Desire to succeed

- by Aparna Achuthan

I have been working at Pratham as a part of the Placements team for the past 2 months. During this period, I have had the opportunity to interact with the students of the vocational training courses at PACE Chembur. On one of my visits, I witnessed a discussion that the students of the Beauty Care Course had with some MasterCard employees. The discussions revolved around time management, leadership qualities and entrepreneurial skills needed to run their own business.

The most important thing that struck me from the discussion was the enthusiasm and belief the young women had to become entrepreneurs. These students included young college girls and women who had children and other family responsibilities. In addition, many of them faced difficult financial and other personal problems. However, they did not see their personal responsibilities and problems as an obstacle, but rather as a motivation. Their will and desire to succeed by working hard was very strong. The need to succeed was not only to support their families but also to become independent by having a career of their own. This positive outlook towards work and life was very heartening and was an inspiration in itself.

- Aparna, who is the Regional Coordinator for Placements, describes an inspirational discussion with our students

Pratham's San Francisco Bay Area chapter raises $400K through a Gala event

- (copyrights - indiawest.com)

More than $400,000 was raised at Pratham’s San Francisco Bay Area Gala 2012, which was a sold-out event with more than 300 people attending the fundraiser at the Marriott hotel here Sept. 15, to show their support for the nonprofit that has imparted education to more than 2.6 million children in India.

“Since its inception in 1994, Pratham has evolved over the years with the support of patrons,” Madhav Chavan, president and CEO of Pratham, told India-West. “Now, we not only focus on primary school education in the slums, but also provide vocational and aid-based training, so that students can apply their education in the real world,” Chavan added. Omi Vaidya, Bollywood actor of “3 Idiots” fame, hosted the gala and delighted the audience with his anecdotes. When asked about his involvement with Pratham, he said, “I heard about Pratham from my friends at the Marathi Mandal and have always wanted to be... To read more visit - http://indiawest.com/news/6788-pratham-sf-bay-area-gala-raises-400k-for-nonprofit.html

Our Hospitality and Construction programs in a glance

Click on the links below the desired photos to go through the video...  

Mangal
http://prathaminstitute.org/impact/videos/

 

Devidas
http://prathaminstitute.org/impact/videos/



     

PACE Construction Program
http://prathaminstitute.org/impact/videos/





Hospitality Industry - Future
http://prathaminstitute.org/impact/videos/




           

PACE Hospitality Program
http://prathaminstitute.org/impact/videos/

 

Vaibhav whose family income was below poverty line, now heads the Bakery department at reputed hotel

Vaibhav's family belongs to the Below Poverty Line (BPL) category and he was struggling to make a living within his own vicinity. Despite many obstacles, he finally managed to complete his SSC and HSC under the Maharashtra Board. One day he visited our PACE Hospitality Training Center, Satara and decided to pursue a career in the Hospitality industry. He joined the 1st Batch, and completed the course with flying colours. After the completion of the course he got placed in Lemon Tree, Aurangabad as a trainee in the food and beverage service department for a month. Post his training in Aurangabad, he was trained at the Lagoona City Resort at Lonavala for a year in the Bakery and Confectionery department. During this period he honed his skills as a bakery chef and was placed in the Blue Oceans Resort and Spa, Ganpatipule, Ratnagiri, where he now heads the entire bakery and confectionary department. His cost to company is Rs.9500 per month. It is remarkable to see a person whose income was once below the poverty line, grow so quickly and successfully in the field of hospitality. He plans to open his own bakery in the near future. We hope and believe that the success story of Vaibhav will be an inspiration to all the students of Pace Hospitality Centers all across the country.

MasterCard's community day with Pratham

MasterCard's representatives visited our vocational skilling center at Chembur, Mumbai on the 7th of Sept, 2012. As a part of their CSR initiative, they wished to celebrate their community day with our students. Their delegation included Mr. T.V.Seshadri - Division President, South Asia, MasterCard Worldwide, Ms. Aashna Roy - CSR Head, South Asia, and a few of their colleagues from the Mumbai office.

They shared inspirational industry insights with our students while mentoring and interacting with them. It was heart warming to see how engaged the MasterCard representatives were in regards to our students' everyday stories and challenges. They were deeply concerned with the real world challenges that the students face and wanted to do all that they could to help. One of the representatives even offered to counsel our students to cope with on-the-job issues that they might face after completing our courses.