REACHA, in partnership with Manava Bharati India International School (MBIIS), New Delhi and Him Jyoti School (HJS), Dehradun has made an outstanding contribution towards Child Centric Learning By Doing (CCLBD) approach to education. In this connection, the first SAMEER Club - Social Action Movement for Education and Eco-Restoration (http://www.reacha.org/sameer-clubs) in schools was inaugurated in 1997 by Chairman CBSE Prof B P Khandelwal at MBIIS. The mandate & objectives of this Club are in tune with erstwhile CCE (Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation) under the Central Board of Secondary Education CBSE) in India. The SAMEER CLUB, was therefore, in many ways the precursor to CCE of school children as envisaged by Ministry of Human Resource Development (MoHRD), Government of India from October 2009.
SAMEER Club lead to the hugely popular Maitreya Clubs (http://www.reacha.org/maitreya-clubs) in late 1990's & early 2000. Tata Power picked up the ideas from the above two and the NDPL Energy Club (http://www.reacha.org/ndpl-energy-club) was inaugurated in 2004 in partnership with REACHA in 5 Delhi Schools. At present this Club has sensitised more than 6 lakh people on rational use of energy resources through school children in partnership with Delhi Government schools. The Club targeted to reach a figure of around 10 lakh by end 2010. The success of the NDPL Energy Club encouraged Tata Power to partner us to launch the nationwide Tata Power Energy Club (http://www.reacha.org/tata-power-energy-club). Success of these Clubs has fetched rewards for the Tata Companies. REACHA handed over the programme to Tata Power in 2009.
REACHA kept sharing its work with other schools in the meantime. One such school is HJS, Dehra Dun. HJS went in-depth with regard to implementing the SAMEER Club in their school and came up with a unique Student Leadership Programme with our assistance. The programme works through Student (Self) Management Committees (SMC). More details are online at http://www.reacha.org/reacha-and-new-cbse-approach.
While the SMC’s were perfecting their functioning, CBSE launched CCE from October 2009. HJS customised its SMC's as per CCE mandate (though the earlier version was almost similar) and presented it to a visiting CBSE team. The Joint Director KVS (Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan) who headed the team was impressed and recommended implementing SMC's as instruments for CCE in all KVS schools in Uttarakhand.
CBSE came out with Circular No. 57 dated 1 September 2010 that emphasized on the need for use of ICT (Information and Communication Technology) in Education by schools as per CCE. Project Samvedna has already demonstrated a successful model. The same has also been shared with CBSE.
We have been working very quietly since 1992, but now our work has found a louder voice and a clear mandate. Credit for this achievement goes to:
1. MBIIS, New Delhi under the able stewardship of its Director, Capt V.K Pandey and its Principal Mrs Bharati Pandey. MBIIS gave REACHA the creative freedom to experiment with the evolution of SAMEER Club
2. HJS, Dehra Dun under the dynamic leadership of its Principal Late Mrs Tanu Nayal. HJS further refined SMC’s as per the new CBSE mandate of CCE. SMC’s at HJS have evolved into a path-breaking Leadership Programme for School Children. The Head of Tech Mahindra Foundation also visited the school and appreciated this programme.