Overview

The Akshara program began in 2005, funded by a UWC-USA graduate. It is a supplemental education program for 8th and 10th standard students at the village's secondary school immediately closest to the Mahindra United World College of India. Now in its second year, the Akshara program is building on its great successes of the first year, continuing with the first batch of students, now in 9th standard, and planning for next year.

Details

Min/Max # of Volunteers: 2-3

Length of Project: 8-10 months

Ideally, the volunteers would arrive at the start of the Indian school year, in June, and stay until the end, in March. It would be possible for the volunteers to arrive a bit later though, if more time was needed after the end of the UWC school year.

(*Balshikshak/Balshikshikas (male/female) are late teenagers who work in the primary schools as teachers assistants. MUWCI and Akshara will initiate this program for the first time in the 2007-2008 school year, and the 3rd year option volunteers would be central in developing the training and support for the Balshikshak/Balshikshikas.)

The actual details of the project are somewhat flexible, and can be defined with the Director of the Akshara program once the students arrive, but roughly the project would entail the following components:

  1. Teaching 8th standard Akshara students basic English, Math, and Science from 8-10am, and 5-6pm each day
  2. Volunteers may serve as teachers' assistants in the Asde secondary school, and in conjunction with that may teach English and/or basic computing skills to the teachers
  3. Volunteers would learn the skills of Participatory Action Research with the Director the Akshara program, and conduct research to improve their own effectiveness
  4. Volunteers would further support and train the Balshikshak/Balshikshikas* that MUWCI and the Akshara program will be supporting in the 5 local primary schools. This will entail teaching some English, some teaching pedagogy, etc.
  5. If applicable to the volunteers skill set, volunteers could also help with documentation and web development for the Akshara program

Location: The Akshara program holds its offices within the Mahindra United World College, and operates in Asde High School, about 4 km from the college. The college is approximately 40 km from Pune, a large city in central western India.

Room and board: The volunteers can live in a house outside of Khubavali, and would be responsible for cooking for themselves. The rent will be quite inexpensive (approximately 1000/- Indian Rupees per month). There is also the possibility of a homestay in one of the villages; if the selected students are interested in this option, they can try to work it out with MUWCI and Akshara.

Financial requirements for the volunteer: The volunteers will have to pay for their airfare to and from Mumbai, and then travel from Mumbai to the college. Additionally, there will be some small monthly costs depending on the room and board situation.

Specific requirements: Facility with Indian languages is a plus, but not required. The Akshara program will support the volunteers through an intensive Marathi course at the start of their year, and follow up with daily or weekly lessons.

Website: http://akshara.eato.org/

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