Bengaluru FC to promote education
New Indian Express (20 September 2014 )
Year: 2022
PepsiCo commits 25,000 COVID-19 testing kits, over 5 million meals to India
These testing kits will be deployed across public and private healthcare laboratories identified by the Indian government to scale up access to COVID-19 testing, the company added.
( April 6, 2020 )
NEW DELHI: PepsiCo India, along with its parent company’s philanthropic arm PepsiCo Foundation, will provide 25,000 COVID-19 testing kits and over 5 million meals to support families impacted by the coronavirus outbreak in India, the company said on Monday.
The food and beverages major on Monday said it has partnered with Akshaya Patra Foundation for distribution of cooked meals, and with Smile Foundation for providing dry food ration to support meals for over 8,000 vulnerable families impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.
This initiative is part of parent company PepsiCo’s global programme called ‘Give Meals, Give Hope’.
Further, PepsiCo India has partnered with non-profit organisation Foundation of Innovative New Diagnostics (FIND) for providing 25,000 COVID-19 testing kits.
FIND is the World Health Organization’s (WHO) collaborating centre for laboratory strengthening and diagnostic technology evaluation. It works closely with the Indian government.
These testing kits will be deployed across public and private healthcare laboratories identified by the Indian government to scale up access to COVID-19 testing, the company added.
Stating that India, like the rest of the world, is facing an unprecedented challenge, PepsiCo India President Ahmed ElSheikh said, “Providing meals to the economically weaker sections and testing kits to the diagnostic units are critical requirements at this stage.” He added that the company stands committed to lending its full support to both the central and state governments in their fight to collectively overcome the global health challenge.
To further mobilise funds, PepsiCo India said it has launched a double matching gifts programme which involves its employees also lending their support to communities that are impacted by COVID-19.
As part of the programme, PepsiCo Foundation will match all employee donations by two-fold and give the total accumulated fund to the NGO partners working with the company. PepsiCo globally has announced its commitment to fight the coronavirus pandemic.
The major focus of this global effort includes providing protective gear to healthcare workers, testing and screening services as well as providing 50 million meals through various partnerships. There are over 4,000 COVID-19 positive cases in India at present, as per the government data.
PepsiCo commits 25,000 COVID-19 testing kits, over 5 million meals to India
The food and beverages major on Monday said it has partnered with Akshaya Patra Foundation for distribution of cooked meals, and with Smile Foundation for providing dry food ration to support meals for over 8,000 vulnerable families impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.
( April 6, 2020 )
NEW DELHI: PepsiCo India, along with its parent company’s philanthropic arm PepsiCo Foundation, will provide 25,000 COVID-19 testing kits and over 5 million meals to support families impacted by the coronavirus outbreak in India, the company said on Monday.
The food and beverages major on Monday said it has partnered with Akshaya Patra Foundation for distribution of cooked meals, and with Smile Foundation for providing dry food ration to support meals for over 8,000 vulnerable families impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.
This initiative is part of parent company PepsiCo’s global programme called ‘Give Meals, Give Hope’.
Further, PepsiCo India has partnered with non-profit organisation Foundation of Innovative New Diagnostics (FIND) for providing 25,000 COVID-19 testing kits.
FIND is the World Health Organization’s (WHO) collaborating centre for laboratory strengthening and diagnostic technology evaluation. It works closely with the Indian government.
These testing kits will be deployed across public and private healthcare laboratories identified by the Indian government to scale up access to COVID-19 testing, the company added.
Stating that India, like the rest of the world, is facing an unprecedented challenge, PepsiCo India President Ahmed ElSheikh said, “Providing meals to the economically weaker sections and testing kits to the diagnostic units are critical requirements at this stage.”
He added that the company stands committed to lending its full support to both the central and state governments in their fight to collectively overcome the global health challenge.
To further mobilise funds, PepsiCo India said it has launched a double matching gifts programme which involves its employees also lending their support to communities that are impacted by COVID-19.
As part of the programme, PepsiCo Foundation will match all employee donations by two-fold and give the total accumulated fund to the NGO partners working with the company.
PepsiCo globally has announced its commitment to fight the coronavirus pandemic. The major focus of this global effort includes providing protective gear to healthcare workers, testing and screening services as well as providing 50 million meals through various partnerships.
There are over 4,000 COVID-19 positive cases in India at present, as per the government data.
