CAPT Kamal Returns to India!

After two years of online engagement amidst COVID-19, CAPT Kamal takes flight once again! CAPT Kamal is a Service Learning Group that engages with students in Bangalore, India. The CAPT Kamal team oversees the planning and execution of a two-week summer camp for underprivileged children in Bangalore, spending one week each at our partner organisations, Dream School Foundation and Reaching Hand. Many students at Dream School Foundation and Reaching Hand come from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds and have a high risk of dropping out of school in order to support their families. CAPT Kamal hopes to keep these students in the education pipeline and inspire them to pursue learning beyond the classroom.

Summer Camp

Beyond reinforcing students’ knowledge of the traditional curriculum (e.g. math, science, and English) in a flipped classroom manner, we focus on holistic development (e.g. public speaking skills, first aid skills). We also facilitate cultural exchanges between the locals in Bangalore and our team through food and games. At Reaching Hand, we had the opportunity to interact with the children over a meal and through sports and indoor games to further build camaraderie with the children. The summer camp ended with a performance showcase prepared by both the children and our team.

Learning Journeys

Aside from the summer camp, our team also organised three learning journeys. As Bangalore is known as India’s “Silicon Valley”, we visited Xoxoday, a fintech startup, for an office tour and employee sharing to gain deeper insights into India’s booming entrepreneurial scene. We also engaged Hasirudala, a social enterprise that works with waste pickers and their children. We visited their community library and conducted a session on Singapore culture for the children under their Buguri Children’s Programme. Lastly, we toured The University of Trans-disciplinary Health Sciences and Technology to better understand the higher education landscape in India. All of these events made us look forward to engaging with the students, teachers and communities in India in the future.