Last year was a very successful year for JA India as we saw growth in many areas. Between April 2012 and March 2013, we reached out to a total of 101,136 students through JA work readiness programs as well as competitions like India Business Challenge (IBC) and Social Innovation Relay (SIR). Our programs covered over 300 institutions across the 6 Indian cities/regions of Bangalore, Chandigarh, Chennai, Delhi/Gurgaon, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Pune and towns/villages near them.  

Programs 

Starting from 2012, we began focusing on a phased program implementation or Waterfall approach, by engaging the students early on, through the Mini Factory Model (MFM) and World of Work (WOW) programs and

JA program in session, NCR

then continuing to interact with them year on year for follow-on programs. In the second phase, the Work and Interest (WIN) program helps students identify their 'Interest' as well as sustain and nurture it, making sure they don't lose track of what they are interested in amongst all the studying they have to do! All of these programs set the stage for our flagship program - JA Careers with a Purpose (JACWAP) which seeks to enhance students' understanding of industry, skills requirements and professional work paths that best engage their 'interests'; and the steps students can take to track a path that serves their individual intent and purpose the best.

The JACWAP program was the most extensive one last year, impacting more than 52,000 students. This was followed by the MFM and the Work and Interest (WIN) programs. Correspondingly, about 60% of the students covered were from grades IX to XII, with the remaining from grades V to VII. Our sessions through the year were conducted by around 1886 volunteers out of which 1810 were corporate volunteers and the rest volunteered in an individual capacity.

Competitions  

The year 2012 also saw the introduction of two new JA competitions in India. The JA Bechtel Worldwide "Build a better world" video essay contest for middle and high  school  students  invited  students to  demonstrate how  they  would

STEM Innovation Camp

 contribute to a better world based on what they had learnt in JA classroom sessions. Both the winning students and their schools received prizes. The  STEM (Science Technology Engineering Mathematics) Innovation camp, supported by Blackberry, for 15-18 year olds helped students apply their STEM skills towards solving real life social problems. The winning team came up with an idea to use retina scans to prevent drunken driving and will be competing in the worldwide finals in June 2013.

Partnerships  

We also focused on broadening our partnership with other organisations. Some of our initiatives included starting pilot programs for school ownership with ExxonMobil in Bangalore,  collaborating with NGO Aarambh to conduct JA sessions in slums in Mumbai and working with Lilavati Bai Podar school on EnVision 2013 - students' vision for an eco-friendly India.

Impact Assessment 

Starting last year, we also began the process of assessing our impact on student thinking by carrying out surveys of grade IX & X students about 3-6 months after they attended a JA program. We found that 60% of students think JA India programs are fun and connect the classroom to real life. About 65% of the students feel that after attending JA sessions, they are better able to take steps to reach their chosen career and that what they learnt in JA will help them be successful! Going forward, we plan to carry out similar assessments for volunteers, teachers and sponsors as well, so that we can continue to improve the JA experience for all the people involved.

As we enter the new academic year, we have set ourselves a target of reaching out to an additional 90,000 to 100,000 students, focusing on work readiness programs exclusively. Building on the momentum gained in 2012, we will continue to transition our student interactions towards a multi-stage, year-on-year model, so that students from grades 5-9 go through progressive work readiness modules. We aim to complete the transition by 2014.  

At the same time, we also plan to enhance the depth and comprehensiveness of existing work readiness modules such as JA - MFM (Product) as well as introduce new modules such as the JA World of Work (WOW) program targeting 7th grade students. The purpose of the WOW program is to expand the students' ideas about the world of work, revalidate their ideas on interest and introduce them to various Products, Services and Professions (PSP). WOW will also include a PSP fair where students can interact with people from different companies as well as independent professionals and get a first hand idea of what their work involves. We are also planning to increase the implementation depth and effectiveness of the JACWAP program by moving it from a single session format (where currently being executed in such manner) (JACWAP Lite) to multiple sessions.

As we scale up operations, measuring the qualitative impact of JA programs on student thinking has become even more important. We will enhance the breadth and depth of qualitative impact assessments that we began in 2012 and also introduce region-wise impact assessment.

Our work would not be possible without the dedication and commitment of our volunteers and the schools that facilitate our programs. As a token of our appreciation, in addition to the Volunteer Roll of Honour, from this year onwards, we have also instituted a School Roll of Honour which will be published on our website.

