Design for change- I can!

Design for change is the largest global inter school competition which was started by Kiran Bir Shethi in 2009 and today, it is huge! It is like the school level equivalent of CSR activities for corporate companies and I bet DFC creates more impact since it is completely self driven. For more info

http://www.ted.com/talks/kiran_bir_sethi_teaches_kids_to_take_charge.html

She is my hero! 

R.S.K. was one of the schools that took part in the competition this year. We sent in 6 entries! The students came up with solutions for issues they want to address in their community. We had absolute fun conducting and shooting the DFC events. Here are some projects we did and the links.

Adopt Tommy:

Class 7 students collected money to adopt our school dog Tommy by buying him a collar. They wanted to do this because the school already lost a dog to the municipality stray dog catchers and they did not want that to happen to Tommy. With the extra money they also got him a dog bowl with his name on it where he eats the leftover food from kids tiffins. This way no food in our school gets wasted. :)

Our Green Ganesha!

Children made clay Ganeshas on the occasion of Ganesh Chaturthi to save the environment. In our country a lot of people use plaster of paris (POP) Ganeshas and when they are immersed in the water it does not dissolve completely. When it does dissolve the toxic chemicals harm the fish, plants and people living around those water bodies, thus, harming the environment. RSK students took the initiative to make clay Ganeshas which are eco friendly and also painted it with haldi kumkum and other natural colors which do not harm the environment. The teachers helped too and they took back their handmade clay Ganeshas home.

                                         

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z404gCYgpHw

Say no to plastic: Yes to Paper bags!

For the no plastic drive the students of class four and six made 60 paper bags for old news papers they brought from home. The idea was to Redue– Reuse– Recycle and spread awareness about the 3 R’s. The students then took those papers bangs to the ‘Kirana’ shops in their locality and told the shopkeepers not to give plastic bags to the customers and urge them to bring their own paper or cloth bags.

It’s beautiful to see kids contribute to building a better future. It rebuilds your trust in humanity. What most people fail to understand is that, in life it is not the marks you scored in school that matter, but the incidents that shape you into the kind of person you are today. We will talk more about those people in the posts to come.