It is not just about the salaries, jobs, cases, and quizzes after all – if that’s the message the country’s top business school is trying to convey – it has well succeeded. The Joy of Giving Week, being celebrated at IIM Ahmedabad, evocatively communicates that business schools are not only the assembly lines that deliver robust managers but also a place where these managers are taught to be socially responsible.
The business school’s own social initiative called ‘Prayaas’ is instrumental in celebrating the week that hosts eight events for socially underprivileged children.
The opening day of the ‘Week’ saw an art competition called ‘Let’s Paint’ for children. 124 children were given a tour of the IIM-A campus by the kids who are already associated with Prayaas. For nearly two hours, the kids were immersed in creating their renditions of the Louis Kahn Plaza at the campus.
A ‘wish tree’ was rotated across the campus on which the needy (especially the children) could stick their wishes. Students, staff and others could then select any wish they were willing to fulfil. The wish tree witnessed various humble wishes such as encyclopaedias, audio books, and spending a day with an IIM-A professor.
collection drives
On the second day, students served dinner to around 500 staff workers. The institute also conducted collection drives for clothes and pulses on October 7. The clothes collected will be sent to Goonj – an NGO dedicated to helping the clothing needs of poor people and the pulses to Akshaya Patra – an NGO that provides food to school children.
On Monday evening, students staged a cultural performance for both students and outsiders for a nominal fee, the proceeds of which will be donated to Prayaas to take up social initiatives.
The B-school’s social initiative will also conduct its annual fundraising event ‘Vikaas’ on October 13. It will start with a guided tour of the campus and will then be followed by performances by various IIM-A clubs. The fundraiser is also open to the general public for a nominal fee, the collections of which will be utilised to promote education among underprivileged students in Ahmedabad.
The flagship event of the week ‘A Day at IIM-A’ is scheduled on October 20. The event will allow members of over 20 NGOs and 50 general participants to experience life at IIM-A. These participants will go through a whole gamut of activities like classes, surprise quizzes, club interactions and of course, the guided tour of the campus.