The American India Foundation (AIF) organized the third annual edition of "Let us do something together for Punjab" event at the government middle school in Bappiana Village of Mansa.
The event focused on spreading awareness among students and community members against social evils like illiteracy, drug addiction, female foeticide, dowry, and aimed to replace these with positive interventions for promoting health and hygiene, cleanliness and importance of girl's education.
The event included active participation of students of various government schools in the district through cultural performances and activities.
"AIF has been working towards India's democratic and economic growth since 2001, when the Gujarat earthquake had shook the nation and led to tragic and colossal damage. We have invested more than USD 92 million and have positively impacted the lives of 2.3 million Indians. In a long time, I have never seen a national leader so charismatically inspire the NRIs to reconnect with their motherland. I think there is an immense opportunity to help strengthen Prime Minister Modi's vision of re-building the nation," said American India Foundation's trustee Satjiv Chahil, who was in India to attend the event.
"The need of the hour is not only to bridge the digital divide, but also to address the looming social, gender, infrastructure and culture divides. Globally, the Indian diaspora is a 25 million people strong community. Just like the Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana, where the government is inviting each MP to adopt one village, we can catalyse this process exponentially if every NRI pledges to adopt and work towards developing one model village," he added.
Since 2006, under the aegis of the American India Foundation and in association with Government of Punjab, Satjiv has been working towards transforming education in Mansa district, which was earlier known for one of the worst school dropout ratios in Punjab.
Since 2010, the American India Foundation has implemented the Digital Equalizer program across 40 government schools of Mansa which focuses on skill enhancement of subject teachers on 'effective use of technology and pedagogical practices' and caters holistic development of students through various activities/ interventions at schools.
Major transformation at the grassroots is visible since last few years including construction of computer labs in the government middle schools in Narinderpura and Bappiana, solar power back-up for uninterrupted teaching, construction of girls toilets in schools, and installation of Dish Solar Cooker and Reverse Osmosis (RO) plant for purified water to prevent water-borne diseases.
Aligned with the Prime Minister's vision of 'Swachh School Swachh Bharat' campaign, the American India Foundation has also been supporting students to ensure cleanliness in schools and neighbourhood.
The third annual edition of the "Let us do something together for Punjab" event included a session on 'Health and Hygiene' by Dr. Dumeli, a session on 'Drug addictions' by Raj Joshi, and a session on 'Girls' education' by Dr. Jasveer Singh, besides a play, choreography and several skits on social issues, and traditional Gidda and Bhangra performed by students of various schools.
The students attending the event were given 'tools for mind' such as dictionaries, pencils, rubber, sharpener and other stationery.
