IAYP at Livingstone Foundation School

International Award for Young People (IAYP) India Team constituting of National Director Kapil Bhalla, National Aaward Authority Program Manager Bivujit Mukhoty and National Training Panel member Chai Eng Dutta & Simon Henry visited Livingstone Foundation School in Dimapur, Nagaland to organize Award Orientation and Award Leader Training workshop. This time in place of going with a traditional format of a report one of our participant at the workshop decided to give the report a new look. So read on participant’ perspective of the workshop:

Bang we got up on a Sunday morn,

To hear how was IAYP conceived and born.

Like sleepy snails we crawled into the Chapel Hall,

Where the chairman ushered Mr. Kapil, his team and all

Mr. Kapil unleashed the history and dynamics,

Mr. Bivujit dug deeper into all the tricks,

Henry & Miss Chai flavoured with chart paper, pen and glue sticks,

Now aghast, the participants listened like mystics.

Eight million youngs registered with their mentor,

Bronze, Silver and Gold, all ready for capture,

A Bronze in six months, indeed a marathon,

But a leisure time activity, a physical recreation.

The famous ‘Shield’ of expectation,

Each of us drew without preparation,

Some looked good, some looked grand,

Some looked what, it needed a magic wand.

All explained to us through chart work and game,

This is only to make us teachers of fame,

By leading all awardees into Bronze, Silver or Gold,

A sense of achievements, sure, we are told.

In the chart work of ‘Clean up’ and ‘Martial Arts’,

Mohan and Bipul were the notable wards,

With Khetomu the ideal coach, this could muster,

The Bronze in six months nodded Dr. Baruah the Mentor.

To develop personal skills, do Community Service,

Build character, launch into adventure, joy not amiss,

Gain a sense of achievement, confidence, self-esteem,

Is the essence of this program, so I deem.

The age most misunderstood is the teen,

Will become most constructive when they are keen,

To bag Bronze, Silver & Gold, International Award,

A self-fulfillment, when only fourteen, fifteen or sixteen.

Mr. Ahoto through PPP spoke of Leadership skill,

The deaf frog and the Japanese model,

Are the moral of the lesson to follow,

Come what may, be ‘deaf’ not ‘dumb’, ‘lone’ but not ‘hollow’.

For the concept of International Award, hats off to IAYP,

For the resourceful Seminar, Thank you Bivujit, Chai, Henry & Kapil Bhalla.

                                                                                                                              -- J. David. 

   

Business benefits from the Award

This post has been taken from John May' blog. John May holds the post of Secretary General at The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award Foundation.

Wherever I travel around the world at the moment, I find myself having the same conversation with business leaders. “There’s something wrong with the education system,” they tell me. “Young people are leaving school with great academic qualifications, but they’re just not ready for the workplace. They don’t understand how to work in teams, the importance of punctuality, the need to keep going when life gets tough. They give up too easily.”

Those business leaders are right. A first class academic education is essential, but it’s only half the story of what a young person needs to equip themselves for life. Not only do they need a good formal education, they need a great non-formal education too. Non-formal education is what goes on outside the classroom – sport and physical recreation, community service, adventurous activity and the development of new skills. Non-formal education helps young people to develop the qualities of perseverance, grit, curiosity, optimism and self-control. Economists might describe these qualities as non-cognitive. Psychologists might call them ‘personality traits’. To the rest of us, they’re just known as ‘character’ and the development of character is the business of The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award. We help equip young people for life.

The Award provides a framework for schools and youth organisations when planning their non-formal education activities. It asks young people to commit time and effort to activity in each of those four areas of experience: Physical Recreation, Service, Skills and the undertaking of a self-planned Adventurous Journey. Young people choose their own pathway through the framework, building their own individual programmes. In so doing, they discover new things about themselves and develop the skills, behaviours and attitudes needed to be good citizens. When they earn their Award, they receive internationally acclaimed recognition of their achievements, which they can then use to tell their story to prospective employers or universities.

So, as an employer, when you are looking for young people with great academic achievements and character, look for someone who has achieved their Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award. And help us to grow by telling your network of business colleagues that you look out for the Award on young people’s résumés – and that they should do so too.

There are other ways that you can help us and benefit as well.

We can work with you to develop your community engagement and outreach activities. The Award can be used to develop targeted interventions in your key markets to create a lasting social and economic impact. This may focus around working with specific disadvantaged, socially challenged and marginalised groups on a particular area of interest.

We can support your talent management, apprenticeships and staff leadership initiatives. We can work with you to establish or develop your existing development or apprenticeship programmes for the younger members of your workforce (under 24 years of age). This “Award in Business” opportunity has already been taken up by a number of businesses in the UK, India, Australia and Singapore and has proven to be beneficial at both the individual and business levels.

