Diplomacy for PeaceNation for Peace

Social issues and problems to encourage compassion and responsible citizenship

The program's aim is to sensitise people, particularly school, college, university students and young professionals, to social issues and concerns to inculcate compassion and responsible citizenship needed by a decent human being and to enlist their commitment to resolve social issues to make society human and just.

12th December 2018 – Hyderabad

Social issues and problems to encourage compassion and responsible citizenshipCOVA and ICAN (Indian Children’s Action Network) organised the 14th Annual Display of Project Works on different Social Issues by school students on 12th December 2018. The objective of the program is to sensitise people, especially school, college, university students and young professionals to social issues and concerns to inculcate in them compassion and responsible citizenship required of a good human being and enlist their commitment to address social problems to make society humane and just.

Key Take-Aways:

1. School students were taken beyond academic subjects to engage with social issues to become sensitive human beings and socially responsible citizens.

2. 220 Students from 31 schools worked on 5 Topics for Project Works for 2018 viz.

a) Government Hospitals,

b) Public Transport,

c) Child Safety,

d) Fake News and

e) Problems Parents Face in Educating Children.

3. Students were trained in the methodology of social sciences that included field visits, interaction with stakeholders and data collection to prepare Project Reports.

4. Students were also encouraged to undertake advocacy with officials and social actions with communities/stakeholders to address the problems they have identified as part of their Project Work.

5. Five case studies of Student Teams who engaged in responsible activism to address specific problems they encountered as part of their Project Works are appended as examples of sensitization gained by the students to engage in action for social transformation.

The Process:

Students compiled information from libraries and internet, undertook field visits, interacted with people and officials, made notes of their experiences, came up with interventions to address the problems studied and finally prepared the Project Reports documenting the entire process under the mentorship of their teachers.

Teachers enrolled in this Program were trained in facilitating the students to gain a systematic understanding of important social issues and initiatives to address them by using the methodology of social sciences. This program provides an opportunity for students to become aware, compassionate and responsible citizens.

All the Project Works undertaken by 220 students from 31 schools on the five Themes Were Displayed at a Program organised by COVA at their office in Bandlaguda, Hyderabad. Over 1500 students from different schools attended the Display and interacted with the authors of the Projects and gained insights into the social issues covered.

Mr. Dilip Kumar Gir of USA inaugurated the Display of Project Works and inspected the works of the students in detail. He was very appreciative of the effort of students and action-oriented awareness they have acquired as a result of engagement in Project Works and commended the action taken by some Teams in addressing specific social issues like problems in Government Hospitals, Fake news, child safety and finding solutions as part of the Projects.

Delivering the Valedictory Address, Mr. S.A. Huda, Chief Guest, said that “the work students have done and the interventions to address the problems taken by the students are commendable”. Mr. Viqar Ahmed Shafeeq, CEO of Sharp Detective & Security Service and the Guest of Honour for the Program also spoke and “urged the students to carry forward with such initiative to understand the social issues and solve them.”

The Program concluded with the award of prizes and certificates to outstanding projects. Brief Overviews of 4 Project Works submitted by students for the Program are appended as samples. ELICO Pharma and Sharp Detective and Security Service sponsored the Project Works Display Program.

Feedback from Students and Teachers:

‘I got to know about many government schemes and I am going to participate in awareness programs about Child Safety in the future.’ Fazilath Begum, Class 10- Javid Mission High School

“Project Works is very beneficial to understand different social issues’. Talha Soha Ali Class 9-Crown High School.

‘My students got practical knowledge while working on the project and they now have had enough confidence to speak about their work and social issues on or off stage’. Ms. Syeda Afroze, Teacher, Faizan Islamic Mission High School

‘The students are now more observant and talk about the issues and changes they see in society.’ Husna Farheen, Teacher, Alfaz International School.

Topics for Future

When asked to suggest topics for the coming year, students listed Gender Discrimination, WhatsApp, Poverty, Traffic Education, Under-Age Driving, Corruption, and Suicides. The teachers also came up with Women’s’ rights, Caste Discrimination, Ban of Alcohol/Gutka, Consumer rights, Wrong use of internet and Fake News.

