Learning Journeys BHUMI offers a unique leadership development program which pairs needy children from underprivileged backgrounds in city slums and rural villages with university students and working professionals who act as their mentors, role models and tutors. The care, personal attention and encouragement which the children receive from their mentors, but rarely from their parents and community, helps them realize their potential and take responsibility for their own lives. The personal mastery and leadership program coupled with the experience of mentoring makes the university students into more socially aware leaders.
DnE Vision
The vision of DnE Tutoring Mentoring program is to fundamentally transform children from economically weaker sections and develop higher emotional quotient, leadership skills and values of social responsibility among the youth to reduce growing inequities, fulfill human potential and achieve sustainable development.
DnE Mission
- To Enrich and improve the lives of children from underprivileged backgrounds through a warm and caring relationship with a personal mentor who will support, encourage and build their self-confidence and provide supplementary tutorial help to dramatically increase percentages of high school completion, college education and employment in the organized labor sector.
- To awaken the sense of social responsibility and leadership of university students, our country's future leaders, by exposing them to some of the most pressing social problems of our country. In the course of their mentorship work, provide certified training to improve their communication, systems thinking and leadership skills and ultimately their employability.
- To create One India by integrating the two groups from widely disparate societal and economic back grounds to promote tolerance and understanding through joint activities.
- Girls enrollment in schools at primary level is 43%
- Drop outs at primary level is 40%
- 110 million children engaged in child labor in the country
Background and Need
DnE Foundation has three years of experience of mentoring at 7 government schools across the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad. The current proposal builds on past experience as well as research of and visits with some of the centers of excellence in mentoring.
India, despite its recent economic growth, is a country with 25% of its population living in abject poverty which is driven by high levels of girl illiteracy, drop-out rates, and child labor. Statistics that support the need for our work come from a working group report on the development of children in 11th five year plan.
(http://planningcommission.nic.in/plans/planrel/11thf.htm)
Our experience over the last three years has opened our eyes to the inherent difference in enthusiasm for pursuit of education between children from slums and children from more privileged backgrounds. Children from slums/villages grow up amidst semi-literate parents who disbelieve that schooling will give their children jobs, pressurize girls to quit school to take on low-paying work in un-organized sector to alleviate their financial burdens and look after younger siblings. The natural consequence of such an environment is that the children stop believing that they can succeed in life, lack basic life skills and pick up negative personality traits. This is a sharp contrast to middle class families that support, encourage and push their children to excel in their academic pursuits.
Our experience over the last three years has led us to several observations. Mentors often lack skills to listen and empathize and are often unable to reach out to the children from these under-privileged communities, e.g. patronizing attitudes and prejudices. We identified a dire need to train mentors in effective listening skills, empathy and make them more socially aware and responsible.
The Program
Mentors (university students and young working professionals) are paired with Mentees to serve as friends and role models, helping them gain greater self-confidence while Tutors (university students and working professionals) are allotted to small batches of five-eight children to help them with studies by conducting special classes in Maths, Physics, Biology and English each week. Mentees and Mentors are tested for their attitudes and aptitudes. Tutors are screened for their grasp of the subjects they will teach their tutees.
Mentors meet mentees for duration of two hours each week in a structured format and act as their role models. The care, personal attention and encouragement which the children receive from their mentors, helps them realize their potential and take responsibility for their own lives.
Tutors conduct special classes for small batches for four hours each week, helping them build a strong academic foundation for future classes and providing an impetus to continued education through improved academic performances.
Mentors/Tutors will go through a BHUMI certified personal mastery and leadership program and will be given a mentoring/tutoring and Leadership tool kit, and coaching sessions developed by the BHUMI's Leadership and Development board consisting of highly experienced trainers from across the country. In collaboration with many experts around the world such as Osmania University Psychology Department, MIT, Society For Organizational Learning (SOL). The tool kit is adapted for the socio political context of these children, hence has a very high chance of success.
Uniqueness of the DnE
Our program turns the conventional approach to mentoring on its head by pitching mentoring/tutoring as an experiential learning platform to groom oneself and improve one’s leadership potential and communication skills, we believe this will instill a greater sense of responsibility in potential mentors/tutors hence rising above mere charity.
Three innovations enable DnE Tutoring Mentoring Program to produce lasting results:
- DnE is the only program that provides a support-system for Government School Children (Mentees/Ekalavyas) while developing leadership and communication skills of the university students and young professionals (Mentors/Dronacharyas) who will be mentoring them.
- Get recognition from Local Companies for the Mentors’ personal mastery and leadership development program, as this certificate program develops Mentors as socially responsible leaders with better communication skills, hence improving their employability.
- Mentees ‘pay back’ through a ‘time bank’ concept by acting as ambassadors for education, convincing other parents to send their children to school, not into labor or allow them to drop out.
Expected Outcome and Measurement
On the mentee’s side we plan to measure:
Absenteeism, Academic grades, Pass rate, numbers who continue in higher education, numbers entering organized labor and also aspects such as use of illegal drugs and alcohol and engage in violent activities
On the Mentor’s side we are developing tools to measure communication skills, leadership, diversity and inclusion
DnE IV: The program this year
DnE targets mentoring and tutoring 1000 government school children studying across 9 government schools in the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad in its 4th year of operations. In association with the Govt of AP, DnE IV is being launched on June 14th 2009 and will run upto Feb 2010. These children will be attached to 1000 mentors and 120 Tutors. The mentors and tutors will undergo 12 day unique and specialised personal mastery and servant leadership training spread over 4 cycles compiled by some of the best trainers from across the country who form a part of the BHUMI's Learning and Development Board while they simultaneously practice with the leadership tools and learnings to help the children.
The training will focus on the following key areas: BHUMI, Personal Mastery, Transformational Communication, Problem Solving, Creative Entrepreneurship
Important dates for DnE IV:
Tutoring Starts On: June 14th 2009
1st Phase of Mentoring Starts On: July 5th 2009
2nd Phase of Mentoring Starts On : July 26th 2009