And we can work with you to create or grow local volunteering opportunities for members of your workforce. There are sound business reasons for engaging in employee volunteering including positive effects on brand value and reputation as well as employee engagement with corporate values.

That conversation about problems with the education system is always the start of doing great things with the business leaders that I meet. It was the late Marcus Sieff, when he was chairman of British retailer Marks and Spencer, who coined the saying, “Healthy high streets need healthy back streets.” Working with The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award benefits the businesses that get involved, as well as the communities that provide their customers and future employees. Equipping young people for life is not just a noble endeavour. It’s a business imperative.

MILES OF SMILES

When we started planning our first trip to Mewat with ten students of our class, none of us really thought it would turn out to be an experience we would never forget. Now it has been a year since we started organizing our trips to Mewat. We remember Government Middle School, Mehrola as an old red building, amidst long stretches of farms located on the outskirts of urban Gurgaon.

From the very first day when we were told about the proposed programme by our Award Leader Ms. Darshna Dahiya, preparations were in full swing with lots of enthusiasm among the participating students. After a long brainstorming session, where some of us contributed ideas regarding topics that should be discussed in the class, we decided upon a few topics along with the topics given by SRF Foundation (part of the CSR wing of Sri Ram Fibres Limited) that were considered necessary for students of the school. 

Be it a cold February morning or a hot June afternoon, all of us braved the weather solely because of the sheer excitement and interest we had to teach those young students. Topics covered in our classes were:

• Environment awareness
• Ozone layer depletion
• Proper sanitation
• Cleanliness in homes

As expected, to start with, the children were a little uncomfortable and uneasy with our organized classes as only a handful of them actually responded during the time of teaching. But chocolates, jokes and a little time did the trick and we managed to involve them in our discussions which turned one-sided classes into interactive sessions with lots of participation and ideas coming in from the students' side. After a few sessions of interactive learning, the classes were not only about us narrating stories to them but also the students reciprocating with interesting facts and stories pertaining to the prevalent issues. At the end of every session, we organized a drawing & painting competition where every student participated enthusiastically; this helped them give vent to their creative ideas by drawing sketches related to the issues under discussion.

It is really interesting to see that same boys and girls who hesitated in introducing themselves a few months ago, today can stand confidently in front of the class and answer various questions we throw at them. We could actually witness the change in their body language; the students transformed from being diffident strangers in the first couple of sessions, to being animated participants during the concluding part of our Service Programme.

I am sure that none of us, nor the students of the government school, would want these sessions to end. Apart from the great exposure, these trips helped us grow as a person and develop our skills as a teacher and as a facilitator of education. Today, each one of us cherishes what we did at Government Middle School, Mehrola and also continue to think of ways in which we can help others in the near future. Needless to say, all of us who were lucky enough to be part of this IAYP Service programme feel extremely satisfied with our attempt to teach the students about different environmental and health issues. 

---This is an experience shared by Kumar Ritwik, Bronze Awardee from DPS International, Gurgaon.

EVERY SCHUMACHER NEEDS ONE OF US

When Henry Ford decided to produce his famous V-8 motor, he chose to build an engine with the entire cylinders in one block, and instructed his engineers to produce a design for the engine. The design was placed on paper, but the engineers agreed, to a man, that it was simply impossible to cast an eight-cylinder engine-block in one piece. Ford replied, "Produce it anyway." This is one of the many stories from the automobile industry that has inspired me to take up Motor Mechanics skill as part of my IAYP Programme. 

The Motor Mechanics club of our school is involved with the servicing, maintenance and repair of cars. Ever since I have joined Welham Boys' School, my interest in automobiles and also the platform IAYP has given me to hone my skills has helped me to become an active member of the club. Before IAYP was introduced in our school, only a limited number of students showed interest in this club. It is because of IAYP's much needed push to achieve education outside of our classroom, that the club has witnessed a gradual increase in the membership and now at this stage, we have a strong team dedicatedly learning about automobiles. 

Mr. Hassan, our Motor Mechanics Instructor, has more than 45 years of experience in this field. He has immense knowledge about engines. It is this knowledge and experience which makes him the best in the business, hundreds of his trusted customers bring their vehicles to his workshop to get them serviced or to get a particular mechanical fault investigated. Every Tuesday and Friday, he brings those faulty cars from his workshop to our school garage. He guides us in finding ways to diagnose the problem and accordingly repair it. Solving these faults involves stripping down the affected part, replacing it and putting all the parts together again.

This term, we got an opportunity to repair and service quite a few cars from his workshop. During every new session of the class, we have different vehicles to try our hand on. This enables us to learn more about the vehicle and it is always really exciting. The group members are assigned tasks such as replacing brake oil, engine oil & coolant as well as repairing and overhauling major & minor engine parts like gearboxes, crankshaft, piston rings, carburetor, radiator, alternator, timing belt etc. We have specialized tool sets to work with. After repairing, we ensure the vehicle is working well and performing as it should be.

