BENGALURU: A couple of months ago, Rohan Jacob, a Class 11 student from Canadian International School (CIS) watched his mother volunteering as an online teacher for a refugee centre in Malaysia. Inspired by his mother’s service towards society, Jacob too signed up as a volunteer at the Zotung Refugee Catholic Learning Centre (ZRCLC) in Kuala Lumpur, to help students and teachers use Google Classroom that he learned in school.
“Through my own academic experience and use of Google Classroom in school, I realised that the centre in Malaysia could use Google Classroom that would streamline academic activities for both students and teachers. I put together a PPT using my ICT and presentation skills that I learned in school and pitched the idea to the refugee centre.
They agreed and I helped the staff use Google Classroom. I also took classes for 12 and13 year olds on responsible gaming. I got the opportunity to help students learn skills that we have access to and I really enjoy doing work like this. I believe that training students and teachers in technology is important and I am glad to contribute towards making a better future for these kids,” he says.
The Kuala Lumpur centre’s goal is to provide a safe learning environment for refugee children between the ages of 3 and 15 and prepare them with applicable life skills when they are resettled in their new adopted country, or when they are required to wait in Malaysia for their return to their native countries.
Jacob also uses his spare time to volunteer for Bengaluru-based NGO, ASHA, which provides education and support to children with severe disabilities and autism. He helped prepare class notes and simplify them to supplement the academic studies of the children. Commenting on Jacob’s initiative to volunteer for NGOs, Shweta Sastri, managing director of the school, said, “I truly appreciate Rohan for taking up social work in the form of teaching skills to students and teachers online which is the need of the hour. This is particularly helpful to refugee children as well as to those with special needs. I hope more students would join Rohan in his endeavour to help people who are in need of such skills.”