GUWAHATI, Nov 18 � A school initiative �Reach to Teach� for slum children of Hafiznagar 2, near Pollution Control Board will be launched on November 20 by Universal Team for Social Action and Help, a non-government organization.
The project will primarily focus on elementary English education, Assamese language skills, craft making and painting amongst the residents of the slum areas of Guwahati. To take it a step further, the efforts of the Reach to Teach programme would be to inculcate Gandhian principles, basics of practical hygiene for an overall healthy living and introduction of ideas about mobile farming for self sustenance.
According to Miguel Queah, chairperson of the organization, in the execution of this programme volunteers from old age homes would be involved.
�By involving the senior citizens in sessions of storytelling, we hope to imbue our target group with the culture and traditions of the State,� said Queah adding that this kind of interaction with the young would also serve as an opportunity for the elderly to contribute towards the society.
It may be mentioned here that this programme also plans to involve students of schools and universities to provide communication skills and basic computer training and knowledge to the residents of the urban slums making their education not just bookish but truly practical and comprehensive.
�This project is expected to bring about a sense of belonging in our target group which would improve their self-esteem,� said Queah.
November 20 has also been marked as a Day of Giving wherein people from the civil society are expected to donate anything (books, clothes, food, fruits, oil) with the aim of reducing the impact of poverty clouding the lives of the people in the slum areas of Guwahati.
�November 20 is also the anniversary of the day when the UN General Assembly adopted the Declaration of the Rights of the Child in 1959. We hope to get the support of the people in our mission to better the lives of the poverty struck children,� said Queah.
