The Social, Entrepreneurship and Consulting Cell (SECC), a student-run body at Symbiosis Institute of Business Management (SIBM) Pune, through their initiative, Prerna, aims at spreading knowledge and smiles among people.
Launched in 2011, the objective of Prerna is to teach, instil and create awareness about necessary life skills among people. Every year, as part of this event, the students of SIBM Pune provide vocational training to those who belong to the less privileged background and have a desire for them to learn.
This year, Prerna has focused on providing all-around awareness about life skills to its beneficiaries. The student body has completed three sessions so far. The first two meetings were held at SIU Hilltop Campus, Lavale for the housekeeping staff on the 19th of December 2017 and 6th January 2018 respectively. In these two sessions, they were taught on topics like basic English, how to operate features of a mobile phone, filing an F.I.R using a role-play, basic first aid and basic hygiene tips. The topics for the session were chosen based on the request of the housekeeping staff after having multiple interactions with them.
Approximately 80 housekeeping staff attended both the sessions and a team of 50 student volunteers facilitated the training. The staff found the sessions very productive and enriching. They appreciated the efforts of the students and looked forward to more sessions like these in the future.
The third session was held for the residents of Ambervet village on the 14th of January. Approximately 30 adults and 40 children attended the session, and a group of 32 students facilitated the training using a skit and printed material. The residents learned how to use an ATM card, steps to file an F.I.R and also learned basic English words with their Hindi and Marathi equivalents.
SECC is scheduled to conduct two more sessions in villages around Tal Mulshi this month. This initiative aims to create an impact on more than 800 people by assisting them to learn and be aware of occurrences around them and acquire practice life skills for their benefit.