Manish is a class seven student. He lives in Narayanpur village of the Atas Bangar Gram Panchayat (GP). He belongs to our Adhyayan Samvad Kendra. He is one of those children who comes with a genuine sense of curiosity in to the classroom. He has a hunger to learn more and more. Since the time we started ASK in Narayanpur, he has been a regular at our classes. Over the course of six months he has improved significantly on a number of parameters. His participation and relationship with us have led to many achievements in his personal and student life, such as grabbing a scholarship at Parmeshwari Devi Dhanuka Vidyalaya to winning prizes at Vivek Vigyaan Utsav (VVU). He came prepared to the utsav with not one, but three science models. He has also learned to recite the shlokas from Bhagwat Geeta with us for a competition in his school, for which he was appreciated by his teachers.
Manish is a worthy example of a child
internally focused on holistic development. His hunger to do well has
even helped us to grow as mentors. He has participated in all the
English language sessions, has tried to speak in the language and has
also become semi-proficient in it as well. He has translated many
stories in English to improve his comprehension and effective use of the
language. He has also worked on grammar – parts of speech, articles,
and so on. He has learned MS Word, Excel and Power Point during the
summer camps and other sessions. One of the most interesting things
about Manish is that he comes to us regularly with his questions
regarding mathematics, science and the world in general. Through this
inherent nature to seek answers to his questions, he also affects and
enables others to think more. Six months of our interventions helped him
become more observant about the problems in his own villages. We saw
him become more social and interactive with his own community.
Presently, he is at a stage where he has started to understand the
reasons behind many problems in his village and in the next few years he
will become a genuine problem-solver, the likes of which this world
desperately needs (provided he continues to get the right mentorship).
Manish is an excellent team
player and over the course of six months became Mr. Dependable not only
for his friends but also for us. He loves to take up responsibilities
and discharge them. For us, he is more of a team member than a student.
He is our Mr. Dependable Manish. As mentors, we are glad that we were
able to customize our lessons and interaction for children like him and
others. Apart from regular studies, they worked a lot on their general
understanding, emotional and physical growth. It was a heartening sight
to see children like Manish become calmer, stronger and clearer in
thought and articulation.