Mumbai: Bridging the gap between private and municipal education

Students petered out of a row of Churchgate colleges horsing around in the blazing sun Like students everywhere they were pushing lsquonrsquo shoving each other using unprintable names that go as endearments these days and crowding at the eat out kiosks opposite the colleges ordering sandwiches burgers quaffing down cold drinks and Aareyrsquos popular Energee drinkA workshop in progress PicsBipin KokateIt was a businessasusual scene outside city colleges which are now thinning out of students thanks to the summer holidays On the fifth floor of HR College it was serious business though A group of Rotaracters were busy blurring the lines between lsquomunicipalrsquo and lsquoprivatersquo education through a programme called EchoGiving municipal students a voice and a choiceEcho is an arm of an initiative called lsquoBhavishyayaanrsquo by the Rotary Club of Bombay the oldest in the city Bhavishyayaan has adopted five municipal schools Through Echo Rotaracters from HR College were conducting a personality development programme that would help municipal school students blend in with those that had the advantage of private educationStudents engage in confidencebuilding measuresTwo way projectFrom gender sensitization where experts spoke to municipal school students addressed questions and dispelled myths to personality contests that shored up confidence the personality development programme going by the name of Echo was multipronged designed to bring out different strengths amongst the studentsFor the students by the studentsSaid one of the Echo organizers Aryaman Shah ldquoThe Echo was basically an attempt to close some gap between public and private school and college students It was also an attempt to help those from less privileged backgrounds in their social and conversational skillsrdquoWhat the HR College students found was that the municipal students had talent and ambition ldquoWhat they lacked was a platform to showcase theserdquo they said The Echo was formed to provide them with just thatThe learning was a twoway process though The students from private institutions and more privileged backgrounds visited the slums at Cuffe Parade where they got a first hand look at municipal studentsrsquo living conditions and came away learning as much from them as the municipal students learnt from the programmeIt was enlightenment time for HR college Rotaract students ldquoThe difference between our living conditions and theirs not so privileged hit us hardrdquo explained the group of Aashna Patel Param Gala Keesha Keshkamat and Riva Shah The HR Rotaracters added ldquoIt was then that we realized just how fortunate we areThe cluster of tenements in those slums told their own story We were taken aback at the challenges they faced with reference to sanitation and water All the homes had one prized asset a water container tied to the outside of homes chained actually so that nobody could take it awayWe also were surprised that they had to pay Rs 600 a month to use toilet facilities which were quite a distance away from their homerdquo they explained It was introspection time for those who take such necessities for grantedThe experienceFor the municipal school students the big plus was that ldquoThe Rotaracters never spoke lsquodownrsquo to us We felt we were one they called us bhai and didirsquo and we felt really goodrdquo was the common sentimentFor Tanu Singh from Murti Nagar in Cuffe Parade student of Colaba Municipal School the overall experience was ldquovery good and very different from what we do routinely at school I think I learnt a lot most of all earlier I used to be hesitant about speaking out in public but this was a huge boost to my confidencerdquoTanu is a tenth standard SSC student who wants to become a bank manager in fact bank manager was one of the coveted and aspired to professions in the future For the rather gungho Gopal Giri of Worli Seaface who studies in the Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar school at Jamboree Maidan ldquoThis was for those who are talented in different fieldsIt was good that we learnt so much You know I felt like I was interacting with my people from home students were so open and friendly What we learn inside the classroom is bookish text book knowledge but here we truly opened our mindsrdquo said Giri who wanted to be an engineer and was going to do a course in computer softwareNo fearFor Sandeep H 15 from the same school it was also the ldquofamily atmosphererdquo that did it ldquoI benefitted immensely lost my fears and felt lsquoekdumrsquo free said Sandeep using Hinglish to emoteSatyam K from Colaba Municipal Secondary School stated that ldquoI lost my fears and learnt the value of teamwork There was a game which we had to play where we were blindfolded I enjoyed that the most Most of all Satyam stated that he was struck by the humility of the private college youngstersldquoI was never made to feel lesser or that they are talking down to me in any way we were all treated equallyrdquo said Satyam who was inspired by the Bank of Baroda bank manager M K Chary ldquoHe had once given us a speech on the value of education because he also came from humble roots like me and today see where he isrdquoManjari Shirodkar 15 from G K Marg Municipal School was philosophical She said ldquoYou have to make your way in life make your own path Life is like a wave there are swells and there are ebbs and you have to negotiate thoserdquo this is what the workshops taught herA game where they were blindfolded and had to go over and underneath tables brought the message home ldquoUltimately we have to make our path alonerdquo This aspiring teacher also liked a talk which focused on how success would not come to one but one has to go after successThe HR College also had a couple of students from municipal schools who were studying there There was Sunil Panda from Colaba Municipal School an FYJC HR College student who wanted to be a Chartered Accountant CA eventually Though he came from a Hindi speaking background he stated ldquoMy English speaking skills have improved hererdquo and with that ldquoI have renewed confidencerdquoRashna Cooper and Freyaz Shroff of Rotary Club of Bombay explained This was not a taketake experience this is one of give lsquon take It was designed to bring one out of onersquos own ivory tower and see things for what they are We are also extremely involved with the project that is why we are here present even as the workshops are on we are looking at things firsthandAnjali M 18 from Colaba Municipal School also a student of HR College said ldquoI feel good being in this College and I am pursuing my ambition of working in a bank being a manager one day with vigourrdquoInspirational postsOne could almost feel the positive vibes that Echo had brought about There was that line here between the more privileged and those that do not have that much materially Yet the stars that shone in the municipal studentsrsquo eyes were as bright as those who have the advantage of a private education a wider world view better language and all the polish that comes with being better offIt was not the differences but the similarities that struck one the most though Young energy a sense of fun drive ambition and talent zeal and zest The HR College was a simmering cauldron of those impressive qualities when one put the municipal and private education students togetherThe personality development contest was a small but effective initiative of bridging the gap between two classes of society As for divisions It had no place here That is just what is taught in Mathematics classEcho ideologyThe notsofortunate have the zeal and zest to do something big in life Many of the big names that are today worthy of emulation come from ordinary backgrounds Every person gets that one big lifechanging opportunityThe Rotaract Club of HR College Echo division held a project in collaboration with The Rotary Club of Bombay It stemmed from the Rotarys Bhavishyayaan programme The fourday personality development programme comprised a range of speaker sessions confidencebuilding activities and grooming for 50 municipal school studentsThe finale gave the students a day in the limelight with ramp walk being up on stage and battling it out for the title of Mr and Miss Echo and an opportunity to showcase what they had learnt in the three days at Echo