(1888PressRelease)
July 04, 2009 - Institute of Leadership and Institutional Development (ILID), a leading Bangalore-based non-profit organization today announced expansion of its 'Pygmalion' program. The program incepted in 2005 facilitates learning of English skills among poor children in government schools. While it started as a program for government school children to discover the joy of learning English, today Pygmalion has evolved into a broader program focused on empowering children with Spoken English skills and teachers with better English teaching skills. The Global Fund for Children (GFC), a global grant making organization that is active in India has stepped in to support ILID’s Pygmalion program. Two children, Shivaraj and Jyothi Lakshmi, who have benefited from the program, were present at the media event to share their experience.
The significant initial success has led to IILD expanding the program to cover 35000 children across 250 government schools by 2010. Currently 82 schools are closely monitored under the program. Infact, ILID’s aim is to cover all government schools in Karnataka by 2012. To this end, the organization is looking to partner with the state government of Karnataka.
Pygmalion is delivered free at the schools right from computers (upto 250 used computers have since been donated), software, and the curriculum to train the teachers. The schools which are part of the project only chip-in with an UPS and a pair of speakers. The program extensively uses computer- aided instruction, role playing and interactive games to teach English to children from poor communities in Karnataka who come to the schools. Pygmalion attempts to involve professionals in the Pygmalion program both to enable further expansion of the program and also to involve them in the social sector.
In his comments, Dr. Jayaram, Director, ILID, said, “In a global economy employability requires good English, communication and computer skills which are either not imparted or insufficiently imparted in government schools. This is a gap that Pygmalion attempts to address in a sustainable and scaleable manner. There is also another significant spillover benefit out of our program – we end up creating a huge pool of trained teachers who can teach English with enhanced effectiveness. By empowering them in these areas, we are enabling them to participate and play a constructive role in the globalized environment and society.”
“Even a cursory research will reveal that majority of the rural children/youth fail in English. Otherwise brilliant children from rural areas lag behind in self confidence or feel insecure to stand in front of urban employers who speak fluently and with ease. Pygmalion (and its youth version, Ekalavya) stemmed from this understanding and by expanding it further we hope to make a difference to more and more lives in rural Karnataka,” he further added.
According to Dr. Vineeta Gupta, Program Officer, South Asia, The Global Fund for Children, "The Institute of Leadership and Institutional Development encapsulates the kind of innovative approach that the Global Fund for Children seeks in all of its partnerships. ILID's unique approach involves teaching English to some of the poorest students, thereby leveling the playing field and addressing a gap in education that might otherwise impede their future success in the professional world. Additionally, by working closely with teachers in these schools, ILID creates stronger and more beneficial relationship with a vital piece of the education infrastructure."
Talking about her experience, Ms. Jyothi Lakshmi, Pygmalion student, said, “Learning English has never been such fun. The computer helps us in learning the curriculum in a very interesting & interactive way. It helps improve the thinking capacity. I felt I learnt a lot better through the computer.”
According to Shivaraj,” I always dreamt about working successfully in cities for which a good command over English is a must. Am thankful to Pygmalion program for helping me gain that confidence.”
About ILID:
ILID is a division of Kasturi Trust, a not-for-profit organization that caters to the leadership and institutional development needs of Developmental organizations. With invaluable support from its Trustees, Ms. Rohini Nilekani, Ms. Asha Dinesh and Ms. Kumari Shibulal, ILID is an umbrella organization that helps social entrepreneurs improve and innovate to deliver the best results possible to the poor and the disadvantaged. In the midst of their daily operations, most NGOs today struggle with two key issues- sustainability and scalability. These are issues that are critical not only to their growth, but often times to their very existence. ILID, with its extensive private and public sector experience is passionate about bringing in change and infusing professionalism, result-orientation and corporate pragmatism into the non profit sector.
About The Global Fund for Children:
The Global Fund for Children’s (GFC) is a grant making organization based in United States. Its mission is to advance the dignity of children and youth around the world. GFC pursues its mission by making small grants to innovative community-based organizations working with some of the world’s most vulnerable children and youth, complemented by a dynamic media program that, through books, documentary photography, and film, highlights the issues affecting children.
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