URGENT: Unified Action Plan - Respond by 8:00 AM, 22nd Aug, 2011.
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Gaurav Shukla
Aug 21, 2011, 9:05:23 AM8/21/11
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Fellow Social Activists and vigilant citizens of India,
Name: Gaurav Shukla
Organization: University of Pennsylvania, USA (Undergraduate student studying Math, Physics and Philosophy)
Area of expertise- Implementation of Right to Education, Environmentalism
Problem being faced by Lucknow with its solution-
1. Inequity in access to ‘quality’ education between income and social groups- It is widely accepted that the students from the slums and extremely poor families are unlikely to have access to education because they are engaged in daily labour and odd jobs in a desperate attempt to eat two small meals day. As such, there is little incentive for them to participate in mainstream education. On the other hand, school authorities are least bothered about enforcing the Right to Education Act and to gather students from nearby localities voluntarily to admit them in their schools.
Solution- Have an alternate low-resource approach to bringing education to these students by giving sufficient incentive to both the underprivileged children as well as the educators. Firstly, a new comprehensive program should be developed for children coming from low-income families to ensure daily life-skills, basic economic skills(that are useful even for something as simple as trading pottery or negotiating labour wages), civic sense, personality skills and some basic literacy. Trying to place them in the mainstream will neither give immediately visible benefits and would be hard for children from a different background to compete with resulting in dropouts. Instead, start using vacant infrastructure during school hours or after school hours to educate them using models such as the Digital Study Hall where recorded lessons(this and other K-12 content is all available for download online) are played on a screen and the simple use of a student volunteers(for instance school students during a weekly SUPW period) to promote interaction while the video plays. This in fact, can simulate a near classroom experience as shown in the Sandhya-Paul experiment. Moreover, those students who participate in facilitating the education of these underprivileged children should be duly recognized for their efforts either through the Government or locally by certificates from the school. Housewives, retired workers and volunteering teachers should be used to supplement these efforts. Finally, when a student acquires sufficient skills and knowledge, with a desire to continue into mainstream education, he can be transferred to a regular class in the school.
Remember
the last time we stood UNITED and fought for one cause with a real plan
of action? Allied in absolution across NGOs, schools, universities and
media. No? In spite of more or less the same applicable solutions and
common goals from diverse ideologies, not ONCE have we been able to
concentrate our efforts for something larger than ourselves, our
organizations and affiliations.
Scattered as we are, we have been at the receiving end of threats and 'accidents' for filing a RTI, we have had deaf ears turned to us by public authorities about the ‘naala’ in our colony. Causes we have fought for with our lives have produced little result because no one really cared except for the dishearteningly small number of us, those directly involved. The great tragedy of our democracy is that the common man is absolutely clueless about his own powers as a citizen to solve his own problems in a structured and efficient manner. Although every man would be willing to say he is against corruption, not too many people out there on the streets today would even be able to differentiate between the Janlokpal Bill and the Government’s draft.
TODAY, as a feverish wave of popular discontent and national conscience sweeps across the nation, I call you to duty for a revolution as we have never seen before -- an experiment in the power of people, and a test of your true commitment to the cause.
Thus, a plan is being initiated. It brings together all of us from different quarters of society under one unifying umbrella. It will be an empowered network of people, organizations and media. Owned by none, but created, driven and advanced by all of us.
Here is a brief outline of the plan.
More details of the plan will be available soon to those of you who are willing to participate through a website, radio station, facebook and other means. Talks are already in the process with other institutions as well as newspapers etc. and very soon we hope to turn this into a big movement. The starting point of this program will be Lucknow, but I invite people all over the nation to participate in their respective cities--the details can be worked out by getting in touch with me personally. Unless the non-governmental organizations stand united, it will not be easy for me to ensure that this mass movement does not turn into the monopoly of and restrict itself to one organization, university or a handful of individuals. Beginning Monday, I will be going into further tasks with potential media participants, universities, etc. Even as you read this, students from around the world are helping usher in this movement. As a student of an elite American university, I will be attempting to channelizing the expertise of my friends and professors across the seas in solving the problems of a developing country like us -not only on research papers, surveys and small volunteer groups, but on a PRACTICAL LEVEL. It is important that you make your contribution ASAP!
Now here is what you need to do-
1. Reply to me with your name, organization and contact details.
2. Send me details of your areas of expertise, and what you think are some of the biggest problems in Lucknow(or your respective city) on a practical level, and what solutions you have come up with in your years of experience. Specific case studies/links to your work will be highly appreciated and the data provided by you will be of utmost use in generating the original plan of action we so badly need.
(In case you do not have enough time to write a full email, you can call me directly at the number given below)
My sample response is available at the end of this email.
Your quick reply is of utmost importance. We are standing at a potential turning point in our history, and in the face of the current times, so rich with opportunity, it is a shame to waste chances like this. If you are dedicated to making a positive change for our country and are willing to participate, please reply to this message as promptly as possible.
Thank you very much for your service to your city, nation and humanity at large!
