It was a moment of great pride and joy for Jaipuria Institute of Management, Jaipur when it completed the first leg of the Dantli project, which was undertaken under Parivartan, the CSR initiative of the institute. Under this initiative, the institute provided a 30hours capsule course in basic computer and English to the not-so-privileged students of Dantli village free of cost. Dantli is a village near Jaipur, whose residents were identified as lacking these skills. Many a time, this short-coming was a big hindrance in their studies and job opportunities.
The Certificate Distribution ceremony was held on 26th January 2013 in front of the village Panchayat and officials. Few eminent villagers involved with the project were honoured as well. Certificates were given to motivate the students, who spoke about their experience of being a part of the institute. The students of Jaipuria Institute of Management – Prachi Jaiswal, Preeti Singh, Nikita Thomas, Utkarsh Jaiswal and Vedant Vashishta – who were involved in teaching English in Dantli, were also given mementos as a token of appreciation for their contribution. In a speech given by Preeti Singh, she said “ It was great being a part of the Dantli team; we not only taught them but also learned so many new things from them”. Utkarsh Jaiswal also said, “Being a part of the Dantli team, I discovered that I could also teach somebody, something that I didn’t know about myself earlier.”
All this was possible only because of the vision and initiative of our director, Dr. Rajiv R. Thakur, without whom the whole project wouldn’t have got off the ground. His vision is not only restricted to Dantli village; Taking this project further Jaipuria Jaipur is looking forward to adopting another village near Jaipur. The faculty members involved in this project were Prof. S. P. Garg, Dr. Swati Soni and Dr. Sheenu Jain, who constantly guided us through the project. Mr. Prakash Sharma from the Library has also been the backbone of this project, coordinating between the villagers and students, and organising most of the activities. Other staff members who have played a significant role are Mohd. Sohail, Mr. Raj Prakash Singh, Mr. Hemant and others. Henceforth, Mr. Devesh will be coordinating future projects. The members of the village Panchayat also praised us for our contribution and requested the Director to continue with the project at Dantli and extend the learning process.