The Doon School: A Village Service Partnership

Posted: 19 February 2019

Since the inception of the school, leaders at Doon have sought ways to partner with local villages to improve the opportunities and resources available to disadvantaged communities. Over the last 20 years, the school has partnered with around 10 villages and we estimate that we have worked with over 50 villages since our service programmes began. These partnerships have always been seen as long-term commitments (two to three years) in order to effect change in a substantive way.

Author: Ambikesh Shukla (Round Square Representative, Director of Social Service and Activities, and International Student Exchange Co-ordinator)

Planning

At the start of our relationship, we endeavour to understand what the real need is in the community. This could range from improving the education provided to young people, upskilling workers, rebuilding facilities or supporting health projects.

Representatives from senior management will visit the area and talk to various people within the community to understand their needs. On their return to school, they will share with the students the opportunity to help, and encourage their support to champion any fundraising activity that may be needed.

Students aged 13 and upwards volunteer their time, usually at weekends and during long breaks. We also organise a biannual service project which increases our volunteering numbers through the participation of other Round Square schools.

The solutions we seek are varied but a fundamental principle embedded in them is that they should enable the community to be self-sufficient in whatever areas of work we undertake.

Activity

One of the ways that we support partner villages is through building projects that create sustainable sources of income or support for residents. One recent project, for example, involved us building new homes with watermills, enabling the residents to grind grain for sale to create an income for their household and produce their own food cost effectively.

Many of the communities we serve need support in improving the education provided in their community. Limited facilities combined with lack of training can affect the quality of education and, therefore, perpetuate social and economic challenges in the communities. We look at ways to upskill the local teachers, whether that’s through mentoring from our own teachers, or by facilitating opportunities to learn from other educationalists. These conversations focus on a variety of professional development areas: how to keep a classroom lively, discipline, new ideas for teaching subject content, and new theories and approaches on teaching methods. We are flexible in where we deliver this training, sometimes it takes place at Doon, other times in the village, or perhaps in a local training centre.

The students play an important role too in helping mentor young people in the villages, improving their confidence and skills in subjects such as English, Hindi and Maths. They also welcome children living in nearby slums to Doon’s classrooms. They help demonstrate materials, techniques or ideas they have picked up in their own lessons in the Art and Media, ITC, and  Design and Technology centres, and they enjoy hearing the children’s laughter as they play happily in the playgrounds every Sunday.

As facilities also play in role in educational attainment, there are often construction projects to erect or improve school buildings to create an inspirational environment for learning. And Doon donates resources such as school furniture, old black boards, computers and projectors to cost effectively equip teachers with the technology and other classroom resources they may need.

Our current village service project takes place in a hilly area some 165km from our school. Our focus for this project is to upskill the community to stem the wave of people migrating from the area to seek employment, which means that talent and skills move away, and the community is fragmented.

Our staff and students have constructed a training centre so that adults in the community can learn a livelihood and skill. Having the centre available not only provides a space for learning, but also overcomes some of the practical challenges a remote community might face in developing expertise. The centre is equipped with toilets and accommodation allowing trainers to stay overnight.

Challenges

Forging relationships – When we start a project, it’s important to build trust with people living in the village, who may be suspicious or perhaps even just curious about our agenda. Our students will visit residents’ houses, spend time talking to them and explain why they are there and what they hope to achieve. Having an intermediary, someone known and trusted by the village, advocate for you is also helpful. In the past, this has included alumni of Doon schools who may have been raised in the village before studying at Doon.

Being aware of cultural differences – It’s important to prepare the students for the differences they may see when working in the adopted village. The differences may be immediately apparent (for example, different clothing) or revealed in conversations, which show a very different view of the world and way of living. We are particularly conscious of this when our boys are working around girls living in the village. They are aware that friendliness can, in different community cultures, be misconstrued as romantic intent, and are guarded about their behaviour.  They are also prepared for some practical realities; bathroom and washing facilities, for example, may be different to what they are used to.

Impact

As a city-based school, it’s important that our students are provided with ways to learn about and experience life in the rural parts of their country. It’s a powerful way of showing them a very different lifestyle and giving them an insight into the social and economic problems that these communities encounter. We want to ensure that in creating leaders of tomorrow, we arm them with the desire and knowledge to effect positive change. Participation in these projects also develops students’ skills in areas such as teamwork, their ability to solve problems and their communication skills.

Teachers also benefit from understanding more about their country and gain confidence in their expertise through mentoring other teachers. They also deepen their relationships with students, by seeing and working with them in a context outside of the classroom.

Doon itself in enriched by these programmes in so many ways, enabling us to live out our school philosophy. It has been rewarding to us also to see that these programmes are publicly recognised, through media and social media, communicating a positive message about our school. Fundraising for the projects enables our alumni to continue to engage with Doon life and feel part of the school community’s efforts.

The future

We expect to support our current village project for two more years then we will begin the process of looking for a new village to serve. We are fortunate in the fact that many alumni and current parents are so enthused about the projects, that they provide a sustainable means of financial support, by budgeting a contribution into their annual fees or donations.

Advice

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