A few of us at GDL were asked to speak on development at the grassroots level at BITS Pilani on Sunday February 7th. The Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership hosted an Entrepreneurship week and our panel discussion was one of the events. Fortunately we were also able to bring BEI’s Community Leadership team, a nine member team comprised of young leaders from Bagar and the surrounding villages, who had the chance to share their ideas on how to build trust with communities for the purpose of development. Above are a few pictures from the event. The people in the panel are Sahil Chaudry, Vivake Prasad, and Kaushal Rajoriya of the  Bagar Employment Institute, and Karthik Raman of  Source for Change. The guys in the uniforms are the BEI Community Leadership Team. It was a really great experience for the students who wanted to learn more about social enterprise and for the panelists who were able to reaffirm their commitment to development using business methodologies.

In collaboration with ASER (Annual State of Education Report) – 2008, facilitated by Pratham Rajasthan (Jaipur). The survey for level of elementary education was completed by the BEI team. This effort was co-ordinated by  Kaushal Rajoriya and State Head of ASER organization, Mr. Ajay Sharma. The survey was completed in thirty villages of the Jhunjhnu District, each consisting of twenty households. The objective of the survey is to assess the education level of 3 to 18 year olds, the condition of Angan bari centers, and village livelihoods. After completing the survey, ASER distributed certificates to the BEI team.

Currently, four batches of classes for computer job training are running. One of the new batches started this week and after a long time we started a combined batch (male/female). One of the new things we have done with this batch is created a Core Batch, combining computer with English skills Training. Robert from France is a new intern at GDL. He is taking over the English training class. All the students are very happy with him. Very soon the students will be familiar with him.

Additionally, we have started a regular Tally training class. Deepak from Jhunjhunu is the new Tally trainer. He is good in Tally with practical knowledge and the students are getting a good response. Initially this training is for in-house GDL staff, interns and Bagar community volunteers. After this, we will be scaling that class.

As India’s middle class has grown, its retail sector has earned a sizable position in the market in terms of revenue generated and people employed. After agriculture, retail employs the most people in India. That said, the retail industry seems an excellent point from which to build one’s career, whether it be in the retail sector itself or only as a means to improve one’s English or gain corporate experience.

By the end of the week, we’ll find out whether any of the students get placed. Out of 10 who were shortlisted for the customer care executive positions, four were those from BEI’s Spoken English class. It is hoped that several of them get placed at this company so that they may find an apartment together and so that the transition to city life is less alarming. Let’s hope for the best!

It being the first time Stephanie and Akshay were teaching, they didn’t know whether the students would find the content interesting or relevant. To their pleasant surprise however, they were flooded with questions from which they learned what kind of career fields are most popular and where students’ interests lie.

Because we’ve identified that there is an obvious information asymmetry re: future job opportunities for rural youth, this session was supremely important. In the coming weeks as Stephanie and Akshay will continue to create and deliver the Personality Development lessons, they will play a critical role in providing the students the information and skills they need to advance in an increasingly competitive world.

Arbind Ji’s secret to success stems from his resourcefulness and innovative teaching techniques. For example, in order to keep the classroom space dynamic, he invites different GDL interns to speak nearly everyday, he uses various audiovisual aids and he administers interesting debates and discussions. He also finds quite a bit of English content online and adapts it to meet his classroom needs. Observing his creativity in this process has been really inspiring.

Something else that he does well and that sets our classes apart from others is how he changes his teaching style and content to meet the learning levels of all students. If students fall behind, he sees it as his responsibility and adjusts the lesson plans accordingly. Kudos to Arbind Ji!

Our success in implementing a stellar Spoken English program does not come without its obstacles, however. In the coming days we have to make sure students become independent learners – not relying on the trainer, their peers, or Hindi to hold their hands through the course each day. We also have to pay special attention to those students who need extra help. Lastly, those students who have performed well in the class will be afforded the opportunity to graduate from the class early. For such students we have to work on helping them find the right job for them. However, I think that if we’re moving at the pace we are, these supposed challenges will become opportunities from which we can learn, improve our program, and deliver Bagar the kind of quality education its people deserve.