प्रवासी मज़दूरों की मदद कर रहीं कई संस्थाओं को लॉकडाउन के बाद असल समस्या शुरू होने का डर
प्रवासी मज़दूरों की सबसे बड़ी शिकायत है कि अचानक से हुए लॉकडाउन की वजह से उनकी मज़दूरी नहीं मिली. उनकी सबसे बड़ी मांग है कि कोई उन्हें गांव पहुंचा दे.
( April 4, 2020 )
नई दिल्ली: प्रवासी मज़दूरों का दिल्ली समेत देशभर में जब पलायन शुरू हुआ तो इससे जुड़ी तस्वीरों ने सबको विचलित करके रख दिया. ऐसे में आमो-ख़ास लोग कोविड-19 जैसी महामारी के डर को दरकिनार करके इन लोगों की मदद करने सड़क पर आ गए. अब जब ये पलायन धीमा पड़ गया है, रोज़ कमा कर खाने वाले मज़दूरों की मदद में कई संस्थाएं अहम भूमिका निभा रही हैं.
ऐसा ही एक संस्था का नाम आजीविका ब्यूरो है. इसके निदेशक समूह की 41 साल की अमृता शर्मा ने कहा, ‘असली समस्या लॉकडाउन की समाप्ति के बाद शुरू होगी. इनमें रोज़ कमा के खाने वालों की बोरेज़गारी के अलावा गांव लौटे लोगों के पास अनाज की कमी बड़ी समस्याएं होंगी.’
उन्होंने दिप्रिंट से फ़ोन पर बातचीत में कहा कि शहरों से गांव पहुंचने वाले मज़दूरों को बीमारी साथ लेकर आने वाला समझा जा रहा है. चाहे तात्कालिक और भविष्य की बेरोज़गारी हो, खाने की कमी हो या इन मज़दूरों के साथ हो रहा व्यवहार हो, इनमें से किसी से निपटने को लेकर सरकार के पास कोई ठोस नीति नहीं है.
‘मज़दूरों को नहीं मिले उनके पैसे, सब बस इतना कहते हैं कि गांव पहुंचा दो’आजीविका ब्यूरो वाले प्रवासी मज़दूरों के साथ पिछले 15 सालों से काम कर रहे हैं. राजस्थान के उदयपुर स्थित ये संस्था गुजरात और महाराष्ट्र में मौजूद मज़दूरों के लिए भी काम करती है. इसे राजस्थान सरकार से मान्यता मिली हुई है.
अमृता ने कहा कि खाने की चीज़ें देने और अन्य मदद के साथ उनकी संस्था एक ‘लेबर लाइन’ चला रही है. इस लाइन पर उन्हें रोज़ 500-600 कॉल्स आते हैं. लॉकडाउन में अभी भी इन राज्यों में फंसे मज़दूर सबसे ज़्यादा ट्रांसपोर्टेशन की मांग करते हैं और कहते हैं किसी तरह उन्हें उनके गांव पहुंचा दिया जाए.
वहीं, ज़्यादातर मज़दूरों की शिकायत ये है कि अचानक से हुए लॉकडाउन की वजह से उन्हें उनके काम के पैसे नहीं मिले. अमृता ने कहा, ‘लॉकडाउन के पहले दिन से अब तक 8000 कॉल्स आई. इंडस्ट्री का गढ़ माने जाने वाले सूरत और बॉम्बे जैसे शहरों से सबसे ज़्यादा शिकायतें आई हैं.’
आजीविका सूखा राशन और पका हुआ खाना देकर आफत में फंसे मज़दूरों की मदद कर रही है. हालांकि, बातचीत में ये भी पता चला कि मज़दूरों को कई तरह की ज़्यादती का सामना करना पड़ रहा है. ऐसी ही एक घटना का उदाहरण देते हुए अमृता ने कहा कि राजस्थान के मज़दूर जब महाराष्ट्र से पैदल अपने राज्य को आ रहे थे तब उनके साथ काफ़ी ज़्यादती हुई.
अमृता ने कहा, ‘पैदल आ रहे मज़दूरों को रास्ते में पुलिस ने पीटकर कंटेनर में भरकर वापस महाराष्ट्र भेज दिया.’ उन्होंने ये भी कहा कि भारत सरकार की नीति में प्रवासी मज़दूरों तक पहुंचने का कोई रास्ता नहीं है और कोविड- 19 से जुड़े इस लॉकडाउन में ये बात साफ़ तौर पर निकलकर सामने आई है. किसी को नहीं पता की इनकी तुरंत की जरूरतें क्या हैं.
