- Miriam School, Badamtam High School and Risheehat High School were selected for this project which is a part of the TEACH Me initiative
Bala Sarda, Founder and CEO of VAHDAM® India inaugurated 3 learning digital centers for tea growers children in Darjeeling. The endeavour is a part of Vahdam’s flagship CSR initiative, TEACH Me. The first digital learning center was inaugurated at Miriam School, Darjeeling. The second learning centre was inaugurated at the Badamtam High School where BYJU smart TVs and android boxes were installed to support the digital infrastructure and learning.
The entire project was supported by the Goodricke Group and CINI, Child in Need Institute. Dr. Samir Chaudhuri, Founder of CINI, also graced the occasion and was a part of the inauguration.
The third learning centre was inaugurated at the Risheehat High School. Risheehat tea estate belongs to the Jayshree group and all senior members including President Jha waspresent at the inauguration.
Bala Sarda and Ketan Desai, Chief Sustainability Officer, VAHDAM® India also spent an engaging day with the children at the Child Activity Centres at Rohini and Goomtee Tea Estates.
These Child Activity Centres were started amid Covid two-and-a-half years ago in partnership with CRY – Child Rights and You. Trina Chakrabarti, Regional Director (East), CRY hopes that the initiative continues to benefit students in the tea gardens to keep up with their learnings in the digital format.
At all these digital centres, Bala Sarda interacted with the enthusiastic group of children, who seemed eager to share their experiences of “learning in the digital mode”. At Goomtee Child Activity Centre, Bala went down the memory lane, as he shared how his father, Madhav Sarda’s vision for Vahdam India had helped him shape his own dreams of entrepreneurship with a touch of social responsibility. “It is always good to have a dream. Dreams are important and you can live and work to achieve them. And for that, you will have to work hard, be sincere and stay committed,” said Sarda
Vahdam India partnered with BYJUs amid COVID in October 2020 to provide top-quality digital learning to children in remote tea gardens absolutely free of cost owing to the lockdown and schools remaining shut. This ensured that children could access and continue with digital learning at par with the best in the country. Wednesday was another ‘big’ leap in the journey to ensure that digital learning continues to remain a thrust area.
Vahdam India’s flagship CSR initiative, TEACH Me recently completed 5 years. It has benefited nearly 13,000 children in 68 tea estates, schools, and community centers across the country. 23 digital classrooms have been set up in tea estates with the help of on ground partners that include Child Rights and You (CRY), Broadleaf Health and Education Alliance (Broadleaf HEA) USA, Terres des Hommes, Child In Need Institute (CINI). Furthermore, 48 Vahdam India Scholarship for Higher Education has been granted which supports young individuals from tea estates who aspire to pursue higher education but lack the means to do so.
Vahdam India is planning a larger TEACH Me impact with more initiatives to make the children of tea gardens digitally savvy. Digital education has made a way to bridge the quantity and the quality gap.
