A Catholic religious group working over 90 years in northeast India is launching an ambitious project for youth development to ensure affordable quality education and skills training for young people in the region. The Salesians of Don Bosco who arrived in Shillong in 1922 are planning an ambitious programme called “Don Bosco School Improvement Mission” (DBSIM), which is dubbed internally, as DBVision 2020! There are some 800 Salesians including Fathers and Brothers spread out in three provinces (Dimapur, Guwahati and Shillong) in the seven states of the region. Code named DBVision 2020, the project under the aegis of Don Bosco Institute Kharguli (Guwahati) is expected to impact the lives of over 100,000 young people in 6 years.
“It’s an exciting opportunity to join Don Bosco in Assam, India, and reform the education sector in North East India,” says project coordinator and director of DB institute of Management in Kharguli Guwahati Fr Johnson Parackal. Fr Parackal adds, “DB is planning soon to carry out a comprehensive quality development of all its educational institutions to meet the new and emerging challenges of providing internationally competitive education to young people in the region.”
Currently, Don Bosco group in the region manages the first CatholicUniversity in India along with 548 of schools, 12 Technical Institutes & Vocational Centres, nine colleges, and other educational programs for disadvantaged youth. Calling on volunteers and professionals to join the mission, project coordinator Fr Parackal says, “you are invited to be part of this exciting journey with young people of NE in any capacity, to be full time volunteers or semi-paid professionals offering professional expertise and competencies.”
Among the urgent areas of expertise requirement are: 1) Leadership and Management training to DB Principals / Teachers; 2) Teacher Training in methodology or subject specialization like Mathematics, Science, English, Computers and Social Studies; 3) Technology Integration into training programs and learning methodologies; 4) Web and/or Database development; 5) Resource mobilization; Infrastructure development; and, 6) Quality Assurance (Monitoring and Evaluation Systems).
Among the requirement for interested applicants, Fr Parackal insists, “Volunteers or Professionals should have at least a Post Graduate Degree in their respective area of interest and should have proficiency in English Language, and pledge their service for two years at least.” The core team of selected experts will be paid regionally competitive fees. Don Bosco Institute Guwahati will offer volunteers board residency and local travel allowance, the priest said.
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