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Blog, Deepam Society

Know About Deepam #1

Deepam was formed to bridge the divide between the privileged and the under-privileged and help the under-privileged kids with access to more opportunities through education. Since computers and internet are/will-be all pervasive and hence, a basic skill requirement in the future, Deepam aims to impart the computer / internet knowledge to the kids. To take advantage of this knowledge, kids also require the ability to communicate well through a global language. English communication skills form another important focus at Deepam. In addition, to ensure the kids grow up to be a confident and a well-rounded person, Deepam also works on kids’ general awareness and personality development. These 4 areas are Deepam’s key focus areas – 
 
  1. Computer / Internet Knowledge
  2. English Communication Skills
  3. Personality Development
  4. General Awareness
Deepam – A Society of people with similar interests
Deepam is modelled as a society of people who are interested in bridging the divide through education. Deepam is a not-for-profit society. It is owned by Deepam community and not ‘individuals’.
 
Deepam Programs
To implement the objectives, Deepam has 4 groups
 
  1. Deepam Educate – Operates all the teaching centres, where kids are taught. Co-ordinates with the teaching volunteers and ensures that class’ go on smoothly as planned. This group also develops curriculum material.
  2. Friends of Deepam – This group builds partnerships with external organisations, to enable Deepam’s reach its goals. Fund raising , Computer / Laptop donations etc are handled by this group
  3. Deepam Stars – Stars are Deepam kids who have displayed exceptional attitude towards education. These kids are hand-picked for financial scholarships through this group.
  4. Deepam Lead – This group identifies / trains volunteers for various activities of Deepam. In addition, they also identify new ‘Deepam Educate’ teaching centres where kids can be taught.
 
How can you help ?
Deepam aims to fulfill its objectives through volunteer involvement. The group is modelled to enable anyone to take initiatives that further the education of the kids. Deepam welcomes intiatives and execution by all volunteers. Further, there is a core team that helps coordinate the activities of Deepam. This team comprises of individuals who have contributed to Deepam by taking initiatives and executing them. As more individuals contribute, this core team would expand and enable our operations in more teaching centres.
 
Anyone can volunteer – we need people to
 
  • Teach kids
  • Organise class’
  • Develop curriculum
  • Raise funds / build partnerships
  • Communicate the Deepam idea
  • And many more
Please write to [email protected] / [email protected], if you wish to volunteer. The appropriate group leader will get in touch.
 
If you have questions, please respond to this mail.
 
Thanks
kk
Blog, Uncategorized

Deepam Fellows 2008

We are happy to announce the Deepam Fellows Program – Every year, the volunteers who had made a big impact on the endeavours of Deepam will be made the ‘Deepam Fellow’, in recognition of their contribution. This year we have 3 volunteers who have made significant contributions to Deepam in 2008. They were awarded a certificate and a memento, at the anniversary celebrations

Anbu :

The guy’s commitment levels are phenomenal – he commutes 4 hours every saturday, to teach the kids for 2 hours. He also ‘connects’ with the kids easily – he understands the kids and speaks their ‘language’. His ability to draw the kids out and engage them are truly worth emulating. 


Mohan :

The one guy who truly doesn’t understand IST – he is always ahead of time, for every single class / meeting – truly, a students’ nightmare !!! Being a fast runner, helps! There has been very few times he missed teaching on Saturdays. The most regular feature at the Nalamdana centre.


Bhargav :

He has a gift of explaining concepts to the students – His methods of giving examples makes students visualize the concepts and understand them easily. This regular at Nalamdana centre ( along with Archana and Mohan ) is responsible for the regular high turnout ( over 95% attendance ) for all the sessions .

Blog, Deepam

Deepam 1st Anniversary Celebration

“I have not seen a bunch of kids as happy and contented as these kids are ” mentioned Rahul Nayar, as he observed the kids at the Deepam 1st anniversary celebrations. The life of Deepam, these kids made the anniversay a very special day for all of us, who were present at the celebrations. The Nalamdana centre at the olcott kuppam , venue for the event, was charged with enthusiasm and energy – thanks to the kids, the chief guests and the volunteers. 

The MC’s for the event, Basu and Meera, keeping the kids engaged..

 We had a special person talking to these kids on Saturday – Sarath Babu – He was truly ‘one of them’ . As he stood in front , sharing his rags to riches story, one could see the kids getting inspired. The room went silent , as the kids and the volunteers were in rapt attention.

 Sarath interacting with the kids


Kiruba, the other chief guest, in his usual way , engaged the kids with an interesting story and conveyed a nice ‘life-lesson’ across.


It was a  year ago, when Ram , our mentor, suggested we go to govt schools and teach kids there. His point was simple – ‘Lets start small , 2 or 3 of us can go teach at a local school but the focus should be on making an impact ‘ . Since then, he not only taught the kids, but the volunteers as well.

Kids presenting a memento to Ram

Ram announced a scholarship program for kids – 5 deserving kids ( Deepam Stars ) will get all their education expense covered for 2009-2010.

