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In the interiors of West Bengal, there are still villages where it is a common practice to clean your house with sacred water after a Muslim enters a Hindu’s house. Muslims are considered to be ‘sinful’ in these parts of Bengal. In the Muslim community, Hindus are viewed as the oppressors and treated with distrust and disdain. Unfortunately, emotions of such ill will have filtered down to the next generation and despite being a part of the same community, Hindus and Muslims in Bengal remain segregated.

Our Mission:

It is our goal to bring together the Hindu-Muslim community in Bengal through technology and work to ensure that the coming generations no longer fall victim to such distrust.

dreamfly in West Bengal: The Learning Journeys:

We will be partnering with the Bagnan High School in Ulebedia in West Bengal to create a computer lab that will take students on Learning Journeys. The learning journeys will ask of the students to work in groups, learning from and teaching each other, beyond caste, creed, or religion, and gain exposure to the world and marketable technical skills. The Bagnan High School touches:

2,843 students | 90 students per class

We will use the Microsoft Windows Multipoint Server solution to install 32 workstations for students and 2 laptops for teachers. This project is being developed with the support of leading education experts including Dr. Sugata Mitra and the Sam Pitroda team. The total cost of the program is $15,000. The success of the program will brighten the prospect of using technology not only for academic purposes but also social purposes where communities can be brought together through technology.

What difference can I make?

$18 will buy one keyboard and mouse
$125 will buy one monitor, keyboard, and mouse
$375 will cover for one Windows Multipoint Workstation
$500 will cover for total software cost

Any contribution you can make will be deeply appreciated. As you make your donation, please feel free to specify what specific purpose you’d like your funds to go towards: www.thedreamfly.org/donate

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More information

Objectives and Outcomes

Our objectives and outcomes will also be evaluated with these criteria in mind.

1. Education: to read, write, and reason, to question comfortable assumptions, to form and inform beliefs

Output: Children should show improvement in the following areas:
Proficient in the use of computers
Better communication skills
Improve in mathematics and sciences

Outcome: Because we are working with high-school children in a community deeply entrenched in stereotypes and biases our goal will be to focus on having children “question assumptions” and develop “informed beliefs”. Children should have access to knowledge about the world beyond Ulubedia by getting the opportunity to connect with each other and learn. They should be encouraged to access computers independently of the classroom and have the opportunity to form their own beliefs. Teachers should foster intellectual curiosity amongst students.

2. Exposure: to reach out to, to experience, to understand unknown enemy.

Output: Children should show improvements in the following areas:
Changed social interaction skills and value systems
Form independent opinions and detect indoctrination

Outcome: An increased emphasis on group work through the computer program should make students work with each other and consequently be able to ‘reach out’ to other students forgetting religion, caste or creed. The lab space will be a safe place where students will have the opportunity to explore new topics and be able to work collectively while doing so under the supervision of the computer program staff.

3. Empower: to imagine, realize, a better reality for self and others.

Output: Students will be expected to show improvements in the following areas:
Classroom behavior and respect for other students
Respectful toward community
Outcome: As the dreamfly project in India continues to grow, students will become educated and exposed and consequently gain a better understanding of the realities. By forming independent opinions they will be able to become better citizens and contribute productively to the society