Avnita Bir is the principal of R.N Podar school, Mumbai 

In our school we pride ourselves on being able to express our beliefs without restraint or fear, be it students or staff. Sometimes this leads to dialogues that on one level make me proud of the work I do, yet humble me to the core. Here are some snippets of a real conversation between a student and teacher about the futility of CBSE board practicals. The current system has been accepted unequivocally by most schools, teachers, students and parents, until one day it was questioned by a student, trying to make the system more accountable. And the realization was nothing short of an awakening. A maturing of sorts!

STUDENT: What is the point of asking us students to copy physics experiments from reference books? And that too, before doing the experiment itself? The purpose of experiments should be to learn how to apply theoretical concepts in practice and how to present experimental data. The experiments we do in the lab should help us understand the approach to setting up experiments pertaining to a particular concept. But that doesn't happen in our board. After 2 years of lab work, all I'll remember are the values of carbon code resistors which we've been asked to memorize. On the other hand, the Advanced Placement (AP) exams actually ask us to design our own experiments to test specific concepts, which is a far better test of our conceptual understanding as well as creativity and individual thinking.

TEACHER: But don't you think this is because students never took practicals seriously and simply mass copied from each other a day prior to an exam? AP exams are respected but we mock our school/board exams. If we get this attitude right, you could see wonders coming out of our system as well. How many of you are ready to break the mould and invest time and effort in the right direction? Remember the buck stops here!

STUDENT: I completely agree with you ma'am. It is very wrong of the students to mass copy. But maybe they do that because they do not see the value in writing the journal as they do not learn anything by doing so. In which case, either the practical curriculum has not been designed keeping students' needs in mind or students' opinions are immature and puerile. I feel the teachers need to help students realize the significance of what they are learning. Another possible reason is that students know they can get away with it - mass copying a day before exams is enough to get marks! Now, even teachers take this for granted and pre-empt the students by telling them to copy. In my opinion, if it's worth our time, then we should do it the right way. If not, then we don't do it at all!

TEACHER: Very inspiring. In fact what we are trying to do with our Flipped Learning approach and through the Phyzok Fellowship program is exactly this. In fact they are even designing a campaign against rote learning and making classroom and lab learning a worthwhile experience. And you students have to play a very active role in this. It is every bit your right to demand the best kind of education from your teachers. Give them new ideas, in the right manner and be part of the change process by being responsible and doing your bit. Also be prepared to be the guinea pigs - Change has to begin somewhere!

STUDENT: Ma'am, you also mentioned the lack of respect for the CBSE system. The reason students don't respect the system is that the curriculum hasn't been updated in certain subjects (e.g. entrepreneurship, Political Science), and most of the preparation involves rote learning.  I don't know if CBSE expects that or if the system is so rigid that board examiners can only give marks for answers directly taken from the textbook, or whether it is a problem with teacher or student attitudes. But there is a problem. Ma'am, Your previous comment does give me hope and it's great that our school is taking steps towards change, but no change will happen unless we all, as you rightly pointed out, become responsible students. 

CBSE OFFICIAL: Ma'am if possible the entire debate should be sent to CBSE and maybe the Chairman and Director should be a part of it.

Pravin Mankar: The need to teach human values and soft skills

Pravin Mankar is a consultant with over 36 years experience in the pharmaceutical industry and volunteers with JA in Mumbai

In today's society, children are becoming increasingly influenced by what they see in the media. Their role models are no longer their family and friends but instead public personalities like cine artistes and cricketers. Advertisements that highlight brazen arrogance as a virtue and spread the message that anyone who has cash, has a right to possess, further confuse young minds and provide incorrect behavioural guidance to children, especially underprivileged children who may not have had any opportunity to learn better. As a consequence, they may adopt rude and confrontational attitudes when dealing with new circumstances.

In such a situation it is important for all of us - parents, educators, volunteers and corporate workers to ensure that we do not lose sight of basic human values such as respect, dignity and gratitude and seek to inculcate these in young people we interact with, both through example and through curricula. Even in the workplace, soft skills are highly prized and the foundation for these needs to be laid early on in childhood. Children need to be taught that no matter what the differences in appearance, circumstances or choices, each individual deserves to be treated with respect and dignity. This commitment is not only the foundation for a successful career, it is essential to succeed in the biggest undertaking of all - the business of Life.