A number of government schools in the City have set up civic awareness clubs to teach children life skills, promote civic awareness and encourage social work.
Speaking to Deccan Herald, Chandramma A N, Vice-principal, Government High School, Kodigehalli, said: “We have been educating children on the importance of following safety rules and the dangers of air and noise pollution. There are over 200 students and these sessions have helped a lot of my students become more socially conscious and responsible about their duties towards the community.”
In fact, Subhash, a student of another Government High School in Puttenahalli, along with his friends, managed to save the lives of two horses that were found starving for around 20 days. Not only did they feed the animals but also got a vet to administer saline and even reported the matter to an animal welfare organisation. Subhash attributes the timely actions he and his friends initiated to the civic club in the school.
Few other schools part of the initiative are Government Higher Primary School, Jalahalli, Government Higher Primary School, Srinagara, Government High School, Adugodi and Government High School, Domlur, to name a few.
These schools are being helped in their effort by the Children’s Movement for Civic Awareness (CMCA), an organisation involved in spreading the importance of civic awareness in schools and colleges. As many as 40 government schools are presently a part of this program according to Dr Manjunath Sadashiv, co-founder and director, CMCA.
One period per week
“Every school needs to set aside one period in a week for these activities and a teacher is appointed as a contact point between the school and CMCA. Activities like auditing the school premises to check instances of wastage of electricity or water, learning on the local government and right to equality are some of the few things done during these sessions,” he said.
Around 48 private unaided and a few government aided schools have set up these social clubs so far. Last year, during Dasara, Vibha Jain, a class 9 student of Prasiddhi School in Vasanth Nagar noticed that a pile of garbage outside her house had gotten bigger with each passing day causing great discomfort to people in and around her locality. Vibha on her part called the BBMP helpline to ask for help.
“The very next day BBMP trucks came and took away the garbage to everyones relief. I got to know about the BBMP helpline number and its functions from the civic club in my school,” she said.
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