WE CARE

CIVIC ENGAGEMENT INTERNSHIP

REPORT

SUBMITTED BY:
Arpan Daswal
Arshad Akbar Karumbamkandathil
SUBMITTED TO:
Prof. Arti Deo
ORIGINALITY REPORT
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

This civic engagement internship was successfully completed under the guidance of our
organizational mentor, Ms. Sukanya Venkataraman, and our faculty mentor, Prof. Arti Deo

We would also like to thank our fellow colleague from NMIMS Navi Mumbai, Mr. Aryam
Bahukhandi who worked on the assigned projects with us and helped in the completion of the
same.
ABSTRACT

We were assigned following tasks:

1. Editing the Organisational Manual
2. Making a Success Story Video
3. Preparing a Case Study
4. Inventory Management and Valuation

For editing the organisational manual, we divided it into three parts and individually completed
our parts and merger the final manual together.

We made a success story video for Sneha Verma and Disha Maru – both won medals in
International Special Olympics.

We made a case study video for Sushil, who suffers from cerebral palsy, and despite his
challenging situation wants to start a business.

We recorded the values for ending inventory as on 17 February 2019. The ending inventory
included items like paper sheets, kundan, beads, diyas, and colours.
TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. About the internship organization

2. Project Handled
3. Project Methodology (steps taken to execute the project)
4. Findings (if research is undertaken)
5. Challenges faced
6. Recommendations made
7. Internship Learnings
ABOUT THE INTERNSHIP ORGANIZATION

Swami Brahmananda Pratishthan was formed in 1989. The school started functioning in
1990. Mrs. Shirish Poojary is the Managing and Founding Trustee of the organisation.

Various Units of Swami Brahmananda Pratishthan are:

Disha Special School, CBD, Navi Mumbai:

Students admitted in the school suffer from intellectual disability. Intellectual disability is
defined as having IQ less than 70.
This unit caters to the students in the age group of 5 to 18. There are various levels in which
the students are divided namely play-group, pre-primary, primary, secondary, pre-vocational,
and vocational.
To enable the students with special needs to face the rapid challenges in the society the
curriculum provides practical exposure with a holistic approach. The objective of the training
program is to make every student independent to the maximum possible extent depending on
their ability, instil in them a sense of confidence and make them responsible members of the
community.
A student is promoted based on their capability and skills learned. The school follows the
scheme of keeping one class teacher for multiple years so that the teacher can efficiently and
effectively assess the academic potential of the students. Every month, one class manages a
birthday party, celebrating the birthdays of all the students and the staff members occurring in
the month.

Support services provided:

 Occupational Therapy
 Art & Craft
 Counselling and Guidance
 Music
 Computer Skills
  Dance /Drama
 Sports
 Various other Recreational activities for students, staff and parents
 Yoga

Ms. Sukanya Venkatraman is the Principal of the School.

Vocational Training Centre, CBD, Navi Mumbai:

Falguni Vocational Centre: Started (1997) when Mr. and Mrs. Bipin Shah from Ahmedabad
donated money in memory of their late daughter Ms. Falguni Shah.
The centre got help from various individual donors from India as well as from abroad.
Ms. Suneet manages the activities of the Vocational Centre.
PROJECTS HANDLED
The first day we arrived at the organisation, we were asked to observe the activities of the
organisation and were assigned following tasks: Success Story Video, Case Study, Inventory
Management and Valuation.
We started with observing the activities of the organisation and visited the students and teachers
in their respective classrooms.

Play Group:

In the Play group class, as soon as the students entered, they placed their bags on a bag shelf
and then they are sent to washroom.

The class teacher engaged the students in an activity and the difficulty level of the activity
increased as one level of the activity was completed. In the first stage of the activity, the
students were supposed to place 5 spoons on 5 plates present in the front of them. Alia was the
first student to place the spoons correctly on the plates. Once everybody had performed the
activity, the class teacher introduced the next stage of the activity in which 4 spoons and 4
glasses were to be placed on the top of 4 plates.

The class teacher informed us that she followed monthly goals for students.

