Elite schools give students lessons in community service

MUMBAI: Aanya Parikh, a Class 12 student, did not think participating in school’s community service programme was enough. She wanted to do more. She spent two months

MUMBAI: Aanya Parikh, a Class 12 student, did not think participating in school’s community service programme was enough. She wanted to do more. She spent two months working on the idea of a dance concert to raise funds for the underprivileged.

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Her efforts yielded result. On Saturday, she along with children who are less privileged than her performed at a concert to raise funds for their education.

“I thought I could use my dance training outside the classroom and help more children hone their talent and get recognised,” said Parikh, who lives in Haji Ali and studies at Bombay International School at Babulnath.

Parikh roped in her best friend Anoushka Mariwala to work with her and soon the entire school was supporting the programme. The girls taught the children from Salaam Bombay Foundation, an organisation that works with underprivileged children, a fusion of Kathak and ballet. They also visited their homes which helped in bonding with them.

Mumbai’s schools have similar stories as they encourage their students to take up community service. Teachers said the activities help in character building.

“All children in our school come from well-to-do families. When they participate in such activities, they see an entire different aspect of the city and realise the value of giving back and sharing, which are tremendous values to be learnt,” said Neeta Rao, International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme coordinator.

HVB Global Academy, Marine Lines, conducts programmes for street children in their neighbourhood among other activities. “We adopted 36 children and our students teach them after school. We help them enroll in nearby schools and pay their fees, around Rs2,000 per child,” said Chandrakanta Pathak, principal of the school.

However, social service researchers questioned the reason behind schools getting involved in community service.

According to professor, Disha Nawani, chairperson, Centre for Education, School of Education, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, many schools are engaging in community service as it is a mandatory in the international curriculum.

“I am a little sceptical of such initiatives. One needs to understand how they are organised. If the aim of schools is to earn brownie points or to build the portfolio of students wanting to apply abroad, then the community service becomes futile,” said Nawani, adding that some students also have a patronising attitude when working for children less privileged than them.

Nawani said the best way for schools to contribute to society is to open their doors to students from all strata, gender and disabilities.

“Schools should get students from different economic backgrounds to study together. This way, they will learn to respect each other,” said Nawani.

“We see that some schools discriminate those children admitted under the Right to Education Act and they have separate classes or timings for them,” Nawani added.