The British School New Delhi | Community Service

Our Community Service Programme incorporates within its being the tenets of civic responsibility and purposeful action by embedding the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into the framework of service learning.

Community service is both a physical and intangible engagement that teaches students real world skills and instills in them a strong sense of responsibility and commitment benefiting the wider community. It takes students out of their comfort zone and allows them to nurture passions and make a difference to society.

At TBS community service takes on the role of service learning with projects stemming from within the curriculum. Within service learning, classroom studies complement service in the community and enable students to reflect upon and address local and national problems. They get ample opportunities to engage in various initiatives enabling them to develop into well-rounded and compassionate individuals.

From visiting NGOs and planting trees to organising Sports Day for differently abled students of our partner NGOs, providing shelter for street animals, and donating books, toys, food and ration, the focus of the programme is social and environmental issues.

The Annapoorna Project

The CAS Programme at TBS has been running the Annapoorna Project for more than 15 years. The project involves our students running skill-based sessions with girls and women from the nearby settlement. There is a needlework class for women and sessions on art, dance, cervical cancer, financial literacy and more.

Glass Up India

Parth Aggarwal, Year 13, is the COO of Glass Up India, which has upcycled over 10,000 bottles into innovative candles. He led GlassUp’s collaboration with the Hamari Pahchan NGO for teaching the craft to women from low-income households and people with disabilities. Glass Up, blending design, innovation, and sustainability, has partnered with firms like DLF Camellias, Bellagio, Cosy Box, Comorin, and Masai Mara. In 2024, Parth received the International Icons of Excellence Award for Sustainability from Entrepreneurs Media.

THE OURCHIVE PROJECT

Adiva Goel, Year 13, founded The Ourchive Project to engage with underserved communities through subaltern literary forms like oral literature and tribal art. The project provides educational resources, workshops, and expert-led sessions to children from these communities. Adiva partnered with the Delhi Council for Child Welfare’s (DCCW) Palna and Delhi Bal Kalyan Parishad for her initiative. She won the 2024 EARCOS Global Citizenship Award and Grant, becoming the fifth consecutive TBS student to be conferred with this award.

CANFREE™

As part of her work with the Indian Cancer Society, Adya Uppal, class of 2024, helped develop a screening process for cervical cancer in women, along with securing funds for the organisation. She has also manufactured and donated breast prostheses as well as prosthetic bras to women from low-income backgrounds, under her initiative CanFree™. Adya was awarded the Kurt Hahn Prize by Round Square in 2024, becoming the first student from TBS to win this award.

Creativity, Action, Service (CAS)

CAS forms a core part of the IB Diploma Programme and is an essential part of every student’s DP experience. It is woven into the fortnightly timetable and provides real and purposeful activities to develop students into knowledgeable, principled and caring individuals through experiential learning.

A wide variety of CAS experiences such as creating music, teaching martial arts to girls for self-defense, spreading warmth through donations, and raising awareness through mental health projects play a great role in bridging the gaps to bring communities closer.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, service learning had moved to an online model with students initiating activities locally from their global locations, in the spirit of Think Global, Act Local.