The anniversary cake , cut by the kids

We also had performances from kids – Nalamdana Centre girls mellifluously sang a popular tamil song


These kids can sure shake a leg..

All the winners of the  cultural events were awarded medals. Kids got participation certificates as well.





Its the volunteers , who work tirelessly, who have helped Deepam make an impact. They were awarded certificates as well. Anupama’s commitment to pudhiyador center is outstanding.
Meera who comes to Chennai every weekend, from Bangalore – She and her husband Vijay, teach on saturdays and sundays, every weekend

Archana, who puts in a lot of energy and helped build Deepam, gets the certificate from Ram


The start has been good – The 1st year flew by. It can only get better !

A big thanks to all the kids and the volunteers ! 

P.S More photos can be found here http://picasaweb.google.co.in/chauhanarchu/DeepamFirstAnniversary#

Blog, Deepam

Vote for Deepam

An Essay and a Film on Deepam is in the running for the National Knowledge Commission Prize. Essay / Film talks about how Deepam is solving some of the problems in Indian Education System.

Your vote will make a BIG difference – Support Deepam / Support Education

Apart from the quality of the essay / Film, the judging criterion for
  • Essay – No of Votes / Rating of the essay
  • Film – No of views / Rating of the Video
How can you support :
  • Please vote / rate the essay here ( please create a login for knowledge portal )
  • Please View / Rate the video here ( to rate, please sign-in to youtube ) 

Please spread word ( twitter / facebook / gtalk ) – request all your friends to support Deepam and help spread education.

Thanks
Friends of Deepam

Anniversary Celebrations, Blog, Deepam, Education, Nalamdana, Olcott School, pudiyathor

MarkYour Calendars-Deepam Annual Day -7th March 2009

First Saturday of March every year Deepam turns another year old.

This year its on Saturday 7th March 2009 that Deepam celebrates its First Anniversary.Its been a roller coaster year- our first year with loads of activities that have kept us busy on all the weekends.Deepam from a 20 member group has more than 200 members on facebook today.New programs have been launched, New centers have been approached and courses have been launched there , reach to several underprivileged students across Chennai city , computer and other resources have been provided to the centers, new activities, additions to curriculum etc etc .All this has been possible only bcos of the dedication and commitment of volunteers off-line and on field.Thank you all for your support!

Its time to celebrate now.None of you needs an invitation as you are all a part of one big “Deepam Family”
So “BE THERE” on the 7th March between 2.00 PM and 4PM to witness the Annual Function of Deepam at Nalamdana Centre, Besant Nagar.Meet all our students from different centers, interact with them, perform with them and take home a bunch of good memories and smile that will last for a long time.Guests are welcome.

Anniversary Celebrations, Blog, pudiyathor, Talent Hunt

Pudiyador – Talent Show

The Talent Show on sunday at Pudiyador saw the children bring out the dancer/singer/actor in them.

The winners are the eight children who presented the tamil skit on “Smoke is our enemy” with so much enthusiasm and involvement. All the volunteers were amazed by this. These kids 7-12 years old didn’t forget the sequence or lines and kept us all rivetted for a good 15 mins.

The Girls who did the kolattam were the runners-up, awarded for their co-ordination and execution of the dance.

Everybody’s a singer at Pudiyador! All the children wanted to sing for us. We were entertained with classical and desiya-geetham songs.


Gymnastics- The boys bent over backwards to show their talent. They also formed a human pyramid! And they did some pretty good crumpin dance moves.

Special Mention to Dilip who swirled the “kambu” so fast, it couldn’t be captured on camera! He also did a head-stand making it look so easy.

That afternoon at Pudiyador will remain unforgettable for all who were there.
Photos courtesy: Noopuran Sivaguru. Thanks Noopuran.

Anniversary Celebrations, Blog, Deepam, IQL, Nalamdana, Olcott School, Quiz

Did You Know-what gas is filled in electric bulbs? What do we call the study of birds?

The answer to such similar questions as above unfolded at the Deepam Annual Quiz 2009 that was organized by the volunteers at Nalamdana and Olcott High school this week.

While the quiz at Olcott school had three teams with one volunteer and two kids in every team and Basu playing the quiz master ,Nalamdana had Moorthy and Karthik Narayan from the IQL who were the quiz masters for the day and the centre had five teams with 3 kid in every team,

The quiz had several general knowledge rounds, audio rounds and visual rounds, We had rounds on Indian Epics, On Indian Monuments, Musical Instruments, Famous Personalities etc The kids were eager to know their question and answer them and win more points than others. A big thanks to Anupama, Shwetha, Pramod, Karthik and Moorthy for having helped us with the questions and organizing the various rounds and making them simple yet interesting. Our Quiz masters, scorers and volunteers at both the centers’ again deserve a huge round of applause for making it another success story.

The Irony : The ultimate winners were TEAM A in both the centers’. Special prizes wIll be given to them on the final day of anniversary celebrations on 7th March 2009. If you wish to sponsor this event or any other event do contact us.

PS:The answers to the questions above are Argon; Ornithology