'Nine tenths of education is encouragement'.
Anatole France
6th May 2010 was an unforgettable day for Janardhan and his 5 friends
who hail from Uttarahalli, a small suburb in Bangalore. The students cherished the
moments that they got to spend with the Dell officials at their office.
The six students along with their friends had undergone training under the explore@myworld.com
program implemented by Links Foundation (LLF) with support from Dell Youth Connect
Program (DYC). The training helped them gain digital literacy skills
in a 21st century environment. During the course of twelve days training
program the students worked on projects that focused on some of the problems faced
in their neighborhood. The training helped them to analyze the problem, make decisions
and find solutions that could be a small step in improving the society that they
live in. It was a complete novel experience for them to showcase their work on the
final day not only to their friends but also to their parents and other members
of the community.
Dell officials have regularly been interacting with learners and on 12th
April 2010 Mr. Ravi Bharadwaj, Head, Small Medium Business (SMB) and Mr. Satyen
Vyas, senior officials of Dell Bangalore had visited the Government High school,
Uttarahalli to interact with the teachers and community learners. They had been
very impressed and delighted with the learner's achievements.
With the desire to further encourage the children and to showcase their brilliant
work they requested two groups of children to share their work with Mr. Amit Midha,
Vice President SMB, China and 175 members of their Dell office in Bangalore on the
6th of May.
It was a proud day for the two groups of students to showcase their work in front
of a large receptive audience. The program commenced with a brief overview of the
partnership between Dell and LLF. Following this it was the learner's time to
share their projects on 'Load Shedding' & 'Ill Effects of Smoking
& Alcohol'. In an interactive session the students confidently
explained their reasons for selecting the topic, the steps they followed, technology
tools that they learnt while doing the project and the awareness that they aimed
to create in their surroundings.
Mr.Ravi Bhardwaj was especially pleased that the children had taken note of his
suggestions on his last visit and incorporated the changes he had suggested of using
'Google Sketch' in their projects.
Mr Midha, Vice President SMB, was very delighted to see the work being done by LLF
and Dell. He interacted with all the learners and asked them questions on the projects
and was happy at the awareness and confidence the program was creating.
'I am very happy that DELL is involved in this activity and we are looking forward
to continue and involve
ourselves in the future. I would also like my team members to visit the school and
keep them motivated.
Such programs build a lot of confidence in the students.'
Mr. Amit Midha, Vice President,Small Medium Business
He then presented DELL T – Shirts and big gift boxes containing sports kits to all
the students. The children were of course thrilled and came out beaming under their
gifts.
As Janardhan, one of the learners said "The Dell LLF program has made me so confident,
I know now that I can grow up and achieve a lot in life both for myself and my community"
'I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something'.
Edward Everett Hale