

Some students share their experiences on the Prayaas website and highlight the role their engagement with Prayaas has played in their development. Over the years, this kind of impact has helped Prayaas grow. The Institute's Fifty-First Annual Report, published in 2012-13, highlights some interesting activities undertaken by Prayaas.

"This year, Prayaas provided talented children with a platform to showcase their talents on Independence Day, Navratri, and Holi. But its focus on education continued unhampered as it provided seven children with the opportunity to move from the municipality school to a private school. It also conducted the Joy of Giving week on campus, which provided students and professors alike with an opportunity to give back, in their own special way, to society. The bidding for Shadow-a-CEO was a national level charity event where students bid to donate to spend a day with a CEO of their choice. The main attraction of the week, though, was A Day at IIM-A which enabled people from outside the campus to spend a day at the Institute and experience the life of a first-year student. Participants were encouraged to donate voluntarily with all the collections going to Prayaas. A cloth collection drive was organized to facilitate collection of used and unwanted clothes and distribute them to the needy. Prayaas hired a new teacher for the children and held monthly performance evaluations to ensure that the children performed well. It also ensured they got of nutritious food and attended regular health check-ups. Financial support was provided by the alumni to the tune of Rs.5 lakh".

The Fifty-seventh Annual Report, published in 2018-19, highlighted the work of Prayaas in nurturing the lives of 120 underprivileged children. Check out some of the recent and exciting activities organized by Prayaas (sourced from Instagram handle of Prayaas).
Laptop workshop for kids (9-12th standard), December 2022
Annual Wish Tree Event, 2022


Article by Team Archives

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