Project Works Case Studies:

Case Study: 1

Topic: Government Hospitals
Zabiullah and Md Saifullah from MS Creative High School

The action was required, and we did it with immediate effect’ says Zabiullah and Md Saifullah from MS Creative School. Students as part of the 14th Project works program worked on the topic of government hospitals. The boys went to Osmania General hospital and found that the place was overcrowded and the premises very unhygienic. They also found that patients and their attendants were finding it difficult to access information about where the facilities are. This motivated the students to do something about the situation and contribute in their own little way to change. They began with buying a couple of face masks, some bleaching powder, some floor cleaner, and dustbins. They picked up the trash in some of the common areas, cleaned the floors, put some disinfectant and put up dustbins in the area for the public to use. In order to bring in the behavioral change, they made posters on not spitting and keeping the surroundings clean and put up in the areas where there was a lot of littering and spitting. Later, they tied a couple of ropes at places that were prone to crowding to make sure people follow a Queue. The students are visiting the hospital once every week and repeat the same.

Case Study: 2

Topic: Problems Parents Face in Educating Children
Syeda and Juveriya from Iqra Mission High School

Syeda says that the major issues faced by parents are of finance, illiteracy, health, cost of traveling to schools, ritual beliefs, child safety, child marriages, and child labor. Apart from these issues faced by parents, they found that student’s attitudes and misbehavior are a big concern for parents. The most helpless situation highlighted was that some parents are illiterate and could not provide proper educational guidance to their children.

Syeda and Juveriya from Iqra Mission High School said that ‘After seeing the condition and situation of some parents, we decided to help the needy as well as interested students. We have started giving tuition classes for everyone. To get some needy students admitted to schools in the next academic year, we have decided to collect donations. We are also convincing people to start tutoring needy children in their respective areas.’

Case Study: 3

Topic: Fake News
Syeda and Qhatibha from Gyan High School

Students after completing their systemic study on Fake News issue came up with ‘Helping Camp’, an initiative to spread awareness about the issue of Fake News and restrict its reach. Syeda and Qhatibha students of Gyan Educational Academy made pamphlets and distributed among students and people in Jahangirabad area. ‘We told them to be Alert’ students said while explaining the ill-effects of fake news.

For awareness through social media, students sent the message to their friends and relatives which says:

All the Users of Social media before you spread a news.

1) Consider the source 2) Read beyond 3) Check the author 4) Ask experts 5) Investigate the News.

We can’t stop fake news from being made. But we can stop sharing it.

Case Study: 4

Topic: Child Safety
Iqra and Urooj from Alfaz International High School

Working on the topic of Child Safety, students of Alfaz International School visited Government Schools and interviewed School principals and teachers to check the safety measures implemented and adopted by them. They found out that strict rules for visitors and precautions for the unexpected event are in place as per the guidelines of the schools, but have not been really discussed in the classroom. Therefore, the students came up with Awareness Campaign, where they visited Florida school and Anwar-Ul-Islam and held a session to create awareness with the help of Posters on topics like- Good Touch Bad touch, Road Accidents, Emotional Abuse, Heavy School Bags, Corporal punishment, Contaminated Water, Dirty Toilets, Child Road Accidents, Bullying and kidnapping, Molestation of Girls and Child Abuse that children can be exposed to.

Case Study: 5

Topic: Fake News
Syed Abdul Muqtadir Quadri and Syed Mohd Najam Uddin Quadri from MS Creative School for Boys

While almost all the teams had done a wonderful job of understanding Fake News, its types, how it was being spread and steps to counter fake news, Syed Abdul Muqtadir Quadri and Syed Mohd Najam Uddin Quadri from the MS Creative School went an extra mile to find out some of the incidents of Fake News and fraudulent messages being spread in their locality and bust them.

1. When they came across a WhatsApp forward from a group named “Zebra” about a child Mir Ashraf Ali being kidnapped from ‘Talabkatta’, they went on to find the source of the original message, and found out the address of the alleged victim after 5 hours of search, visited his house, only to find the child at home having a whale of time with his family. When students told Mir Meraj Ali the father of the child and his family about the fake news, they reported this to the police.

 

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