Author - p49_ka6acb

Day 2 of the program at Balika Bhavan.

Following activities were undertaken.

• Meeting with wardens
• Introduced Assessment Test
• Conducted assessment Test

As the academic year  end is getting closer for 12^th class students, career planning program was introduced. We brought the expertise of iDreamCareer to conduct the assessment test and subsequent evaluation. Since most the students were used to Malayalam medium the assessment test , which is in English, was translated in Malayalam for the students  by the special iDreamCareer counselor Ancy Thomas. 11 students ( only students in 12^th grade) went through  assessment test.

There are no activities in December as students are engaged in other Christmas programs  on the week ends of December 2017.

When we regroup in Jan 2018, the result of assessment test and potential career options for those students will be  shared with the relevant personnel at Balika Bhavan.

Sreejesh from Peacehub counselling will lead the life skills session from 2018.

This week witnessed some amazing activities from students.

Following activities were conducted over 2 days, Jan 6th and 7th

Made aware of the importance of landing a career that would give them  a rewarding future .  Students were curious about the ways and means to reach their career objectives.

Life skills trainer used the concepts of SWOT ( Strength ,Weakness, Opportunity , Threats) analysis to instill  self awareness and used  group activities to reinforce the attribute. High light of the session was when students created a collage and presented. Krishna , one of the students , gave a passionate and inspiring speech about having a dream and working hard to achieve that dream .

Watch the video here. https://youtu.be/wkO_S5lKTIc

The importance of team work was instilled in students through various  team activities.

Initiated the creation 4 clubs

• Creative Club – Cultural activities would be performed thru this club.
• Sports Club – A few times of the month students  would participate in sports.
• English Club- To enhance the knowledge in the English language.
• Health Club- To make awareness on hygiene.

It is amazing to see the talents that are hidden in these students.

This week was mainly about Communication & Leadership ( under life and soft skills)

Communication and Leadership is not just applicable in the workplace. It can be employed in ones personal growth as well and it is a portable skill that can be applied whenever applicable.

Following activities were conducted.

Five groups were formed and one leader was selected for each group. Students picked a name for each group through discussion.

They were given topics and the each groups discussed on the topic.

After the designated time, each group faced the audience and the leaders of the group addressed the audience. At the same time they had to perform some actions of their choice , whatever they are comfortable with.

It did serve two objectives ; a) enable students on the basics  public speaking or communicating without fear b) Enable students to show case their individual ability .

Special thanks to our trainer Mr. Sahar.

This week students were introduced to the career counselling, something these students were never part of. We brought the greatest and latest in career guidance to the girls at Balika Bhavan.

Our counselor Preetha Ajith travelled from Bangalore to sense the taste and skills of  10^th, 11^th,and 12^th graders. There were group sessions ( one to many ) and one on one ( face to face) sessions. This was the second step in the process of career guidance . First step was the psychometric test that was conducted in the month of November 2017. Results were evaluated and a 17 page assessment report was created for each students who participated in the test. 9 students took the psychometric test from 10^th, 11^th and 12^th graders.

While psychometric gives one aspect of the over all aptitude, nothing beats a face to face with students and get a sense of their true skills, interests and aspirations. This is what took place today. It was a new experience for both students and the Balika Bhavan administration.

Following activities were conducted this week.

A 2 hour career awareness workshop was conducted for 11 girls.

The girls were from 9th standard to 12th standard of the age bracket 15-18 years.

Athira and Feba from 9th

Rejitha and Esther from 10th

Saritha and Ansu from 11th commerce and humanities stream respectively

Krishna, Sudhanya, Jolly, Molly from 12th Science stream

and Sneha who is doing fashion designing post 12th standard.

It is found that most of the present 12th standard children are doing science stream mainly due to administrative factors rather than interest.

There are also children who find it difficult to cope with the science curriculum and has an impending fear of failure in the board examination.

The idreamcareer assessment was conducted on 9 students of which only 5 were present on the day

Krishna, Sudhanya, Rejitha, Saritha and Ansu had taken the assessment and had a one-on-one session with me.

It is to be noted that all the 5 girls whom I interacted one-on-one are from broken families.

Here is look at Career session in action

https://www.facebook.com/mindupfoundation/posts/390189754742181

Next step in this process would be to evaluate the result from face to face interactions and suggest potential careers for the students who went thru this process.

Today’s session was oriented towards the skills required to cope with the exams. While exams and marks do not define a person, the process of going through that experience in an effective fashion is a skill required for life.

24 girls between ages of 12-19 participated. The trainer spent 6 hours from 10:30 am t0 4:15 pm

Objectives of today’s training were.

1. Enhance the capacity of children to perform well academic curriculum
2. To help the children to develop the habit of learning academic subjects in a sarcastic and organized manner
3. To help the children build self-confidence to face challenges in academic field.
4. To understand the needs of children in developing a sound mind and living situation in order to plan further program as per the assessment

Sessions conducted

Ice breaking session

1 hr of interactive session on study skills development

1 hr of motivated talk based on the lives of impressive personalities and motivating stories

1 hr of training session with games and activities to improve concentration and capacity

1 hr of training session for stress management and release.

Thanks to the trainer Jose Kunjhu who is a social worker specialized in child welfare.

Today was the last session of this academic year. Students are going be busy with their annual exam for rest of the year  and hence after consultation with the Director of Balika Bhavan ,  this years activities were wrapped up on Feb 10^th .

Today’s session was conducted from 10:00 am  to 3:30 pm . It was started with an icebreaking session of an action song. You may watch part of the  clip here.

A good part of the morning session was geared towards self awareness. The trainer used visual media ( video)  to convey the message and a very active discussion was followed to make them aware that each one of us had individual talents and the importance to realize this and build on these  attributes .

Further the trainer talked about the SWOT( Strength , Weakness, Opportunity, and Threat) in individual self and through group activities students were made aware of the importance  of SWOT in individual self development

Subsequently tools and methods to manage stress were discussed and shared with the group. In addition tips and techniques needed to manage the stress during exams were discussed as well.

Importance of communication and body language were imparted to the students through  activities.

Finally a recap of the sessions from November were shared and reminisced with the students

Before wrapping up for the year , trainer had one on one sessions with 12^th grade students and discussed various career options based on the results on psychometric test results, one-on-one sessions, and individual capabilities that were assessed in the last couple of months. The suggestions on 12^th graders career options were also discussed with the Balika Bhavan management.

It was interesting to see that  12^th grade students  varied   intellectually  , academically, and emotionally. We were able to provide advice to maximize their potential by  giving sound and most logical career options for them.

It was also comforting to see a few of the students wrote a detailed  “Thank you “ note to us. Please view them here

As we wrap up this year session , it is such proud moment for mindupfoundation ,because we do believe that we were able to lift up the minds of both students and the management alike by introducing them to a completely  new world of life skills training  and career assessment.

Mindupfoundation would also like to thank Sreejesh from Peacehub Counselling,  who spearheaded the activities at Balika Bhanvan. Without his selfless help, none of these activities would have been possible.

Also a word of thanks to Praveen of iDreamCareer who helped with the career session of the program.