Background
I had switched to a consulting role with TAP India Foundation last year in October. Since then until the start of the lock-down, I was involved in designing curriculum, training and coaching teachers (as part of my consulting role). I spent a lot of time on building something so important and significant. Because of the school closures, I witnessed teachers' own emotional struggles and yet they had the will and the heart to do something meaningful with the children. I was truly moved with the intent that they all had and I must say that it was extremely difficult for them to be able to do whatever they were doing but they still persisted. I volunteered my time with them, spoke with them in the beginning, called them to check on them and also started a Teachers' series on YouTube - "How can we make our each day count?" As part of the series, I made 30 videos for Teachers. Each video had a specific idea as to things they could do at home so they all feel positive, connected and motivated to learn new things.
Constant Questioning
In the background, my own thinking and constant questioning on 'What can be done for the children in these tough times?' continued. And I wondered about children in rural communities who really do not have resources or proper internet bandwidth. So, as a small pilot I started making short audio lessons and implemented them with children around me just to see how much it works. Some of these children really enjoyed the lessons as the audios had specific concrete activities that they could do, at home.
The Hope
On further thinking, I decided to build this further. However, I needed a team along with me to make this possible. And so I started pitching for 'Audio Based Learning' to a number of organizations which were looking to fund interventions around providing support to under-served communities in these tough times. And fortunately, the Mercatus Centre at George Mason University liked the idea and decided to fund the initiative so I could bring it from 0 to 1. George Mason was recommended to me by a dear friend.
The Process
The news from them gave me so much hope. I started hunting for people I could work with. Something that I always was particular about the fact that it was important for me to work with youth from under-served communities as when it comes to understanding communities, they are the ones who understand them the best. Initally, I got a great support from two interns from TISS. They worked with me for a month and then post that I was privileged to get Alohomora Alums work with me on the project.
Being Alohomora Fellows, they have rich exposure of working in under-served communities with XIth and XIIth graders and they wanted to explore and learn in the Education sector. That is where I felt that an opportunity like what I had with me, would be a great next step for them.
Suno aur Seekho via Youth Teacher Leaders
And, so I went from recruiting one to two to finally having four Alohomora Alums working with me dedicatedly to design Suno aur Seekho. By this time, my thinking of the 'Audio Based Learning' also evolved and we started designing what we call our program now - 'Suno aur Seekho'. Suno aur Seekho basically are short audio lessons for children (aged 6 to 10 years) to build their foundational literacy and numeracy skills. It has lessons aligned with the state curriculum and is designed to generate curiosity and build conceptual understanding through hands-on activities. The audio program is complemented with a workbook that is delivered to each child, and has visuals for each audio lesson for better understanding of concepts.
We were able to kick start the program in village Purkhas Rathi in Haryana with 16 children in the first week. With the same program, we are now at a 150 children in Haryana. What also happened in this journey was our decision to engage local youth from Purkhas Rathi so they facilitate lessons with children everyday and also keep track of their learning. We started in village Ghatampur via a youth leader located close to that village. We call these leaders 'Youth Teacher Leaders'.
The Growth
So, 5 months down the line, we became a team of 8 people working full time on the project, and we received help from so many Volunteers who showed interest in picking up different aspects of the program and supporting the team. Some of these volunteers have just passed school, some are still pursuing college and some are working. All of them wanted to do something meaningful in these tough times and so they collaborated with us. In these 5 months, we have been able to almost finish one whole year of audio lessons for children for both Hindi and Math (for grades 1 to 5) with an aligned workbook for both the subjects and all the five grades.
Moving Ahead - Fellowship and Creating an Ecosystem via Partnerships
Next year, we all have bigger plans. While Suno aur Seekho will be leveraged as a ready TLM (Teaching Learning Material) for Youth Teacher Leaders to engage with out of school kids and support them in their foundational learning, we are planning to launch a Fellowship Program which would build the skills of many other such youth leaders so they dedicate themselves towards engaging out of school children in their communities and bring them back on a lifelong path of learning. The Fellowship will primarily engage such youth, tap on their existing strengths, enhance their leadership skills and contextual programs will be designed to ensure that children nowhere (where ever we begin) are left out!
The Fellowship alone, however, won't solve the problem. Consider, children from the families of migrant workers, for instance. Do we think that permanent schooling is a feasible solution for these children? NO! Because, they will keep relocating from one place to the other along with their families. Will a Fellowship model alone will help these kids? NO! We need to do something more! We need to create a support structure which can ensure an ecosystem for out of school children (OoSC) and their families wherever they go! For this ecosystem, we want to partner with other grassroots organizations across the country and ensure that via them we are able to map the support for OoSC and their families where ever they go! That is what we are aspiring to do! :)
My Overall Learning so far
1. Tapping on the power of community to design contextual interventions help.
2. With a team having the right intent and the heart, big problems begin to look small.
3. With the right intent, you need the right resources and consistent efforts to solve the problem.
4. Starting is easy, maintaining the same requires constant nudge and thinking. It is a tough process.
I look forward to sharing more, as the journey is further explored.
One day!
