We bring you the triumphant story of BMEP which seems to be doing a victory lap ever since. Read to know the REAL YOUTH OF INDIA around THE CAMPUS, doing some real work.
Today, we share a meaningful story of a team of young students, who are trying to bring a difference, when most of the stories that we read today are revolving around crooked sensibilities and bizarre actions.
The story that we are going to narrate is also of similar breed that belongs to colleges and campuses.
Yet, it has nothing to with the prevailing destruction and negativities of the world. All it inspires is positivism and a HOPE FOR LIFE.
This young NIT Durgapur student Harsh Vardhan Singh made a short film with the help of local slum children around his college for Microsoft Imagine Cup in Education category, and he felt as if he used the kids for his entry into the competition, and did not pay back. The guilt didn’t let him sleep. He had shot a movie, which showed the use of VOIP technology to educate underprivileged children, while the ones who acted in the film were themselves uneducated and alienated from the concept of education!
Harsh Vardhan says, “In 2009, I made a short film with my friends for Microsoft Imagine Cup casting the local slum children of a location called ‘Bihari More’, next to the Campus of National Institute of Technology, Durgapur. The film theme was the use of technology & innovation in educating remote & underprivileged children. But the children themselves being underprivileged provoked us to stand up for the children cause. This led us to conducting weekend teaching sessions for these kids at the local Hanuman Mandir. Gradually & unconsciously the project developed in an organised way, which is reflected in the performance & activities carried on by the children & volunteers in the project. Thus the project got its name, Bihari More Education Project a.k.a. BMEP.”
Soon after looking at their dedication, the management at NIT Durgapur allowed them to use their classrooms to teach the children and the alumni also donated to the cause. They started teaching the kids with standard textbooks, distributed stationeries and uniforms.
Apart from usual teaching sessions, The BMEP Volunteers team conducts quiz, drawing competitions, science fair trips, sanitation awareness campaign and many innovative fun learning methods. With a large influx of volunteers, BMEP also expanded to nearby locations of NIT Campus, touching the child labour issue too at college hangout eateries with their “Caring For Jhoops Kids” Campaign.
In 2012, two years after Harsh had passed out from the college, One of his juniors Jigme Lama along with his friends Aneesha Murty, Eshna Ekka and Nikhil Bara started talking to kids involved in child labour and convinced their owners to allow them to study after working hours. It took over six months of convincing before they were allowed to study under BMEP. “It was a great achievement for us”, Harsh recounts. During his final year, Harsh made another short film, “The Uncaptured Passion”, which was selected for the 63rd Cannes Film Festival, France, and had a world premiere on May 21, 2010, at the Palaise de festival, Cannes. His talent was noticed by filmmaker R Balki who called him to Mumbai to work with him. Harsh gave up his placements for his passion and went to Mumbai and started working.
However, his heart lay with the kids in BMEP.
At present, Harsh has his own company Paper Weight Entertainment India, which undertakes independent projects and the money he earns from it is used for BMEP. They had also done a fundraiser in 2012 for the same. At BMEP, they have expanded to a lot of activities to improve the life of underprivileged kids, including Annual Medical Checkups, Basic Awareness about hygiene, Teaching kids to talk and speak in English apart from soft skills, They are taken on trips to science fairs. Everything is volunteer driven at BMEP, who are selflessly working towards giving a better life to these children by educating them.
BMEP mentors around 76 slum children in the area and has been featured on UNICEF and many more publications. Yet, the BMEP Volunteers Team still believe they have a long way to go.
” We Target to make NIT Durgapur into a 100% Child Literacy and Welfare Zone “- Says the BMEP Team
So this is yet another CAMPUS STORY, that moved us, did it move you?
Inspired? Are You?
