THE HARVEST
Paranga Vidya Kendra, which we always refer to as the Magadi Pyramid School, is one of the places where we implemented our school intervention curriculum, Mentor India. Since we first got introduced to the director of the school, Mr. Ramamurthy, and he showed us around the campus, we were committed to doing the best we can to serve this temple of education, where students, teachers, supporters and parents are one big family. When you visit Paranga, you don’t feel like you’ve entered just another school, it gives you the feeling of a Gurukul, existing in the middle of nowhere in the midst of nature, untouched by complete electricity and internet connection! The school sustains itself using solar technology and self-cooling classrooms.
One fine day, after one of our classes, Mr. Ramamurthy happened to mention his dream of setting up a computer lab in the school. He of course is always striving to get the best for his students, and he understands how important it is to be skilled in computers in the present generation. That talk stuck with us and we have been trying to make his dream come true for about 2 years now!
We are so happy to announce that this wish of establishing a computer lab was finally granted, thanks to the super amazing team at Intuit. They supported the school by donating 20 refurbished laptops!
Why we mention ‘refurbished’, is because it carries much more value than saying ‘brand new’ for us. Confused? The team of Intuit went through great inconvenience caught in the corporate processes involved to get these laptops out of their office campus. From destroying existing hard disks and replacing them with new ones to installing new operating systems in each laptops because the company license cannot be used in them, the team had to deal with a whole lot of protocols and procedures, before they could get these 20 laptops released!
We express immense gratitude to the multiple invisible hands that made this happen. Thanks to their intent of making this possible, Paranga School now is a proud owner of its first-ever computer lab!
The handover itself was more beautiful than we imagined. About 12-15 team members of Intuit were present in school on a Monday morning, and wasted no time before they started setting the laptops up. While they were busy with the installations, the teachers of the school got busy arranging a lovely function in the assembly hall with all the high school kids present. As we entered the hall, the happiness and excitement on the faces of the kids was a sight to behold!
Ramamurthy Sir shared words of wisdom encouraging all of us to serve the society in whatever way we can. He further stressed that there are no givers and receivers. Even receivers can find a way to give back to the society, and they must! The children were conveyed the importance of this act of laptop donation, and were reminded that its their duty to pass on this knowledge to their younger classes! We were fortunate to soak ourselves in the strong values that run in this school system.
Devesh, Anjan and other Intuit team members also had wonderful insights to share with the kids. They stressed on the importance of using computers constructively and mindfully, and to avoid the cons that come with it. Getting addicted to computers is not acceptable, and we should be conscious about its right usage. That said, they enlightened the students on how computers can open up doors to so many learning opportunities. One can explore the entire universe right from their fingertips! Their talks and words of encouragement surely sowed some seeds of strong dreams in many a young minds present in the gathering.
As we, at KnowYourStar, celebrate the success of yet another collaboration, the proof that the power of the collective can move mountains is in front of our eyes. Very grateful to be holding hands with such amazing people, for whom serving is a thing of joy, a sense of duty, and a way of life! 🙂
More pictures from this happy event in the album here!
Enjoyed reading about this? Then you might like to read Student Intervention At Brindavan Tent School With Tarkeybein’s English Curriculum
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