Gopali Youth Welfare Society

Gopali Youth Welfare Society, known as GYWS, is a government-registered non-governmental organization in West Bengal. It was founded in 2002 and registered under the West Bengal Societies Registration Act, 1961 on April 20, 2005. It is run by IIT Kharagpur students under the guidance of IIT Kharagpur professors and Gopali village residents. The main areas that GYWS focuses on are child education, women empowerment, and the abolition of child labor. It has launched a free education initiative, social awareness drives, and vocational training programs.

GYWS aspires to create an ecosystem for youth that will provide them with the skills, resources, and incentives to attain long-term development objectives. GYWS exists to better the social and economic conditions in and around Kharagpur and inspire and guide young people across India to emulate what we've learned.

Mission[]

GYWS aims to develop an ecosystem for the youth to provide them with skills, resources, and motivation to achieve sustainable development goals.

Vision[]

GYWS exists to improve the social and economic condition in and around Kharagpur and inspire and guide the youth to replicate our learnings across the nation.

History[]

Mrinal Kanti Bhanja, a local from Gopali, had the vision to give back to society by assisting in the upliftment of the less fortunate. Gopali Youth Welfare Society was founded after meeting a few IITians who also had a similar goal in mind but didn't have a suitable platform. The Young Samaritans, along with the IIT Kharagpur professors, embarked on this journey together. Over the years, GYWS has been providing primary education to children at JVM. It has also undertaken various social efforts to uplift Society!

"GYWS is assisting the social, economic, and cultural development of society's weakest sectors while pushing individuals to seek answers to their everyday difficulties within locally available resources!" remarked Mr. Mrinal Kanti.

GYWS was founded in 2002 and registered under the West Bengal Societies Registration Act, 1961, on April 20, 2005. Since then, GYWS has taken many initiatives to achieve its vision.

Initiatives[]

Jagriti Vidya Mandir

Students of Jagriti Vidya Mandir

Education[]

Jagriti Vidya Mandir: JVM was established in April 2008 to educate every child for a better tomorrow. It is located in Tangasool village, 5 kilometers away from the IIT campus. JVM aspires to be a full-fledged residential school for students of underprivileged families, offering a combination of courses at +2 level and vocational training and career guidance. As of now, it has classes up to  5th grade and is gearing up for secondary education.

Navodaya Coaching: Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya is a dream for underprivileged kids. It aims to provide them with a free of cost learning environment with a brilliant quality of education. GYWS has been conducting weekly tests, regular assignments with basic Mental ability skill for their preparation for Navodaya. This is being done in order to monitor their progress, help them to Crack the entrance and continue their schooling at JNVs. The rest of the students go to Hijli High School to complete their education from class 6.

RISE: The RISE (Reform and Innovate School Education) initiative was started with an aim to improve the quality of education imparted with schools under the LiGHT initiative. Through LiGHT Centres, RISE approached various schools throughout the nation for an online workshop. The collaboration with Ek Tara brought in teachers with expertise and experience in early childhood development. The aim of the workshop was to provide teachers across different parts of the country the means of implementing activity-based learning lesson plans during pandemic and post-pandemic and to promote student-centric teaching methods for the holistic development of students.

"Clean India - Green India." participated by LiGHT, GYWS

PRAYAS[]

PRAYAS is an extension of the Gopali Youth Welfare Society. GYWS is beginning youth rehabilitation programs using local resources. Our primary purpose is to enhance the economic situation in the area by improving the employment and establishment of businesses that return their profits to society. They aim to provide individuals with a medium to ensure the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals of the backward sections of the Organization through persistent efforts. PRAYAS mainly focuses on Networking and Business Development. It is an initiative that supports social entrepreneurship as it believes that social enterprises can prove to be pioneers in community development. Under this program, PRAYAS helps people to set up and grow their businesses. For a more detailed information, do visit Prayas.

LiGHT[]

LIGHT, an initiative of GYWS, is an acronym for Living In Greater Horizons Together. Following the Gopali Youth Welfare Society (GYWS) near the area of Kharagpur, the Society planned to revive similar models of community development and youth empowerment throughout the nation. LIGHT currently has 12 centres - Bhopal, Gaya, Kancheepuram, Samvedana, Sikkim, Raipur Mandla, Kurukshetra, FFI, and more than 160+ members. The 2020-21 session has been a success and GYWS has been conducting several events like this one. The LiGHT Centres aim to build a network of autonomous student-run centres across India, to provide them with a platform for ensuring the fulfilment of Sustainable Development Goals for the weaker sections of the Society. For a more detailed information, do visit LiGHT.

Aarohan[]

Aarohan is a program initiated and coordinated by the Gopali Youth Welfare Society to create ways and platforms for students and communities of IIT Kharagpur to contribute their unique way to the growth of Kharagpur. The AAROHAN initiative is to carry out social work with other interested people and communities from IIT Kharagpur, except for GYWS members. On Children's Day, Mother Teresa Hall performs a "Children's Day Donation Drive" in collaboration with all the hallmarks of the halls. The money raised was used to buy stationery such as books, pencils, and food. Stationery and food parcels are distributed to all students. There was also a drawing competition in a few classes. The self-sacrificing activities of JVM students in partnership with the Technology Adventure Society (TAdS) were held at IIT Kharagpur near the Technology Students Gymkhana. Various activities were performed, including zorbing, archery, and Jumping Jacks. It was an excellent postgraduate activity for JVM students. Aarohan is also known for its programs like ‘ ‘KGP Blood Connect’ and ‘Pedals for progress’.

