My Experience as an intern

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    - Deepanjali (Intern, Bhoomi College)  
I have been associated with Gubbachi for 2 months for internship as a part of Holistic Education Course at Bhoomi College. I distinctly remember the first day I walked in; a room full of cacophony: children making noise and occasionally walking in and out. I was a little nervous and quite clueless. As the day progressed some of the teachers spoke to me about their expectation and my understanding. I was asked to just sit and observe for a day. The very state the children were in startled me. It was different to hear about under-privileged kids and it a world’s difference to see them. Throughout the day I couldn’t stop thinking about K.T. Margret’s book “The Open Classroom”, the school was just a live experience of that book.

As I spent more time, I saw the struggle the teachers/administrators go through to keep the place up and running. A very inspiring bunch of people across all age group work at Gubbachi. Most of them spending their own resources to see these kid, have a better life. We have had some interesting conversation on various topics during our lunch break and it is beautiful to see teachers discussing pupils with so much awe and interest.

The curriculum at Gubbachi is designed to evolve and strives at keeping the child’s interest, psychology and cultural background as priority. Best practices of Nali-Kali curriculum followed by government schools and teaching methods of alternate schools are adopted and improvised to suit the requirement of these kids. It is very interesting…. there is a constant reiteration to keep the environment, child-friendly. Also, a lot of thought goes into understanding the psychology of children, given the troubled and deprived background they come from.

It is amazing to see children of Gubbachi, the gradual change in behaviour, attitude and confidence from the time they walk in, to the time they are ready for mainstreaming. I look at Gubbachi as a space not only for learning, but space of healing, bonding and sharing joy. When one is part of such endeavour, there is lot of healing happening at a fundamental level. It is very beautiful to see, how these kids teach us adults how to bond and be joyful. They might be deprived materialistically. And, to some extent psychologically, but their capacity to spread happiness and love is phenomenal.