独家优惠奖金 100% 高达 1 BTC + 180 免费旋转

The Story of SKILL Foundation 55

I have been enamoured of Yoga and Computer since my early days. Way back in 1963, Swami Satyanand had proclaimed: “Yoga will emerge as a mighty world culture and change the course of world events.

Today when I see the whole world celebrate the International Day of Yoga, I realise how prophetic these words of my Param Guru were. My Guru Swamy Niranjananand had also told me: “When you practice yoga in earnest then every moment becomes a moment of joy.”

Way back in 1998, I was provided a PC in my office as Commissioner of Income tax (Appeals). Within a week or so I learnt to draft appellate orders on the PC. Later as CIT Dhanbad I set up a Computer Lab in our Income Tax Office at Dhanbad. In 2002, when I was provided a PC at home, nearly everyone in my home became computer savvy. In the training that I had taken in Mumbai also, I had observed that the role of the trainer was very limited. The trainees learnt the computer operations by spending time on the PC and by practice. I had also seen that the moment a family had a PC at home, the children picked up its operations quite easily without any formal training.

Swamy Satyananda has said, “ The future society will be hi-tech one. The dreams of the current generation are hi-tech too. They may want to ride on a bullock cart or elephant for a change, but what they really want is a Mercedes car.”

I also observed that the under privileged children were very keen to learn computers. So, SKILL Foundation has adopted Yoga and Computer as their fundamental tool for teaching life skills to the underprivileged youth.

The Computer classes at SKILL Foundation could start only in January 2008, after the English classes were moved down to the hall on the ground floor. The computer lab could now be set up in the room above the garage. The four reconditioned Personal Computers I had bought in Mumbai came in handy. Later more PCs were added by and by. Over the years many friends of SF have been helping us to upgrade our computer labs in various branches.

I was convinced that learning computer operations was like learning how to drive a car. I had learnt driving at the age of fourteen just by taking care of my father’s car. So was the case of most of the children. The moment a family owned a car, the children picked up driving. Hardly anyone needed a formal of driving lesson. Those who learnt driving at an young age turned out to be better drivers than those who learnt later in life. So was the case with every household gadget. The youngsters learnt faster. As such, our computer training program at SKILL Foundation aimed at giving the trainees basic guidance and more on providing access to the underprivileged kids who could not afford a PC or a Lap Top.

I had to personally train the first batch only. I first taught them how to open and shut down a computer and the basic features of the Windows program. I found the task quite easy because the children learnt very fast. All the trained children went on to become trainers. So I used this opportunity to design the three months course for SF Basic and Advance Computer Applications. The Basic course consists of Computer Fundamentals,Windows, Paint, MS Word, and MS Excel. In the Advanced course they learn advanced features of MS PowerPoint, MS Excel and Scanning, Printing, Internet. When Nimisha and Himalay moved over to Patna they took over the computer training program. Later they added more advanced programs like AutoCad, Tally, Desktop Publishing, Revit etc.

The design of the course for Computer Operations at SKILL Foundation has been deliberately kept simple and minimal. We have always believed in simple technology if it is to be brought within reach of the masses. Both Shalini and Himalay have all along been strong advocates of simplification of work by technology. In this connection Shalini has observed:

“ While we don’t need to disappear into the woods to become a hermit, we can certainly bring some of the hermit spirit into our work. The applications we use for work need to bring back minimalism in our tech life…. “

Himalay has also observed, “ I would like to believe we need to simplify our living with yoga and technology; bare minimum requirements for life and for technology.”

Therefore, the emphasis at SKILL Foundation is on keeping the training technique simple with more and more practice and self learning.

The unique feature of our Computer Training Program at SKILL Foundation is that the trainees themselves become trainers. We have been able to teach computers to thousands of students without ever hiring a formal trainer. As in the English Speaking Course, we use the principle ‘ Teach while you learn and learn while you teach’. It’s an English version of the popular Hindi song, ‘दीप से दीप जलाते चलो’. The children learn much faster from each other.

Arranging financial resources for our efforts has been one of our important concerns at SKILL Foundation. As our commitments expanded we needed more funds. We had also started the practice of giving allowances to needy students for their studies. The expenses of SF could not solely be met by my pension funds any longer.

For encouraging donations, SF had obtained in 2009 itself, exemptions under sections 12A and 80G of the Income Tax Act. It made the donations qualify for deduction in their income tax liability. In 2012, We also obtained registration under the Foreign Currency Regulation Act. It entitled us to receive foreign donations too.

