This article is part of #MakingSportWork, a series launched by The Better India and Sports and Society Accelerator. The series celebrates India’s independence with stories of heroes who spent years improving the lives of those around them through sports. Stay tuned for inspiring stories of those who are #MakingSportWork.
After his graduation, Bengaluru-based Vishal Talreja got a chance to visit Finland, where he saw a significant emphasis on respect for labor and the idea of a high quality of life enjoyed by people, regardless of their background and the nature of their work.
“It made me think about my own upbringing and the caste class system around us. I wanted to come back to India and change the way we look at dignity here,” he says.
After returning to his homeland, Vishal decided to devote his weekends to meaningful volunteer work. He focused on helping youth from minority and vulnerable backgrounds where they were exposed to malnutrition, abuse and crime at an early age. Education and life skills were not prioritized for this group, prompting him to offer his support.
Through various connections, he met a group of passionate people, all in their early 20s working in the IT sector in Bengaluru, Pune and Delhi. Although they didn’t know each other specifically, they shared a common goal to build a roadmap that gave them a clear sense of purpose. Vishal and a team of 10 others founded ‘Dream a Dream’ – a non-profit organization dedicated to transforming the life experiences of underprivileged children in Bengaluru.
They started with an after-school program in Bengaluru to teach children essential life skills – such as teamwork, problem solving and critical thinking – using sports and creative arts as mediums.
What started as a weekend initiative has now evolved into a full-fledged organization spearheading life skills education in Indian public schools. Vishal says, “When we founded Dream a Dream, we never expected it to become a national organization that would transform the education of millions of children.
Their work has expanded to six states including Karnataka, Delhi, Jharkhand, Uttarakhand, Nagaland and Telangana – all in partnership with the respective state governments.
How we turned our dreams into reality
Initially, the group started its work with the community of children affected by HIV, devoting considerable time to bringing joy and happiness to their lives. By 2001, they had started working in a care home for these children.
“At that point, Brinda (one of the founding members) was able to get two to three international volunteers, who organized a creative arts therapy program for children. It was a three-month weekend program, and we saw a change in mindset among the children. We saw the impact of experiential learning for the first time,” says Vishal.
The art therapy program encouraged them to broaden their focus on empowering children from disadvantaged backgrounds. Within two years, the organization grew from 11 to 300 volunteers.
Working in care homes and orphanages, Vishal understood the complexities faced by children. “Most care homes did a great job of taking care of children’s basic needs and keeping them off the street, but they didn’t necessarily prepare children for life outside the home. Many children would return to their care home a year or two after they turned 18,” he said. adds
During this period, the institution integrated sports, art, theater, music and various crafts into its weekly life skills education program using a unique life skills approach focused on the transformation of each child.
“This program is about helping children understand who they are, what their strengths are, what their support system is and what their dreams and aspirations are,” says Pavitra KL, an alumnus of Dream A Dream.
Dream A Dream programs—such as Direct Impact, System Demonstration, and Field Building—focus on implementing life skills-oriented curriculum, pedagogy, new teaching methods, teacher training, and comprehensive assessments.
Under their ‘Direct Impact’ programme, the organization uses a demonstrable model in both in-school and out-of-school learning spaces. It directly engages with 10,000 young people aged 8 to 23 each year, providing innovative learning opportunities through sport and the arts. This approach promotes important life skills such as teamwork, decision making, problem solving, and critical thinking.
Additionally, the program helps 15- to 23-year-olds prepare for an ecosystem that requires skills such as computer education, English speaking, communication skills, money management, and workplace readiness.
The ‘System Performance’ program aims to transform the public education system in collaboration with the government. The organization has effectively trained more than 35,000 teachers and educators in the life skills approach. This training enables them to create safe learning environments within existing classrooms and expand their influence by focusing on curriculum, teaching methods and assessment.
Additionally, in partnership with state governments, the organization is introducing new courses such as Khushi Curriculum in Delhi, Anandam Pattacharya in Uttarakhand, Whole-Child Development Educational Approach in Jharkhand and Life Skills Courses in Nagaland and Telangana. The organization supports state education departments by introducing new educational approaches, teacher training and new assessment frameworks.
The ‘Wilding the Field’ strategic approach is working towards a change of mindset among different stakeholders in the learning ecosystem to bring about a collaborative approach to education, involving the wider community, decision makers, professionals from various fields, parents, teachers and other stakeholders. .
The organization aims to maximize impact through large-scale dissemination of real-world research findings, engage in critical conversations to hear diverse success stories, amplify youth voices through collaboration, and advocate for the purpose of education to thrive by weaving people, places together. and voices backed by high-impact research.
Leading change through sport
Dream a Dream works with both affordable private schools and state governments. For example, they partnered with the Delhi government and other non-profit organizations to develop the world’s largest in-school social and emotional learning (SEL) curriculum – The Happiness Curriculum – launched in 2018 by the Delhi government to increase students’ mindfulness and positive productivity. . This initiative has positively impacted eight lakh children of the national capital.
Pavitra, currently Associate Director at the Innovation Lab, which creates skill development modules for the youth, says Dream a Dream provides many opportunities for children to participate in various sports like hockey, rugby and table tennis. Lately, they have only emphasized on football.
“Football allowed us to include as many people as possible given its popularity. We could let more young people play because it didn’t require a lot of equipment,” she says, adding that Dream A Dream’s soccer program consists of weekly two-hour sessions.
Pavitra further explains that children usually join the program at age eight, often in Grade 4, and can choose between the creative arts and soccer programs, each lasting seven years.
She informed that this initiative has affected more than 2.2 million children across the country so far. Among them is another former student, Ranjit H, who played at the age of 12. Kabaddi at school.
In 2008, driven by curiosity about rugby, the jerseys, shoes, and weekly lunch offered to participants, he enrolled in the rugby program. At that time, my father used to load or unload goods in the market, while my mother worked in the textile industry. Due to lack of finances, we did not get quality food at home. I mostly depended on the snacks provided by Dream A Dream,” he shares.
To support himself financially, he worked part-time jobs, including assisting in textile works and delivering newspapers. Despite challenges at home, Ranjith was competing at the national level for Karnataka within a few years. Traveling to rugby tournaments and meeting people from other parts of the country gave him the confidence to come out of his shell.
“That’s when I learned how to talk to people. I’m not afraid to play rugby but I used to be afraid to talk to people!” He says.
Later Ranjith completed class 10 and went to college. ‘I understand how much the game benefits people. My sports certificate helped me get into college through sports quota. I worked part-time and completed my college,” he says. After college, Ranjith joined Dream a Dream as a football facilitator.
The basic goal of the organization is to ensure that no child is left behind with whom they work. “Can we make sure that every young person feels supported and moving forward? Even if they fail academically, are they thriving? Are they still looking forward to a dignified life?” Pavitra asked.
“As we learn more about young people, we are working to reimagine the purpose of education in the 21st century toward the idea of prosperity,” he noted.
Edited by Pranita Bhat. All photos: Dream a dream.