Over the last 2 months we have conducted JA MFM, WIN, JACWAP and JACWAP lite programs in Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Delhi-NCR, Chennai and neighbouring regions reaching out to over 15,000 students. We were supported by individual volunteers as well as volunteers from our corporate and NGO partners such as Being Trust, Cognizant, Deloitte, ExxonMobil, Grant Thornton, RRD and Steria, alumni associations such as AARAV and student volunteers. We also conducted orientation sessions for volunteers from HGS, Taj Hotels and Youth for Seva and are in the process of formalising a program delivery partnership with TCS in Chennai. We look forward to seeing all our new volunteers participate in JA programs in the coming months.  

 

Student Volunteering: Christ University Students conduct JA MFM programs

Christ University students (BCom) have been actively involved in helping JA classroom activities in the last month. In a students-teach-student model, 26 college  students conducted JA Mini Factory Model program (a game board based program to explain supply chain) for more than 300 class VI school children.  The main focus is to give an opportunity to the under-graduate students to understand their goals, explore their own skills and also contribute to the society.

The effect was very obvious with students teaching students. The connections they made, their ability to challenge one other in the classroom and room for learning from each other all made the effort very enjoyable and worthwhile for all involved.

 

New Competitions: ExxonMobile Energy Conservation

  ExxonMobil Chemical India Pvt. Ltd (EMCIPL) and JA have jointly launched an innovative inter-school competition in Bangalore, focusing on Energy Conservation. Participating schools include KK School, St. Thomas and Holy Cross in Whitefield. Each school has nominated a team of 10-15 students drawn equally from classes VII to X. Each of the teams have chosen a topic related to conservation of energy and are working on a model to demonstrate their creativity, team work and practicability. EMCIPL is funding the project and company volunteers are acting as mentors to the respective school teams.

 

The competition began on 10th July and will run till 24th August, with the final presentation on 7th September. The winning team and school will be given prizes and the best EMCIPL team with maximum volunteer involvement, innovation, support and mentorship will also be given special recognition. Good luck to all the participating teams and we look forward to seeing some innovative energy conservation ideas being aired soon!

 

Other Initiatives: Science project with Azim Premji foundation

JA India actively works with the Chennai Corporation schools which is headed by the Joint Commissioner, Mr. Venkatesh, IAS. As an extension of our involvement, our Chennai team has been requested by the joint commissioner to help strengthen the science teaching skills of the faculty members of Chennai corporation schools' faculty members in Science. We will be working with the Azim Premji foundation, which is already running Science projects in Karnataka and Uttarakhand, starting in the second half of August.

Ajay Bothra is a II year BCom Honours student from Christ University and a JA volunteer 

 

"Share your knowledge.   It is a way to achieve immortality"

-Dalai Lama XIV.                  

We Indians do exactly the opposite of what is portrayed above. The concept of knowledge sharing has almost disappeared from our lives. Earlier, a mere look at an electric motor interface, dad's old scooter etc. would make me think of the numerous possibilities of making something cool with it. But today we are getting caught in a "vicious circle of working" i.e., we don't get time to work on the so called "cool" ideas and these ideas start dying. Neither do we share these ideas with our friends, as we want solitary credit for "patenting" these ideas for development.

 

One person, we can all draw inspiration from, is Jamsetji Tata , the founder of the TATA group He devoted his life to four goals: setting up an iron and steel company, a world-class learning institution, a unique hotel and a hydro-electric plant. Only the hotel became a reality during his lifetime (The Taj Mahal hotel, Mumbai). However he shared his vision and inspired his colleagues and successors to achieve the remaining 3 goals, which led to the establishment of Tata Steel (now the world's fifth largest steel company), the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore and Tata Hydroelectric Power Supply Company (India's largest private electricity company).

 

If Jamsetji hadn't visualised and shared his ideas with others, the Tata group might not have become what it is today. We all need to draw from his example and share and exchange our ideas with others. If your ideas remain unused for long, they begin to die and the dreams that you dreamt remain deferred forever. Remember, EVERY idea is an idea worth sharing!