School to School

Goal

School to School builds a relationship of empathy and dignity between urban and rural children, on two opposite sides of a big divide of resources and opportunities. Urban children learn to value their abundant resources as they become more aware about another India. Rural children learn about achievement as Goonj’s school material brings together all stakeholders; teachers, parents and village community.

Strategy

For Urban Children

Build awareness and empathy about rural issues
Inculcate volunteerism and mindful giving practices.

Nurture empathy by encouraging urban schools to make it a part of their curriculum.

For Rural Children

Emphasize achievement instead of charity.
Nudge positive behavioral practices around hygiene, attendance and social issues.
Fulfill basic education material needs.
Involve all rural stakeholders; school management, teachers, parents and entire village community in solving local school issues.

Impact

Urban Kids learn to value their resources and empathy with issues of rural kids.
School material Kits motivate rural school children to continue their education.
Parents, teachers and entire school community gets deeply engaged in improving urban and rural school environments.

As we move forward through the pandemic phase, let us keep in mind many children in the villages. As urban students attend classes online, the children in villages may not even recollect what their classrooms look like, or remember how to read and write. Still, traditional textbooks, notebooks, pencils are their key resources for learning.

With this situation ringing a constant bell in our minds, we would like to invite you to be a part of the ‘Khushiyon Ka Pitara’ campaign.

We look forward to raising 20,000 school kits for children to support their learning.

A contribution of Rs. 300/- would ensure one school kit to a child in rural parts of India.

You can use the link below to make your contribution

https://fundraisers.giveindia.org/fundraisers/khushiyon-ka-pitara

Pratibimb

‘Pratibimb’ was born in 2005 and has evolved as a coming together of children from two very different worlds; villages and cities, engaging in a unique exploratory dialogue, learning from the lives of each other.

The workshop is thus built on co- learning among children through interaction and dialogue, cultural exchange and Seeking Solutions sessions (to better understand some core issues of urban and rural India.The guiding principle is equality,empathy and co- learning.

For children coming from villages, it’s a space to express and showcase their talent and get exposed to cities’ new and different world of opportunities. For children in cities, living a life of abundance, this is a bigger opportunity to learn the true value of all that they have, about empathy, dignity and equality, sharing and learning from their counterparts from another part of our country.

The last ‘Pratibimb’ was organized in 2017 at Mumbai. It was a four-day union of the urban and rural students to provide them a platform to learn and unlearn about each other; show their skills and bridge the gaps in their perceptions of each other.

It was a great opportunity for the urban students to learn and know about rural India, not from books but through human interaction. Throughout these four days, a series of activities were conducted to facilitate inter learning between the city and village students as well as intra learning amongst the city students from various backgrounds.

Kalakriti- Top 20

Goonj encouraged children to draw/paint/sketch or any other creative way to express themselves on the theme of

‘My dream is to..’

How we do it

There is an enormous inequality in access to quality education in India, resulting in massive inequality of opportunity for children in the villages. There are many unmet basic learning material needs in small village schools.

Urban school children on the other hand buy and discard a lot of learning material regularly. They know little about valuing their abundant resources or the environmental risks of their practices. Most importantly as future citizens of our country city children have little awareness and empathy about rural issues and rural education.

In urban schools, Goonj actively works with school children by engaging them in exposure visits, awareness sessions and collection drives through volunteers and school partners.

Goonj creates School kits from urban surplus. These are used in rural schools, to encourage and motivate schools, parents and children tocollectively work towards creating a supportive environment for accessible education by building schools, making boundaries, kitchen garden, playground etc and their efforts are rewarded with school materials and basic essential fulfilling familial needs.

Opportunities

Pratibimb

Pratibimb is an opportunity for the urban students to learn and know about rural India, not from books but through human interaction.It’s a platform for students to come together, interact and learn from each other.An event organized by Goonj.. for 2 – 3 days, where Goonj.. facilitates inter learning between the city and village students as well as intra learning amongst the city students from various backgrounds, through some well designed activities.