It is always interesting to explore new technologies used in vehicles to improve their performance. We have also had discussions involving working and benefits of the upcoming hybrid technologies. With Mr. Hassan's help, we recently got an opportunity to work on an old jeep. Through regular discussions, we came up with new and innovative ideas to develop its design. With the help of the innovative design, the team modified the jeep and it was displayed during our Founder's Day celebrations. 

Overall, I have really enjoyed this wonderful experience. Thanks to IAYP, I started taking interest in motor mechanics. Today, I can confidently say it is my passion and an integral part of my life. 

---This is an experience shared by Toyyab Sabri who is one of our Silver Award participants from Welham Boys' School, Dehradun. Click for pictures

YES CENTRE AWARD LEADER TRAINING WORKSHOP

12th - 13th April 2014 at Father LeBlond School, Siliguri 

Two days Youth Engaging Society (YES) Centre Award Leader Training Workshop was held for nine students from Father LeBlond School, Siliguri and two teachers from Birla Divya Jyoti School, Siliguri. Niranjan P.Datta, Director, Father LeBlond School, Siliguri welcomed National Award Authority (NAA) India Programme Manager Bivujit Mukhoty by talking about the excitement among the school students who are part of The International Award for Young People (IAYP) Programme and also talked about the overall development he has witnessed among the students taking IAYP Programme. 

Award Leader showing her skills.

Rather than calling it a training workshop, Bivujit Mukhoty preferred calling it an experience sharing workshop. Over the span of two days at Father LeBlond School, the participants were given in-depth knowledge regarding the four domains of the programme i.e. Skills, Service, Physical Recreation and Adventurous Journey and also the Residential Project for the Gold Award Programme. Other than that the participants were also introduced to the technical aspect of the programme, which included Risk Management and Branding. Before meeting the teachers, NAA Programme Manager also held an orientation workshop for fifty students from Father LeBlond School to introduce them to the IAYP Programme. The workshop was delivered by Bivujit Mukhoty & Ranjana Rai (Member, National Training Panel & YES Centre Manager, The Assam Valley School, Balipara). The programme concluded with the presentation of participation certificates and badges to the participants by Mr. Datta. Click for pictures

Award and Scouting joint statement strengthens global relationship

The Duke of Edinburgh's International Award and the World Organization of the Scout Movement, longstanding partners, have issued a joint statement aimed at strengthening their relationship across the world.

In the statement, which is being issued to all National Award Operators and National Scout Organisations, the two organisations affirm their ‘complementary values and goals’ and the achievements which both have seen in recent years through ‘strengthening links at national level’.

As the Award is a global framework for non-formal education, it is open to any young person aged 14-24, including Scouts. Many Award participants become involved through their membership in Scouts. For Scouts, doing the Award gives added value: while many Scouting activities will count towards Sections of the Award, Scouts are also encouraged to engage in activities that they otherwise might not have done. The Scouts also get the additional recognition of the Award, a globally recognised and valued non-formal educational qualification.

Doubling the recognition for young people

Common activities such as voluntary service and outdoor activities that are part of regular Scout activity and those activities done to achieve The Duke of Edinburgh's International Award can be counted in both organisations although done once. As a result, young people can double the recognition they get for their activities.

The statement emphasises the huge benefits for both organisations in working more closely together. In some countries where they have developed joint initiatives there have been dramatic increases in the number of participants doing the Award through Scouts, and Scouting has seen a dramatic increase in numbers in the 14-24 years age range.

John May, Secretary General for The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award, comments “I am delighted that The Duke of Edinburgh's International Award and the World Organization of the Scout Movement are continuing to strengthen what is already a close and fruitful relationship.  In some countries where the two organisations have developed joint initiatives, we have seen dramatic increases in the number of participants doing the Award through their membership of the Scout Movement.   This can only be of benefit to the young people involved and, ultimately, to the communities in which those young people live.  As a lifelong Scout myself, I appreciate the terrific opportunities that Scouting can give to young people.  Engagement in the Award provides  those young people with international recognition of their achievement - a real win-win situation for everyone involved.”

