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Girivanvasi Educational Trust (GVET) is a not-for-profit organization which runs the Nareshwadi Learning Centre (NLC) (www.nareshwadi.org) comprising a primary and secondary school, a vocational training center, residences for 500 children and a school health centre. It is located on a 175-acre campus, 26 km from Dahanu Taluka in Thane District, 130 km from Mumbai.
The children admitted to NLC are from underprivileged families, aged 6-18 years. Ninety percent of the children are from the local tribal communities, while the rest are HIV affected or from families that have abandoned them. The vision of NLC is “To empower each child to reach his or her dream”. Its mission is “To nurture the physical, intellectual, emotional, and spiritual development of each child by providing an innovative education, creating a caring home environment and fostering community involvement.” The school’s performance at the Board Exams has progressively improved over the past three years from 13% to 75%.
To build upon its successes and to foster further improvements, GVET is looking for a motivated volunteer to help design a sustainable model of alternative pedagogy appropriate for first generation learners in large classroom settings. The volunteer will work closely with the Director, Nareshwadi Learning Centre to design and pilot strategies for in-service teacher training to implement the new pedagogy. The goal over the coming three years is to develop NLC as a Mother Centre that would provide in-service training for teachers of the local village schools and that the Government educational department would recognize and accept the strategy for improved classroom learning, incorporating it in their development plans.
This is a challenging full-time position based in Nareshwadi and the volunteer would need to commit at least three months to the assignment. Accommodation in the NLC guest house will be provided free of charge. Food arrangements are available on campus @ $ 1.00 (Rs 50.00) per day for all meals. The NLC campus is a non-vegetarian, no smoking-no liquor campus and volunteers are expected to follow these principles.
SKILLS, KNOWLEDGE, AND ABILITIES:
• A good knowledge of trends in pedagogy at primary, middle and high school levels
• Ability to design a sustainable model of appropriate instructional materials and methodologies
• Ability to conduct workshops for in-service teacher training
• Ability to work effectively and interdependently in a rural environment
• Good verbal, written, and interpersonal communication skills
• Flexibility to maintain a varying work schedule as needed
• Has core values of mutual respect for working with multicultural groups

QUALIFICATIONS
A Masters degree in Education or Psychology with relevant experience.

A working knowledge of Hindi would be an added advantage though the lack of it would not be an impediment for an innovative person.

Email CV and motivational letter to volunteer@atmamumbai.org