The India Chapter
The IAYP Programme was first introduced in the United Kingdom in 1956 as the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award. The aim was to motivate young people aged between 14 and 25 years to become involved in a balanced programme of voluntary self-development activities to take them through the potentially difficult period between adolescence and adulthood.
The Participation Age is between 14 and 25 years. The basic structure of the Award consists of 4 mandatory sections - Service, Adventurous Journey, Skills and Physical Recreation. There are 3 levels of the Award – Bronze, Silver & Gold. Participants must complete the four mandatory sections of Service to be eligible for the award.
Participants may enter any of the three levels directly in the following age groups; Bronze Award (for those over 14), Silver Award (for those over 15) and Gold Award (for those over 16 years).
The minimum period of participation is 6 months for Bronze, 12 months for Silver and 18 months for Gold. For each of these levels a participant is required to undertake activities under each of the four sections. At Gold level, participants are expected to also undertake a Residential Project.
In our school, 50 students have qualified the bronze level and about 26 have qualified for silver level. The award has not only taught our students the meaning of our school motto “Service before Self”, but has also given them a new vision for meaningful contribution in our society.
What students’ say:
- Aditya Sakhuja - Class A1- A meaningful association with the programme has changed our concepts for life.
- Ansh Juneja - Class A1- it has taught us what we can do for our society, even at school level.
- Ruchi Roy - Class A1-You don’t need to be a leader to bring about change