Thank you letter from JOSH

On our visit to the JOSH project in India we donated some money from our school. They brought 'carom boards' a game enjoyed mainly by girls in India. They sent a lovely thank you letter back to us. Below is a copy of the letter along with some great pictures:

'As discussed, we have bought 3 caroms boards in the Youth Resource Centre and Minority Resource Centre run by Josh. We are enjoying a lot by playing it. More than that it has become a source of enjoyment for the volunteers. Due to caroms the centre is forming a carom club for playing it in a fanatic way. 

The experiences of the centre are really incredible.The students of youth resource centre just got a new tool of fun and enjoyment through which they are having more closeness with the centre and new students in the centre.

 Chandni –A volunteer of JOSH has her own experience and shares that she hasn’t played the carom in her life before this .She enjoys a lot and is very thankful to Ringwood School.

 The girls studying in the Minority Resource Centre share their experience that when they eventually get bored in their spare time they couldn’t find a way of enjoying themselves. But now they are able to explore their enjoyment and happiness through carom playing.

 Kekhasa – A girl of Minority Resource Centre says she often see boys playing cricket and badminton in the streets. Her parents allow her brother to play the games but not to her due to which she often feel depressed. She tells that due to carom she gets time to play and also have a chat with the other girls.  She is happy and enjoys a lot.'

 We are so glad that the carom boards have made a difference to those who attend the JOSH project. We hope that they continue to have fun with them.

Planning a summer campaign

Planning a summer campaign

We want to follow up our Delhi visit beyond our own school, and we're really keen to get the message about children out of education, especially girls, heard loud and clear. We spent Thursday afternoon planning with our teachers and with John from Oxfam, and we're now building up a campaign team at Ringwood. We were really pleased to see our article in SEC-ED

Making a start at Ringwood

 

It's good to have shared our Delhi experience in assemblies at Ringwood over the past two weeks.

Photos from the NUT Conference

The National NUT Conference on Easter Saturday

NUT- On Saturday 30^th we spoke in front of teachers at the NUT conference in Liverpool. Our speech reminded attendees that children abroad should have the same right to education as young people in the UK. We spoke about the schools we visited in the urban slums where we witnessed the inequalities of education faced by Indian children. We talked about our meeting with representatives of Oxfam India and about speaking at the public hearing. Having experienced the education system in India first hand, we hoped to deliver a powerful message about rights of children abroad to our teacher audience.

I hope the teachers gained a new perspective on teaching and the challenges facing some education systems abroad. The audience were really engaged in what we were saying and we hope they will sign up their schools to the 2013 send my friend to school campaign.

Sam adds that he hopes the campaign will gain momentum and that as the campaign gets stronger, governments will become more likely to act.

We were really thrilled to recieve a standing ovation from the delegates. We were glad to get teachers approval for our campaign. We understand that this was a first for global meetings at the NUT conference.

This week we have launched this year’s campaign within our school. All tutor groups are watching our video and next week we will follow up with assemblies.

 

The JOSH Project

The JOSH project that we visited on our first day in Delhi, produced a news item on their blog. We’re so pleased they are spreading the word too : )

 

Please look at the article here:

http://josh4india.org/gce-uks-young-ambassadors-visit-josh/

Updates on the statistics from India

Here are some recent findings that Maju from Oxfam India sent us - they're at  http://www.firstpost.com/india/only-7-percent-schools-rte-compliant-rte-forum-684879.html