Sharing the gift of knowledge - Nena Aruna 2019/20
As written by Rtr. Wimal Vishan,
“Learning gives creativity, creativity leads to thinking, thinking provides knowledge, knowledge makes you great.”
Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam
Just stop and ponder; what would happen if children didn’t have enough resources to learn? All their dreams, their parents’ dreams would just go down the drain. Living in the 21st century, we no longer practice castes and jobs which are inherited from generation to generation. This is where Rotaract Club of University of Moratuwa initiated ‘Nena Aruna’, a Community Service project, to improve the educational sector of underprivileged schools.
As the 1st phase of the project with the help of around 80 rotaractors, we concluded 49 seminars by nourishing the minds of G.C.E. O/L students in 11 schools covering districts such as Colombo, Kaluthara, Matale, Kandy, Kurunegala, and Galle. Our main focus was on Mathematics and ICT subjects for the young minds facing the exams in 2019 and 2020. It was more encouraging when students from lower grades also participated in the seminars in some schools which showed us the interest these young minds had in learning. This was made a reality, thanks to our sponsors MAS Active Linea Intimo (Pvt) Ltd and Bank of Ceylon, Matale branch. The seminars were conducted in 11 schools spanning from 13th July 2019 to 13th October 2019.
Most of the seminars were conducted related to Mathematics and was conducted in 9 schools as Malamulla Vidyalaya- Panadura, Athipola Vidyalaya- Matale, Nandana Vidyalaya – Matale, Sandagala Vidyalaya – Kurunagala, Thalahena Maha Vidyalaya – Malabe, Pinnaduwa Jayanthi Vidyalaya – Galle, SOS Children’s Village – Piliyandala, Owilikanda Maha Vidyalaya – Matale and Madduma Bandara Maha Vidyalaya – Kandy. The young minds were given a great experience during the seminars by conducting subject related games which made them think outside the box and sharpened their minds which is essential in preparing them for the upcoming examinations. At the end of each seminar, we didn’t forget to let the students play a game of their choice with us as well.
The rest of the seminars were conducted under the name ‘UNIVAC’ which were intended on discussing ICT model papers. Those four seminars were successfully completed in Moratu Maha Vidyalaya and De Soysa Maha Vidyalaya, Moratuwa.
The second phase of the project was to distribute books for the underprivileged schools which would help these young minds to gather more information to be more creative, think rationally, and to gain knowledge. 600 books were given by the Rotary Club of Colombo West as a donation for these schools but due to the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic in Sri Lanka, this mission was postponed. But once the country wins the fight against this virus, our first aim is to distribute these books to the schools along with some workshops to the students.
All in all, ‘Nena Aruna’ was a project through which we were able to help the young spirit of tomorrow to make a positive mindset towards learning and moving forward in life with success.