Bangalore Notebook Drive, 2004

Every year, Friends of CRY volunteers organise a notebook drive to collect money to buy notebooks for children studying in the government schools in Karnataka. This year's drive sought to get more people involved in the activity, so as to increase awareness about the low quality of education being imparted through the 49,000 government schools in the state. Awareness being the first step towards taking action to improve the situation.

Corporates and their employees chipped in enthusiastically. Posters, staff email, word of mouth, canteens and cafeterias - all avenues were tapped. Accenture and Infosys made huge contributions, and SAP, Phillips, TCS and other corporates also donated generously to help collect Rs 2,72,000/-.

Then came the fun bit - the distribution of the notebooks. Donors were encouraged to accompany the volunteers for the distribution of books, which was done on Saturdays. This year, we focussed on rural schools, because these are even more neglected than their urban counterparts. We covered a total of 70 schools, 20 urban and 50 rural, including 35 schools in Kolar district (where the Kolar Gold Fields are).

Each child was given their notebook individually and asked to write their name on it. Some were proud, others shy, all felt good and their smiles were the best reward we could get. The complete distribution took 7 weekends.

For the Friends of CRY, it was a learning experience. We realised that if we have a sound plan of action, there are plenty of people willing to contribute money and time to work to improve the situation in government schools.