Skill Development[]

Skill development is a way of finding and improving the skill gaps that exist. It has been initiated and coordinated by the Gopali Youth Welfare Society. It's a method to realize your mistakes, enhance your expertise and ensure that you improve yourself. GYWS held a tailoring workshop that included a training test, farmers' training on precision farming and vermicomposting for Gopali farmers, a computer workshop for Gopali residents, and youth vocational training.

Past and Present Activities[]

Covid-19[]

During the Covid-19 epidemic, an estimated 5000+ masks and a total of 2000+ food items, Oximeters, Oxygen Cylinders, Oxygen concentrators costing more than 1 lakh are distributed to poor families from 7 valleys. GYWS also came forward and handed over their boats to the police to assist with transportation. We began raising money for the "One Donation-One Family-One Month" in May. A total of more than 10 Lakhs was collected together with support from the Dasgupta 450 BPL families. In this epidemic, we raised more than 1.3 lakh with the help of 270+ fans and friends. The fund was used to provide them with food, medicine, and necessities for families affected by the covid. The generous contributions of people and IIT Kharagpur professors helped GYWS support many families from Gopali. Their efforts were also appreciated in a tweet by the then Minister of Human Resource Development, Dr. Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank. GYWS collaborated with Feeding India to distribute 700 food kits to JVM students' families, families of daily wagers and laborers and Tribal groups from neighboring villages. GYWS started their initiative CoviRelief, a fundraiser on Ketto to help the cause and managed to raise over 1.3 Lakhs with the help of 269 supporters, including friends and family. GYWS in association with GOPIO (Global Organization of People of Indian Origin), an international organization in Paris, France to helped 80-100 covid affected families from Gopali for a month by distributing basic food essentials in June.

Parents as Co-educators [PACE][]

PACE was designed to help parents bond with their children while engaging them in fun activities. These activities were aimed at developing their fine and gross motor skills while ensuring their social and emotional development. Many children benefited from the program that ran for 7 weeks starting 22 March 2021. Parents found their children to be more expressive, with increased attention spans, post actively participating in performing these well-curated activities. The appreciative words of parents and photos of their children engaging in the activities from the Parents As Co-educators Program testifies its success in providing children with fun recreational activities together with bonding time with their parents. Overall we have found that 119 students actively participated by performing a minimum of 5 activities, 63% of parents were willing to continue the activities for long periods of time and 79% of the parents felt that the weekly volunteer calling was beneficial.

Media Coverage[]

GYWS has been publishing various articles on social and mainstream media.^[1][2] The articles are written both in national and regional newspapers and published in 3 different languages: English, Hindi and Bengali. GYWS has also conducted several workshops and events and their achievements have been mentioned in several newspapers, the latest being about the CoviRelief drive. During the Corona period, GYWS shifted to digital media. They had taken several initiatives to help the people of Gopali village and it was produced in the digital media. The link to the same can be found here.^[3] The then HRD minister, Mr. Ramesh Pokhriyal, had also posted on Twitter^[4] about the work they did during the Covid period.

Pratirav[]

Pratirav is the quarterly newsletter of the Gopali Youth Welfare Society. It has all the initiatives undertaken by us and the progress made in the past three months. They have covered various topics in the past editions. Gender equality, how GYWS is helping youth across the country in replicating our learning, what could children do so that they do not get bored in the lockdown are a few to list. Pratirav covers a broad range of subjects that not only include the various social issues but also address the daily needs.

You can read the various editions of Pratirav on our website. The link to the same can be found here.^[5]

Workshops[]

“Machine intelligence is the last invention that humanity will ever need to make.” GYWS conducted a free workshop on Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning. The workshop covered the basic concepts and applications required for school students from grade 7th to grade10th. Those who attended got a chance to interact with IITians and get certificates for attending the workshop.

GYWS had also conducted various knowledge sessions in April last year. Amongst these was the “Tech as a Tool” session with Datakind- an organization depicting the power of data science in the service of humanity. The session began with a brief overview of what programs Datakind^[6] conducts- such as the Datakind Labs,^[7] DataCorps^[8] to DataDive,^[9] and Community Events.^[10] They also spoke about how machine learning is helping them to work for various underprivileged communities. At the end of the session, a doubt clearing session was held on subjects such as Natural language processing. The various questions were satisfactorily answered by the panelists. The session concluded with a discussion on how technology is a two-edged sword, and one needs to be as careful while using it.

To view this session, visit this link.^[11]

GYWS has conducted various programs for the students and teachers of Jagriti Vidya Mandir. PACE,^[12] that is Parents as Co-educators, was one of them. This was done to emphasize the role of the parents in teaching their ward. Activities were sent to the students that had to be done every day and submitted within a week. Updates were taken over the weekend. A teacher training workshop was also held to emphasize the importance of activity-based learning. Teachers were also taught the use of modern-day tools using which the students could understand the various concepts better.

GYWS also held a social fest in April 2021. The event was conducted online on Microsoft Teams. A panel discussion and a Tech workshop were held. The audience was taught Social Entrepreneurship by various industry experts. They were taught the importance of Technology in the Social Sector.

References[]

External links[]

• Official Website
• Facebook
• LinkedIn
• Instagram
• Twitter
• PRAYAS
• LiGHT