At Inspire, our commitment towards the cause of education is paramount. Over the past half year since we launched the blog, we have covered a broad spectrum of issues that touch upon education in its different manifestations.
The child being the ‘inspiration’ behind Inspire, we have shared how varying levels of ability, diverse reading habits, different approaches towards textbooks and even examinations have had an impact on our education system and the children who are part of this. We reiterate that we view ourselves as facilitators creating relevant learning experiences that will help children to gather, examine, validate, modify and extend knowledge.
In this drive towards education, there is yet another perspective that crops up. This takes us beyond the curricula and brings us face to face with some pertinent questions. Is the educated generation reaching where it ought to? What about the not-so-lucky ones who have not had the opportunity to complete their formal schooling? Can the onus of their development simply be left to fate? At Inspire we strive to make a difference there as well. Today, we share with you - Maya’s Story.
Coming from a small town in Nepal, with a responsibility to support herself and also send money back home, Maya was just another girl struggling to survive in the big city. Trained in a parlour, her meagre salary was barely enough to make both ends meet. At Inspire we realised that Maya could do much better for herself if she became functionally literate.
She underwent a ‘Functional Literacy Makeover’, with Inspire under our ‘Empowered to Share’ initiative. We supplemented her education as per her needs. Maya, who had decided to be a ‘beautician at your door step’ needed support with language skills to begin with. She needed to look and talk like the businesswoman that she was becoming. Above all she needed to build her network with ladies who belong to the ‘sms’ and email-cult. So Inspire guided her through the stepwise process – where the concept of her beauty services business was formed; next we made her aware about work culture and ethics; in parallel we helped her design the collaterals and refine her communication skills; finally we taught her nuances of operations, budgeting and accounting.
Today we see a new Maya sporting a business card-with the brand name ‘Arshia’, dressed in a crisp uniform, and making conversation confidently. Her ‘education’ also comprises of maintaining her ‘Customer Database’ which she is now beginning to do in MS Excel, and learning to write business emails and sms.
Maya is now a confident young lady, who has a business partner, Krishna. She is inspiring many others like her to adopt functional literacy, to create a better position in life.
There are people from all strata of society, with distinct skill-sets and different aspirations. For education to become holistic, they all have to be guided within the circumference of modern and practical education. The amazing part is, it is people like Maya, who tell us, “We are eager to learn, provided you teach us what we really need to learn.” That is precisely how functional literacy can be successful.
As educationists we need to identify what education needs to provide. Whether we ‘teach’ children, adults or skilled commoners, it is education that is ‘worthwhile’ that really matters in the end.
The child being the ‘inspiration’ behind Inspire, we have shared how varying levels of ability, diverse reading habits, different approaches towards textbooks and even examinations have had an impact on our education system and the children who are part of this. We reiterate that we view ourselves as facilitators creating relevant learning experiences that will help children to gather, examine, validate, modify and extend knowledge.
In this drive towards education, there is yet another perspective that crops up. This takes us beyond the curricula and brings us face to face with some pertinent questions. Is the educated generation reaching where it ought to? What about the not-so-lucky ones who have not had the opportunity to complete their formal schooling? Can the onus of their development simply be left to fate? At Inspire we strive to make a difference there as well. Today, we share with you - Maya’s Story.
Coming from a small town in Nepal, with a responsibility to support herself and also send money back home, Maya was just another girl struggling to survive in the big city. Trained in a parlour, her meagre salary was barely enough to make both ends meet. At Inspire we realised that Maya could do much better for herself if she became functionally literate.
She underwent a ‘Functional Literacy Makeover’, with Inspire under our ‘Empowered to Share’ initiative. We supplemented her education as per her needs. Maya, who had decided to be a ‘beautician at your door step’ needed support with language skills to begin with. She needed to look and talk like the businesswoman that she was becoming. Above all she needed to build her network with ladies who belong to the ‘sms’ and email-cult. So Inspire guided her through the stepwise process – where the concept of her beauty services business was formed; next we made her aware about work culture and ethics; in parallel we helped her design the collaterals and refine her communication skills; finally we taught her nuances of operations, budgeting and accounting.
Today we see a new Maya sporting a business card-with the brand name ‘Arshia’, dressed in a crisp uniform, and making conversation confidently. Her ‘education’ also comprises of maintaining her ‘Customer Database’ which she is now beginning to do in MS Excel, and learning to write business emails and sms.
Maya is now a confident young lady, who has a business partner, Krishna. She is inspiring many others like her to adopt functional literacy, to create a better position in life.
There are people from all strata of society, with distinct skill-sets and different aspirations. For education to become holistic, they all have to be guided within the circumference of modern and practical education. The amazing part is, it is people like Maya, who tell us, “We are eager to learn, provided you teach us what we really need to learn.” That is precisely how functional literacy can be successful.
As educationists we need to identify what education needs to provide. Whether we ‘teach’ children, adults or skilled commoners, it is education that is ‘worthwhile’ that really matters in the end.
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