Initially, we used to charge a fee for computer training. My idea was to use this program to finance our free English Course. For this purpose we also experimented with special paid crash courses of English. But I realised that the direct entrants to the paid course felt reluctant and embarrassed to learn from children; especially the older student. I did consider the option of hiring good trainers so that the paid courses would take off. After all, there were umpteen coaching institutes charging a hefty sum for teaching English speaking and computers. It would not have been difficult for me to upgrade the infrastructure, set up a first class computer lab and hire teachers for the paid courses in both English and computers. But then SF would become another commercial venture of which there was no dearth in the market.

What discouraged me was my fear that I would lose my target population of the underprivileged kids. The mission of SKILL Foundation was to teach those who could not afford to pay. I observed that the under privileged children could not afford even a paltry sum of five hundred rupees for the paid courses. Yet they were keen to learn computers. So, we started the practice of nominating TAs and Trainees of SF to the paid English and Computer Course without charging any fees. Result was that even those who could afford preferred to take admission to the free English course and await their turn for free entry to the paid courses. I realised from my experience that the paid courses were no solution raising finances unless SF would be ready to compromise its main aim of reaching the poorest of the kids.

Earlier we attempted to get financial support from some of the large institutions and Government agencies financing voluntary organizations like SF. We had to make detailed notes of work done by SF and also furnish our audited accounts etc. But all such efforts came to a naught. The financing institutions invariably looked at our balance sheet and the infrastructure available with us and rejected our applications. Strangely, such large institutions preferred to give aid to only organisations with a fat balance sheet and fine infrastructure.

Large charitable organizations with abundant financing spent a major portion of their receipts on administrative expenses, including fat salaries and day to day expenses on travel, stay etc of the organisers. Invariably the actual expenditure on the target population was minimal. So was the case with government, initiatives too. I recall my meeting, while still in the IRS, with the head of a prominent charitable institution. He was travelling with me in the First Class AC coach of Rajdhani Express. During the journey he told me about his organization. He boasted that normally he travels by air but this time he could not get the seats in the plane. I gathered that his organization had enough available funding but the major portion of it was spent on administrative expenses. The actual expenditure in pursuing the objects of the institution was less than five percent of the receipts. I am not aware of any formal study on this aspect of actual expenses of charitable organizations. I believe that such a research will corroborate my experience.

In course of our SKILL Outreach Program, we have conducted English Speaking and Computer courses in many large charitable organizations for children; including some government organizations too. It was my experience that most of them did not have the target children. On the other hand we at SF were short of funds as well as infrastructure; but we had overflowing number of needy children clamouring to learn the skills.

My experience at SKILL Foundation taught me to go for the concept: Small is Beautiful. Earlier while posted in Delhi, I had across the book Small Is Beautiful-A study of Economics as if People Mattered by E F Schumacher. The author has studied the economic structure of the western world in an interesting way. He has found way back in 1973, that man’s current pursuit of profit and progress has promoted giant organisations with increased specialisation. He concludes that it has resulted in economic inefficiency, environmental pollution and inhuman working conditions. He proposed smaller working units and regional workplaces utilising local labour and resources. In fact today when the entire world is chasing this very western economic structure and reaping the consequences, the views of Schumacher has become more relevant.

I found the concept of Small is Beautiful to be so close to Mahatma Gandhi’s dream of economic structure of rural India. Schumacher has explicitly studied and advocated the Buddhist Economics. He writes:

“ From the point of view of Buddhist economics, therefore, production from local resources for local needs is the most rational way of economic life, while dependence on imports from afar and the consequent need to produce for export to unknown and distant people is highly uneconomic and justifiable only in exceptional cases and on a small scale. Just as the modern economist would admit that a high rate of consumption of transport services between a man’s home and his place of work signifies a misfortune and not a high standard of life, so the Buddhist economist would hold that to satisfy human wants from faraway sources rather than from sources nearby signifies failure rather than success.”

I was instantly attracted to the concept of ‘Small is Beautiful’ and decided to adopt it as a model for SKILL Foundation. Instead of building a huge monolithic institution we have created small branches at various places which are managed locally. These small branches are using the unique Yogic Technique of SKILL Foundation and also trying to become financially self sufficient as far as possible. The emphasis is on targeting the really needy children. In many cases we have helped other friends to start small units at their own place by giving them the wherewithal of our teaching methodology.

