Category: Education

How prepared are you – Do your Homework

Posted on by Aziz Ampanwala

Planning for a Childs future in terms of education is always in the top priority whenever you ask parents, education is that framework which will secure a Childs future and that’s why the emphasis on quality education is a set benchmark with parents who are willing to invest in their Childs education. Now talking about a Childs future, the basic research as a parent you would do is understand what does your child aspiration is and what does he want to become, I know that children these days get easily inspired after watching certain things  and it keeps on changing multiple times, however if we consider cost of education in any field today compared to say 1 or 2 decades, you will be surprised to know the inflation rate in education sector has been soaring more than 300%, now that can set any parent on the back seat considering how to plan financial with such high inflation rate for Childs future.

The trend in India as we might have observed from our parents, their friends, neighborhood and society is that firstly education funds are not always the set priority and its heavily dependent upon funds from FD’s (fix deposits), inheritance funds left by grandparent for their grand children and in many cases which is common these days is education loans which I feel is more of a burden which creates pressure for both parent and child.

I would give a fair share to my parents for providing me quality education, they definitely understood that education is a must for a brighter future and kept saving from the very beginning, however the saving were not enough to fulfill the complete fees and we had to opt for other resources however the intend was always there.

We are now an educated bunch of youth developing in India and we sure know the importance of Education but what we lack is the understanding somewhere about what could be a healthy and profound solution of saving for our child’s education? Mutual funds! How does that sound? Yes, with the ever growing and developing market, mutual funds investment has that right algorithm to fight the mighty inflation, as the investment grows and evolves with market at a brisk consistent rate.

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Lately an initiative was conducted in many cities of India at Crossword and KidZania on-ground activation for NEW INVESTOR EDUCATION AWARENESS CAMPAIGN – #DoYourHomework by Axis Mutual Fund to better understand the parent and child relation in terms of aspiration sync, apart from that information regarding parent’s ideas and opinion on education savings for their children were also taken as a crucial parameter.

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Considering the data and research parameter from the campaign, Axis Mutual Fund came up with some healthy pointers and useful details in their micro-site do your Homework, if you browse through you will come across a custom made market ready calculator that will help you plan your Childs future, apart from that you can also download The Homework App, a space that will make you think and get guidelines on how mutual funds can be beneficial if investment is started from a early age of the child and multiple market aspects as well.

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Lets Join Hands and Support My School

Posted on by Aziz Ampanwala

Education system in India is still in the developing stages, we might be aware that Education in the rural parts of India has not reached its potential, there are many struggles and reaching out to them in the remote areas is a task that Government is taking up steadily, however the pace is slow and not effective considering the infrastructure, teaching quality and hygiene is concern. Thou there are many NGO’s working on this system to be more effective so that the rural parts get their share of fair Education and infrastructure, but even they are tied up when it comes to getting the necessary funds required to furnish these basic needs, as per Article 21-A of the Constitution of India and its consequent legislation, the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009 became operative in the country on 1st April 2010 and this has lead to promising future for Education in the rural parts of India.

If we look at the ASER (ANNUAL STATUS OF EDUCATION REPORT) report of 2014, there are statistics which shows that only 75% of schools have provision for drinking water, however how clean the water is for consumption is a broad question, some other interesting finding from the report states that usable toilets for boys are only 65% for boys and 55.7% for girls. If we talk about playground in these schools, you would be surprised to know that only 65.3% of them have space for playgrounds, which clearly shows that there is a definite need for improvement in these grey areas of schooling for kids in the rural areas.

** Note (The data of ASER ( ANNUAL STATUS OF EDUCATION REPORT) report of 2014 was conducted all around India from 577 rural districts – 30 randomly selected villages in each district -20 randomly selected households per village – All children age 3 to 16 in the household.

