DBDS #020 ANOTHER STEPPING STONE FOR BOSCO PLUS

Natasha Almeida MUMBAI, AUGUST 4, 2009: An enthusiastic air and hopeful eyes filled the A. V hall at the Provincial House, Matunga on the afternoon of August 3, as students from the batch of May 2009 of Bosco Plus gathered for their certificate distribution ceremony. This event marked the closure of the batch of 23 students who had enrolled themselves for the month long training in spoken English, life skills, basic computer skills and retail management. This certificate distribution ceremony was held on behalf of Bosco Plus and Tata Trent Ltd., who collaborated with the former in conducting examinations and interviews with the students.

The event was graced by the Guest of Honour Mr. Harshwardhan Goswami, Senior Manager Trainings, Tata Trent Ltd. Besides the team from the Mumbai Development Office, in attendance for the event were Fr. Savio Silveira, Fr. Elson Baretto, Fr. Edwin D’souza, Fr. Bernard Britto, Mr. Robin Thomas, Program Co-ordinator, Tata Trent Ltd. and Mr. Niranje Amte, Examiner of Retail Management at the Garware Institute. The event commenced with the opening address by Ms. Surekha Pednekar from the Development Office which was followed by a prayer song by a student from the current batch. The students of the current batch showed their whole hearted participation by also singing a welcome song ‘Bosco Parivaar’.

Mr. Anand Raj from the Development Office explained briefly the build up of Bosco Plus and how Tata Trent Ltd. got involved with Bosco Plus. Fr. Elson Baretto in his address narrated a motivational story to get the students going. Mr. Goswami, Guest of Honour spoke about his own example. He explained that to move ahead the students will require a healthy balance of hard work and smartness in work. “Show your worth by creating an example”, he added. Mr. Amte provided the students with inputs on developing the habit of reading. Before the certificate distribution could begin Mr. Robin made a mention of ‘Saksham’ i.e ‘Empowerment’: the most important motive of Tata Trent Ltd. for the tie up with Bosco Plus.

The motivational words were followed by the most important part of Distribution of Certificates. The faces of the students had a sense of achievement. Mahesh Sonawane was awarded for his hard work as the outstanding achiever of the batch. For the students it was not any other day of celebration but an opportunity to take the learning ahead. All 23 students fared well in the examinations conducted and 7 of them are already well placed with jobs. Mr. Nabil Ansari proposed the Vote of Thanks. Surely, this is another stepping stone for Bosco Plus and Don Bosco Development Society towards empowering the youth.

DBDS #019 YOUTH LEADERSHIP TRAINING PROGRAMME

Subhash Shirsath NARUKOT, JULY 29, 2009: Don Bosco, Narukot organized a Youth Leadership Training Programme at Don Bosco Campus on July 26, 2009. Eighty-Two Youth from different villages participated in this programme. Prof. Dr. Roman Bhatiya, who has been providing training in rural development for the last 22 years, was the resource person for the day. Drawing from his long and rich experience in this field, he shared several interesting ideas with the youth. By doing so he targeted on improving the leadership skills of the trainees.During the training programme, games and group discussions were held which primarily focused on training aims, village issues and how those issues can be sorted out. The participants were motivated to lead actions to solve village problems of drinking water, road development, employment, education, health and electricity among other problems. Dr. Bhatiya also focused on different government schemes, rural acts and their rights for village development. The session was brought to a close by the screening of a film on the Gramsabha and National Rural Employment Guaranty Act. After the session by Dr. Roman Bhatiya, Fr. Stanny Ferreira enlightened the youth on issues connected to the Panchayati Raj. He focused on the role that the youth should play in these organs of local self governance and the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act.