Computer Training Course with Hands on Learning at Mahila Ashram High School

A.P.D had recently collaborated with Mahila Ashram High School, Karve Nagar for our recent initiative which is educating young girls about the basics of computers. This activity was conducted from 23rd July to 4th August for over 500 girls of 8th grade. Before we took up this activity we conducted a survey and visited various schools in Pune. This survey was conducted to check whether computer education is given importance in schools and to our surprise Computer Education was not of major significance. The schools had computer classes, computer labs but no teacher to teach them.

We all know computers are an integral part of our lives and are increasingly becoming more important as teaching and training tools. Computer knowledge is essential from the career perspective as well. That is why we decided to take up this activity.

We started off by initially teaching the basics of computers and later proceeded with Microsoft Word. We had a weekly session of one hour each for every section of 8th grade.

During the first week of the activity the students were taught about the parts of the computer and their functions by showing them presentations.
In the following week we imparted basic information about Microsoft Word. Students were taught about the practical applications of Word and basic formatting tools.

We not only conducted theory sessions but it was a hands-on experience wherein the students were made to create a Word document themselves.
The session was successful as the students were cooperative and the teachers were extremely helpful.

We established a strong connect with the students which greatly helped us in teaching them to the best of our ability. This is a long-term activity which we plan to continue in collaboration with numerous schools across the city, with a horizon of reaching out to maximum students.

Youth empowerment and development is a trending topic in India.If a country's youth is educated it becomes a major asset for the country's development and educating the youth about computers will only help us and get us a little more closer to our goal.We really look forward at taking up more such activities which make an impact not only on the child's development but also help the country's development .

The course was designed by Nikhil Khanzode - Technical Head of Action for Pune Development, in collaboration with Mr. Yash Vardhan Agarwal, an IT Professional and B.Tech - Information Technology Graduate from Manipal Institute of Technology, Manipal and was conducted by A.P.D. Members who were given training prior to the activity.

Reported By

Divya Jain - Editoral Team, A.P.D.

A.P.D. Tree Plantation 2017

APD has maintained a legacy since Inception. Just like the past five consecutive years, this time too a tree plantation drive was conducted.

All of us complain about the increasing pollution and environmental problems in the city, but do we actually take some serious measures regarding it? Yes we understand that not all of us agree to use public transport or go out of the way to reduce pollution, but we all can plant one tree at least. Why not create more of what is going to be beneficial for us in the recent future instead of those detrimental industries!

Trees are a boon to the entire ecosphere. They detoxify impure air, add beauty to their surroundings, prevent soil erosion, serve as food to a lot of life on this planet and the list continues.

Thus, we at APD conducted a tree plantation drive on Monday, 5th June 2017. Around 20 members were ready with their gardening tools at Abhimanshree where this drive was conducted. 50 trees were planted this year which included a variety of plants like Hibiscus, Kamini, Bahama,Chrysanthemum , Pentus, Aboli and Tagar. Bahama and Hibiscus are used to treat many illnesses. Hibiscus has many other uses too. Aboli is used as an ornamental flower. Thus, all these plants were grown keeping such benefits in mind which could be used by the locals.

What makes APD unique is that these young enthusiasts divided themselves into teams which would later take care of the plants periodically. Planting trees is not where our work gets over. They need to be taken care of and need to be mentored.

Let's not restrict ourselves to conduct such activites to specific days only, but also by doing a bit every day and replenishing Mother Earth with all the beauty with which it was created.

Reported By

Alisha Jain - Editorial Team, A.P.D.

Importance of Community Service for Kids

Action for Pune Development conducted an activity in Collaboration with Garware Bal-Bhavan Pune as a part of its community service endeavour.

The reason behind us taking this activity was to teach young children importance of community service as we want them to imbibe this value from the very beginning.

The activity was a three day session attended by approximately 70 children between ages 7-11.The topics we covered in these three sessions were Importance and Conservation of Environment, Road Safety and Money Saving.

Day One started with a brief  introduction about APD and our members, and then we further spoke to them about the importance of trees and played a small game which helped them to understand things better.

In the second session we explained to them about traffic safety and various traffic rules and used different pictures, poems and small acts to make things interesting to them. Then on the third day, we explained to  them about importance of saving money and played quizzes with them.

We concluded our sessions by telling them about community service and how it's beneficial for the society at large.

Overall the activity was an amazing learning experience not only for the children but also for us. The enthusiasm the children showed helped us build our energy and encouraged us to teach them to our best possible capacity also the children were immensely cooperative.

The feedback received was surely amazing and due to the activity's success we at A.P.D have decided to continue to work with young minds in future and help build a generation which is inclined towards community service.

Reported By

Divya Jain - Editorial Team, A.P.D.

A New Step for Good Governance - Voice of Pune

Voice of Pune - is the latest venture by Action for Pune Development.

Citizenship plays a pivotal role in democracy and a pro-active citizen is instrumental in bringing about a remarkable change in the society. Every citizen is bestowed with certain rights and these rights should be exercised in the best possible manner. "Right of speech" is a fundamental right which citizens can make use of, in an appropriate manner, for the betterment of the society and broaden the path of progress.

This is a platform which gives every citizen an equal opportunity to speak; hence, leading to an inception of transformation.

Keeping in mind the recently conducted 2017 PMC elections, we aim to reach out to the citizens of Pune, thereby giving them a platform to voice their opinions and in turn make their voices heard by the elected authorities.

Identities of individuals will remain confidential under all circumstances, but their suggestions and opinions will certainly be compiled and communicated to the elected representatives. The valuable inputs received from the citizens will be classified on the basis of area/locality and the compiled document will be presented to respective Corporators.

This process will therefore help in reconstruction and development of Pune city through active involvement of citizens.

"Every citizen's input is valuable; so voice your opinion and initiate a radical change"