The other major concern due to lack of basic amenities like clean water, hygiene, proper toilets for girl child specially is the drop outs rates are accelerating  significantly and there are less enrollments in these Govt run schools, as the stats shows a dip from 6.95% (2013-14) to 14.77% (2014-15)

Talking about the need for some action to be taken for revamp of schools in rural India, Support my School a programme run by Coca-Cola India & NDTV in association with the UN-Habitat, Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) aims to revitalize 1,000 schools in the country, the program undertakes the following core activities:

  • Provision of improved access to water
  • Appropriate sanitation facility for girls and boys
  • Improvement in the overall school infrastructure and environment
  • Provision for sports and recreation facilities and
  • Recharging groundwater through rainwater harvesting

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With such necessary amenities in place, schools are able to provide a cleaner and healthier environment more conducive to learning.

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Support My School is a WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) initiative that aims to improve basic amenities in government schools like separate toilets for boys and girls and access to water. The Campaign is also committed to developing the overall infrastructure like playground and a clean environment to encourage a holistic learning environment. The Schools revitalized under the campaign have served as model schools in several districts and have led to enhanced community engagement and higher emphasis on attendance and enrollment.

You can also join hands and support in this cause along with NDTV MISSION 1000.

Just another BNLF post

Posted on by Aziz Ampanwala

Blogger’s BNLF moment – First Hand

So this was few months back when I got a notification email which read “Get a seat at IndiBlogger’s most disruptive conference” this was Indiblogger’s most ambitious plan yet, wow reading that i could gauge this was going to be a amazing event for bloggers.

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Pre-BNLF Buzz

Back to the BNLF (Blog Now Live Forever) pre-event buzz, bloggers from all corners of India and even abroad were discussing about how things will fall in place regarding ticket booking and stay, however the community of bloggers and Indiblogger team were very supportive to help out through all sort of communications, forum discussion and working out with Stayzilla for the weekend stay part, this bond really speaks volume to how the blogger’s community has evolved through time in India and the active supporter to promote it has been Indiblogger team which somewhere speaks about the committed efforts taking shape slowly and steadily with a strong community of more then 25,000+ bloggers onboard and over 100+ indimeets already and counting.

Indi-Crew Excitement

When Indiblogger team decided to include bloggers to be part of the indi-crew, i wanted to be a part of it and guess what i was chosen in the indi-welcome team, the attempt was to make other bloggers coming from all corners of India beat the blues, make them comfortable and familiar to the BNLF event on the 1st day, rather than making it feel more of a long day conference.

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Slowly and steadily days seem passing and inching towards 31st October & 1st November, the BNLF event had a different vibe to it which created a buzz in the bloggersphere and boy were we all pumped up and excited (specially the crew ;).

Finally “THE DAY” Arrives

Yes, the day finally came, being in the indi-crew team, members were asked to come early as they were assigned specific tasks, we had brisk breakfast and then we all were given our indi-crew group wise t-shirts, indi-welcome had yellow t-shirt code which we all changed to and were all set to welcome our blogger friends from all over India and abroad.

Registration and INDI-CREW

It was around 10.00am and many bloggers started coming in at the venue, but they were made to wait like passengers who were eager to check in and board the flight of awesomeness, Indi-Police did a good job managing the crowd and made it a point that no one enters the registration desk without further instruction from Indiblogger team, after some time the much anticipated gate opened up and bloggers rushed to the registration desk to get their badges and board the flight of awesomeness which was waiting for them to be discovered in the time to come. I would like to mention that the Indi-hospitality team really managed the rush well and were quite efficient in the registration process.

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Folks at indi-welcome team did a good job in managing the rush, they spread across and made it a point to have a quick chat and cut the blues with bloggers, smiling, greeting and showing the way, there were some chat sessions also going on (sort of a informal interview) in which many bloggers took part and shared their views on different topics and experiences while coming to BNLF and what it meant to them, other indi-welcome crew members (including me) were running around capturing the moments on our camera to stay for eternity.

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Just the Beginning

Bloggers were busy taking selfies with the speakers and friends, chatting within their group and some fresh faces were amused looking around when Anoop (the veteran Host at Indiblogger) popped up on stage and greeted the bloggers, soon after followed by a mesmerizing, house rocking and stage breaking performance by the Indilive band “blunder in the code“.

