The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Teaching children to dream big

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Sep 22, 2007
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Teaching children to dream big

Staff Reporter

Bangalore: Akshaya Life Skills (ALS), a programme designed to meet the needs of underprivileged children, has launched itself in a big way in the city.

The ALS is a part of the Akshaya Patra Foundation that provides midday meals in 4,000 government schools and anganwadis across India.

Aims

Based on the response from last year’s pilot programme conducted for 1,500 students, the ALS wants to reach out to 15,000 children. The programme aims to enable the children to develop “sound moral character, a sense of community, competence in responding to personal, social and cultural aspects of life”. It encourages them to “dream big”. The programme promises to be comprehensive with professional facilitators conducting sessions.

Sessions

These sessions will be based on the World Health Organisation’s recommendations about life skills for children. A special briefing session will also be held for teachers to introduce them to the programme.

A professional counsellor will meet children once a month to discuss their problems. Various activities to encourage their talents (essay writing, painting and quizzes) will be held.

Awareness

And most importantly, awareness programmes will be conducted to let children understand their rights, learn about health, sexuality and their social environment.

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