AFS India School Core Committee Meeting
20 April 2023
Report
Date: 20 April 2023 (Thursday)
Via: Zoom Call
Attendees: 9 Members of the School Core Committee; 2 Absent
Minutes of the Meeting
● Mr Jayant Lal opened the meeting by expressing his satisfaction with the enrollment over membership. It was intimated by the National Director that 100 renewals were already done and will almost touch 150 soon.
● Mr Siddharth boosted the spirit by stating that he had a conversation with the trustees of Ryan Group and they were keen on having their schools on board. (Ryan has 136 schools!)
● Jayant Lal shared the agenda for this meeting which was “The way forward.’
● The Role & Responsibilities of the school core committee members were shared:
1. Maximizing school membership
2. Ensuring the right kind of schools
3. Promoting ICL and global citizenship
4. Encouraging participation in AFS programs
5. Encourage networking among schools and promote domestic exchanges.
● This was followed by making each one understand briefly the structure and composition of the committee, their representation, the tenure period of each, and the procedure of appointment.
It was stated that if the regional heads wish to continue beyond their tenure, they should express their interest and notify accordingly.
● It was also expressed by Mr Lal, that it was essential for all the AFS regional heads to know their territories clearly which will enable smooth functioning:
North – J&K, HP, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi and UP
East – Sikkim, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Mizoram, Tripura, Orissa, Arunachal
Pradesh, Manipur, Nagaland, Assam, Meghalaya
South – Kerala, TN, AP, Karnataka
West – Rajasthan, Gujrat, Maharastra, Goa
Central – Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh
● It was further expressed that Meetings of the school core committee have to be conducted regularly.
It was mentioned that 2 face to face meets were essential besides the virtual meetings. The Ideal month suggested was April but this year since this was impossible it was agreed by all that this meeting can happen in July during the South Regional Meet, at Tamilnadu. The second face-to-face meeting should be held during the Indore national meet in the month of October.
● This was followed by an interactive discussion on ‘The way forward’. It was a matter of pride to hear that AFS is the only organization in the world to create a school team network. The following points were taken ahead in the discussion.
● Mrs Seema Shaikh read out the points one by one and all exchanged their thoughts.
● Firstly, it was emphasized to create sub-committees in every region to enable an increase in registration. Rashid Sir too felt that this has to be taken ahead. Abhilash Sir agreed to work on and create sub-committees in Karnataka, Hyderabad, and Kerala.
● Ms Diya Badgel volunteered to talk to the G.D. Goenka & Jaipuria group of schools.
● Ms Angela Roy presented a deeper perspective and vision to move forward. She stressed that it was essential to set a good example. We need to go beyond the numbers and focus more on quality. For this, we need to create city chapters in every state. It is essential to involve people from the community. The local volunteers become our foot soldiers. The collaborative work between schools and the respective chapters will strengthen AFS and make it achieve its goal of Intercultural learning.
● Ms Angela Roye raised the point that we are receiving 5 students from the USA for Year Exchange Program (YES Abroad - US State Department Sponsored Program) and appealed that host families should be looked out for in cities having American Consulates. 1 student had already received the host family in Bangalore but we needed to look out for Mumbai and Hyderabad.
● Ms Angela also added that when we have such foot soldiers from city chapters they can be really supportive and can help us get host families more easily. Volunteering by locals can make it a success.
● It was also stated that we have only 13 city chapters (Madurai is the recent addition) and we need to increase this number for strengthening the organization
● The second point emphasized was the promotion of Domestic and Regional Exchanges. Every Regional Head should organize and conduct at least 2 Regional Exchanges by mid-October. Ms Angela Roye reiterated that initially, the exchange can include a small number ( just 1 teacher & 5 students). The benefits of these exchanges were discussed. The focus of these exchanges should be Intercultural learning and bonding
● It was also said that we need to think of educators' Exchange programs. Ms Seema Shaikh spoke about the West India Educators Exchange program that the West Zone has planned in Rajasthan in the coming year.
● The next point raised was the delay in receiving certificates for the activities conducted by the regions. Ms Angela Roye suggested that to avoid this the responsibility can be given to the Regional heads. The certificates can be signed by Jayant Lal, the respective regional head and the school Principal hosting the program.
Mr Siddharth suggested that a common matter can be prepared with the required details so that all the regions have uniformity where certificates are concerned
Mr Abhilash also felt that this will lead to more accountability and a sense of involvement.
Jayant Lal brought to notice that in order to maintain the authenticity of the certification, the Regional heads need to be vigilant & careful while issuing the certificates.
● Ms Seema Shaikh expressed that the National School Calendar Activities should be created in collaboration with the Regional calendar. This would avoid overlaps and chaos and everyone would get an opportunity to participate in maximum events
It was also decided that Sarita Bhadwar should be kept in the loop and all the regional heads should send their yearly activity calendar to Sarita Bhadwar before the National calendar is announced.
Picking up activities from the Regional activities for the National level would become much smoother.
Mr Jayant Lal suggested that the Regional Heads should submit their list of activities by the 15th of May (15 April from next year)
Mr Abhilash expressed that we can also create a cultural celebration calendar that will support & promote Intercultural learning.
Ms Angela Roye explained that incorporating it into the yearly regional calendar would be a better option.
● Mr Abhilash appealed to decide on the date of the South Zone Regional Meet at the earliest.
● Mr Siddharth spoke about the IC3 conference happening in Hyderabad at HICC in August. He sounded that this would be a good platform to talk about AFS as they (HICC) were ready to offer their premise for the Conference. The cost of the convention per person was found to be high INR 85,000 per person
● Ms Angela Roye expressed her wish to see an Edufair conducted for the publicity of AFS for the rest of India at some such venue. She appealed to all to work on this thought.
● Once again the topic was directed towards the involvement of volunteers It was suggested that these volunteers could be involved in the farewell planned in Delhi for the exchange students shortly. Ms Angela Roye endorsed this idea.
● The short-term programs which were initially opposed were getting very successful and more meaningful and result oriented.
● It was also decided that to strengthen the schools and the chapter collaboration, a list of volunteers and schools of the chapter should be shared amongst them. This liaison would give better results.
● The meeting ended on a note of reminder about the July face-to-face meeting in Tamil Nadu.