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Session 1 – Blogger turned Speaker Purbha Pay

After the smashing performance, spirit were high and souls were lit up, the line up of session commence with the forever young and witty Purba Ray, she shared a bit about her journey into blogging, blessed with witty and sarcastic humor in a mix of creative writing is the best combination anyone could ask for, I could see fellow bloggers enjoying her venomous humour and could relate to what she said, inspiring indeed.

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BACK Stage – The seriously serious bunch of Indicrew

After the session was over, I quickly tried to sneak pass the backstage to get some photos of speakers and ask them about the BNLF experience, but due to intensely guarded back stage by Indi-stage members, they didn’t let me in, I respect the fact that they did their job with so much sanity, kudos to Fizaah, Ruhie, Aditya,Sumit and others in the indi-stage.

Sessions 2 – Aranb Ray

Following up was session by Arnab Ray, a multi facet writer with zest to speak about his mind musing which are quite interesting, author of multiple books named MayI Hebb Your Attention Plis, The Mine, Yatrik and sharing his views with New York Times India Ink, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal Online, Times of India, DNA and Outlook , Arnab shared many insights about creative writing which were well noted.

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Sessions 3 – The Story Teller – Christoph Trappe

The next session was of Christoph Trappe, the authentic story teller as he is known, multiple award winner in the field of Content writing marketing, he shared some useful tips and hacks of which some quick pointers are:

  • Story telling with a sense of connecting is the need which lacks in many marketing driven content.
  • The art of simplifying, breaking it into readable content.
  • Maintaining a calendar and organizing content and events helps optimized results and better efficiency.
  • The 60-30-10 formula : 60 – talking – 30 responding- 10 – links
  • Creating Unique stories because they set us apart, they cannot be commoditized.
  • Declaring intent, being more passion driven, sense of what makes us unique.

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Are your hungry for networking and fun

After that was lunch break, bloggers were eager to have some good food and network alongside in this 1 hour break, as it turned out there were some interesting activities/try out lined up by Cleartrip like segway , wall climbing, mini golf, super bike for posing with back drop, Harley Davidson bike, which I totally admired and posed for.

I guess the hour long break felt short and bloggers were just all over the place, Anoop and team had to literally drag everyone to the event dome to get the next session started.

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GIG TIME with Youtuber – Kanan Gill

Guess what, I saw all the ladies in the house seated as I came after lunch, I was a little perplexed what’s with them? Then I asked someone who the next speaker was, came to know it was Kanan Gill, gosh you could see the sparkle in each one of them, I thought Kanan would be mobbed for sure, but ladies kept their love for Kanan to themselves and admired his entire session with twinkle in their eyes. Kanan’s session was more of a self explanatory of his struggle with himself and how he overcame them with his own formulas of success; it was more of a stand up gig which was crazy and funny at the same time.

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Sessions 4 – Social Media optimized with Jeff Bullas

Sessions moved on and it was time for the Forbes listed, top marketing blogger – Jeff Bullas, the Australian swipe the floor away with some ground breaking insights on optimizing content on social media, the creation of good and valuable content and the need for authenticity in each writer to list a few, not to forget his motivational slides about discovering one’s self to set new benchmarks and creating unique content. I would love to list more but it would be too lengthy. I will share the complete details in my upcoming post.

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Sessions 5 – The Never die spirit – Preeti Shenoy

Preeti Shenoy’s session was on the benchmark of how she went pass through all the struggles in her career, the challenges she faced when approaching publishers with her story, the ever hungry attitude to succeed and her amazing and inspiring journey to becoming the best seller in the charts, a very humble personality with a passion to share and grow, was a inspiring session.

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Bruce Dickinson – I leave it up-to you to decide on the subtitle, cause I am short of words

Anoop then came on stage and made us charge up with the trademark hur – hurr – hurrr move, with that done it was time for the moment of truth which each blogger in the house was waiting for eagerly, to sense and feel the moment was for real, Anoop with all his glory voice made a emotional introduction to the Iron Maiden lead vocalist and a truly multi talented entrepreneur Bruce Dickinson, yes you heard it right, the aura that he brought on stage was phenomenal, I loved his simplicity and sense of humanity throughout his presentation about his life journey and learning he shared with all of us, there were few fan star stuck moment between the presentation as well. Learned a new perspective of looking at things and life, the 0+0=1 formula by Bruce Dickinson which is something Ill mention elaborately in my coming posts.