आजीविका ने बताया कि क्या करे सरकार
जानकारी देते हुए उन्होंने कहा कि उनकी संस्था अभी तक 10,000 के करीब कमागरों तक पहुंची है और उनकी समस्याओं को समझते हुए सरकार के लिए सुझाव वाला एक चार्टर बनाया है. इसमें मांग की गई है कि भटक रहे मज़दूरों के मामले केंद्र अंतरराज्यीय सामंजस्य बिठाकर इन्हें घर भेजने का काम करे.
अन्य अहम सलाहों में कहा गया है कि जो मज़दूर मज़दूरी न मिलने की शिकायत कर रहे हैं. ऐसे में इस मामले के लिए लीगल सेल की स्थापना हो, यूनिवर्सल एक्सेस टू राशन यानी जो जहां है वहीं उसके राशन की व्यवस्था की जाए. नरेगा के तहत स्थानीय स्तर पर इन लोगों के हाथ में पैसे दिए जाएं जैसी अन्य सलाहें भी दी गई हैं.
पके खाने के अलावा अपने सूखे राशन की किट में मास्क भी दे रहा स्माइल फॉउंडेशन
दिल्ली स्थित स्माइल फॉउंडेशन और गुड़गांव स्थित एम-थ्री-एम फॉउंडेशन जैसी संस्थाएं भी लॉकडाउन की वजह से असहाय हो गए इन लोगों को सूखा राशन, पका हुआ खाना और सैनिटाइज़ेशन से जुड़े सामान देने का काम कर रही हैं.
15 साल साल पुरानी संस्था स्माइल फॉउंडेशन के को-फॉउंडर शांतनु मिश्रा ने कहा, ‘हमारे ड्राइ राशन के एक किट में चार से पांच लोगों के एक परिवार के एक महीना का काम चल जाता है. इसमें दाल, चावल, आटा, साबुन, टूथपेस्ट जैसी 12 चीज़ें होती हैं. हर किट में कम से कम चार मास्क भी होते हैं.’
ये भी पता चला कि सैनिटाइज़र के मार्केट से ग़ायब होने की स्थिति में लोगों को साबुन दिया जा रहा है और भोजन जितना ही अहम हो चुकी साफ़-सफ़ाई के बारे में जागरुक करते हुए उन्हें बताया जा रहा है कि 20 सेकेंड तक हाथ धोना, मुंह ढंक कर रखना और एक-दूसरे से दूरी बनाए रखना क्यों ज़रूरी है.
संस्था टेली कॉलिंग और टेली काउंसिलिंग के जरिए भी कोरोना महामारी को लेकर जागरूकता फैलना का काम कर रही है. इनमें ये समझाने की कोशिश होती है कि बीमारी के लक्ष्ण क्या हैं और इलाज का रास्ता क्या है. उन्होंने कहा, ‘हमारा लक्ष्य 1.5 लाख़ परिवारों तक पहुंचना है. पहले लॉकडाउन में 10 राज्यों के 40 हज़ार परिवारों तक पहुंचने का प्रयास जारी है.’
Categories
Towards a Hunger – Free India
Towards a Hunger – Free India
Alleviating Poverty & Malnutrition
(December 2014 Issue)
(December 2014 Issue)
Smile Foundation fights COVID-19
Smile Foundation launches a special programme for providing nutrition support for the families affected by COVID-19 lockdown.
( April 2, 2020 )
With the economic distress and ongoing lockdown, Smile Foundation is distributing free ration to the underprivileged society and also providing tele-consulting and tele-counseling. Through these sessions, Smile will be talking about how to prevent COVID-19 by practicing social distancing and maintaining the hygiene of self and surroundings.
Approximately 40,000 families (more than 2 lakh+ people) across 10 worst-hit states, namely Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Punjab will benefit in the first phase of ration and essential services distribution.
National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO), 2011 denotes that close to 30 million workers in India are constantly on the move and more workers are added each day. With the lockdown in place, over the last few weeks dependence on daily wages has been erratic and is on a slowdown. Scores of migrant workers are looking to leave the cities as they see no hope of income or food. With Governments across the nation looking to provide food and shelter, reaching out to everyone is essential at this stage, and that needs to be done with all stakeholders including NGOs, corporates, and civil society.
“During the last 15 years we must have worked with more than 12 disasters and every time we have reached out to the ones in need. This is something far bigger than anything that has happened in the past, and our strength that is community reach has become our weakness in this scenario as being physically present on the ground is challenging. We are constantly guiding and training our health teams to deliver primary health needs to the underserved community by way of tele-counselling. Safety for one and all is our priority.” said Mr. Santanu Mishra, Co-Founder, and Executive Trustee, Smile Foundation.