Our SKILL Outreach Program is an extension of this concept of Small is Beautiful. Instead opening a branch or centre, we carry our infrastructure and methodology and conduct a one time program. In all such courses we specially develop some of the children as trainers to carry on the courses subsequently.

All over India, or even all over the world people were engaged in helping the needy in their small small ways. SKILL Foundation is only one among them. It is the sum of these small efforts that is making the the world better and better. In fact later SKILL Foods too adopted the concept of Small is Beautiful.

It was in this context that SKILL Foundation evolved the Sponsor A Child Program, an idea that Ashir came up with. He started this program by enlisting the help of his friends. The SACP provides an opportunity to its friends to fund one or more child’s computer education. We encourage the sponsored child to acknowledge their gratefulness through Thank You notes in the form of letters and messages. The donors too feel gratified and are encouraged to sponsor more and more children when they observe the progress made by the child.

Just like our English Speaking Course, our Computer Training at SF has been equally successful. We found the craving for Computer Training among the underprivileged youth to be as great as that for English; at times even more. During the last twelve years we have trained thousands of really needy children. Majority of them belonged to the lowest economic strata. Our target population has been the poorest among the society. I can recall many faces of SF students whose parents could not afford a PC or Laptop at home. Many of them became even more proficient by working as trainers at SF. Empowered by the skills acquired at SF, all of them are pursuing their dreams. Some of them are already employed.

The three grandsons of Panwa, Amarjeet, Pawan and Bajrangi have all become experts in Computer Operations and doing well. Anjana Kumari of our very first batch is working as Manager of SKILL Foundation. One of our earliest trainers of computers at SF, Akhil Shree is working as a technician in the Indian Railways. Another student of 2009, Ranjeet Dangi worked for a number of years as a senior trainer at SKILL Foundation. Later, he joined SKILL Foods as a manger. His skills are appreciated by the executives and managers of the associates of SKILL Foods such as Tatas, Mahindras and Shaktiman. Ashish Kumar another trainer of Computers at SKILL Foundation, worked with SKILL Foods for a number of years. Today he is working in a managerial role in a leading hotel in Patna. Sumit Kumar, an ex student of SKILL Foundation is one of the assistants of my Guru at the Bihar School of Yoga, Monghyr. Chandan Kumar, another of our experts in computer operations is today working as a web designer. He has also designed the web site of SKILL Foods and is maintaining both the web sites of SKILL Foundation and SKILL Foods. Yet another versatile trainer at SKILL Foundation, Nibha Kumari completed her English Honours in First class and presently doing post graduation at the famous Banaras Hindu University.

We found the small donors under the SACP program ever willing to help. I have also seen that most of the persons who have come forward to help SF in their small way had done so out of their hard earned income. Their valuable help and good wishes has been the mainstay for financing at SF. In fact the hundreds of thousands of well wishers and friends world over is the real asset of SKILL Foundation. If one could calculate the monetary value of this invaluable asset, our Balance Sheet would be equally fat.

I had also discussed this problem of finance with my Guru, Swamy Niranjan. He straight away discouraged me from charging any fees from the under privileged children.

I recall his exact words, “ इन गरीब बच्चों से पैसे चार्ज करना सर्वथा अनुचित होगा.” When I asked him further how we could manage the expenses, he smiled. After a pause he said, “ आ जायेगा.”

How true theses words proved! Today, hundreds of thousands of friends of SKILL Foundation are ever ready to support our efforts not only monetarily but in every which way.

More in my next post…..

Add a comment

What is your view?

Send

Related posts:

Contenido de calidad que no puede faltar en la vida de todo Criptoentusiasta

Recientemente he estado muy interesado en contenido de calidad capaz de ser util para compartir con amigos u conocidos interesados en adentrarse en el mundo de las criptomonedas, parece algo sencillo…

Capital One Data Breach Affected Millions Of US And Canada Citizens

As revealed in the security notice, the perpetrator hacked into the firm’s system and pilfered user records. The Capital One data breach affected 100 million US and 6 million Canadian citizens. The…

Che significato ha ogni colore?

Noi di Helloprint ci teniamo a studiare i colori e scoprire i loro significati. Anche se potrà sembrarti difficile da credere, i colori hanno il potere di influenzare il comportamento umano e le…