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Back Stage Party

The Day didn’t end there, Indiblogger team had something more lined up for us as a token of appreciation, we bloggers were invited to the backstage part too, after an hour break, we assembled at the basement of Lalit Hotel’s ballroom where the mood was set and drinks. Mocktails and cocktails were served, had some good insight talk with all the speakers and enjoyed the company of fellow bloggers with some yummy snacks hovering around to beat hunger.

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Day 2 at BNLF

Day two had 2 sessions which were conducted by Christoph Trappe and Jeff Bullas respectively, it was good learning curve with work exercises and one on one interactions, came across common problems faced by bloggers and their solutions by speakers besides that new and trending tools for marketing content overview, discussion and a lot more.

My Takeaway from BNLF

To sum up, had a time of my life, it was fantastic meeting bloggers in person finally, BNLF helped unit bloggers and improve bloggers vocabulary as to say by calling outstanding speakers with their vast knowledge in digital media to share their experiences, gained a lot from the sessions in every aspect of blogging, from writing creatively to marketing and beyond.. Kudos to INDIBLOGGER team for making this happen and wish it continues for the time to come.

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Special mention of all the members in the Indi-crew who dedicated time and effort when demanded:

  1. Indi-Welcome – 2. Indi-Police 3. Indi-Hospitality 4. Indi-Stage

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Ps. Guest Host on day 1 of BNLF

Archana Kapoor and Vinita Bahl (blogwatiG), it was a job well done is what I’ll say.

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Photo credits : Indiblogger Facebook Album

Be Responsible – Do Right – Varanasi Boat School

Posted on by Aziz Ampanwala

The land of the Vedas as we call it doesn’t even have a literacy rate that it can proudly show upon, Yes India in the 21st century is still battling this war of illiteracy, we are amongst the top nations when it comes to higher illiteracy rates, thou we thrive to call our self’s the nation that gives most promising and prominent leaders but there is other side to this coin when it comes education. Thou the urban India is quite good in its literacy stats, but what about the rural areas, where reaching seems tough and understanding the right to education is still a challenge within the community, their mindset is what needs to be changed.

Education and literacy can bring down many issues that India faces like communism, terrorism and under development. Education can enlighten people through thinking rationally, be mature at making decisions, better understanding the rights, duties and responsibility of being a citizen.

Varanasi the cultural hub of India sadly is not that rich in its literacy level and education, children are drawn towards doing petty jobs, not realizing what the future holds and how they will make a life without no basic knowledge and proper education; this is prone to happen as education mechanism is not revived and there is a clear lack of proper infrastructure to facilitate and initiate educational establishments.

Focusing on Varanasi and talking about a concept to provide education to those individuals who struggle to meet ends and survive with just penny full in hand to make a living, I am talking about a unique BOAT school project by a true doer Ajeet Singh in Varanasi, a initiative to revive and make learning for them a fun place, this is not only helping these children learn but it is also keeping them away from streets and gettos which leads nowhere!

Thou this Varanasi boat school is just in its initial stage, it still needs a lots of modifications to truly get that magical transformation by creating a better and more viable place for these children to nurture their dream of proper basic education.

Many from us are blessed and have a good independent life, we live and earn to better out life and sometimes we do philanthropic acts to balance things and show our help in whatever we can manage.

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Now is the time to rise up, do what we can and help make this Varanasi boat school a much better place, so let’s pledge to help them achieve their goal and contribute in this very thought provoking idea of a boat school, I believe this form of donation is not only a contribution but also a motivation in your surrounding when you talk and discuss on such initiative, your contributing is as good as 5 others if you spread the word. So be the Robin-hood of your surrounding and help in this unique and one of a kind initiative.

You can contribute by clicking on the link here at : Varanasi boat school