Earning more income is not the sole objective. You have to create value for society too. We at Bajaj Foundation have always cherished our Gandhian values and worked towards offering something valuable to society. While it is a universal truth that money is essential for fulfilment of one’s wants or needs, we believe values form the most important pillars to strengthen an individual’s character, thereby building a value-based society.

To take forward this objective, we have initiated a project called “Design For Change” (DFC) to empower school children, teach them the importance of collaboration, critical thinking, creativity and empathy. We achieve that through 4 steps — Feel, Imagine, Do and Share. These steps help children in finding solutions to problems independently, which then inspires them and makes them feel confident. The core theme of the programme is the “I Can” approach, that is, ‘I can bring change with small actions’.

Our team observed that around 110 students from Class 9th of Arvind Senior Secondary School, Vijaypura Village, Dhod Block are addicted to tobacco, gutka, cigarettes, etc. When we sat down with them during the problem-solution session and discussion, we learned that these students believed if the elder people in their family consumed tobacco, gutka or cigarettes, then it’s probably safe for them too. They thought of finding a solution to make an addiction-free school.

• ● 1. Addiction and harmful effects on health, family and society
• ● 2. Making awareness posters and placards for the school as well as the village
• ● 3. Arranged rallies after meeting people from the village and the school Principal
• ● 4. Prepared street plays for rallies to create awareness among youth and children of the village

Additionally, they also convinced two shopkeepers selling tobacco, gutka, cigarettes, etc. to shift their business further away from the school campus. Even during the daily prayer in the school, children offered remedies to those who were addicted to help them understand the problems they will face. As many as 660 children took an oath that they will not get addicted nor would they let anyone become so.

On Republic Day, children gave a message to all their peers and parents through a drama on addiction. The village Sarpanch praised this effort of the children. He appreciated the budding values, which helps build a strong platform for both society and nation because children are the future. It is this ‘I Can' mindset that equips every child to be AWARE of their environment, ENABLE them with the skills to take action and EMPOWER them to design a desirable and sustainable future.