School to school forum

A network of schools working in partnership with Goonj on different campaigns throughout the year. To know more, write to us at [email protected] Students forum Students forum is a group of student volunteers actively leading different campaigns in their schools and locality throughout the year. To know more, write to us at [email protected]

Field visit

Nothing compares to learning from hands-on experience. Students and teachers will travel to Goonj’s area of implementation to witness how developmental works are carried out using local resource and wisdom. This visit will be guided by Goonj.. along with its visit partner Empathy connect.

YOUR SUPPORT IS IMPORTANT TO US

Partner with us

Volunteer / Internship

Pack your under utlised school material (remember – it needs to be useful for someone) for someone who needs it more than you.
Connect us to schools in your locality for long term partnership/ introduce S2S in schools.
Organise/conduct school material focussed collection drive in corporate, society, schools, institutions to meet the growing needs of basic school materials in rural schools.
Sponsor a handmade ‘School Kit’ that is made out of colorful array of waste material, but has all the essential items like a school bag, bottle cover, pencil pouch etc.. that travels with children in the villages like their special companions.. Click here Connect Urban & Rural Schools to sponsor these school kits.

Stories..

Skating is surreal, it helps in building self-esteem in children

In Education

“My head was spinning when I first saw shoes with wheels..but now I can skate around wearing these..I feel so proud!” says 10 year old Raghuved,

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Community hall for village children to attend tuition classes

In Education

Education has the power to transform people’s lives. With this motto etched in their heart and mind, the villagers of Patrapada in Puri,

...

For the light of education, building study center in cyclone-prone Sundarbans Chhoto Dindargheri

In Education

Building study centre in cyclone-prone Sundarbans Chhoto Dindargheri, a small village in Basanti block of South 24 Parganas in West Bengal,

...

From the time 8 years old Kartik found out that that everyone in his class was going to get brand new shiny shoes the next day, he couldn’t wait for the day to end. He woke up a little earlier than usual that morning got ready and ran to school.

In Blog Content, Education

From the time 8 years old Kartik found out that that everyone in his class was going to get brand new shiny shoes the next day,

...

Come read and buy the books the people loved..

In Blog Content, Education

This Saturday (21st December) block your time for a Date with Books! Join us for ‘Kitaab’ – A Book Fair of Books people loved..at Goonj Delhi Center.

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We motivated over 200 parents, teachers, and guardians, who worked for over 20 days

In Blog Content, Education

Two schools in Golaghat, Assam were completely damaged by a windstorm last year, creating a lot of difficulty for the students and teachers While children of Upper Langtha M.E School sat in another makeshift room,

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Even a small disruption in our daily routine brings a lot of stress

In Blog Content, Education, Floods 2019 Page

Even a small disruption in our daily routine brings a lot of stress..now imagine having to suddenly abandon your home and go to a relief camp,

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We were told this is how they come to school even in harsh winter or rain

In Blog Content, Education

Lalganj is a quaint village in Vaishali district of Bihar.. one of the first districts where Goonj started working more than 10 years ago,

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Happiness in Small Box for Jishu!

In Blog Content, Education

11-year-old Jishu squealed with joy when he saw what was inside the box he had just been given.. He couldn‟t believe that he now have a pair of brand new shoes.

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This is a joint giving effort of GOONJ & TOMS

In Blog Content, Education

Away from the frenzied global climate change discussions in the past few weeks children in a small village of Tamil Nadu decided to take the matter in their own hands.

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Teacher’s meet Mumbai

In Blog Content, Education

Goonj’s Teachers’ Meet is back next Wednesday (18th September) to speak about building an ecosystem of empathy, dignity and participation for our children.

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Happy feet and the daily puddles of life !

In Education

The word dignity means different things to different people. A child probably won’t understand or be able to express it but wearing shiny black shoes to school is a universal metaphor of happiness that we are all familiar with.

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Disclaimer

No third party agency is working on behalf of Goonj for any recruitment, trainings, camps or other activities related to Goonj. Please check/consult with Goonj directly to get correct information or assistance. Please beware of any unwarranted claims made by anyone on our behalf. Kindly bring any such claims to our notice for immediate attention and action.

Goonj doesn't charge any money from anyone for these activities. So if you come across any individual/ organization making a monetary demand in our name please bring it to our notice immediately on [email protected]