Best regards,
Gaurav Shukla
Contact no.- +91-9415005333
Email- gsh...@sas.upenn.edu
Scattered as we are, we have been at the receiving end of threats and 'accidents' for filing a RTI, we have had deaf ears turned to us by public authorities about the ‘naala’ in our colony. Causes we have fought for with our lives have produced little result because no one really cared except for the dishearteningly small number of us, those directly involved. The great tragedy of our democracy is that the common man is absolutely clueless about his own powers as a citizen to solve his own problems in a structured and efficient manner. Although every man would be willing to say he is against corruption, not too many people out there on the streets today would even be able to differentiate between the Janlokpal Bill and the Government’s draft.
TODAY, as a feverish wave of popular discontent and national conscience sweeps across the nation, I call you to duty for a revolution as we have never seen before -- an experiment in the power of people, and a test of your true commitment to the cause.
Thus, a plan is being initiated. It brings together all of us from different quarters of society under one unifying umbrella. It will be an empowered network of people, organizations and media. Owned by none, but created, driven and advanced by all of us.
Here is a brief outline of the plan.
- Develop a vast network of NGOs, student organizations, private corporations and common people.
- Involve experts and participants with innovative ideas, personal experiences to create detailed action plans on various problems (with emphasis on the individual role of each person). (This is where YOU have a big role to play in the start as practical, real-life heroes and experts in your various fields. Read below for instructions on how you are required to contribute.)
- Involve various forms of mass media in reaching out to the public (e.g. television, radio, newspapers, online social media, etc.)
- Encourage and educate common people to be active participants in the creation of their own present.
- Build a forum (online and real world complaint boxes in locations across the city) where a common man can voice his grievances and problems faced every day. Allow the group to respond to collectively and suggest practical courses of action.
- These newly involved people and existing activists can be mobilized into larger groups to take collective actions on bigger issues.
More details of the plan will be available soon to those of you who are willing to participate through a website, radio station, facebook and other means. Talks are already in the process with other institutions as well as newspapers etc. and very soon we hope to turn this into a big movement. The starting point of this program will be Lucknow, but I invite people all over the nation to participate in their respective cities--the details can be worked out by getting in touch with me personally. Unless the non-governmental organizations stand united, it will not be easy for me to ensure that this mass movement does not turn into the monopoly of and restrict itself to one organization, university or a handful of individuals. Beginning Monday, I will be going into further tasks with potential media participants, universities, etc. Even as you read this, students from around the world are helping usher in this movement. As a student of an elite American university, I will be attempting to channelizing the expertise of my friends and professors across the seas in solving the problems of a developing country like us -not only on research papers, surveys and small volunteer groups, but on a PRACTICAL LEVEL. It is important that you make your contribution ASAP!
Now here is what you need to do-
1. Reply to me with your name, organization and contact details.
2. Send me details of your areas of expertise, and what you think are some of the biggest problems in Lucknow(or your respective city) on a practical level, and what solutions you have come up with in your years of experience. Specific case studies/links to your work will be highly appreciated and the data provided by you will be of utmost use in generating the original plan of action we so badly need.
(In case you do not have enough time to write a full email, you can call me directly at the number given below)
My sample response is available at the end of this email.
Your quick reply is of utmost importance. We are standing at a potential turning point in our history, and in the face of the current times, so rich with opportunity, it is a shame to waste chances like this. If you are dedicated to making a positive change for our country and are willing to participate, please reply to this message as promptly as possible.
Thank you very much for your service to your city, nation and humanity at large!
Best regards,
Gaurav Shukla
Contact no.- +91-9415005333
Email- gsh...@sas.upenn.edu
P.S. Feel free to spread this out to other NGOs/experts on various fields. Once we have the beta site up and talks with the media have concluded, we will spread it out to the general public too as far as possible.
Sample response-
Name: Gaurav Shukla
Organization: University of Pennsylvania, USA (Undergraduate student studying Math, Physics and Philosophy)
Area of expertise- Implementation of Right to Education, Environmentalism
Problem being faced by Lucknow with its solution-
1. Inequity in access to ‘quality’ education between income and social groups- It is widely accepted that the students from the slums and extremely poor families are unlikely to have access to education because they are engaged in daily labour and odd jobs in a desperate attempt to eat two small meals day. As such, there is little incentive for them to participate in mainstream education. On the other hand, school authorities are least bothered about enforcing the Right to Education Act and to gather students from nearby localities voluntarily to admit them in their schools.
Solution- Have an alternate low-resource approach to bringing education to these students by giving sufficient incentive to both the underprivileged children as well as the educators. Firstly, a new comprehensive program should be developed for children coming from low-income families to ensure daily life-skills, basic economic skills(that are useful even for something as simple as trading pottery or negotiating labour wages), civic sense, personality skills and some basic literacy. Trying to place them in the mainstream will neither give immediately visible benefits and would be hard for children from a different background to compete with resulting in dropouts. Instead, start using vacant infrastructure during school hours or after school hours to educate them using models such as the Digital Study Hall where recorded lessons(this and other K-12 content is all available for download online) are played on a screen and the simple use of a student volunteers(for instance school students during a weekly SUPW period) to promote interaction while the video plays. This in fact, can simulate a near classroom experience as shown in the Sandhya-Paul experiment. Moreover, those students who participate in facilitating the education of these underprivileged children should be duly recognized for their efforts either through the Government or locally by certificates from the school. Housewives, retired workers and volunteering teachers should be used to supplement these efforts. Finally, when a student acquires sufficient skills and knowledge, with a desire to continue into mainstream education, he can be transferred to a regular class in the school.
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