A colony like many others, but better known for the number of illiterates and drug addicts, the place is slowly but steadily looking forward to a positive change. With the help of an NGO Yuvsatta, the youth of the colony are being involved in a number of projects that just might change the course of their lives.

Jugnu

The wall newspaper, started in June last year, is spreading its light across the city. An army of young reporters from the colony brings out this monthly newspaper as the initiative was taken to empower the children and channelise their energies in a positive direction.

The issues that the newspaper takes up are the ones concerning their colony. These include child labour, hygiene, among others.

Recently four ‘reporters’, Poonam, Ravinder, Shailender and Ganga Kumar were selected to participate in a UNICEF-sponsored conference for young reporters in New Delhi.

The children have managed to highlight the problems in their areas and to an extent helped finding its solutions. Though the team consists of around 20 reporters as of now, the venture is attracting more and more students. Most of them now want to report for the newspaper.

Literacy Programme

The children here are acting as teachers for the elders. A group of 20 children are busy educating large number of women of the area. With each student teaching five women, the aim behind the whole exercise is to make them functionally literate.

The children have been given a pack of cards with alphabets in Hindi to make learning easier for the women. The group visits different houses to make the women learn the alphabets.

Pooja, a student of Class VIII who has already taught 10 women, says, “I enjoy teaching the elders of the colony. However, I want to be a reporter after finishing my education. We go to different houses after school and teach the women. But is not feasible to teach the women in large groups as they tend to talk a lot.”

Preventing drug addiction

Parmod Sharma, coordinator, Yuvsatta, says a survey conducted in the colony revealed that every fifth youngster was getting attracted to drugs.

“We thought that the best way to channelise their energies would be by getting them involved in different sports. Games like football and volleyball were thus introduced,” he says.

The ground in Government Model High School, Sector 26 (Timber Market) was cleared up for the purpose and the students now spend time here practicing different games.

The girls were a motivated lot when Reshma Harbaksh Singh donated a state-of-the-art cricket kit to the team. The girls, proud of their prized possessions - new bats, balls, wickets and pads - flaunt these in the field and have started practising cricket.

Sharma adds, “The routine of the girls was restricted either to the houses or shuttling between school and their house. For some their parents did not encourage them to play. This has now changed and soon they would be getting a coach to professionally train them.”

Upcoming Projects

The Vocational Training Centre, to train the semi-literate population of the colony, is the latest venture in the pipeline. Students, as well as all those interested will be taught vocations like plumbing, electronic repairing, among others. This is being done keeping in mind the increasing requirement of such skilled people.

Meanwhile, some IT companies have also shown interest in the projects and have offered to donate computers to Yuvsatta for the use of students.

Informs Sharma, “Some IT companies have agreed to donate computers for the students. The students can be made efficient in using computers. This would help in their employment.” Training in soft skills including communication skills and improving spoken English is being imparted to the students. This is to enable them to join BPOs after completing Class XII.

Volunteers Required

The funding for the NGO depends on voluntary donations. There are some residents who spend time with the children as well as make contributions in cash or kind.