Indus International School embark upon Service Learning
Over 600 members of staff, students and parents from Indus International School
gathered on 18 August 2008 to witness the start of a new phase of community
engagement by the school. Service-Learning Day marked the launch of a new
programme that puts the community at the forefront of the learning that takes
place in the classroom and ensures a continued partnership between Indus and
the local community.
The Inauguration to launch this programme also marked a milestone in an
international partnership to benefit the local community between Indus
International School and the Singapore International Foundation. ServiceLearning Day began with the lighting of the ceremonial lamp which was followed
by a welcome address by the Principal of Indus International School, Mrs Sarojini
Rao. She reminded the students of the need to remember and include the
community in learning as we cannot live outside our communities. The Chief
Guest, CEO of the Indus trust, Lt. Gen. (Retd) Arjun Ray, gave his address which
focused on how working with the community can be a transformational
experience for all and encouraged the students to make the most of this. The
Guest of Honour, Mr Aaron Ng, Director of Singapore International Foundation
(International Volunteerism) gave his address where he expressed his
satisfaction for the programme and how it will benefit the local community.
The vision of the SLP@Indus has been crafted by the teacher and student
volunteer of Indus as well as the volunteer from SIF as to create a self-sufficient
community that is enlightened and able achieve their aspirations and in the
process engender people who are willing to engage effectively with each other
with trust, love empathy and compassion.
Service-Learning Day continued with the students breaking out into groups to
work on their aims and goals for the year’s engagement with the community. All
students in Indus will be involved in the new Service-Learning Programme where
they will be designing and implementing projects in 6 neighbourhood community
schools and an orphanage in the Hendanahalli panchayat of Sarjapur area. Most
projects will be in the area of education and will involve not only teaching and
capacity building work with the schools but will also seek to change the way
community relations are done. The unique nature of the programme means that
not only will the involvement with the local community will be enhanced but the
students in both Indus and the local schools will benefit with greater learning and
reciprocity.
The mission of SLP@Indus identified as follows:
• To connect and to give back to the community through constant
engagement – to teach and to learn from them in any way possible.
• To empower people in the community to become self-sufficient and take
on the rigours and challenges of life.
• To prepare our students for the future by allowing active experimentation
of things learnt in the classroom out in the service arena.
• To enable the learning community to develop both in and out of school so
that everyone will have a strong sense of community and social
responsibility.
Manoj Kumar
Leadership Curriculum Coordinator
Indus International School
Bangalore
Stanley Goh
In-Field SVO
Singapore International Foundation
Singapore