Maitrey Era

An Essay writing competition was organised for students of Upper Primary Schools in Mall block of Malihabad constituency as part of ongoing efforts of Maitrey Era to improve the standard of rural education. The topic of the competition was same for all children and it was "MERE SAPNO KA GAON ". More than 600 students from 34 Upper Primary Schools took part in the competition. The whole event was conducted in three parts as under :

The essay writing sessions were conducted at the respective school buildings under the supervision of school staff.. The volunteers with Maitrey were instructed to visit the schools during the sessions randomly to deter any usage of unfair means. The school's staff was quite supportive and we are thankful to them for the cooperation extended to us.

The collected essays were read and judged by education expert Vinoba Gautam, Prof Rakesh Chandra of Luc­know University and women's rights ac­tivistShalini Mathur.

The Prize Distribution Ceremony was conducted at Apna Bazaar ground in Mal Block.  The event was Chaired by Shri MS Sant IAS (Retired) and was attended by Shri Mohan Singh, retired IT Commissioner, Shri Anil Sant , Secy to CM, Shri Anand Kumar Sant,  Shri Kaushal Raj Sharma, CDO Lucknow, SDM malihabad, Shri Ajay Pande  State Coordinator SIMCO Foundation and other eminent guests. The first three positions were awarded with Cycles. The school which achieved first position was gifted a Steel Almirah. The teachers were also given a memento for there exceptional contribution.

Awards

First Position - Sania Rais(47/50) of Kanya Vidyalaya, Aant Gadi Sauri
Second Position - Roshni Devi(38/50) of Kanya Vidyalaya, Saspan
Third Position - Parul Tiwari(35/50) of Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya, Mall

Best Schoool - KGBVA, Mall

Best Teacher - Shri Ram Kumar Pal, Upper Primary School, Badaiyyan.

The competition not only gave us an insight into the standards of rural education but also brought out several other social issues which children had projected in their essays. Most important of them being the requirement of a  quality higher education opportunities in vicinity. Most of the girls do not move ahead of upper primary school because of lack of  higher schools in nearby areas and raised concern over this. Early marriage was another issue brought up by children. These were compiled  for future and  also forwarded to Dr Siddhartha Shankar, MLA from the constituency with request to address as many and as quickly as possible. A list of weak children was also compiled and distributed to the schools with request to pay more attention on them. Maitrey volunteers were also tasked to monitor their progress and provide whatever support possible to them. Another list consisted of children which showed a higher level of intellect through their essays. Maitrey will keep a track of their progress to ensure that they have ample opportunity to continue studying in future.


 SLIDESHOW OF THE EVENT

Newspaper Cuttings