Initiative by Mr Mahesh Sangade (PGP 2015) and his fiancé Ms Anuppama Das
The COVID-19 pandemic has shattered the livelihoods of millions of people into a chaotic twister. As the administration, healthcare and security personnel battle on the frontlines, a lot of other sectors such as school education have been drastically impacted. The schools had to shift the entire operations online literally overnight! Apart from the mainstream challenges of systems infrastructure and upgradation of teachers for effective online engagement, another major topic of children’s psychological issues has peaked recently.
The children are engaged in back to back online sessions which often lead to zoom fatigue. They are certainly missing the school environment, face to face interaction with teachers, outdoor sports and fun with friends due to extended lockdown. My fiancé Anuppama Das being in the education field for over a decade, we are extensively connected to many school students. We received a lot of calls from her ex-students about rising depression levels in kids due to these multiple factors. This was the trigger for our initiative AmbiClass (formerly known as Powerkid.in).
We started FREE online gratitude practise and daily fun sessions to combat the problem. With the humble beginning of sessions with two students, we now have 100+ students participating in these sessions in just one month! The age category is 8 to 22 years and we conduct activities such as meditation, knowledge sharing by students, debates, exercise, fun dance sessions and many more. The gratitude practise consists of the first step wherein children are taught about being grateful for everything they already have or accept the way they are to be at Peace with themselves. Post the same, we introduce the concept of Power in which they are guided on being happily unsatisfied and be inquisitive about their personal growth opportunities. Our Power Peace Practice has helped a lot of students and we received commendable praise from parents noticing a morale boost in their kids in these difficult times.
Moreover, we coordinated with a rural school at Ramakona in Madhya Pradesh to shift the entire teaching online. We trained with the principal and teachers with basic knowledge of online tools and effective online engagement with students. Later, we connected to five active parents from each section and highlighted the benefit of online education in these times. We made posters of these star parents as influencers and then circulated it in the WhatsApp groups of parents for awareness. Over the period of 20 days, we helped them to get most of the students online so as to start the classes which were shut for over two months!
Apart from the above philanthropic activities, we also started a course at www.ambiclass.com on Managing Social Media Influence understanding that a lot of time is being spent by children on social media. In the recent era of dynamic personal, academic and professional structures, it’s extremely critical to master the art of influence at a young age. We have curated the course on social influence mastery for youngsters to create their own personal brand by putting together years of experience of our facilitators. There are ample of benefits which can be reaped through this course such as improved visibility, better relationships, enhanced academic performance, financial literacy and many more. Moreover, in the process, our goal is to get the children to create the best version of themselves.
We continue to do our bit of service to the education system and stakeholders through both philanthropic and business activities. Lots more in the pipeline! In the meantime, we continue to wish health and safety for you and your family.
Be well.
