Hello everyone!! We are up with our third episode of OFFstage stories: The OFFstage story of LT and GE teachings. LT and GE teaching are perennial process of परमार्थ , in which we impart education to slum kids and slum women respectively. We have taken extractions from the diary of a 2022 batch student to present the OFFstage experience.

Date: 2 August 2018

Dear diary,
How are you? I am so happy today. Today was the first day of my college life. Everything is so good here, batch-mates, teachers, seniors and college. I am all set to enjoy best part of life to the fullest and also to develop hidden skills in me. Wish me all luck that when does this period end, I would be a skillful engineer and a good human being.

Date: 14 August 2018

Dear diary,
Today was yet another gratifying day of my College life. The old desire of being a helping hand in someone's life stirred today's eve. I saw a queue of little toddlers, well arranged in a line, moving toward our 'Lecture Theatres'. Some of our seniors were guiding and managing them. Seeing so many little kids in College campus is surely an unusual thing, but the strange part was that the tiny tots were different from us in their appearance, I mean they were not from well-off families, but they were cute and they have school bags on their little shoulders.

Little toddlers of परमार्थ on their way to LT classes

I was a little amazed and I inquired my fellow mates about them. All I got to know was that these kids are here to study and our seniors teach them every evening and they all are linked with परमार्थ, the Social club of our college. So, our college has a Social Club too, that is impressive. I am all eager to work with it, as the faces of those kids seemed inviting my conscience to teach them alphabets, maths, may be science and other stuffs.

Date: 8 September 2018

Dear diary,
So, today is the day I was eagerly waiting for. Some mentors from 2nd year and 3rd year visited our class in the free period. They were from परमार्थ, yes, our Social Club. I was so keen to hear from them. They briefed us about the club. What interested me most was the history of club. The club was established few years back in September 2015 and the reason of commencing it was sublime. Some of our super seniors at that time saw kids begging for food on the 'Engineering College Chauraha', the intersection near our college. It was the turning moment in the life of those kids as by seeing their plight, our super seniors didn't just give them some money or food, but they pledged to bring some positive change in the life of kids like them. So, they visited their shelters, the slums nearby our college and asked their parents that what is forcing them to send their kids for begging in such tinder age. Their parents, the slum dwellers, shown their helplessness and said that they can't think any better future for their kids. Our seniors took the initiative and told the slum dwellers that they are ready to teach the kids, all they have to do is to allow their kids to study for an hour or two per day. Slum dwellers agreed to them, more or less willingly. On 6th September 2015, first ever class was organised in the slum where some of our seniors visited the slum and taught those kids.

Dated 06 September 2015- first class in slum

It gradually grown to a habit, our seniors started visiting slum in the evening on a daily basis, and those kids started developing interest for studies. Special 'Beggar's event' were also organised which aimed to convert slum kids from beggars and workers to students.

Beggar's Event: An effort to sow seed of willingness for education in little slum kids at Engineering college chauraha


Time went by, and our super seniors managed permission to bring those children in the college campus, and thus they started the period of "LT teaching" - 'teaching slum kids in Lecture Theatres of our College'. Since that day, nearly 150 kids visit our LTs in evening on a daily basis and our seniors impart word of knowledge in them. Another such initiative was "GE teaching", which was commenced to empower women and adolescent girls of slum. It was morning after a dark night. Back to the date, a girl of 'Madiyaon slum', Pooja, died of a disease, the disease was itself not fatal, but the lack of knowledge among slum dwellers caused the loss. To avoid such situations in future, our seniors then started the Girl Education wing, and named it 'Pooja'.


The initial classes of Girl Education unit. GE class

Our club has a hut in that 'Madiyaon slum', known as 'GE hut' where our seniors visit parallelly in the evening and teach teenage girls and women of nearby slums. The mentors briefed some more details of the club, some other social works that the club do perennially and also introduced the modus operandi of the club. In the conclusion, they invited us to visit the LT teaching tomorrow to experience the functioning of club. So, I am all excited for tomorrow and I will surely update you with my first experience with the club.


Date: 9 September 2018

Dear diary,
Today is one of the most satisfying day of my life. Today I felt a little proud on myself. It was my first day with those kids. Those kids were so charming, they have will to learn new things. It was our first day of LT teaching so we were briefed a little, after the evening prayer. Those kids assembled in the lobby and done the prayer and national anthem, that reminded me of my school days.

