Wednesday, July 26, 2006

Bangalore Bloggers in the News

Deccan Herald carries a news item today about the work a group of us bloggers did with Akshara's Reading Movement Project.

Here's a snippet.
If you thought blogging was only about speaking out your mind in personal online forums, some Bangalore bloggers will prove you wrong. These bloggers have moved beyond online posts to do grassroots level ground work - all for a cause.

Blog Bang, an informal group of City bloggers, has partnered with Akshara Foundation to assist in its ‘Read Bangalore Project’.

This project has been undertaken by Akshara Foundation in association with the Karnataka State Department of Education to augment the reading skills of primary school children (from Class II to VII) in about 1,374 government primary schools in and around Bangalore.

The task before Blog Bang was more than just spreading the word around in the blog community about the project. Six bloggers, in December 2005, undertook the mission to visit these schools to collect data. Initially, these bloggers started writing in their blogs, requesting for volunteers. As the message spread, not only bloggers, but even their biker friends pitched in.
The rest is here, including quotes from moi, Taz and Surjo.

Akshara is moving into the assessment phase of the project in the coming days. I'll put up the information here as to how we can work with Akshara during that phase as the information becomes available.

13 comments:

Vijay said...

Eggjactly, how did u figure out it is from choki dani ???

Sujatha Bagal said...

I was there in April and the head dress and the char poy looked familiar. Did you have dinner in their dining hall?

remainconnected said...

Great going Sujatha.

Capt, Surjo, yourself and others in the team have done a great job. It goes without saying now that the mission has picked up momentum, with people like you and others in the Akshara team many good results will happen for sure in future..

Kudos again to you and the entire Akshara team and the blog fraternity supporting this.

Vijay said...

yes I did I did, as for the dinner, they wouldn't stop serving until you are dead ... I went there 2 years back though .. glad that things have remained the same, although I hope they do wash those clothes and charpoi often enough :D

Minal said...

Sujatha great job and keep up the good work.
Kudos to u and the team with u

Sujatha Bagal said...

Thanks Tanay and Minal.

Vijay, I know what you mean about the dinner. It tasted wonderful, the portions were hearty and it was terribly difficult to try to get up after the meal (I was 7 months pregnant to boot!). I only wore the turban in the dining hall. I'm sure the rains do a good enough job of washing the char poys!:)

DesiGirl said...

Waah Waah!
Great going, Suj!

Twisted DNA said...

I am very glad to see this development. I am convinced that blogging is going to save India. I believe that India, with it's conservative roots, will be resistant to change. The voice of youth and change has been oppressed. With this new medium of bloging, a new floodgate is opened. I am hoping this wave of expression and communication will make India better in many ways.

Hail the power of blogging...

Sujatha Bagal said...

Thanks DG.

TD, thanks for visiting and commenting. This development was not something I foresaw when I started blogging, but am sure glad we, who came together purely through blogging, were able to help even that little bit. Mumbaihelp is a great example, though, of the power of blogging.

DesiGirl said...

Suj,

Is this project unique to Blore only or are other cities doing something similar as well?

Sujatha Bagal said...

DG, Karnataka is a pilot state for this project and Bangalore the pilot city. The plan and hope is that this project can be replicated nation-wide.

DesiGirl said...

Oh ok. This sounds like a brilliant project. I am itching to be a part of it but am too far away to do anything useful. One of my friends in Bombay is dead keen though - maybe there's something in there for her to join in?

Sujatha Bagal said...

DG, ask her to check with Pratham. They have a website and I'm sure there'll be projects where she can pitch in and help.