International Day of Charity

This Sunday, 5 September, is the International Day of Charity. The annual day was established by the United Nations in 2012 with the objective of spreading awareness and mobilise people, NGOs and other actors from all around the world to help others through volunteering and philanthropic activities. Charity, similarly to volunteering and philanthropy, contributes to social welfare, protection of human rights and the creation of more peaceful, inclusive and resilient societies. It also offers a platform for bonding between people and communities across social and geographical borders. 

The date of 5 September was chosen by the UN General Assembly to commemorate the Nobel Peach Prize awarded Mother Teresa of Calcutta, who worked in Kolkota in the 1950s to overcome poverty and distress, and contribute to peace in the city. Established in 2015, the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) require the same spirit from a variety of stakeholders – governments, communities, individual citizens and private actors and multinationals – from all around the world, to tackle the great global challenges and create a sustainable future for all people and the planet.

TISB values students’ social and environmental charity initiatives, as it is a part of realising the world around us and setting the stage for prepared global and active citizens. This is done both in the classroom and outside of school, as students from all Grades become acquainted with different groups and communities, social and cultural issues, and climate and environmental problems. “To me, a complete student is one who is aware of social issues and inequalities around them. They should also try their best to correct these deformities present in their society”, says Mr Naveen, Deputy Principal Pastoral and responsible for student initiatives. He believes that elements, such as academics and sports are only part of school life, and that learning about local and global issues, as well as carrying out initiatives to solve them, are as important. 

In PY and Senior school there are Charity and Environmental Committees working with fundraising activities and finding organisations and projects to support. Many extra curricular after-school activities are also centred around social and environmental issues and development, with student-led clubs, such as CS for Social Good Club, GirlUp, Leaders of Environmental Awareness and Protection (LEAP) and Project Daya, where students explore and talk about real-life problems, and develop initiatives to counter these. The annual VIVUM is the largest student-led charity event in India, where both fundraising and distribution is managed by the students.

To support student initiatives, the school also shares students’ projects through news stories and social media channels, to find more and new supporters and to encourage others to find issues that they are passionate about and start their own campaigns and projects. The student-led ‘The Changemaker Update’ was funded by Grade 12 students, Aayryani and Chandani, to start a community where students meet from all age groups to send in their stories to inspire others. The is term the collaborative initiative  will be started so that you can tell your story.

Recently the ‘Donation Project’, was started and managed by Aminah in Grade 8. The project seeks to offer vocational trainings, such as embroidery and design classes, to accelerate small businesses ventures among socio-economic challenged women from underprivileged communities. To reach better and more sustainable results, the initiative will also offer the women Maths and English classes, to give them the basic knowledge and skills to start and manage their businesses. As part of the project, TISB students are invited to actively take part and carry out Maths and English classes with the women. By contributing with funding, donors will offer funding to provide the women with the supplies and a small financial contribution to start their small ventures.

Get inspired this weekend by looking through our students’ initiatives in the news section on our website, and find something that you would like to contribute to. Share your ideas, initiatives and stories with us to inspire others.