AN EXPLORATORY STUDY OF A JOYFUL AND WHOLESOME EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING PROGRAM TO AWAKEN EMPATHY IN URBAN YOUTH

Empathy is one of the ten core life skills as enlisted by UNICEF, UNESCO and WHO that can help us understand and accept others who may be very different from ourselves. Today's need is to make learning interesting by developing interactive youth programs to provide joyful and wholesome experiences so as to awaken empathy in urban youth. Such interactions can bring about a shift of frame of reference due to social comparison that will be helpful in the long run. The primary purpose of this exploratory study was to develop and implement the joyful and wholesome experiential program to awaken empathy in urban youth and analyse their experiences after the program. A group of 50 Std. XIIth students were randomly selected who planned recreational and educative yet interesting activities. Sample of students visited a rural school along with mentor teacher where they interacted with children and conducted activities for (1st to 4th) primary children and local school (1st to 7th) for underprivileged children. A questionnaire prepared by researcher, to understand the response of students after the program, was filled by participants. A detailed analysis of the responses was done and experiences of youth were studied. The thoughtful and guided interaction can give immense satisfaction and some realizations with a lot of fun and happiness.