Celebration of Global Youth Services Day 2022

Celebration of Global Youth Services Day 2022

26-04-22

Global Youth Service Day, an international leader in the youth service movement, mobilizes the millions of young people who improve their communities each day of the year through service. Global Youth Service Day is the largest service event in the world and is celebrated each year in over 100 countries.

Hence, on the event of Global Youth Service Day, the Srinagar chapter organized an activity day with the children of Hanfiya Islamic Educational Institute, Chandhara Village. The School has been adopted by DPS, Srinagar with an aim to enhance the learning environment of these school students at the physical as well as psychological level. The motive of the school is to work towards the betterment of the children at the local school by providing them quality education and better infrastructure to meet its goal. The school harbors about 190 students from classes Pre-nursery to 8th who belong to the lower socio-economic section. DPS, Srinagar has extended support to this school in the areas of infrastructural development, provision of educational and learning resources, stationery etc. incrementally, on a regular basis from the past nine years.

A group of 24 students from DPS, Srinagar planned and scheduled the activities for the day of service dedicated to children of Hanfiya Islamic Educational Institute. These youth volunteers worked together in creating an inclusive event harmonizing the theme of Global Youth Service Day 2022, “Serve, Smile and Share Together”. With a common goal to make an impact on the students of this local school, through youth service and to give them a break from their academic oriented curriculum, youth volunteers from DPS, Srinagar gathered to spend a day with these under privileged children and to engage them in some fun-filled activities & at the same time to build stronger interpersonal skills, foster civic responsibility, and develop leadership skills personally.

All 190 students from the local school took part in the activity day conducted on 16 April 2022 from 9:30 am to 12:30 pm. 24 volunteers along with the coordinator of International Affairs, DPS Srinagar, Ms. Syed Sumera from the school took part in the activity day. The group of 190 children was further divided into smaller groups on the basis of their age and each group was headed by a group leader, accompanied by 2-3 volunteers, who interacted and conducted the activities with their assigned group. The activities included painting competition, calligraphy competition, storytelling, poetry recitation, singing, making origami, playing passing-the-parcel, racing, badminton etc. They distributed materials to conduct these activities, taught them the art and craft and also helped them throughout the activity sessions. The youth volunteers also distributed stationary kits including pencils, sharpeners, erasers, scales, etc. Also refreshments were arranged for the children. The school also provided sports equipment like footballs, skipping ropes, badminton rackets etc. for the purpose of donation. The local school teachers also took part in the activities so as to make the day more interactive and fun-filled. The children worked with great enthusiasm and the volunteers displayed great leadership skills by taking proper charge of their particular group. Youth volunteers believed that it was a real-life learning experience. They expressed that they learnt how service learning provides the connection between the academic content of the classroom and the real world and helps link teachers, administrators, parents, community members, and students together. At the end of the day, the children of the local school and its staff members gave wonderful feedback of their overall experience during the day and urged them to conduct such activity days more frequently with their children.