Pre-Primary:

In this class, students were older than the play group class and the bags were hanging on their
chairs. Students welcomed us with a big smile. Some of the students recited the days of the
week and months of the year.
The class teacher gave them puzzles like tying two ends of a string, Piece puzzle and
unbuttoning of shirt.

Primary:

The objective of this class was to teach the students personal, social, and communication skills.
The students were also taught how to maintain personal hygiene and how to use the urinal or
the washroom. Another objective of this class is to maintain the personality developed in pre-
primary class.

We had a long interview with the class teacher, Ms. Vidya, and gained a lot of insights about
the students and their behaviour. We learned that the children understood clothing but did not
understand privacy. Also, as students progressed through puberty, they faced a lot of
behavioural issues. We also learned that behaviour change is a trade-off - if you try too hard to
change a behavioural pattern it can result in the form of development of a new behavioural
pattern. Parents and siblings influence the behaviour of the students a lot, for example, at times,
students would leave the home like their parents and siblings leave – dressed and with a bag.
Secondary:
The students of the secondary class were able to communicate better than the students of the
preceding classes. Some of the students could write sentences and messages on birthday cards.

Pre-Vocational:

The students were given some physical training so that they could remain active. They played
a game of throwing a ball in a basket to enhance their motor skills.

Vocational:
Students were given training on various fronts. Students were involved in activities such as
painting diyas, making rakhi, and creating jewellery. The students worked together and helped
each other as and when required.

Occupational Therapy:

Other than the normal classroom and functional educational learning, students were given
occupational training. Here, trainers used various equipment such as treadmill, stationary cycle,
blocks, etc., to help students improve the function of their limbs.
Seabird Special School, Uran:
On 2nd February 2019, we visited the Seabird Special School at Uran, Maharashtra, where the
students took part in the school’s annual day celebration. Following are the glimpses of the
function:

The function was very well coordinated, and the performances were heart-warming. Students
sang and danced on devotional and modern music.
PROJECT METHODOLOGY:
For editing the organisational manual, we divided it into three parts and individually completed
our parts and merger the final manual together.

For making success story and case study video, we first interviewed the candidates – Sneha,
Disha, and Sunil and then followed up by making the videos.

For interviews, each of us prepared a questionnaire and then we merged them together and
finalised the set of questions.

This was later followed up by shooting and compiling the videos of the students and their
parents.

Screenshots of Sunil (Case Study Video) and Disha (Success Story Video)
For inventory management and valuation, we were assisted in the process by Ms. Suneet, who
manages of the vocational training centre. Initially, we understood the accounting books
maintained by her and discussed the problem with her and the accountant.

Once the problem was defined as: no proper method of recording the ending inventory, we
started our valuation of ending inventory.

Screenshot of Student Activity Time

Screenshot of Inventory of Materials

FINDINGS:

1. During the internship, we observed various errors on the organisation’s website.

For instance:

In the Milestones section of the website -

1993:
Gold medal for the India…
2002:
Won "Mayors Trophy" for the thiord consecutive year…
and various other grammatical errors were found.

2. No information about teachers on the website.

3. Some classrooms contained student information charts with details about students whereas
some did not.

4. Some items were in the stock from various preceding years, but their price was unknown.
CHALLENGES FACED:

1. Organisational Manual was unstructured

2. Created and edited videos for the first time.

3. During the process of inventory management and valuation, we found some items that
were in the stock since 2009 and their price was not known.
RECOMMENDATIONS:

The organisation must:

1. Review the website and remove spelling and grammatical errors

2. Add teachers’ profiles on the website

3. Create a student chart for each class

4. Account for inventory periodically (say quarterly) or as and when purchased

Additionally:

5. Teachers may use a second prop instrument simultaneously to teach a student

6. In Occupation Therapy, students should be trained to walk on a broader board first and
then on a narrow one

7. The following activity may be restructured

From: To:

Today is _____ Yesterday was _____

Tomorrow is _____ Today is _____
Yesterday was _____ Tomorrow is _____
INTERNSHIP LEARNINGS:

1. Understood the challenges faced by children with intellectual disabilities

2. Learned how to create videos

3. Learned how to manage inventory