Help 28,000 Indian Children Get Quality Education

MY MAYA WILL ACT

Amid the labyrinth of lanes in the area of Bombay Hotel, right next to the place where the garbage of the whole city is dumped, there is a little school called the Brighton Primary English School. During the Academic Year 2015-2016, thirty kids from a third grade Teach for India classroom in that school were a part of Maya 2.0 Project. 

Teach For India Fellow (2014-16), Rishabh talks about his students' experience -

"Maya is a princess who takes a journey, lifts three curses and restores light in her kingdom. Everybody has a Maya inside them. Just like Maya, through the last ten months, my students and I have embarked on a beautiful journey. This focused on the children realizing their potential as leaders, developing a deeper understanding of what their community is, identifying three problems that are dear to them and solve them using forum theatre (A form of theatre derived from the Theatre of Oppressed)."

The students worked on understanding the challenges in the community and came up with challenges like “domestic violence”, “street violence” and “garbage littering” as the big problems they want to solve. One day, the class was brainstorming on solutions for violence. The kids came up to their Teacher with a solution. They said that the people in the community are not aware of operating with values like compassion and hence, all these problems.

Aabira proposed, “We should teach them values!”. First day, Aabira, Ramina and Sabeena got together, gathered the kids around their houses who go to different schools, requested one of their neighbors to let them use the empty space and started teaching values to the children. Every day they would come back to their teacher and share their reflections.

The three girls gathered about twenty girls and conducted a sharing circle everyday. No one would have ever imagined nine year olds to have the capacity to inspire someone else and try to make them partners in change that they wish to create. These were student leaders inspiring change in small ways. This was an example of how children can do things beyond our imagination.

Imagine the potential every kid with a right opportunity can have! They might create movements that will redraw the routes to a brighter tomorrow and redefine the future of the world in ways our minds cannot fathom! We would love to thank you for being a part of Teach For India's journey towards helping students attain excellent education!

*Names of beneficiaries changed to protect their identity