Rotary club of Bombay programme reaches out to a 1,000 students

After working tirelessly for over four years to provide the best for the students studying the city's civic schools, the Rotary club of Bombay's programme - Bhavishya Yaan, has reached out to over a 1,000 students in 10 schools.

Realising that the underprivileged children have very little access apart from the basic education in municipal schools, the Rotary club of Bombay, introduced the Bhavishya Yaan programme to make sure the kids got an opportunity.

Bhavishya Yaan, was started with just 40 students at the Ambedkar Municipal School at Worli in 2009. The Rotary club of Bombay directly oversees the running of the programme in five schools and is also planning a few more.

The programme selects students from standard VII, and provides well-planned coaching in conversational English, computer education and life skills and mentors them through the class VII and IX too. Students are also helped to prepare for the class X board exams. Started with an intention to improve students' performance and make studies easier, Bhavishya Yaan also undertakes activities like art appreciation, dance classes, counselling sessions and yoga classes.

The programme is started in association with the Municipal corporation of Greater Mumbai and Vidya, an educational NGO.

The pass percentage among the students has increased from 10% to almost 100% with most of them opting for higher education. The programme also exposes students to a variety of eminent personalities like, former president APJ Abdul Kalam, former miss world, Diana Hayden, Shazahn Padamsee, filmmaker, Bharat Bala and former municipal commissioner, V Ranganathan.