Approach
Magic Bus is India’s leading Sport for Development (S4D) player. Our programme revolves around enabling children and youth to discover their true selves. This helps them in posing questions to which they find their own answers along with finding their direction in life. We create a safe space for innovation and creativity in which children are challenged to deliver to the maximum of their potential, can risk making mistakes, be supported in drawing learning from both successes and failures, and are joined in celebrating achievements.
Growing with Magic Bus instils in a child a sense of purpose to reflect on life with an awareness of self and with a rightful sense of belonging to the world.
- The Philosophy: We believe that every individual has the potential to develop and make a meaningful contribution to the society. Our engagement with children has been influential in defining our philosophy as one that focuses on exploring and learning together rather than teaching. Therefore, although a child may be seen to be ‘learning’ in a formal education system, true ‘learning’ and potential can only be achieved when a child learns to think for him/herself, understands how to teach others and has the capacity to adapt to situations and challenge existing thinking.
- The Basis: Every day social realities draw our attention towards the unequal distribution of resources. We come across instances of discrimination based on caste, class, religion, gender and other constructed identities. Children are discriminated against on a daily basis and deprived of their basic rights, including the Right to Play. The question is how can this be changed?
- For us, change can only come in with a major shift in mind-set and this comes from within – it cannot be imposed on people. We aid and support this shift with a vision of a new generation of people who move their focus from self to the world around them, taking responsibility for the communities in which they live and for combating discrimination. This process can only succeed if a community responsibility is realised from the formative years in life when a child starts making sense of his/her world and the relationships he/she experiences.
- More often than not, our children have a very short-lived childhood since they need to start thinking about earning in order to help the family to survive. We believe that we need to harness this sea of potential that is wasted on the streets and make our children aware of their own power to make a positive difference not only in their own life but in their community as well. This investment is a long-term one and will only show the benefits as the children grow to become empowered youths and take charge of the next generation.
Together we try to recognise our ability to turn difficult, negative situations into positive learnings and build our resilience, to move towards fulfilling our mission.
To know more about the approach in action, please see the sections our
Curriculum Development, or take a quick sneak peek into a typical Magic Bus
Session.
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