Smile Foundation has developed a two-pronged strategy to mitigate this crisis and aims to reach 1,50,000 such families in phases by providing dry ration thus, securing them against goods scarcity in the wake of a possible virus outbreak and basic necessity kit as part of immediate relief for a month in the current times arising out of COVID-19. The kits include rice, dal, salt, oil, sugar, masks, sanitary pads, soap to name a few and other essentials.
Smile Foundation has now started providing online medical assistance and tele-consultation across affected areas of the country thereby providing healthcare services at home digitally and increasing awareness towards social distancing and hygiene.
Prior to the lockdown, more than 180 healthcare professionals (including doctors, paramedical staff, community health workers) were on the field every day through Smile’s mobile unit “Smile on Wheels“ to spread awareness about protection from #COVID-19 to the most vulnerable population, living in 1000 communities spread across 19 States.
Categories
Being the Change
Being the Change
Hindustan Times (14 December 2014 )
Opinion: Prepping The Education Sector For Contingencies
( July 28, 2020 )
With schools shut and students at home, the COVID-19 pandemic has presented the education sector with a unique challenge.
With schools shut and students at home, the COVID-19 pandemic has presented the education sector with a unique challenge. The sector has shown great adaptability to ensure continued learning. Various e-learning portals and apps have been launched by the government and education bodies such as DIKSHA portal, e-Pathshala, Swayam and so on. National and state education boards cancelled their remaining examinations and announced results for students across the country. The NCERT also issued guidelines recommending a reduction in syllabus, making suggestions on proper implementation of online and offline courses. While the government has shown remarkable alacrity for change, it is essential that more organizations come together to devise creative solutions to problems with online education, since this mode of instruction is likely to be preferred by swathes of students at least in the near future.
Digital learning, e-learning, online classes are broad terms, each with some unique aspects. Classifying them under a single umbrella would not be right. However, one key element of all of the above models of learning is that they require an internet connection and smart devices. Reliable internet connectivity remains an issue for a sizeable student base in India.
A recent pan-India study by Smile Foundation with over 40,000 students from rural areas and urban slums found that 56% of children lacked access to a smartphone. Of these children, 12% had no access to any phone. Only 69% of students surveyed had access to television. Ground realities on access to e- education for children are stark.
The same challenges can also be seen in higher educational institutions.
For instance, a survey by IIT Kanpur revealed that 9.3 % of its 2,789 students were not able to download material sent by the institute or study online. Only 34.1% cent of them had internet connection good enough for streaming real-time lectures.
But the digital divide is not the only challenge.
Studies show remote learning has a bearing on cognitive development. Wholesome cognitive development in children requires human interaction – teacher to student, student to teacher, and student to student.
As countries lockdown, learning outcomes are bound to get affected over the long-term. This being echoed by teachers and education facilitators in the news today, when they are being questioned on the efficacy of online classrooms. The feedback was quite unanimous. They claimed that there have been fewer engagement with students, debates and casual conversations which would lead to an energised learning environment are hard to create and now mostly non-existent, students ability to manage time was a challenge but the most pertinent on was the cutting off of a face to face contact.
Multiple studies have also illustrated the devastating effect of school closures on learning. NGOs from across the country have joined hands to conduct creative classes, run workshops on collaborative learning to ensure students are constantly engaged.
While the challenges of the times are plenty, how do we as a community come together and solve some of these issues? How do we ascertain that education which is a basic right for our youth is afforded to them? If we as a country are to grow, we need our foundations to be firm and the first step for that is education. And to achieve that, we all have to come together and solve for tomorrows problems today. The need of the hour is for government, corporates, NGOs and learning experts to come together to draft a detailed multi-modal learning strategy.
And we have the ability and intent.
Even in these trying times, we have seen reports in papers of individuals who in their communities have taken the initiative to do more. In a small village in Haryana, Jhamri, to maintain social distancing, the students take notes from their homes as a teacher imparts lessons using the loudspeaker attached to the cart. In Maharshtra, Bhadole village, teachers have identified students who have access to smartphones and have formed groups clubbing them with students without any access.
At state level, the government of Haryana became the first state in the country to instruct the Haryana Institute of Public Administration to use TV for providing distance education during the lockdown period. Almost all the DTH providers and local cable services were roped in for this purpose. As of last month, the Director-General (Higher Education) of the state said that four major AIR radio stations in Haryana would be broadcasting two half-an-hour shows daily at a common time to promote learning from home. Odisha and Telangana have both entered into a partnership with Coursera an online learning platform — to train one lakh unemployed youth during the COVID-19 crisis.
