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Education beyond bookish confines

Last Updated 09 November 2015, 22:38 IST

In their second year of college, Smriti Singhal and Kunal Arora often discussed how they could introduce “small, meaningful changes” to education which could help dissolve the stereotypes associated with it.

“It was essentially to address the thinking that children should opt for Science courses over Humanities, and the reluctance of parents to let their children pursue creative art forms as a profession,” Singhal says.

After much deliberation, the duo envisaged a platform where scholastics would be inclusive and nurturing of not just academic learning, but also of different arts including music, theatre, crafts and photography. Thus, was born The Education Tree (TET), which strives to break the stereotypes associated with education by broadening its horizons to encompass art forms.

“We believe that education should transcend the boundaries of academics to truly and holistically develop an individual. It should also nurture awareness and social responsiveness while cogently countering forces of the diverse socio-cultural backgrounds existing in our society. The organisation aims to achieve this inclusive vision,” Singhal tells Metrolife.

Launched on November 11, 2012 (World Education Day), TET spreads its ideas through various kinds of community development programmes, workshops, campaigns
and events.

“As the name suggests, community development programmes focus on laying effective groundwork for societal improvement. The campaigns are both online and offline, and utilise the power of the public to further a movement. The events we organise are a celebration of the various art forms or the skills that manifest the holistic growth of an individual,” she says.

Elaborating, Arora says that TET has come up with several initiatives like Project Emerge (through which they have helped less privileged students from senior secondary level to come out of their financial disadvantages and cultural handicaps), Youth Leadership Summit (a three-day residential conference aimed at transforming an individual into a visionary leader), and also events like freeze mobs, graffiti, street plays, to realise its goals.

“These are done in different areas and major markets or hot spots in Delhi, in collaboration with the local area authorities. We have organised more than 1,500 freeze mobs and flash mobs in various schools, colleges and public places. Taking our movement to another notch, we recently associated with the Delhi Police, designing awareness- based programs for them, to promote women safety and empowerment,” he
tells Metrolife.

Since its inception, TET has collaborated with various educational institutions to spread awareness regarding various issues of social relevance. At the college level, they are in collaboration with many Delhi University colleges like Hansraj, Lady Shri Ram, Daulat Ram and also Ramjas, and also some colleges under the IP University. They also have collaborations running with 25 schools and have hosted their street play initiative, Aaghaaz, in schools including Delhi Public School, Rohini; Bal Bharti Public School, Pitam Pura; and St Thomas Girls School, Mandir Marg.

“Being a three-year-old organisation, at times we do hire professional for the execution of certain tasks mandatory for the smooth functioning of our events. The workshop modules however, our made by are in house team,” says Singhal when asked if TET had any specialists or trained professionals on board.

Commenting on the impact they have had so far, the duo say, “We aim to not only further our idea of changing the status quo, but also foster these students into leaders. We are proud to share that we are actually able to build leaders and make a change through them.”

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(Published 09 November 2015, 22:38 IST)

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