15th Aug 2024. Mpapk school.
Mpapk – Mahatma Phule Apang Prashikshan Kendra, celebrated India’s 78th Independence Day. On this occasion, every year Mpapk school organizes a flag-hosting ceremony. The school has been associated with many companies in the nearby area. As part of the CSR activities, these companies actively contribute to the school’s mission of giving financial independence to disabled individuals from poor backgrounds. Each year a critical stakeholder will be invited from these companies as the chief guest of the flag-hosting ceremony. This year the honor was given to Naresh Sonavne, Sachin Kotulkar, Majidh, and Sanjeev Shukla from TCS company.
Each year the chief guests are welcomed by the founders of the institute i.e. Nale sir, and Kamble sir. Unfortunately, Inamdar madam could not join the function due to ill health.
After hosting the flag and singing the national anthem, the constitution of India was read out. This is an essential step to let everyone know their fundamental rights bestowed upon them by the Constitution.
Afterward, the guests were formally welcomed with a bouquet, and an introduction about them was shared to the audience. Nale sir welcomed Sachin Kotulkar sir, and Kamble sir welcomed Sanjeev Shukla sir. Sachin Gurav sir (Sachin sir has been associated with Mpapk for a long time) welcomed Majidh Sir, and Mansukh Saheb welcomed Naresh Sonawane sir.
Satendra Singh and Amol Patankar were awarded the Prerna Puraskar/inspiration award by the institute. Satendra Singh helped spread the word about the institute. He even helped reach out to Microsoft and share information about the school. Amol Patankar has been consistently reaching out to the institute on every month’s first Thursday and educating the students with Excel knowledge and financial planning knowledge. Their contributions were highly valued and thanked by the institute.
School background
On August 15, 2024, Mpapk School celebrated India’s 78th Independence Day with a flag-hosting ceremony attended by key stakeholders from TCS. The event included the reading of the Indian Constitution, welcoming of guests, and speeches emphasizing self-improvement and patriotism. The school, which provides free vocational training to disabled individuals from underprivileged backgrounds, has trained nearly 2,000 students, many of whom have started businesses or secured jobs
In the initial days, the “Sanghatana” did not have a place of its own for running the planned ‘residential vocational training programs. Hence it rented a small place at Karve Road, Pune for this purpose and started two, one-year training courses namely, one in “television and radio-audio repairs” and the other in “cutting and tailoring”. However due to constraints of space the “Kendra” at that time could admit only a total number of twenty candidates for both courses per year. By June 1995, Kendra had trained a total number of 325 candidates in the above two trades. In June 1995, the Sanghatana was lucky enough to acquire a one-acre plot of land of its own, at ‘Maan’, a village near Pune. The Sanghatana immediately got spacious premises of its own constructed with residential hostel accommodation available for 40 trainees per year. Now, every year the Sanghatana admits a total of 40 handicapped trainees, on a residential basis. During the selection process of the trainees, preference is given to the rural handicapped youth usually to those who come from the socio-economically underprivileged state of society. The training as well as accommodation at the Centre is available to the trainees entirely free of cost.
Last year’s results –
Out of 28 students in last year’s batch, with the help of 7 laptops that were given by the institute to the students they were able to start a small business. A few have started with electronic shops. 2 students have got a job at Forge Marshal and Infosys placement is a work in progress for the rest of the students.
Overall close to 2k students have been passed from the institute. Every Zilla has a student or entrepreneur who passed out of this institute, which is a commendable feat of success for the Mpapk. Some have passed MPSC due to self-confidence given by the institute.
Inspiring Thoughts
As part of the ceremony, our principal Mr. Jagtap sir played a key role as a host of the ceremony. Chief guests and other respectable members of the institutes were asked to share their wisdom with the new batch of students. Kotulkar sir recited a beautiful poem composed by him about patriotism. Mandar sir, stressed upon utilizing our own time in such a way that will help improve yourself and thereby improve the country.
At last, our institute’s founder member Mr. Kamble sir shared words of wisdom with the students. He raised his voice against the apathy of the government. Sir mentioned that the rehabilitation of poor disabled individuals is the last thing on the government’s priority. He voiced his unfortunate limitation of only giving opportunity to 40 students whereas there are many who are waiting for this chance. He requested the government to provide opportunities for those who could not get into this institute. He mentioned that the students should use the opportunity given to them to the fullest. He closed his inspiring speech with a quote saying that even the sky can be torn apart if one should try throwing stones with its own might. That means that even the impossible can be achieved if you really give it a try.
This ceremony closed with everyone standing up and singing Vande Mataram. After that, everyone was served a piping hot breakfast, sweet and amazing black tea. The crowd was distributed into smaller groups where they interacted with the students or the founders. Everyone was energized by the thoughts shared by the chief guests.