In our Education project entitled ‘Let me Bloom’, we provide financial assistance, as well as mentoring services to young college going girls from low income groups who are doing well in school but cannot study further due to financial constraints. The first sponsorship programme was started by our Club as early as 1993 with ten girls, which gradually increased over the years. By helping these girls with books, stationery, tuitions and career guidance, each one of these girls today is pursuing a career of her choice. We can proudly proclaim that all our beneficiaries are established in their chosen professions, due to the moral and financial support given in part or full by our Club.
It was found that the students though successful in the board exams, falter in English and Mathematics, which are very essential for any competitive field and for further higher studies. After a meeting with the mathematics teachers of the school, it was universally agreed that a mathematics workbook would be of immense help in improving their grasp of the basics, and help in their further education. The “Math Yes We Can” program is designed to upgrade the math skills of students enrolled in high school. This program is being implemented from September 2022 in these village schools with the help of Soroptimist International Club of Poona. These schools are receiving ‘The Language of Mathematics’, a set of seven workbooks partly funded by individual members of SI Poona. This program has met with much enthusiasm from the students and teachers of these schools and there has been a marked improvement in their performance.
In an interaction with the teachers and the students it was found that there was a need for a bit of an impetus to make /encourage the students to speak more in English in order to prepare them for the outer world of higher studies and jobs. Therefore, a course and a Teachers’ manual was designed by a SI Poona member to teach English communication skills to the students. It contains a program that can be used for one full academic year along with links from the internet to be used as teaching aids. It has different activities to be followed by teachers and also examples of questions that teachers can ask students to inculcate higher order thinking skills and for practising English communication. This project too has generated much interest and enthusiasm with the students, who are enjoying it thoroughly.
This program gives a correct direction to the overall development and inspiration to the school students and teachers. This program covered two days, of which the first day was for the teachers’ training as the easiest way of teaching Science, Math, Art & creativity, Geography, etc. The next day was very enjoyable for both students and teachers as the things learnt by the teachers was shared with the students effectively.
SI Poona celebrates International Literacy day every year on 8th September by handing over scholarship cheques to our deserving girl students under our ‘Let me Bloom’ project. Out of last year’s awardees, three have completed their education. They are Ritika Madke, who secured 82% in her B.Com and appearing for Company Secretary final exam, Kajal Dhotre, who completed her 4th year engineering and seeking admission for MBA, and Nishad Pathan, who completed her BA in grade A. We awarded scholarships to twelve girls in 2023 including six of our previous awardees continuing their education and six new entrants.
