Education and Child Care

  India

Rural Areas

Durations of Program: 2-4 weeks, 5-8 weeks and 9-12 weeks
Typical Duration of Program: 5-8 weeks
Dates: Refer to program description for specific booking dates.

Description: iSPiiCE is an organization that builds partnerships between International volunteers and Indian communities. 'iSPiiCE Volunteer Program' has been set up to assist children's Day Care Centers and Primary Schools by introducing volunteers to teach English and develop educational activities.

The approximate age of children in the pre-school Day Care Centers is 1 to 8 yrs old. Grades 1 to 5 are supported in the Primary Schools.

iSPiiCE endeavors to directly contribute to genuine development assistance within the local communities of project areas and offer after school English teaching to teenagers.

Increasingly, westerners with the available time and desire to travel to India, are looking beyond traditional circuits in search of meaningful and socially responsible opportunities for travel, service and cultural exchange. At the same time, institutions and organizations throughout India suffer from staffing and funding shortages, poor administration and a general lack of accountability.

iSPiiCE sits in between these groups of people and offers a real opportunity for personal connection and the possibility for volunteers to honor their desire to give service to the less fortunate and interact in meaningful ways with people from a different cultural setting; whilst helping local institutions supplement staffing, build self reliance and increased accountability and exposure to members of different cultures.

Project Booking Dates:-
For 2009/2010: Placements start every second Sunday and finish on Saturdays throughout the year. Placements can be extended on a weekly basis at 100 USD per week. Please see our website for specific dates.

Testimonial from Stefanie Wigger, Switzerland

Working as a volunteer for iSPiiCE was an enriching experience in many ways. I had the chance to discover the culture in depth, learn about Indian habits and customs, improve my Hindi language skills, make new friendships and become familiar with the Indian lifestyle. I was working in a primary school as well as in a local community teaching both, English and IT to children and adults. Although it was sometimes quite a challenge coping with the absence of school material and equipment as well as with the Indian teaching ways and methods, the smile on the children's faces and their good morning greeting made it seem a minor problem.

Besides working, through iSPiiCE I also had the possibility to visit various places at the weekends such as Manali, Agra or Amritsar. I very much enjoyed these weekend trips. I can highly recommend this project to anyone who wants to make a new experience. To me it will be an unforgettable one.

Highlights:
iSPiiCE Volunteer Projects - India provide the following excursions during your placement. All excursions are included in the Program fee under all duration Programs.

1. Trekking in Himalayas - two days/one night camping, meals & transfer.
2. Taj Mahal experience one of the eight wonders of the world - two days/one night stay in Agra, meals & transfer.
3. Amritsar - visit the Golden Temple - two days/one night stay, meals & transfer.

Volunteer activities:
The activities done by volunteers in our projects primarily relate to three broad areas of education, care and empowerment in various institutions that we have identified as appropriate for volunteer and iSPiiCE intervention. We constantly seek expansion of the positive influence of the programs by including new activities that can engage volunteers in gainfully, for the local population.

Work commitment - 3 to 5 hours per day. Most work occurs in the morning before lunch but some placements will require afternoon work as well. iSPiiCE volunteers are also encouraged to participate in afternoon 'optional workshops' for groups of older children and teenagers, teaching English and basic IT skills. These groups are also interested in a broad variety of topics, and discussions may include the volunteer's personal background, work experience and culture.

While the needs of each region differ due to varied, cultures, climate and social conditions there are some common activities that we offer.

Details of these activities include:

Education Related:
Education volunteers offer much-needed support to local teachers. Class sizes in India can be extremely large, leading teachers to become little more than traffic cops attempting to keep order. Working in local schools gives volunteers a chance to meet regularly with local children and their families. For those volunteers with a professional interest in education, teaching gives them a chance to hone their skills in a very different environment.

The volunteer activities in the field include:
1. Regularly teaching children English and Mathematics in the schools.
2. Teaching children of migrant communities and child labours.
3. Conducting bridge courses for school drop-outs or slower learning children.
4. Creating a playful environment and enhance the creativity of the children through painting, playing games, singing etc.
5. Working with local teachers in creating low cost teaching material and to train them in making education more fun for the children.
6. Ensuring regular health check ups of the children in each school through cooperating with the local doctors and hospital staff.
7. Creating basic hygiene awareness amongst children on a regular basis a. Day care centre work with children

Child Care Related:
In addition to our attention to schools, early childhood care and education is an area of critical need in rural areas:

Child Care:
Child care volunteers assist in local Day Care Centers. The concept of "preschool" childcare is a new one in India, where the joint family system has long provided ample childcare providers. Unlike western countries, where child care facilities exist primarily to free woman to work, the Day Care Center's main purpose is to provide a safe, healthy and hygienic space for young children who would not be able to receive proper care at home. Day Care Centers also serve pregnant women. While often extremely effective at improving the health of children and mothers they serve, these Centers suffer from under funding and miss management, thus making the contributions of the volunteers extremely important. Child care volunteers share the workload with regular staff and help bring a level of professionalism and dedication by meeting regularly with children and their families.

Drawing upon our experience we have taken up the responsibility of maintenance and care of local childcare centers. Also called Aanganwari, these centers carry out holistic childcare in the area. In line with the expected activities of such institutions, the volunteer activities include:

1. Ensuring maximum attendance by the children of the area to these centers through awareness building in the community.
2. Personal attention and care to the children coming to the centre everyday.
3. Assistance to the local worker for record maintenance for each child based on health, vaccination, growth and nutritional condition.
4. Making and feeding the children a specially prepared nutritious meal everyday with the help of a local worker.
5. Continuous survey of all pregnant women and newborn babies in the area for regular health check ups and vaccination.
6. Creating a colorful and enjoyable environment for the children with games, stories and other creative activities (all material support and training for such activities would be provided by iSPiiCE)
7. Developing the motor skills of the little children by making them use their body parts in various games etc

Afternoon activities:
Volunteer often seek more working hours than have been offered by our projects so far. For this reason, our programs would offer a number of afternoon activities that would help the volunteers have a wider impact during their stay.