The evening prayer assembly in LT lobby

Then the kids dispersed to their classes. The kids are divided in groups on basis of their mental ability. Smallest of them are in 0- group, then they are succeeded by group 0, 0+, 1 and 2. There is a separate group of JNV aspirant kids. Distinct classes are allotted to each group to minimize chaos and maximize efforts.


The organized LT class of group 1

I was asked to teach student of group 1. A book of English dedicated to that group was provided to us. That book and several other books of different subjects and groups are designed by our seniors, as per the mental level of that group.

Specially designed books for different LT teaching groups

Their was everything like our classrooms- chalks, duster, blackboard, books, copies, pencils. One of the seniors visited class and gave stationary to the kids. Stationary and all other materials are kept there in an iron box, known as the stock box.


The stock box: It has everything that can be needed in LT classes

Class started by checking the homework that was given yesterday. It helps in retaining continuation as it will give a fair idea of what has been taught by some other volunteer, the previous day. That was a one and half hour class, but time passed so quick. I felt so attached to those kids in very short interval. Later in evening, I went to drop those kids with my seniors. As they are small kids, so it's our responsibility to pick and drop them to their shelters. Our feedback and suggestions were then recorded and we were told that the LT teaching turn of our branch will be on each Wednesday i.e we have to give only two hours of our week for the betterment of those kids. That was the most valuable deal, two hours per week for shaping futures of those kids. This will be one of the most memorable days of my life. I am looking forward for more of my turns on the club.


Date: 25 September 2018

Dear diary,
Today, I witnessed a whole new atmosphere. Today I was asked to go to the GE hut along with the girl volunteers of club for the GE teaching. Some of my senior madams were also there with us to guide. Firstly, we went to houses of slum to gather teenage girls and women who are the students of our GE teaching. Then, the GE classes start in the hut. Hut is facilitated with lights, fans, whiteboard, mats and every other thing which make teaching and learning smooth.

The GE classes in GE hut

GE wing has its own stock and books. Girl volunteers of the club teach them, but here motto is not just to educate them but to impart them social knowledge so that they can stand strong in this world. They also take special session on Sundays. Boy volunteers are there to ensure safety of both the girl volunteers and slum women. I asked one of my senior ma'am that why can we not conduct GE classes in the college like other LT classes, on which she replied, girls and women will feel safe and familiar in their own environment and moreover they are working women, so they have very less spare time. The session was amazing and educating slum women seemed real women empowerment to me. Later in evening, we dropped them back, and returned to the college.

Date: 27 October 2018

Dear diary,
As I had told you yesterday that today a meet is scheduled for all 1st year volunteers of परमार्थ, so I am going to tell you what happened there. Meet was scheduled in a big hall and there our mentors briefed us how the LT teaching and GE teaching functions. They told us how everything is carried out and from now on how we will be a part of that process.



The club is a well-structured one with responsibilities divided among all volunteers and some posts are also designated for the accountability. It is all hierarchical. In the first year, different responsibilities are given such as branch head, branch deputy supervisor, stock person, media person, etc. They have all the responsibility of running LT classes on their branch's turn. Branch head has responsibility to maintain strength of volunteers, deputy supervisor has to maintain strength of students, media person has to manage records of that day and stock person has the responsibility to provide required stationaries and stuffs from the stock box. Later on, we were introduced with responsibility holders of the later years. Among our second-year mentors, some were Branch Mentor, some Branch Supervisor, some have responsibility to manage different teams of the club, some were incharge of different activities. Group incharge has the responsibility to look after his assigned group and supervise group strength, syllabus, volunteer allotment, test conducts, etc. Third year mentors have the most serious responsibilities like Club President, Vice President, Treasurer, Media Head, PR head and GE head. They supervise their teams and guide them. This amount of professionalism in College amazed me and I am sure that I am going to learn a lot from this club. What seems a little job from outside require a lots of planning and management. Hierarchical structure across different years of graduation and a series structure across different branch of same year, are surely a sound provision for maximizing output in the least effort that volunteers can put along with their studies. I am keenly looking forward to carry this selfless service throughout my college life.


Long Live Parmarth!

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