During the summer placement, Suas Volunteers work with children, aged between 4 and 18, and staff in our partner schools and organisations in India. The Volunteers perform a variety of roles including: teaching assistant, sports coach, mentor and friend.
The Suas team works with each Partner organisation throughout the year to better understand their specific needs, and create a broad outline of what each placement will look like. Volunteer teams then collaborate with the teachers to create their individual projects and schedule upon their arrival.
Volunteers will need to be flexible and to work closely with the teachers throughout the summer. The placement can be very demanding, and there will be times of frustration and uncertainty. The key support throughout these challenges comes from the coordinators and other team members; therefore, it is important that each team has established an effective method of working together prior to departure.
Each Volunteer and their team must use their initiative and work with the partner staff to determine how and where they might best contribute. The placements are not overly structured in advance; a feature that makes this opportunity both challenging and exciting.
Suas works in partnership with 3 organisations in Kolkata, India. These are: the Development Action Society (DAS); Sabuj Sangha, and Vikramshila. We offer year-round support to our Partners, in addition to our annual Volunteer Programme. We are currently planning 2 new partnerships in India, which will form part of the 2013 Volunteer Programme.
So far, the Volunteers have been focused on the role of teaching assistant, to children aged between 4 and 18 (although mostly between the ages of 4 and 12), in non-formal teaching centres. These centres support disadvantaged children as they attempt to mainstream into a government-run primary school. Volunteers generally work in pairs across a number of these centres, teaching English and Mathematics, as well as introducing new games, rhymes, songs and teaching techniques. The centres are generally small and typically cater for around 60 children across 1 or 2 classrooms.
Broadly speaking, all of the placements are similar; however, there are a number of differences between each of the Partners. In addition, the placements vary on an annual basis as we adapt to the changing needs and challenges of the Partners and the lessons learned from previous Volunteers.
Suas provides a general introduction to the overall Volunteer role; however, each team is expected to respond to the specific needs of their partner organisations.
Development Action Society (DAS), Kolkata: Founded 22 years ago by a group of local women, DAS provides pre-primary schooling and coaching centres for over 1000 children. This service supports access to government schools and provides additional coaching and assistance to the children throughout their school careers. DAS also works extensively in the area of health promotion and women's empowerment.
Since 2002, Volunteers have worked closely with DAS staff and have supported the teachers through: the creation of comprehensive lesson plans, data input on DAS' ‘impact assessment project’ and the organisation of staff excursions. The Volunteers have also accompanied DAS pupils to the children's parliament and assisted in the painting of schools.
For more information, please visit: http://daskolkata.org/
Sabuj Sangha, Kolkata: Sabuj Sangha is a community-based development agency which specialises in rural development, women's empowerment and education. Currently serving a community of over 5000; its activities range from agricultural training to child protection services. Suas’ support for Sabuj Sangha has focused around their railway education project; this provides pre-primary schooling to children living around the suburban railway stations. Similar to the project run by DAS, the scheme aims to mainstream local children into government schools and provides additional coaching thereafter.
Since 2003, Volunteers have collaborated with the Sabuj Sangha teachers as they create classroom materials and teaching aids. In addition, Volunteers have assisted in painting murals, the organisation of sports days and homework clubs at Sabuj Sangha's residential centre. Volunteers have also visited Sabuj Sangha projects in the rural Sunderbans area.
For more information, please visit: www.sabujsangha.org
Vikramshila Education Resource Society, Kolkata: Vikramshila works with: teachers, teacher educators, children, communities, government systems and educational institutions to bring about a transformation in education, and realise their goal of "making quality education a reality for all children in India.”
Since 2008, Suas Volunteers have worked with the staff and children of Vikramshila, assisting in the Nabadisha non-formal education centres by teaching basic numeracy and literacy to children aged between 4 and 14. Previous teams have also helped to develop the curriculum, organise sports days, arrange a speaking festival and run arts and craft activities. Vikramshila also work with 5 secondary schools as part of the ‘Education to Employability Project’ (E2E); the Volunteers support these students by teaching communicative English and life skills.
For more information, please visit: www.vikramshila.org
For more information on the role of the Volunteer, see the Volunteer Role page.