1. Additional tutoring for slow learning children: With the help of regularly updated records of school children, interested volunteers can take up special classes for children that need more tutoring at their homes. This activity can have the additional benefit of building more confidence in the community about volunteers work and awareness about the need for regular schooling.

2. Maintenance of institutional facilities: During some afternoons, the volunteers can take up maintenance, renovation and decoration of their various work places like schools, day-care centers etc. Such work will not be available on a continuous basis and hence may be seen as an extra activity that the volunteers would carry out.

Womens Empowerment:
ISPiiCE organizes a variety of educational and confidence building activities for the benefit of adolescent girls and women of the local community. These activities are geared towards expanding the horizon of this often-neglected section of the community with the purpose of giving them a sense of self-worth and empowerment.

Volunteers contribute significantly in the areas of:
1. Computer training: In the fact developing world the knowledge of computer can give the students an employability advantage and make it easier for them to access modern means to information and expression. Volunteers can make use of the well-tested and developed modules of imparting basic computer skills to enthusiastic local girls and women.

2. English classes: In an increasingly anilingual world, knowledge of English can make a huge difference to the confidence, employability and social status of an individual. With English not being the first language in the rural areas, people from a vast majority of Indian population miss out on quality opportunities of gaining confidence in the sue of language. Volunteers, with their involvement in teaching English to local women can help the project achieve a multitude of objectives like empowerment and increasing employability.

Community Visit:
We recommend that all iSPiiCE volunteers participate in a visit to the local community, to gain an insight into how the local families live and to give feedback to the families of the children being taught. This is an invaluable experience for all volunteers and enhances the relationship between the communities and the volunteers. Through your positive contribution intercultural understanding and tolerance develops.

Community Involvement:
Volunteer life involves daily exposure to Indian Cultural rules, customs and traditions. In order to gain the support and trust of the local people, volunteers will do well to make every possible effort to understand and abide by local sensitivities. Indian hospitality is legendary, and the fact you are coming to offer assistance only improves your chances of being welcomed warmly. At the same time, volunteers that fail to follow the appropriate codes of conduct risk giving unintended offense that undermines their own good standing.

iSPiiCE volunteers participate in a visit to the local community, to gain an insight into how the local families live and to give feedback to the families of the children being taught. This is an invaluable experience for all volunteers and enhances the relationship between the communities and the volunteers.

Qualifications: There are no educational requirements for this project; anyone with a heart to help is welcome on this project! Patience, commitment and a willingness to learn is essential. There is no maximum age restriction for our volunteer placements, but the minimum age requirement is 18 years unless accompanied by an adult.

Cost in US$: 2 weeks - USD 590, 3 weeks - USD 690, 4 weeks - USD 790, 5 weeks - USD 890, 6 weeks -USD 990, 7 weeks - USD 1,090, 8 weeks - USD 1,190. Extra weeks- USD 100 per week.

Your iSPiiCE program includes:
1. Application fee.
2. Meet & Greet at New Delhi Airport, transfer & Hotel in Delhi.
3. Pre Departure Info Kit, which would have all information regarding your program, work area information, city, things to bring, immunizations along with your 100% comprehensive Insurance details and welcome details in Delhi Airport.
4. All excursion/trips are included in a program fee.
          * Himalaya trek and McLeod Ganj visit including one night's camping, Transfer, meals.
          * Visit Taj Mahal - regarding one of the eight wonders of the world. One night stay.
          * Visit the Golden Temple at Amritsar, one night stay Transfer, accommodation, meals.
5. All transportation are included in a program fee.
6. Volunteer work with community in rural areas.
7. Emergency support.
8. All meals are included in program fee. (Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner)
9. All accommodation for the duration of your placement is included in program fee.
10. English speaking Guides for the duration of your placement.
11. Cultural and language Orientation Program in Himachal Pradesh before volunteer start there work.
12. Basic teaching materials and use of Computer/Internet.
13. All material required for various activities during the volunteer work like color, pens papers, sports equipment etc.
14. Workshops Program to include yoga teaching.
15. Basic sporting equipment for volunteer activities in the Camp.
16. Popular workshop subjects include Hindi class, Indian cooking, Yoga and decorative Henna painting.
17. Delhi airport drop at the end of your project.

Other facilities provided by iSPiiCE for comfort and recreation of volunteers include:
a. Amenities like refrigerator, DVD player, television etc.
b. Video and books library; Board Games.
c. Information and assistance for independent excursions during the weekends.

What program fee does not cover?
1 Airfare, Insurance, Visa and Visa extension fee.
2 Any personal expenses.
3 Mineral water and soft drinks.
4 Laundry, telephone, immunizations.

Experience Required: no

Age Range: 16 or above

This Program is open to Worldwide Participants. This Program is also open to Families, Couples and Individuals

Participants Travel to India Independently or in Groups

Application Process Involves:

• Online Application plus Application Assessment

iSPiiCE (Integrated Social Programs In Indian Child Education)'s Mission Statement: iSPiiCE is always ready to help the local community in practical ways and to assist children's education in a financial capacity. Although the children of government schools get books and education cheaply, the standard of education is not good. One of our motto's - to assist in providing a good education/adequate attention for all children and to promote a personal awareness on hygiene and nutritious food matters. Our primary motto is to bring increased awareness to the community, of the importance of providing a good education for both boy and girl students and to help resolve the problems which guardians face in their daily lives which can allow for this.