Our Responsibility to Children

Our Responsibility to Children is a unique positive mental health initiative developed in collaboration with Kerala Police. It was launched in the Government Schools of Puducherry with the support of the Directorate of School Education, Puducherry. The programme aims to nurture in children, creative and critical thinking. The children are prepared to face any challenges in the fast-changing social and cultural scenarios, to be compassionate to others and to nurture a positive value system.

This programme also aims at giving remedial measures through life skill education, capacity building in children having emotional, social, behavioural difficulties and learning disabilities.

One such programme was organised at Thillaiyadi Valliyammai Govt. High School, Puducherry on 16 December 2019. Around 40 children belonging to different mental abilities like normal, above normal and below normal were identified for the training programme. This group of 40 children was called as the Smart 40 group.

The objective of this short training programme was to create a good rapport with the children as well as the Nodal Teacher of the school so that conducting the intensive three-day Smart 40 camp would be much easier and children-friendly in a conducive ambience. This programme is a forerunner to the 3-day programme that is planned for a later date.

The Smart 40 Group programme was inaugurated by Mr. S. Arunachalam, Head of School in the presence of the Nodal Teacher Mr. Sivasubramanyam and Mr.Vinothkumar, Programme Coordinator, ORC. An introduction about Our Responsibility to Children (ORC) programme and its objectives were given and ORC team members from Sri Aurobindo Society were also introduced.

The training programme started with the ice breaking session followed by self awareness activities, and activities on team building, time management, and interpersonal relationship.

The ORC team noted some of the feelings and reactions of the children during the beginning of the programme. Children had confusions, fear and some were also irritated. Some children were reluctant to participate and some went way ahead and did not respond to any of the questions of the ORC members.

At the conclusion of the session, the scenario had completely changed. The children interacted among themselves and with the ORC team in full spirits. There was happiness and laughter in the air. They did not want the session to conclude and they felt that they will be missing their friends and the ORC team. This is a clear proof for the success of the programme.

This programme helped children develop their emotional, behavioural and intellectual capabilities. At the end of the programme, the ORC team noticed that the children have improved their communication, leadership, team bonding qualities. This will help them achieve their goals in life.