We firmly believe that the only way to transform a nation is through the means of education. We at MGL therefore place education as one of the topmost priority areas of intervention. MGL Unnati is our flagship CSR intervention under which meritorious youths from the socio-economically weaker strata are trained and mentored to face competitive entrance examinations for engineering colleges. Focussing on long term goals of life, the project believe in shaping the future so that the path unknown is defined and not derived. 50 students have been trained under the initiative with 97% students getting admissions in various engineering colleges and 23.3% in IITs / NITs. MGL also extends one time scholarships to the best performers.
Akash Vinodrao Jagtap is a teenager from a remote village of Maharashtra. Akash born and brought up in a remote village had extraordinary intelligence. This enabled him to seek admission in Navodaya Vidyalaya which exposed him to the opportunities in various spheres of life. His interaction with other students fascinated him to aspire for technical studies.
In his own words Akash says:-
“My village is not so developed so people are not highly literate over there. I am the first boy from my village to pass 12th standard. At Navodaya my friends discussed about IITs and that fascinated me. Getting into IIT became a dream for me.”
Unfortunately his father Vinodrao Jagtap died when Akash was still studying. His mother’s income of Rs. 12,000/- per month somehow facilitated their living. After completing his 12th standard Akash still required handholding and training to get equipped to face the tough competitive entrance examination. However, his mother’s income could not support this. This was when Akash heard about ‘MGL Unnati’- an initiative of Mahanagar Gas Limited which provides free of cost training to students from the lower socio-economic strata of the society. Akash appeared for the entrance examination for MGL Unnati and got selected. What followed was 11 months of rigorous study, training and guidance that equipped Akash and 19 other students to appear in the IIT entrance examination. Leading the bunch from the front Akash cleared the entrance examination and is now studying in IIT Delhi. Following his success Mahanagar Gas Limited felicitated Akash Jagtap and 3 other successful students of MGL Unnati with one time scholarships of Rs. 50,000/-.
After clearing the examination Akash had the following to say:-
“I cannot stop thanking MGL Unnati for the support extended to me. I am moving towards fulfilling my dream of becoming an IITian now. I want to work for my village so that children there should not be deprived of knowledge and opportunities.”
Sports for Development is a child centric CSR intervention being implemented by MGL. The project focuses on activity based learning and reaches out to more than 1500 children across two slum areas in and around Mumbai.
World Water Day ‘Save Water Campaign
On the occasion of World Water Day ‘Save Water Campaign’ was organized by students of Sharda School, Bhuvapada and R. K. School, Bhuvapada on 21st and 22nd of March, 2016 respectively. The campaign was organized under ‘Sports for Development Program’. Nearly 400 children participated in the campaign.
The objective of the campaign was to raise the awareness of the community about the vitality of water and the urgent need to check wastage of water. The idea was to enable residents correlate their day to day activity with acute water crisis the community is facing. Children designed placards and banners for the campaign and roamed through the streets of the locality while raising slogans in support of water conservation.
The campaign received active participation from the management of both the schools and caught the imagination of the residents. Many residents informed that the word of our children pleading to save water was really a touching episode for us. We will definitely look to adopt mechanism and practices to reduce wastage of water.
MGL has also taken up various interventions at schools intended to enhance the learning level outcomes. We have taken up installation of computer laboratory in 2 MCGM Schools in Mumbai. Apart from the infrastructure MGL has also extended the support of one computer teacher to ensure proper utilization of the infrastructure.
We have established 5 mini science centres in schools to facilitate interactive learning of science and maths. Each science centre consists of 60 table top models that relates to theoretical inputs on sciences and utilizes a child’s natural curiosity to explore.
MGL Komal Jivan is an initiative designed for welfare of street children – such children whose cries and pain are lost amidst the hustles and bustles of the city. Leading a meaningless life; these children are most vulnerable to all sorts of exploitations. A wide gamut of reasons like death of one or both parents, poverty, breakdown of families, sexual abuse, physical abuse, emotional abuse, domestic violence, mental health problems, substance abuse, gender identity, sexual orientation, etc. drives these children out of their home and exposes them to abuse and extortion. Because of the lack of support structure these children adopt strategies to cope with the harsh realities of their lives. These strategies include developing a tough exterior, strong independence to hide their vulnerability and forming groups amongst others. The circumstances lead children to engage in behaviours that children in families typically do not.
Maladaptive strategies like drinking alcohol, using drugs, substance abuse, theft (Either voluntary or forced), beggary, aggressive outlook, etc. can be identified as the strategies which pushes the children to be outlaws.
The vulnerabilities, the abuses and the adaptive strategies often create a negative framework which subtly nurtures more aggressive and violent behaviour thereby destructing a child’s innocence and creating an outlaw.
The goal of the project is to reach out to the less blessed, roofless and rootless children who lead a life of hopelessness and utter despair. The idea is to nurture these tender lives so that they can lead a life of dignity and contribute positively to the society. 65 such children are being rehabilitated in shelter home while another 2500 have been reached out under the outreach activities. 100% of children in the shelter home have been admitted in formal schools. Computer literacy and personality development classes, regular workshops, seminars and counselling are conducted to assist them to pursue career option of their choice.
MGL MUSKAAN
‘MGL Muskaan’ is a community development initiative designed with the objective of enhancing quality of life amongst members of slum community.