Ashok Rathod is a staunch believer in the power of education and is dedicated to raising the aspirations and academic achievements of children.
Category
đ
NewsTranscript
00:00Why football? Because with one football, 22 children can engage in the same time.
00:07We have four pillars. All children have to participate. Everyone has to enjoy, be safe, and learn something from our program.
00:17We teach them about team building, leadership, gender equality, decision making, punctuality, life skills, and creative thinking.
00:27That's the platform we are creating here for football in a fun way. We teach them.
00:32I'm Ashok Rathod, founder of the Oscar Foundation.
00:47I have my own lived experience in a slum. I have grown up in that community and I have seen a lot of things in that community.
00:56Children drop out of school, involved in a crime. So to break this cycle, I want to give them mentorship.
01:05I use football as a medium to invite these children to come and play together. And through football, I want to communicate with them.
01:15I want to give a different perspective to the younger children so that they can think about the importance of education and their better future.
01:27When I started this, the children were coming to play football, but they were not ready to play together because of caste and religion.
01:34And I was shocked that 10 to 12 year old children are talking about that.
01:39So I thought I need to regularly spend time with them, talk to them, and then slowly, slowly, I want to build a rapport and talk about the importance of education.
01:52Within a year, I saw a lot of changes in them. Like more discipline, more punctual, neat and clean. They stopped their abusing language.
02:00And then these kids realized that football is really helping them and they are enjoying.
02:08Then these kids thought that if their life can change from this through football, their friends might also get help from this program.
02:17So they started bringing more and more of their friends.
02:20But then I made a condition, if you want to play football, you need to go to school.
02:30Every child who comes here comes from a slum.
02:34There are 117 students in the entire school.
02:38One of our students is from our school.
02:40He has been selected by the Oscar Foundation for football.
02:44The Oscar Foundation has given him a platform.
02:47Because you have seen that we don't have a playground here.
02:50So the physical activity for the children is not possible.
02:54First of all, I would like to thank the Oscar Foundation.
02:57Because from last two years, they are running computer classes in our school very nicely.
03:04Which is very helpful for our students.
03:07Education is important. You can't do anything but education.
03:10Because education is the thing that will change your world.
03:18Oscar Foundation is helping to reach 25,000 children.
03:23Currently we are working with 10,000 children in four states and 40% are girls in our program.
03:31100% Oscar children, 10,000 children are going to school.
03:36In the right age, in the right time, the children need mentorship.
03:40If they don't get mentorship, they easily divert into other activities.
03:45I'm not telling them to completely go to higher education.
03:48But basic education should be there.
03:50Otherwise, they don't have an option.
03:52That's why I ask them to continue their education.
03:56And from there, I'm sure more doors can open for them.
03:59It's been three months since I joined Oscar.
04:03My friend brought me here.
04:06I didn't know how to ski before. Now I know how to ski.
04:09Touches, passes, juggling and shots.
04:12They teach me well.
04:14They teach me with a lot of love.
04:19After coming to Oscar, I learned life skills like self-awareness.
04:23A lot of basic laws related knowledge.
04:27And how to deal with emotions.
04:29My confidence has increased.
04:31Before, I was very introverted. I didn't want to talk to anyone.
04:34Since I joined Oscar, I have made a lot of friends.
04:39We started hanging out here and there.
04:41We started playing football.
04:42The bond has become very good.
04:44If the children don't get this kind of program, they don't think out of their box.
04:49Through this program, they could see hope.
04:52I've been seeing that a lot of children want to be a football player,
04:56a finance manager, or want to be a fitness coach, police, doctor.
05:02They have now hunger to learn more and to achieve their dream.
05:11Now the parents are also understanding that this program is not just football,
05:16but it's helping their children for their academic improvement as well.
05:20And parents are really happy with our program.
05:26I really want to change the community because these are my people.
05:29They are my family.
05:30Slowly, slowly, people start noticing my work.
05:33And people are connecting with my vision.
05:36The very simple idea, if we help them to complete their education
05:40and make them good players, these children will become a role model.
05:44They will inspire the younger generation.
05:47It's intergenerational change.