[edit] Vibha Speaker Event

Vibha and South Asia Institute present

"Taking the school to the child: A grass roots educational initiative for underprivileged children"

A discussion led by the founder and head of DSS (Door Step School), the eminent social worker Mrs Rajani Paranjpe.

[edit] Event Details

Date: Saturday, June 21st, 2008
Place: RLM 4.102, UT Campus (corner of Speedway and Dean Keaton St.)
Time: 5:30PM

The speaker has taught social work in Bombay and in Japan and is highly esteemed in the field.

[edit] Contact Information

Web: http://austin.vibha.org
E-mail: info@austin.vibha.org
Phone: 352-870-0776

[edit] About the Speaker

Mrs Rajani Paranjpe (affectionately known as Rajani Tai) has Masters in social work and is the founder and head of the Door Step School (DSS), a project which caters to the needs of underprivileged children that do not have access to schools. The motto of DSS is "If the child cannot come to school, the school will go to the child". DSS was founded by Mrs Rajani Paranjpe along with Mrs Bina Lashkari in 1988. The concept of DSS was born out of a study project conducted in Mumbai and Pune which sought to determine the factors that caused high school drop out rates among children of slum dwellers. An understanding of these factors led to the creation of DSS- a grass roots movement to teach basic reading and writing skills to street children. DSS focuses on teaching in Hindi, so as to enable street children to understand road signs and newspapers as a start, and to get them admitted to local municipal schools. More information about DSS can be found at DSS website and this article.

[edit] About Vibha

Vibha Austin is a UT student organization and the Austin chapter of Vibha, a US-based non-profit, non-political, non-religious organization with a mission to educate, empower and enable every individual who wishes to make a positive difference in the life of the underprivileged child. Please visit Vibha at http://austin.vibha.org.

[edit] About South Asia Institute

The South Asia Institute at the University of Texas at Austin was established as part of a university initiative to promote South Asian programs, especially those pertaining to contemporary issues, across the entire university and in the larger community. As a National Resource Center for South Asia funded by A Title VI grant from the U.S. Department of Education, the institute sponsors major conferences, scholarly symposia and a weekly South Asia Seminar. The institute also provides Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) fellowships to students pursuing graduate degrees relating to South Asia in any department or school of the University.