Vmeet- When eVidyaloka volunteers meet

The Vmeet, as we call it in eVidyaloka, is a step forward to help build a stronger and sustainable volunteer community for eVidyaloka. Vmeet, that comes from volunteer meet is an effort to bring together volunteers residing in a particular city to meet and share experiences of volunteering with eVidyaloka. This year, we have been particularly at it to conceptualize and make the meet happen across the globe.

This year eVidyaloka piloted seven Vmeets, with a total number of about 140 volunteers participating across all loactions.  Listed below are dates and venue of meets:

                                          Bangalore – 08^th June 2019 – Cubbon Park 

Mumbai – 27^th July 2019 – Renaissance Club International, Andheri, Mumbai 

New Delhi– 17^th Aug 2019 – Stirring Minds, Asaf Ali Rd, Turkman Gate, New Delhi

Hyderabad – 24^th Aug 2019 – Eat Street, Tank Bund

Chennai – 07^th Sep – AID India Office, Royapettah, Chennai

San Jose – 08^th Sep – Inchins Bamboo Garden Restaurant, 55 River Oaks Pl #70, San Jose, CA

London – 21st Sep 2019 – Canary Wharf

When a gathering is of passionate people, who have found a way to channelize their passion, an explosion of ideas and views is bound to happen. In each Vmeet we have been witness to such a phenomenon. What ran common in all the gatherings is the undying spirit to make a difference in the lives of rural children. What they teach from books is a small part of the contribution that they make. The actual impact is instilling the capacity to dream of a better life and achieve them among the children.

Apart from sharing experiences, the volunteers came up with some suggestions as well:

• Subject wise discussion groups on social media
• Phonetics as a subject to be introduced
• Improving the regional language skills of the children
• Need for atleast half yearly Vmeets

The discussion also revolved around the eVidyaloka model as such. The convenience given to the volunteers, who are able to teach from wherever they are, was much appreciated. The realtime connect with the children was another highlight of the model. Another aspect was that of the Class Assistant’s (CA) role.  Even during the times when internet network goes weak, classes doesn’t get much hampered, thanks to the CAs. In such situations, Class Assistants play a major role in engaging the class. The volunteers send offline material and the CA conducts classes as directed by the volunteer. We did have one CA participating at the Delhi meet and one Field coordinator at the Chennai meet.

What each Vmeet left behind is a plan for the next one, and a lot of experiences that spoke loudly about the connect that volunteers have with their students. This is the connect that will bring the real change that eVidyaloka envisions.