It is always a joy and privilege to interact with young minds. I had one such opportunity last week. I was called upon to judge an art completion for school children organized by the Rotary Club Bangalore’s Indira Nagar Branch. Rang Rotary Ke Sang was organized on the 19th of January 2020 at the Bal Bhavan in Cubbon Park on a beautiful (very!) sunny Sunday morning. I was called upon to judge the Differently Abled and Senior students categories. I understand there were over 350 children from various schools across Bangalore that had registered and participated in the event.
Getting to the venue was easy enough and but once inside there was so much activity with parents and children alike. It is wonderful to see parents take time out on a Sunday morning to bring their kids to an art completion. It reminded me of my school days and the many completions I took part in. Having been a judge at various completions over the years I felt I could give some input for what I had experienced.
– Allow all children the opportunity to contact and stay in touch with; get constructive criticism and advice from the various judges who all come with experience in their respective fields.
– Since this was an event with school interaction, I felt it may help to get schools on board to get the students from 9-12 grades to volunteer to teach basic level Math and English to government school kids and Anganwadi schools. Maybe even the adult education programs that the Rotary is involved with.
This way it becomes a win-win situation. The parents are on board because it is school approved; the Rotary gets students to teach those that are not able to always get the education they need. The Students get a school approved certificate which helps them in applying to colleges for volunteer work done and the best of all, the students get to interact with other students and adults from a different stratum then they would normally interact with.
You can read about my other interactions with students here, here, here and here.
I leave you with a few pictures from that day.