Our solution
We need to as a community collate clear guidelines based on a detailed need-assessment across states and districts that can help devise a model that ensures ‘education for all’ keeping learning outcomes in focus. While we have seen innovations as mentioned above, there is a need to streamline and increase the focus of those innovations to all of India. And this can be done with the following actions
Stakeholder Involvement: Consulting parents on the outcomes they desire from the learning process is an absolute must. The plan must address when schools can be reopened. Schools also need to address infrastructure challenges and must invest in inclusive learning. Putting in place data storage facilities, digitising report cards, or making the premises contagion-free are some steps in this direction.
Rediscovering models: Children with limited access to technology and infrastructure need special attention while devising annual curricula. Alternating between, classroom learning, online education, and televised classes every week could be one of the more effective ways to impart education. Following this approach would require national and state education boards to digitise their entire curriculum, make it digitally accessible, user friendly and replicable for across portals – from textbooks to online videos. Not only will this help over a short duration, it will also improve access for children in less advantaged communities. Increasing the scope of state innovations to other states.
Continuing the momentum: The swiftness of alterations brought about by the government and corporate India is undeniably praiseworthy. They have indeed stepped up to the plate and supported new approaches for continued learning in the pandemic. However, emerging challenges need more collaborative planning, interventions to fill gaps from the pre-COVID era. Infrastructural challenges and teacher-to-student ratios can be addressed through a more complete learning process that guarantees access to education.
The pandemic has provided a great opportunity for all stakeholders to get back on the drawing board and collectively address challenges in the effective delivery of education. This is the ideal time for educational institutions, NGOs and policymakers to realign strategies. What changes can we make to ensure that our students find the time and develop a routine to mentally engage in stress-free exercises thereby honing their skills and feel involved. As mentioned above, we have the ability, we have the innovations and we have the resilience all we need to do is make time. And that surely can be done by all of us for the future of our youth and in turn the future of our country.
(Santanu Mishra, co-founder and executive trustee of Smile Foundation, looks after the overall operations, planning, and strategy of the organization)
Source: https://www.ndtv.com/education/opinion-prepping-education-sector-for-contingencies
4 NGOs in India educating kids online during COVID-19
( July 28, 2020 )
Challenges to education have been exacerbated by restrictions due to COVID-19, especially for those from poorer backgrounds or in remote areas. It has become a challenge for government, caregivers, teachers and parents to ensure in providing quality education in the pandemic.
Educating kids online
The need for physical distancing has suddenly led to most schools resorting to online teaching, for which the country was absolutely unprepared. Several NGOs are taking care of vulnerable children who are unable to meet educational needs. These NGOs are helping them through every possible resource.
Here’s looking at some NGOs in India that are helping vulnerable children through online education:
1. Miracle Foundation
Miracle Foundation India, along with CCI (child care institution) teams, is educating kids at child care institutes since the lockdown started. Through Miracle’s support, all the CCIs have set up computer labs with internet connection and electricity back-up. Now, they are in the process of providing tablets and smartphones to children who have returned home their families and do not have access to any technology.
Miracle Foundation is ensuring connectivity and providing data support for these children. They are educating kids with the existing staff of CCI and remote learning to cover their syllabus.
2. E-Vidyaloka
The Bangalore-based NGO focuses on imparting education to students of rural government schools in India by crowdsourcing volunteer teachers and connecting them to the schools using the power of IT. During the pandemic, the foundation is focusing on provide education through remote learning with the access of internet and electronics. E-Vidyaloka believes educating kids online will be the way forward in the future.
3. Magic Bus
Magic Bus foundation equips children and young people in the age group of 12 to 18, with the skills and knowledge they need, to grow up and move out of poverty. The foundation has partnered with Classplus mobile OS for online education to poor kids enrolled in the Magic Bus Livelihood programme. Through the partnership, they will help over 2,000 youngsters across 22 states.
4. Smile Foundation
Smile Foundation provides education to thousands of children from Class I to Class XII running across 23 states. The foundation found that about 56% of Indian children lack smartphones. In this scenario, amidst Covid-19, they are providing possible solutions to access education.
Source: https://thecsrjournal.in/ngos-educating-children-remote-learning-india/
Categories
Lessons Not Learnt
Lessons Not Learnt
Deccan Chronicle (18 December 2014 )
