Ideas to make the world a better place for child

CHENNAI : Icubed – Ideate, Implement, Inspire, the national social entrepreneurship competition spearheaded by the NGO Bhumi, can definitely be summed up as a battle of ideas for social change.A school within a university campus, building entrepreneurship through a craft centre, a children’s magazine to express bottled up emotions, speak up and act now against child abuse at schools – these were some ideas that entered the final fray on Sunday as the finalists presented their take on what could possibly make the world a better place for children.The commitment, conviction and clarity of thought projected by the ideators was inspiring, making it a tough call for the panelists to choose among them.A magazine for school children from Chennai Schools – a platform for them to air their bottled up emotions, was an idea presented by Srinivasa Ramanujam, a research scholar from IIT Madras.This magazine will have an editorial board comprised of children, with no adult interference. “They will be trained by a group of editors and reporters from the media, and after that will be in a position to decide on the content that goes to print.” He plans to make this venture sustainable through subscriptions.A school within the university campus where professors also teach child labourers – novel idea, isn’t it? That is exactly what Nirupama Raghavan, a chemical engineering student, presented. She calls her concept ‘Suki Samaj’ or Happy Society. She said, “We will adopt a community near the university and children who have dropped out of school due to poverty or family needs will be identified. This school is meant for them.”Bharath Singh did his masters from the Madras School of Economics and plans to use his skills to encourage entrepreneurship among the rural kids near Trichy. He said, “Children in the rural areas need not just bookish education. They need life skills so that one day they can run their own businesses.”Anne Helena an HR professional now pursuing her MBA, is a story herself. Though physically challenged she never stopped dreaming. She said, “I am the difference I want to see in society. If my story can inspire, I believe my idea should inspire and bring a change.” She called her idea ‘ SPACT’ – Speak up and Act Now. She plans to work in two schools in Coimbatore to prepare the children to speak up about child abuse and for inclusion of physically challenged kids in mainstream schools. She said, “Most children suffer in silence. We want to teach them to speak out, because that is the first step towards healing.”Bhumi, one of India’s largest independent youth volunteer non-profit organisations working on children’s issues, for the first time called for ideas on social change under Icubed.Kaavya, Prakash and Bhargav, volunteers with Bhumi, said, “A number of young people out there want to be change agents, but do not know how. That is how Icubed started. We picked 15 out of 300 entries we received on the theme ‘Children and social change.Then we shortlisted six, who presented their ideas today.”The five ideas that were selected will be supported by Bhumi with `1 lakh each and resource persons from Bhumi will see them through the pilot projects.