Source: http://www.intaward.org/news/award-and-scouting-joint-statement-strengthens-global-relationship

Asia Pacific Regional Training for Trainers (T4T) Workshop

2nd - 5th April 2014 at The Sagar School, Tijara, Alwar

A report by Priyank Kumar Gupta

The Asia Pacific Regional Training for Trainers workshop was organized by the National Award Authority India (NAA) from 2nd to 5th April 2014 at The Sagar School, Alwar. The workshop was lead by Rob Oliphant (Asia Pacific Regional Programme Manager) along with Bivujit Mukhoty (Programme Manager IAYP India) and Skand Bali (Head, National Training Panel, India). I was a participant of the T4T workshop along with seventeen other participants from across the Asia Pacific Region (India 12, China 3, Nepal 2, Maldives 1). The workshop trained Award Leaders to become Award Trainers primarily focused on learning the use of training aids (visual, auditory, kinesthetic) and presentations. Other sessions included:

• Training framework
• Overview of NAOME assessment (needs, aim, objectives, methods, evaluation)
• Training needs analysis
• Training design
• Multiple intelligences
• Development of training materials
• Award mapping
• Group work
• Development of training aids
• Delivery styles & skills
• Generation theory
• Overview of International Award Foundation (IAF), Online Record Book (ORB) and IAYP India pilot
• Quality assurance of Award units
• Action planning & evaluation.

In order to be proficient in any of the above mentioned aspects of training, the participants were instructed on their role and responsibilities as future Trainers and were taught the essentials of giving clear instructions for an activity during a presentation through NAOME and TRaM (task, reason, method), CaRS (context, report back, summary). The participants were introduced to different learning styles and factors that keep the current generation ticking were also discussed. The participants learned the art of presentation of live scenarios to different stakeholders of the Award Programme.

After each presentation Rob Oliphant, Bivujit Mukhoty and Skand Bali provided their feedback which was very useful for providing a concrete base to the participant's training skills. The training team also shared the key notes and documents which will be useful for development of training aids. The workshop concluded on 5th April with the presentation of Training badges to the participants by Jayshree Balasaria (Principal, The Sagar School) Thanks to the NAA India for providing this opportunity to us and also a big thanks to The Sagar School for their great hospitality and support for conducting this workshop. Click for pictures

Experiencing a new outlook towards camping

Rishikesh: An unforgettable experience.

Camping as an Adventurous Journey is not only about completing the required timescale that you need to complete your award but becomes much more fun when it is about learning about the nature and experiencing thrills that will help shape you into a better person. Here is an experience shared by Aishwarya Kakkar, a student of Delhi Public School, Gurgaon who for their Adventurous Journey went to the beautiful valley of Rishikesh.  

Pre-rafting talks delivered by professional trainers. 

The four day Adventurous Journey kick started on the night of 24^th October, where 92 students of the IAYP India Award Programme and 10 teachers left for Rishikesh. Little did we know the fun surprises that were waiting for us at Rishikesh.  Four hours into the journey, at around 2 am the buses stopped at ‘Subway’ for an early morning feast where we all ate to our tummy’s delight. The following days spent camping in Rishikesh was equally fun.  Activities such as rock climbing, rappelling, river rafting, trekking, beach volleyball and body surfing were planned for us.  Rafting being a new activity for majority of us was extremely thrilling.  We were lucky enough to experience rapids such as ‘three blind mice’ & ‘sweet sixteen’. Moreover, from time to time under the guidance of our leaders we were allowed to swim freely in the Ganges which altogether took our elation to a whole new level.  The warmth provided by the Sun in the afternoons was very comforting. The ideal weather also allowed us to enjoy the rest of the activities planned for us to their full extent. The adrenaline rush felt by each and every student during all these activities cannot be described in words. Though there were difficulties and fears faced by some of us whilst performing the activities but they were all erased by the welcoming and experienced instructors. We also played games and learned how to cook during a camping expedition. A 3 kilometers trek was arranged for us where we all learned a lot about our environment, its resources and its conservation in the most fun manner possible.  The students loved waking up to a beautiful sunrise, running on the white sand and quietly watching the sunset whilst sipping their hot tea. Singing, dancing and eating the yummy self-cooked food around the bonfire is a memory I will never let go of. During the night time we all used to gather around the bonfire which when complimented by the beautiful starry night sky helped us attain a state of bliss. Our trip to Rishikesh truly revamped our outlook towards camping.

CHANGING FACE OF OLCOTT MEMORIAL SCHOOL

Status report for IAYP India Special Project.

After undergoing a thorough process and various inspections undertaken by State Education Board, one of IAYP India’ special project Olcott Memorial High School is now Olcott Memorial Higher Secondary School. 

Other than the wonderful academic achievement of the school, they have also been doing extremely well in sports activities. Recently, school’ junior rugby team won the state level tournament and are now vying for the inter-state tournament to be held in Kolkata. They are also doing incredibly well in other sports both for boys and girls, including kho-kho, kabaddi, hand ball and football, all with school training organized by teachers and alumni.

The school had also participated in ‘Paryavaran Mitra’ State Level Competition and was selected as one of the best schools (5th place in the state). Some of them also received individual awards, such as Student Award to Vijayalakshmi (1st place) and Guide Teachers award to Shyamala & Saraswathi (3rd place).

The school is also planning free computer education and English speaking classes for interested students, school’ alumni and local youths. We at IAYP India, wish the school all the best for their future endeavors.